A diverse crowd of nearly 200 people gathered last Thursday evening to discover how Islam is related to other religions-particularly Judaism and Christianity-in a lecture entitled “Abraham, Moses and Jesus in the Islamic Tradition.” The lecture, held in the Mechanical Engineering building, was organized by the Muslim Students’ Association at U of T’s St. George campus as part one of their year-long Discover Islam Lecture Series.
Dr. Jamal Badawi, guest speaker at the event, frequent participant in interfaith dialogue, and professor in the departments of Religious Studies and Management at St. Mary’s University in Halifax, presented the Islamic perspective on three figures traditionally seen as significant only to Jews and Christians.
Asked what the MSA hoped to achieve through the series, Outreach Coordinator and organizer of the event Asma Maryam Ali said they want the campus community to “understand that Islam is something that is very relevant to their lives,” and, in particular reference to the lecture, “very much a part of Western history and tradition.”
Badawi provided an in-depth comparison of the life stories of Abraham, Moses and Jesus, addressing both the similarities and differences in the Biblical and Qur’anic representations of the prophetic figures.
Badawi began the lecture by saying Muslims believe prophets serve two functions: they communicate God’s message to their people, often in the form of scripture-of which the Qur’an is believed to be the final-and exemplify that message in their behaviour. From the Islamic perspective, he said, all prophets came with the same basic message, which is to believe in one supreme God who has no associates and to commit oneself to serving God. That is why, said Badawi, all prophets are considered to be Muslims-a term which literally means “those who submit.”
The importance of Abraham, said Badawi, lies in his position as ancestor of both Jews and Arabs, since the former descended from his son Isaac and the latter-of which Muhammad is a member-from his son Ishmael. Badawi pointed out that, in both the Qur’an and the Bible, God promises to bless the progeny of Abraham. He also noted that the Ka’bah in Mecca was originally built by Abraham and Ishmael.
The speaker then related the Qur’an’s take on the life of Moses. He said that claims that Islam is anti-Semitic are unfounded, citing that Moses’ name is mentioned in the Qur’an more times than Muhammad’s, and that the Qur’an describes the Torah as containing “guidance and light.”
In his discussion of Jesus, Badawi said that Muslims believe neither in the concept of original sin nor the crucifixion of Jesus, but that “whether Jesus was crucified or not, it makes no theological difference to Muslims.” Although the Qur’an describes Jesus’ miraculous birth and miracles he performed by God’s permission, he said, it clearly negates the idea of the Trinity. He went further to say Jesus never claimed he was divine, and that all instances of this in the Bible can be alternately interpreted.
Badawi also argued that the coming of Prophet Muhammad is prophesied several times in the Bible.
Despite the sometimes controversial content of the lecture, the audience seemed to enjoy the presentation and were full of questions ranging from the Islamic perspective on the second coming of Jesus and the authenticity of the Bible to Islam’s view of polytheistic belief systems.
Memona Hossain, a student volunteer involved in selling books at the event, remarked that attendees showed interest in the available material, particularly the English translation of the Qur’an, Jesus: A Prophet of Islam, Badawi’s Gender Equity in Islam, and Maurice Bucaille’s The Bible, the Qur’an and Science.
Ali said, “I think the speaker was warmly received, and people found that it was a fairly academic discussion of religion, which is (usually) a very subjective topic.”
One audience member, Luisa Hohagen, 37, said Badawi’s presentation was a confirmation of her own beliefs. Raised as a Catholic, she said she always believed in one God but was confused about the status of Jesus. “I believe in Jesus like a prophet, not like a god,” she said. “Religion should be easy to understand.”
At the end of the day, Badawi hoped that despite the “significant areas of difference” in the accounts of the prophets, the audience would see the many commonalities between the three Abrahamic faiths, which he finds act as a “unifying element” between Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
According to Ali, the next event, to be held on November 6, will be a seminar entitled “Female Activism and Leadership in Islam.”
