16. THE CHRISTMAS
On the 25th of December every year most of
the Christians celebrate the Christmas day, the birth day of Jesus Christ.
Christian scholars know that that date was not the real birthday of Jesus
Christ, but the birthday of the god man Attis and the sun god called Mithra, (Mitra
in India Vedic religion, Mihr in Persian, Ra, or Re in ancient Egypt, and in
Babylon he was identified with Shamash; shams in Arabic means “sun”).
The ancient Phrygo-Roman god Attis,
was parallel to Jesus, such as: Attis was born on December
25th of the Virgin Nana, was a shepherd, (like Jesus the "Good
Shepherd"), was considered the "only begotten son," and the
saviour slain for the salvation of mankind. He served as both the Divine Son
and the Father. He was "crucified" on a tree on "Black Friday.”
He descended into the underworld, and after three days, he was resurrected on
March 25th as the "Most High God."
Mithra has some characters
in common with those of Jesus, such as: Mithra was born on December 25th of the
virgin Anahita. As a baby he was placed in a manger and attended by shepherds. He had twelve companions or disciples,
performed miracles, and sacrificed himself for world peace. He ascended to heaven in his solar cart. Like Jesus he was also viewed as the Good Shepherd, the
"Way, the Truth and the Light," the Redeemer, the Saviour, and the
Messiah. He is omniscient, he sees all, hears all, and knows all. His sacred
day was Sunday. His birth date coincided with a pre-existent Pagan Roman
holiday, Saturnalia (an ancient Roman festival in honour of deity Saturn, held
from 17 to 23 December).
The Roman emperor
realized Christianity could unite the Romans and strengthen the empire. In the Church
Council of Nicaea (on the site of modern Turkey Iznik) which took place in 325
CE where 2.048 bishops with various views about the personality of Jesus, the
Emperor Constantine interfered and supported the view of 318 bishops in the
Trinity and the divinity of Jesus against the views of about 1.700 bishops.
In order to encourage the Romans to
embrace Christianity, Emperor Constantine adopted it as the official religion
of the empire, and he himself embraced Christianity. In 336 he adopted and Christianised
the festival as the birthday of Jesus as “the sun of Righteousness” so that the
Romans could continue celebrating on the 25th of December, singing
and dancing the whole night.
What we have is Biblical Jesus, not the historical Jesus. According
to Rev. Dr. Charles Anderson Scott there was no material available for the life
of historical Jesus. However, Christian scholars generally regarded as having
been born between 7 and 4 BCE.
Out of the four gospels, only Matthew and Luke
mentioned the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem; it was in the time of King Herod
according to Matthew (Matthew 2:1), whereas according to Luke he was born in
the time of Caesar Augustus (Luke 2:1). Luke did mention that it was John the
Baptist rather than Jesus who was born in the time of King Herod (Luke 1:5).
Luke said when Jesus
was born: “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping
watch their flocks at night.” (Luke 2:8).
The wise men saw a star and said: “We saw his star in the east and have
come to worship him.” (Matthew 2:2). So, according to the Bible, Jesus was born
at night with a clear sky and where shepherds tended their sheep at night,
rather in the day time. These indicated that it was not in winter (December),
but most probably in summer where it was very hot in the day time to tend
sheep, so that the shepherds tended their sheep at night with a clear sky.
According to Jewish
tradition Jesus was born in Aylūl (between July and September). The
Qur’an mentioned that Mary heard a voice telling her not to grieve as Allah had
provided a water stream under her, and to shake the trunk of date palm towards her, so that fresh ripe
dates would fall down upon her (Q. 19:24-25). This would not have been in
Winter, but in Spring or Summer. Many believed that he had been born in about the
month of August between 7 and 4 BCE.
Shaykh
Muhammad Abū Zahrah (1316-1394/1898-1974) mentions 44 parallels between Krishna and
Jesus in his book Comparative Religions, both were considered son of God
by their respective followers. Nine of them are as follows:
People
knew the birth of Krishna through a star appearing in the sky (تَارِيْخُ الْهْنْد, vol. 2,
pp. 37, 367) After Jesus was born in
Bethlehem, the wise men saw a star in the East, and came to Jerusalem to find
and worship him (Matthew 2:1-2).
When
Krishna was born the earth glorified God, the moon illuminated the earth,
spirits chanted, the angels dozed off in happiness, and the clouds sang with
melodious tone happily. (Vishnu Purana, p. 502). (When Jesus was born)
“Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel,
praising God and telling them that “… a Saviour has been born to you; he is
Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:11)
Nanda, the suitor of Devaki, Krishna’s mother, heard a
voice from the sky telling him to take the baby and his mother to take refuge
to Kakoli and to cross the river Jumna, as the king wanted to kill him (Vishnu
Purana, 3). An angel appeared to Joseph
in a dream telling him to take the child Jesus and his mother Mary to Egypt,
for king Herod wanted to kill him (Matthew 2:13)
When
the king heard the birth of a divinely baby Krishna, he ordered to kill every
male baby born on the same night he was born (دوان, p. 280). King
Herod wanted to kill the baby Jesus, asked the wise men his location, so that
“I too may go and worship him.” As the Magi
(wise men) did not tell him, he ordered to kill every boy born in Bethlehem and
its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he
had learned from the Magi (wise men) (Matthew 2:8, 13, 16)
Khrishna was the beginning, the middle and the
end of everything. (دوان, p. 282). Jesus said: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is,
and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation, 1:8)
Krishna said: “I am the light of the sun and the moon,
I am the light in the flame, and I am the light of everything that shines and
the light of the lights will not be in the darkness.’ (M. Williams. The
Religions of the Pagan Indians, p. 213). “When Jesus spoke again to the
people, he said: ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never
walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” (John 8:12).
Krishna said: “I am the one who sustains the
world, its place of refuge, and its way (دوان, p. 283). Jesus answered
[Thomas]. “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.” (John 14:6)
Krishna said: “I am the right of the right, I am the
Beginning, the Middle, the End, the Eternal, the Creator of everything, and I
am [the cause of] its annihilation and destruction.” (M. Williams. The
Religions of the Pagan Indians, p. 213). [John said: ] “When I saw him
[Jesus] I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me
and said: ‘Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One.
I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever. And I hold the keys of
death and Hades.’”(Revelation 1:17-18)
Krishna
will come in the Last Day. He will
appear as a knight equipped with weapon riding on a grey horse. When he came
the sun and the moon would become dark, the earth would shake and the stars
would fall down from the sky (دوان, 282). When
Jesus will come, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its
light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be
shaken” (Matthew 24:29)
Shaykh Muhammad Abū Zahrah mentions 46 parallels
between Buddha and Jesus in his book مُحَاضَرَاتٌ فِيْ مُقَارَنَات الأَدْيَان (Comparative
Study of Religions)[1] both of them were considered son of God by their
respective followers. We mention here ten only of them, as follows:
When
the wise men knew the secret of Buddha’s divinity they greeted him and called
him god (دوان, p.
290). When the wise men saw the baby Jesus they greeted him and called him god
(Matthew 2:1-11)
When
Buddha felt the difficulty of travelling he decided to worship and to lead a
devout life, Mara the Satan appeared to test him. (دوان, p. 292) When Jesus
started preaching Satan appeared to him to test him (Matthew 4:1-8)
Mara
the Satan told Krishna: “Do not spend your live in religious deeds, as you
would be the king of the world within seven days.” (دوان, p. 292). Satan said:
“All this [the kingdoms of the world and their splendour] I will give you, if
you will bow down and worship me.” (Matthew 4:1-9)
Buddha
did not care what Mara said. Instead, he said to him: “Go away from me!.” (دوان, p. 292). “Jesus said to him, Away from me, Satan! For it is
written, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” (Matthew 4:10).
When
Mara the Satan stopped testing Buddha the sky rained with flowers and perfumes
filling the air with their fragrance (دوان, p. 292) “Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended
him.” (Matthew 4:11)
And Buddha ascended to heaven with his body after he
has finished his work on the earth (دوان, p. 293). “…, he was taken up
before their very eyes, and a cloud had him from their sight.” (Acts 1:9)
Buddha will come again to the earth, and will bring
back peace and blessing on it (دوان, p. 293). “Men
of Galilee,” they (the two men dressed in white) said, “Why do you stand here
looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven,
will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:10)
Buddha is the Alpha and the Omega;
he has no end, the great being, the eternal. (دوان, p. 293). “In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the word was God.” (John 1:1)
Buddha said to his beloved disciple Ananda: “There is
no doubt that my words will never disappear at all, even if the heavens fell
into the earth, and the world was swallowed, the ocean became dry, and the Soumer
(سومر) mountain crashed and cut into
pieces (Bill, History of Buddhdism, p. 11) Jesus said: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words
will never pass away.” (Matthew 24:35)
When
Buddha insisted in leading a devout life while he was riding on his horse Kamthaka
the angels spread his way with flowers. ([R. Spence] Hardy, The Legends and Theories of the Buddhists,
p. 13). When Jesus entered Jerusalem some people spread their cloaks on the
road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road (Matthew
2:18).
The main similarities among
the three (Krishna, Buddha, and Jesus) are: They all ascended to heaven seen by
many people. They will return to the earth. They all claimed to be the Alpha
and Omega, the beginning and the end of everything.
(CIVIC, 23 December, 2016)
المصادر:
المكتبة الشاملة
محمد أبو زهرة: مُحَاضَرَاتٌ فِيْ مُقَارَنَاتِ
الأَدْيَان: الْقِسْمُ الأَوَّل, الدِّيَانَاتُ الْقَدِيْمَة
Holy
Bible: New International Version
Collier’s Encyclopaedia, “Christmas”
http://www.truthbeknown.com/mithra.htm
[1] The book was the collection of his lectures at the
Institute of Islamic Studies in Cairo in early 60s and was published in 1965.
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