The Gospels repeatedly say that Jesus was only sent to the Jews, he ignored the Gentile woman. Apparently, Jesus interacted with the Gentiles on their desperation, he never preached the Gospel to them:
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of
Jesus publicly healed a Jewish woman, but ignored the Gentile woman.
On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, "Woman, you are set free from your infirmity." Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised.God..(Luke.13:10-13)
The Jewish woman did not have to plea; Jesus healed without any desperation on the woman’s part!
Regarding Matt. 15:23-25, the scholar John Gill states the following:
But he answered her not a word,.... Not that he did not hear her, or that he despised either her person or petition, or that he was not moved with it; but to continue her importunity, and try her faith, and make it manifest: for like reasons the Lord does not always, and immediately, answer the requests of his people. This giving her no answer, either that he would, or would not help her, carried in it a tacit repulse of her, and a denial of assistance to her; and it seems as if she did for a while desist from her application to him, and betook herself to his disciples to plead with him for her:
Why would Jesus ignore the Gentile woman to test her faith? This doesn’t make sense, the daughter was demon-possessed, and she needed spiritual care. He only heals the woman’s daughter after she spoke eloquent words:
A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession." Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of
Jesus would’ve rejected the woman, unless she spoke eloquently.
It is particularly troubling since Jesus has already healed an “outsider”, the demoniac from the and depicts Jesus as a thoroughly racist and uncaring figure.Jesus’ response to her in v.27 is one of the most troubling Christological verses in the Synoptic Gospels. It reflects the contempt for the Jews for “heathens”
The Jewish woman don’t have to speak eloquently, Jesus heals them instantly!
Yet the Prophet Muhammad never ignored anyone, not even the non-Arabs. He said all human beings are equal, regardless of race and color.
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white - except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belogs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not therefore do injustice to yourselves. Remember one day you will meet Allah and answer your deeds. So beware: do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone. (The Last Sermon, source)
The Holy Quran says:
O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that ye may know each other (not that ye may despise (each other). Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you. And Allah has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things). (Al-Quran 49:13)
How Jesus and Muhammad treated Children:
The Prophet Muhammad loved children, he used to play with children, and spend lots of time with them. These Hadiths demonstrate the Prophet’s deep compassionate love for children.
I went along with Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) at a time during the day but he did not talk to me and I did not talk to him until he reached the market of Banu Qainuqa`. He came back to the tent of Fatimah and said, “Is the little chap (meaning Al-Hasan) there?” We were under the impression that his mother had detained him in order to bathe him and dress him and garland him with sweet garland. Not much time had passed that he (Al-Hasan) came running until both of them embraced each other, thereupon Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “O Allah, I love him; love him and love one who loves him.” (Muslim)
Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him), the servant of the Prophet, had another recollection:
I never saw anyone who was more compassionate towards children than Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). His son Ibrahim was in the care of a wet nurse in the hills around Madinah. He would go there, and we would go with him, and he would enter the house, pick up his son and kiss him, then come back. (Muslim)
The Prophet’s love for children was not restricted to his children and grandchildren. The scope of his mercy and affection embraced all children, and he showed the same interest and gentleness to his Companion’s children. The following hadith narrated by Usamah ibn Zaid (may Allah be pleased with him) shows this humane aspect of the Prophet’s personality:
Allah’s Messenger used to put me on (one of) his thighs and put Al-Hasan ibn `Ali on his other thigh, and then embrace us and say, “O Allah! Please be merciful to them, as I am merciful to them.” (Bukhari)
Some people who were not able to understand the power of expressing love to children wondered why the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) played with children and took such an interest in them. Narrated Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him),
Allah’s Messenger kissed Al-Hasan ibn `Ali while Al-Aqra` ibn Habis At-Tamim was sitting with him . Al-Aqra` said, “I have ten children and have never kissed one of them.” The Prophet cast a look at him and said, “Whoever is not merciful to others will not be treated mercifully.” (Al-Bukhari)
The Prophet was always concerned about everyone’s thought and feeling. The following hadith narrated by Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) proves his thoughtful character:
The Prophet said, “(It happens that) I start the prayer intending to prolong it, but on hearing the cries of a child, I shorten the prayer because I know that the cries of the child will incite its mother’s passions.” (Al-Bukhari)
The Prophet was always patient and considerate with children and took great pain not to hurt their tender feelings.
Narrated Abu Qatadah: “The Messenger of Allah came towards us while carrying Umamah the daughter of Abi Al-`As (Prophet’s granddaughter) over his shoulder. He prayed, and when he wanted to bow, he put her down, and when he stood up he lifted her up.” (Al-Bukhari)
In a another hadith,
Narrated Umm Khalid: I (the daughter of Khalid ibn Said) went to Allah’s Messenger with my father and I was wearing a yellow shirt. Allah’s Messenger said, “Sanah, Sanah!” (`Abdullah, the narrator, said that sanah meant “good” in the Ethiopian language). I then started playing with the seal of prophethood (between the Prophet’s shoulders) and my father rebuked me harshly for that. Allah’s Messenger said, “Leave her.” The Prophet, then, invoked Allah to grant her a long life thrice. (Al-Bukhari)
In another narration we see the Prophet’s tolerance towards children.
Narrated `A’ishah: The Prophet took a child in his lap … and then the child urinated on him, so he asked for water and poured it over the place of the urine. (Al-Bukhari)
Finally I would like to add another saying of the Prophet that proves that Muslims should be conscious to treat their sons and daughters justly:
“Fear Allah and treat your children [small or grown] fairly (with equal justice).” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
From all the above hadith we see Prophet Muhammad’s attitude toward children is an example for the whole human race that shows how to treat them and cherish them at all times.
(Source: http://www.islamonline.net/english/IN_DEPTH/mohamed/1424/MANNERS/article17.shtml)
On the other hand, Jesus promoted the killing of enemies (Luke 19:27), he killed innocent children (Rev. 2:23), and the Infancy Gospel records that Jesus was a child-killer.
Jesus ordered the killing of apostates:
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (John 15:5-6)
Jesus ordered the killings of enemies and apostates:
But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me." (Luke 19:27)
Luke is the only gospel to record the saying. Matthew and Mark knew the saying but deliberately excluded it.
The Book of Revelations depicts Jesus as a child-killer.
Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works. (Revelations 2:22-23)
It doesn’t matter that Jesus murdered the children of a prostitute. The Old Testament upholds the killing of Babylonian babies just because the Babylonians enslaved the Israelites. Here is the passage:
O daughter of
There is no justification for holding the children responsible for the crimes of elders. Children are not responsible for the crimes of their parents (Deu. 24:16), so Jesus is guilty for killing innocent children.
Here is Matthew Henry’s commentary on Revelations 2:23
I will kill her children with death; that is, the second death, which does the work effectually, and leaves no hope of future life, no resurrection for those that are killed by the second death, but only to shame and everlasting contempt.
The apocryphal Gospel of Jesus reports that Jesus murdered children his own age:
“…Another apocryphal work of interest is the Gospel of the Infancy of Jesus Christ, which dates from no later than the second century and possibly from before. In this book Jesus is portrayed as a brilliant but eminently human child. All too human perhaps – for he is violent and unruly, prone to shocking displays of temper and a rather irresponsible exercise of his powers. Indeed, on one occasion he strikes dead another child who offends him. A similar fate is visited upon an autocratic mentor. Such incidents are undoubtedly spurious, but they attest to the way in which, at the time, Jesus had to be depicted if he were to attain divine status amongst his following. (Michael Baigent, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, p. 390)
The Popularity of Jesus and Muhammad
The Greek and Roman historians do not mention the Gospel events which indicate these are fables. Amazingly, even the Jewish philosopher Philo (50 CE) fails to mention the resurrection of Jesus.
“We have here a good example of the credulity of Western man. For two thousand years he has been reading about this convulsion and “darkness over all the earth” without ever questioning it or demanding proof of it. Yet had it happened, would not some of those able historians have recorded it? Why did they not?” (Deceptions & Myths of the Bible, Lloyd Graham p. 349)
“I wish all fundamentalists would take special note that while these quite public, literally stupendous events are alleged to have taken place, not a single other contemporary source can be found to corroborate or confirm them --- even though this was at a time and in a place where capable observers, recorders of remarkable happenings, historians, and others were in no way lacking. There is not a smidgeon of a trace of historicity to be found”. (Tom Harper, The Pagan Christ, p. 149)
The Gospels try to explain that Jesus was very popular (Matt. 4:24, 9:26). Yet he was rejected (John 1:11), his own disciples forsook him (Matt. 26:56, John 6:66), and the Pharisees rejected him despite that he was Pharisee himself.
Jesus was not very popular; many Greek and Roman historians do not record his miracles. After the departure of Jesus, his teachings spread to North Africa and
Philo-Judaeus (
Seneca (
Plutarch (
Apollonius (
Epictetus (
Silius Italicus (
Ptolemy (
The scholar Muhammad Ataur-Raheem says:
The more people have tried to discover who Jesus really was the more it has been found how little is known about him. There are limited records of his teachings and some of his actions, but very little is known about how he actually lived his life from moment to moment and how he conducted his everyday transactions with other people…Certainly, the pictures many people have given of Jesus - of who he was and what he did - are distorted ones. Although there is some truth in them, it has been established that the four accepted Gospels have not only been altered and censored through the ages but also are not eyewitness accounts. (Jesus Prophet of Islam, p. 5)
The Prophet Muhammad, on the other hand, was very popular, and his teachings spread to other lands, He sent various letters to non-Muslim kings, rulers, and emperors. These letters are preserved and exist today in its original form.
And look at the history of that era and you will find that no other people were more suited for the endowment of this prophethood than the Arabs. Great nations of the world had been struggling hard for world supremacy, and in this long struggle and incessant strife, they had exhausted all their resources and vitality. The Arabs were a fresh and virile people. The so-called social progress had produced bad habits among the advanced nations, while among the Arabs no such social organization existed, and they were, therefore, free from the inactivity, debasement, and indulgences arising out of luxury and sensual satiety.
The pagan Arabs of the fifth century had not been affected by the evil influence of the artificial systems and civilization of the great nations of the world. They processed all the good human qualities, which the people untouched by the “social progress” of the time ought to possess. They were brave, fearless, generous, faithful to their promises, lovers of freedom, and were politically independent—not subject to the hegemony of the imperial powers. They lived a very simple life and were strangers to the life of luxury and indulgence.
No doubt, there were certain undesirable aspects of their life as well, but the reason for the existence of such aspects was that for thousands of years no prophet had risen among them, nor had there appeared a reformer who might have civilized them and purged their moral life of all evil impurities. Centuries of free and independent life in sandy deserts had bred and nourished extreme ignorance among them. They had, therefore, become so hardhearted and firm in their traditions of ignorance that to make them human was not the task of an ordinary man.
At the same time, however, they did possess a capacity that if some person of extraordinary powers were to invite them for reform and give them a noble ideal and a complete program, they would accept his call and readily rise to act effectively for the achievement of such a goal, and spare no strife for or sacrifice in the cause. They would be prepared to face without the least scruple even the hostility of the entire world in the cause of their mission. And verily it was such a young, forceful, and virile people that were needed for disseminating the teachings of the World Prophet: Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).
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