If there were a world rivalry of
religions, few would hesitate to
point to Islam versus Christianity.
These religions, the two largest in the
world, have a long history of locking
swords — whether on the
battlefield, through proselytizing, or
during heated debates.
What tends to get buried under the
dust, though, are some remarkable
bonds shared by the two religions.
Here are five of them that I wish we
called more attention to:
1. The Prophecy of Abraham as father
of humanity
Prophet Abraham is patriarch to both
Muslims and Christians. In the Old
Testament, God says to Abraham, “And
I will make of thee a great nation, and
I will bless thee, and make thy name
great . . . and in thee shall all the
families of the earth be
blessed” (Genesis 12:2-3 ).
In Genesis 17:20-22 , God blesses
Ishmael, the Abrahamic patriarch of
the Muslims, and Isaac, the Abrahamic
patriarch of Judeo-Christianity. Today,
Muslims and Christians together make
up a little more than half the world’s
population, thereby opening up the
view of the fulfillment of
God’s promise to Abraham. How
amazing is that!
2. Muhammad in the Holy Bible
In Genesis 17:20-22, God promises to
raise a great nation through Ishmael.
And in Deuteronomy 18:18 we have
the prophecy of a prophet to be raised
from the brethren of the Israelites.
Genesis 21:21 says that Ishmael dwelt
in the wilderness of Paran. In local
parlance, the area between Mecca and
Medina is known as Bariyyat Faran —
the wilderness of Faran (an alternate
spelling of Paran). Deuteronomy
33:2 says that the Lord “shone forth
from Mount Paran; he came from the
ten thousands of holy ones, with
flaming fire at his right hand” —
Prophet Muhammad’s army at the
conquest of Mecca is known to have
consisted of 10,000, and the reference
to the fiery law is thought to be the
Holy Quran.
Though Christian apologists may
disagree, these references were strong
enough for Rabbi Bachya to write in
the Midrash Bereshit Rabbah (an
ancient rabbinical text), “We see from
the prophecy in this verse that 2,337
years elapsed before the Arabs,
Ishmael’s descendants, became goy
gadol (great nation) with the rise of
Islam in 624 C.E. . . . finally the
promise was fulfilled.”
3. Jesus in the Holy Quran
Though the references to Prophet
Muhammad (peace be on him) in the
Holy Bible are challenged by Christian
apologists, there is no ambiguity about
Jesus’ (peace be on him) presence in
the Holy Quran. Jesus is one of the
most-referenced prophets in the Quran
— mentioned by name 25 times.
In verse 21:91, the Holy Quran
bestows a great honor on Jesus and his
mother Mary: “. . . and We made her
and her son a sign for all peoples.”
Similarly, verse 2:253 reads, “These
messengers We have exalted, some
above others . . . and some of them He
has exalted by degrees of rank, and
We gave Jesus, son of Mary, clear
proofs and strengthened him with the
Holy Spirit.”
4. Mary, mother of Jesus, in the Holy
Quran and Holy Bible
Both religions profoundly revere the
Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus. The Holy
Quran is the only scripture outside of
the Gospels to reaffirm the
righteousness and virginity of Mary at
Jesus’s birth. The Quran states in
verse 19:20, “She (Mary) said — how
will I have a son? No man has touched
me, and I am not unchaste . . . He
(Gabriel) said — It is a matter
decreed.”
Mary is the only woman mentioned by
name in the Holy Quran. In Chapter 66
verses 11-12, the example of a true
believer is given in the personage of
two women — one was the wife of
Pharaoh (adversary to Moses) and the
other is Mary. Muslims are of the view
that Mary holds the highest honor and
dignity among women, and they
religiously follow the utterance of her
name with the incantation “may Allah
be pleased with her.”
In a well known historical incident
during the early days of Islam, some
Muslims fled the persecution in Mecca
and sought shelter in the neighboring
Christian nation of Abyssinia. As
Meccan authorities pursued to
apprehend the party, they appealed to
the King of Abyssinia who summoned
the Muslim refugees to his court.
However, upon listening to one of the
refugee recite verses 19:19-21 of the
Holy Quran in honor of Mary and
Jesus, he felt unable to release the
party to their persecutors even at risk
of severing diplomatic ties.
5. The Return of Jesus in the End of
Days
Perhaps the most fascinating
commonality between the two
religions is the belief that Jesus Christ
will return during the End Times. Both
religions share prophecies that his
return will be in part to address
immorality, conflict, and injustices
during the final epoch of human
history. And both religions share a
messianic creed that the Messiah will
put an end to religious conflict and
usher an era of world peace.
For Ahmadi-Muslims like myself, this
takes on an even greater dimension.
Ahmadi Muslims believe that the
prophecies of the return of Jesus are
allegorical and were fulfilled in the
person of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad
(1835-1908) from Qadian, India.
Ahmadi-Muslims, who today bear
terrible persecution in some countries,
take inspiration from the
determination and perseverance of the
early Christians who bore through
similar hardships and ultimately
triumphed over their persecutors.

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