| Answer: There is no doubt about the
fact that the Biblical allegations against the prophets are lies. The Qur’an
informs us about the fact that the prophets were the chosen people of the
Almighty because of the highest level of morality they were able to achieve. The
Qur’an, for instance, says:
These are some of the Prophets on
whom Allah bestowed His favours from among the descendants of Adam and of those
whom We carried in the Ark with Nuh, and of the descendants of Abraham and
Israel, and of those whom We guided and chose. Whenever the Revelations of the
Compassionate (Allah) were recited to them, they fell to prostrate and weep.
(19: 58)
Allah chooses His messengers from among the angels and from
among the human beings, for surely Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing. (22:75)
The second
verse clarifies that if Allah Almighty chose them for the most significant
obligation of prophethood, it was on merit, because He is All-Knowing and
All-Seeing.
As for the
question, “why Christians accepted the perverted picture of their prophets while
they exaggerated the status of their saints”, I can’t say much with confidence.
I would trace the origins of this problem in their tendency of following their
elders blindly. Once you stop being critical about what the elders have given
you in the name of religion, you can accept everything – good as well as bad,
without much trouble. It seems that some unscrupulous scholars amongst the Jews
deliberately inserted a tarnished image of the prophets so as to be relieved of
the tension of expectations from them, which the common man naturally had, given
the high standards of morality set by the prophets. In a situation where
religious leadership is devoid of true religiosity, the common man can be highly
critical of them. The scholars, in such cases, are left with two options: either
admit their failings, make a firm resolve to improve or bring down the ideals
set by prophets from their lofty status. Some of the earlier Jews, it seems,
sadly, opted for the latter option. Religious Jews and Christians of later times
believed in divine origins of the entire text. As a result, the Christian world
(as well as the Jewish) is divided into two broad groups: those who believe that
the entire Bible is God-inspired, and those who believe that there is no truth
in the claim that the Bible has divine origins.
It is only the
Islamic view of the Bible that makes sense. According to the Islamic
understanding, some books of the Bible were most certainly originally from God;
however, some of them have undergone changes, because of deliberate manipulation
or otherwise.
Courtesy:http://www.islamicissues.info/qa_question.php?qid=125
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