Guillaume--Life of Muhammad.pdf - Radical Truth

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The Life of Muhammad
God initiated and gave to him;' they had only the mention of him that he
would be one of the propbets after him. 'And an apostle to B. Isra'j]
(saying) I have come to you with a sign from your Lord,' i.e. confirming
thereby my prophethood that I am an apostle from Him to you. 'I will
create for you from clay the likeness of tbe form of birds and I will breathe
into them and they will become birds by God's permission,' vVho has sent
me unto you, He being my Lord and yours 'and I \yill heal him who was
born blind and the leper' (330). 'And I will quicken the dead by God's
permission and I will tell you of what you eat and store up in your houses.
Therein is a sign for you' that I am an apostle from God to you, 'if you
become believers. And confirming that which was before me of the Torah,'
i.e. what of it preceded me, 'and to make lawful to you some of that which
was forbidden you,' i.e. I tell you about it that it was forbidden you and
you abandoned it; then I make it lawful to you to relieve you of it and you
can enjoy it and be exempt from its penalties. 'And I bring you signs from
your Lord, sO fear God and obey me. God is my Lord and your Lord,'
i.e. disowning what they say about him and proving that his Lord (is God).
'So \vorship Him. This is a straight path,' i.e. that to which I urge you and
bring you. 'But when Jesus perceived their disbelief' and enmity against
him 'He said, Who are my helpers towards God? The disciples said: We
are God's helpers. We bdieve in God.' This is their saying by which they
gained favour from their Lord. 'And bear witness that we are Muslims,'
not \vhat those who argue with thee say about Him. '0 our Lord, we
believe in \vhat Thou hast sent dov·iI1 and we follow the apostle, sO write
US down among the witnesses,' i.e. thus was their saying and their faith.
~09 Then He mentions His taking up of Jesus to Himself when they decided
to kill him and says: 'And they plotted and God plotted and God is the best
of plotters.' Then He tells them-refuting what they assert of the Jews in
regard to his crucifixion-how He took him up and purified him from them
and says: "Vhen God said, 0 Jesus I am about to cause thee to die and to
exalt thee to Myself and to pmify thee from those who disbelieve' when
they purposed as they did, 'and am setting those who follow thee above
those who disbelieve until the day of resurrection.' The narration continues
until the \vords 'This \""hich \Ve recite unto thee,' a l\luhammad, 'of
the signs and the wise warning,' the final, the decisive, the true, in \vhich no
falsehood is mingled, of the story of Jesus and of \vhat they differed in
regard to him, so accept no other report. 'The likeness of Jesus with God,'
And listen! 'is as the likeness of Adam whom God created 1 0 f earth; then
said to him: De; and he was. The truth is from thy Lord,' i.e. the report
\vhich comes to thee about Jesus, 'so be not of the doubters,' i.e. the truth
has come to thee from thy Lord so do not be doubtful about it; and if they
say, Jesus \vas created without ,1 male (intervening), I created Adam from
,:,rth by that same power without a male or a female. And he was as
,ksus \vas: flesh and blood and hair and skin. The creation of Jesus without
I See p. 254, n. 1.
The Life of 111uhammad
a male is no more wonderful than thi " . 277
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