Furthermore...

Furthermore, he is an apostle of God, that is, one charged by God to provide guidance for mankind and to bring man towards the path of perfection and salvation – and to be a sign that hints at the heights to which man is capable of rising. It is a fundamental principle in Islam that one who is not guided cannot guide. Thus Jesus is a fully realized man and an apostle of God. Jesus thus becomes, in Islam, a symbol (or sign) of the immense potential that exists within man’s fundamental nature.

The Prophets of God are sent to guide man and to show man how to actualize this potential within him. But even one who actualizes this potential and attains a type of union with God does not become God. God remains God. The Qur’an rejects with absolute vehemence the insinuation that Jesus is God or the son of God. It says of those who make such assertions: “Indeed ye have put forth a thing most monstrous!

As if the skies are ready to burst, the earth to split asunder, and the mountains to fall down in utter ruin.” (4) The reason for such a strong rejection is that those who put forth such claims have fundamentally misunderstood the basic nature of God, His creation, and the miraculous nature with which He created man. God’s aim is to uplift man, to redeem him through the unique nature with which he created man.

In the above quote from the Qur’an, the heavens (skies), the earth, and the mountains are reacting to the attribution of divinity to Jesus. This is because before the creation of Adam, the Divine “Trust” was offered to these creations of God and they refused to undertake the responsibility. Man, however, undertook the responsibility.

“We did indeed offer the Trust to the Heavens and the Earth and the Mountains; but they refused to undertake it, being afraid thereof: But man undertook it….” (5) Conferring divinity upon any of God’s servants or creatures, even one as exalted as Jesus, is characterized as the most violent and disgraceful betrayal of this Trust which God bestowed upon man.

Jesus and the unique method of his creation, his “perfected” status, and his apostleship to God combine to create, within the Islamic context, a picture of a man who was both a servant and a friend (awliya) of God. He is also seen as a man who was a sign, a symbol granted to mankind by God, and a guide who awakens man to his nature, potential and relation to God.