Jesus
A Story by Jamil Momand

Jesus was a prophet who lived about 600 years before Prophet Muhammad.  He was born to Mary through a miracle and did not have a father.   Because Mary did not have a husband at the time of Jesus's birth many people thought that Mary had committed a sin.  Jesus defended his mother and said, "I am indeed a servant of God.  He has given me revelation and made me a prophet.  He has blessed me and has told me to pray and give charity as long as I live.  He has made me kind to my mother and not overbearing . . ."  Jesus grew up trying to teach people about God.  He had several disciples who helped him spread his message.  One day his disciples wanted to see a miracle to prove to themselves that Jesus was really a prophet.  They asked him to bring a table from heaven that was set with food and beverage.  Jesus warned them that if God were to make this miracle happen they would take on a heavy responsibility.  If they failed to believe in God after such a miracle they could expect a harsh punishment on the Day of Judgement.  The disciples agreed to that responsibility and soon after that God brought down the table.

God also revealed a book called the Gospel to Jesus to teach the people the way of God.  In Arabic the Gospel is called the Injil.  The Gospel was the word of God at the time of Jesus but later, parts of this book were changed.  Some of parts of the Gospel were deleted and other changes occured during its translation to different languages.  The original language of the Gospel was Aramaic.  This was translated into Latin and from Latin it was translated into English.

Jesus also performed many miracles.  He once took a clay bird, breathed into it and it became alive.  He could heal the blind and cure people of a disease called leprosy which eats away at the skin.  All of these miracles were performed by God's permission.

Whenever a prophet teaches his people about the oneness of God and urges them to accept the message from God he puts his life at risk.  There will be people who do not like the message and will try to harm or even kill them.  Such was the case with Jesus.  Some people tried to kill him but God saved Jesus and did not allow him to be killed.