As Salaam Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu,
I had <insert your favourite disease/illness here>, I prayed to Jesus and was healed!
She begins, “All things are possible through Jesus. He is the only one who can hear us. He is the only one who can give us salvation. He died on a cross to save us from our sins.” I’m listening but only just. Her shouting and spastic movements detract from my ability to hear every word. As she speaks of Jesus’ ability to do all, I recall a verse in the Bible where Jesus supposedly says, ‘Of my ownself I can do nothing’. I can’t quite remember the reference. I can’t be asked to try to remember. I’m not debating anyone. Plus, I’m fasting. She continues, “I’m from Pakistan, from a city called Karachi”. I try to listen more attentively. If she is going to claim to be an apostate, I want to her what she says. She continues, “I had diabetes, a very serious case”. Laughing to myself, I tune out. Over the course of the last 10 years, I’ve heard this argument many times. It usually presents itself when pressing Christians for proof of the correctness of their faith. It is an argument that will only convince those who wish to be convinced by it.
I remember the first time I ever ‘debated’ a Christian. I was working at a marketplace along with a few of my Muslim friends, although we were working at different stalls. A priest, his wife and another man were trying to give dawah to one of my friends. He called me over. When I arrived the priest greeted me and asked my name. I responded, ‘My name is Abdullah’. He asked, ‘You have a new name and a new religion? Do you know there are thousands of religions in India?’. I replied, ‘Yes, but there is only one Islam’. From there he began telling me of this terrible illness that he suffered that the doctors could do nothing about. It was only after he prayed to Jesus that he was made healthy again. His wife tells me an almost identical story about herself. I asked them, ‘Don’t you know there are people who pray to trees that are not sick?’. A few minutes later they left without saying goodbye. I remained speaking to the third man until he left saying, ‘It’s not right that they call Jesus the Son of God’. I saw the priest and his wife about an hour later. I tried to smile at them and wave but they just looked at me sternly and their faces were blood red.
The Christian tells us, ‘Don’t you know that there was this Muslim man, who had a Christian friend and they used to debate religion all the time. After a number of years and neither man shifting his position, the Muslim man met up with the Christian man, who was off to help with an exorcism. The Muslim man went with him. After being left alone with the victim of demonic possession, the Muslim man decides to put Islam and Christianity to the test. First, he prays to Muhammad to heal the girl but nothing happens. Next, he prays to Jesus and suddenly the girl becomes well and the Muslim man confesses to the truth of Christianity.” Perhaps you have heard a similar story. I’ve heard it in several incarnations. There are many problems with the Christians narrative that exposes it for its falsehood. The biggest glaring mistake is the Muslim’s prayer to Muhammad, salallahu alayhi wa sallam. Is there such a Muslim that prays to Muhammad? Could such a person even be classified as a Muslim? Moreover, the Christian cannot fix his story because if he changes the word Muhammad to Allah, our object of worship and to whom we direct our prayers, he exposes himself as a liar. Allah is the same name used in the Bible to refer to the supreme deity that the Jews and Christians claim to worship. One just needs to open the Bible in Arabic and you will find the word Allah in the very first verse. Also, Malaysian Christians were fighting the government of Malaysia for the right to refer to God as Allah in their Christian writings. Once again the reason we are given to follow Christianity is Jesus’ ability to heal.
That’s Not Proof.
These are just three examples of this extraordinary claim in Jesus’ ability to heal. The first I heard yesterday as I walked through the park, the other two I heard years ago. When I have been told these stories the person telling me them expected that I would profess Christianity and follow them in worshiping Jesus. Sorry mate, I don’t worship men. I don’t even care if the stories are true. As a matter of fact, I give each person the benefit of doubt. I reject them as proof and I’m going to tell you why.
Many people form various backgrounds have claimed similar things these include just about every religious group. Since I wasn’t present when these things supposedly happened, I treat them the same as I do the Christians by giving them the benefit of the doubt. They believe and think they saw proof that their deity heals the ill.
One of the Imams of a masjid I used to attend fell ill. The doctors in the hospital were convinced he was going to die and told his family to make preparations for that event. This Imam was very well liked and many people prayed for his recovery. A week later he was back leading the salaah, running his shop and conducting his Islamic classes. That is a true story that I witnessed, but I’ve never tried to us that in a debate to prove the correctness of Islam.
My mother practises something called ‘Reiki’, which she says involves asking spirits to come and heal the body of the person being treated. She goes to a nursing home and does this treatment on the residents, who claim to feel better after their session. My mother told me one person even started walking again after treatment.
Ava Worthington, the 15 month old little girl died when her parents tried praying to remove her pneumonia instead of taking her to the hospital.
If you live in a Christian majority country, pop down your local hospice and find out how many Christians are dying in their beds, while there family members pray to Jesus to help them.
When I worked in a long term care facility, there was a resident that had an illness that caused him to lose his mind. He was incontinent and used to get into fights with his chair. Before his illness, he was a priest. As I learned about the residents, I realised that the majority with mental disorders were devout Christians before they fell ill.
Jesus did heal the sick and blind when he was walking this earth. According to the Bible and the Quran, he did it only after supplicating to Allah. Meaning, it is not something he was doing by himself but Allah was curing them through Jesus to strengthen his claim of prophethood.
[The Day] when Allah will say, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother when I supported you with the Pure Spirit and you spoke to the people in the cradle and in maturity; and [remember] when I taught you writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and when you designed from clay [what was] like the form of a bird with My permission, then you breathed into it, and it became a bird with My permission; and you healed the blind and the leper with My permission; and when you brought forth the dead with My permission; and when I restrained the Children of Israel from [killing] you when you came to them with clear proofs and those who disbelieved among them said, "This is not but obvious magic." [Quran 5:110]
Jesus the son of Mary, has no ability to help or heal anyone. He cannot even hear your supplication. Turn instead to the One who can, the One who gave you life and will cause you to die. There is no need for intermediaries. Call on Him, The All Hearing, The All Seeing, The Knower of the seen and the unseen, your Lord who will repay you for your belief or your disbelief.
I testify to the fact that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah, who remains alone without any partner. And I testify to the fact that Muhammad the son of Abdullah is His slave and messenger.
22 Comments
Bariah
August 28, 2010 at 6:19 pmJoe B.
September 27, 2010 at 2:22 amAbdullah
September 27, 2010 at 10:32 amJoe B.
September 27, 2010 at 11:30 amAbdullah
September 27, 2010 at 12:22 pmJoe B.
September 28, 2010 at 1:39 amAbdullah
September 28, 2010 at 11:05 amMuslim
October 1, 2010 at 9:19 pmJoe B.
November 25, 2010 at 1:58 amJoe B.
November 25, 2010 at 2:32 amAbdullah
November 30, 2010 at 8:49 amAbdullah
November 30, 2010 at 9:01 amJoe B.
December 2, 2010 at 7:34 amAbdullah
December 21, 2010 at 10:32 amJoe B.
December 22, 2010 at 2:46 pmAbdullah
January 12, 2011 at 9:24 amJamal Muhammad Ali(formerly Jay Papadopoulos-Telfer)
January 4, 2011 at 4:42 amAbdullah
January 7, 2011 at 12:42 amDavid
August 16, 2011 at 5:00 pmAbdullah
August 16, 2011 at 7:40 pmChristianfaith
September 11, 2011 at 5:11 pmAbdullah
September 12, 2011 at 9:11 am