veiled4allah: Jesus, a prophet of Islam

The Onion has an interesting satirical article, Christ Converts to Islam, which for me was an odd mix of funny and serious.

Muslims believe that all the prophets and messengers of God came with the same basic message and taught the same essential religion, that of submission (islam) to God. This list of prophets includes Adam, Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Jonah, Elijah, Zachariah, John the Baptist, Jesus, and also Muhammad (peace be upon them all and upon all other prophets that I haven't mentioned here). Thus the religions established by these and other prophets were sent by God and in their original form are "true religions". Muslims also believe that God sent down scriptures, including the Torah and the Gospel (this is not to be confused with the four Gospels written by Jesus's followers). Again, these scriptures in their original form were sent by God and are "true scriptures".

Muslims also believe that the original religions and scriptures have become mixed in with man-made doctrines over time. The most obvious example of this, for Muslims, is the deification of Jesus. Additionally, the Jewish prophets (including Jesus) and scriptures were sent only to the Children of Israel and not to all of humankind. It was in order to restore the original religion of God and to bring its message to all people that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was sent with the Quran, according to Islamic belief.

This is the relationship of Islam to Judaism and Christianity. Whether or not Jews and Christians choose to recognize a "Judeo-Christian-Islamic" tradition, that is exactly what it is from the Muslim point of view. It is obligatory for Muslims to believe in all the prophets and all the scriptures sent by God; to my understanding it would be a form of disbelief (kufr) for a Muslim to deny that Moses or Jesus (peace be upon them) was a prophet of God or to deny that God sent down scriptures to the Children of Israel. What Muslims would dispute is whether Judaism and Christianity today are true to the original religions that were established and to what degree the scriptures known today as the Torah and the Gospels contain the original text revealed by God and to what degree they include man-made doctrines.

As should be clear from the above explanation, Muslims believe that Jesus was part of the same religious tradition that Muhammad (peace be upon them) was; although the religion brought by Jesus was not identical in its rulings and rituals to the religion brought by Muhammad, Muslims believe that Jesus would validate the Quran and Islam as the continuation and completion of his own teachings.

Muslims also believe that Jesus will return near the end of time and that he will validate the Quran and Islam and reject Trinitarian Christianity as not being the religion that he taught.

This is why the Onion article is oddly serious. Aside from some minor points and its overall satirical tone, it does represent what Muslims believe in regard to Jesus. I don't know if the Onion intended that or was aware of it at all.

The interesting and amusing part of the article is the supposed reaction of various Christian groups and individuals to Jesus proclaiming the truth of Islam:

The controversial retraction of two millennia of Christian doctrine has provoked strongly divided reaction. Millions of devout Christians, insisting that obeisance to Christ's commands is the cornerstone of their faith, have heeded His instructions and converted to Islam. Millions more, however, have decried the recalcitrant Christ's apostasy, breaking ties with Him and calling His conversion "a heathen act" of "utmost blasphemy before Himself." "Jesus, or Isa Shabazz, or whatever He's calling Himself these days, is the way, the truth and the light. It says so in the Bible," said devout Catholic Kathleen Langan of Cork, Ireland, kneeling toward Mecca for the first time. "My loyalty to Him is absolute. If He told me to be a Buddhist, I'd do it. All praise and thanks to Allah."

Ruth-Anne Girolamo, a Sunday school teacher in Stillwater, OK, disagreed. "I've been a Bible-believing Christian all my life, and nothing, not even a direct order from Christ Himself, is going to change that," Girolamo said. "If Christ is going to leave the fold and become a sinner, we'll just have to go on worshipping Him against His will."

The Roman Catholic Church is just as divided: Approximately half the members of the Vatican's College of Cardinals have advocated embracing Islamic law, while the other half is calling for Christ's immediate excommunication and recommending the interim worship of Pope John Paul II until a suitable replacement deity can be found.

In perhaps the oddest development, the Jews For Jesus organization announced Monday that it has split into three separate groups: Jews Still For Jesus, Jews For Allah, and Jews For Just Being Jews Again.

How many Christians would react as Kathleen Langan is depicted is doing, and how many would react as Ruth Ann Girolamo is depicted as doing? If you're a Christian and this happened, would you be Kathleen or Ruth Ann? On what basis?