Den muslimske Jesus

I en tid när islamofobin grasserar som en epidemi i Västeuropa finns det anledning att påminna om den traditionella muslimska vördnaden för Jesus-gestalten. En sådan påminnelse kan man få i f.d. Cambridgeprofessorn Tarif Khalidis  bok The Muslim Jesus: Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature. Den kom ut för flera år sedan och har funnits på svenska under titeln Den muslimske Jesus (förlaget Alhambra) sedan 2002 men har nu åter aktualiseras i Storbritannien genom ett temanummer av The New Statesman där tidskriftens politiske redaktör, Mehdi Hasan, påminner om den ställning som Jesus har inom islam:

Christians, perhaps because they call themselves Christians and believe in Christianity, like to claim ownership of Christ. But the veneration of Jesus by Muslims began during the lifetime of the Prophet of Islam. Perhaps most telling is the story in the classical biographies of Muhammad, who, entering the city of Mecca in triumph in 630AD, proceeded at once to the Kaaba to cleanse the holy shrine of its idols. As he walked around, ordering the destruction of the pictures and statues of the 360 or so pagan deities, he came across a fresco on the wall depicting the Virgin and Child. He is said to have covered it reverently with his cloak and decreed that all other paintings be washed away except that one.

Jesus, or Isa, as he is known in Arabic, is deemed by Islam to be a Muslim prophet rather than the Son of God, or God incarnate. He is referred to by name in as many as 25 different verses of the Quran and six times with the title of ”Messiah” (or ”Christ”, depending on which Quranic translation is being used). He is also referred to as the ”Messenger” and the ”Prophet” but, perhaps above all else, as the ”Word” and the ”Spirit” of God. No other prophet in the Quran, not even Muhammad, is given this particular honour. In fact, among the 124,000 prophets said to be recognised by Islam – a figure that includes all of the Jewish prophets of the Old Testament – Jesus is considered second only to Muhammad, and is believed to be the precursor to the Prophet of Islam.

I ett läge när islam misstänkliggörs och av ignoranter här och var till och med ifrågasätts som religion borde det enligt Hasan var angeläget att understryka de starka band som finns mellan kristendomen och den klassiska muslimska tron. Vördnaden för Jesus innebär ju också en stark muslimsk kärlek till jungfru Maria som i Koranen fått ett helt kapitel uppkallat efter sig.

När William Dalrymple, den kände författaren till succéboken Från det Heliga Berget,  för några år sedan skrev om Khalidis bok i The Guardian lyfte han också fram de många berättelser om Jesus som genom århundradena spritts i den muslimska världen, från Spanien i väst till Kina i Öst:

They fill out and augment the profoundly reverential picture of Christ painted in the Koran, in which Jesus is called the Messiah, the Messenger, the Prophet, Word and Spirit of God, though – in common with many currents of heterodox Christian thought in the early Christian period – his outright divinity is questioned. Nevertheless, the Koran calls Christians the ”nearest in love” to Muslims, whom it instructs in Surah 29 to ”dispute not with the People of the Book [that is, the Jews and Christians] save in the most courteous manner”, and to tell them: ”We believe in what has been sent down to us and what has been sent down to you; our God and your God is one.”

Dalrymple påminner också om de vittnesbörd från kristna biskopar och munkar på 600-talet som berättar om de muslimska erövrarnas respekt för kyrkor och kloster. Han efterlyser mot bakgrund av dagens misstro mellan de båda lägren en förnyad dialog över gränserna mellan två av de stora orientaliska religionerna: kristendomen och islam:

Sadly, the recent demonisation of Islam in Christendom, and deep and growing resentment felt in the Islamic world against the Christian west, has created an atmosphere where few on either side are still aware of, or even wish to be aware of, this deep kinship between Christianity and Islam. As Khalidi says in his thoughtful introduction: ”Amid the current tensions between Christianity and Islam, it is salutary to remind ourselves of an age and a tradition when Christianity and Islam were more open to one another, more aware of and reliant on each other’s witness.” The Muslim Jesus, reminding us as it does of Islam’s ”intense devotion, reverence and love” for Christ, goes a long way also to remind us of the profound links between these two Middle Eastern faiths. Now of all times, it should be welcomed as a book of the greatest importance.

Förresten, eftersom vi närmar oss julen och skolavslutningarna kan det vara intressant att påminna om en reflexion som gjordes av John Casey i The Daily Telegraph med anledning av Khalidis bok:

One other thing: since Muslims deny the Crucifixion, their emphasis has been on the wonders surrounding the birth of ”Jesus Son of Mary”, born as his mother sat under a palm tree, and miraculously speaking from within the womb. There really is no reason why schools that put on Nativity plays, or anyone who wants to insist on the Christian meaning of Christmas, should fear that they may offend Muslim sensibilities, for Jesus really is shared by both faiths.

Maria och Jesus – fornpersisk muslimsk miniatyr