16 THE CHRISTMAS

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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

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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

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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 (1316-4931/1898-1974) 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 (‫ار ْي ُخ ْال ْه ْند‬ ِ ‫ َت‬, 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)

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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, 4:8) 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 41:6) 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 21:23) Shaykh Muhammad Abū Zahrah mentions 16 parallels ٌ ‫ض َر‬ between Buddha and Jesus in his book ‫ار َنات األَ ْد َيان‬ َ ‫ات فِيْ ُم َق‬ َ ‫م َُحا‬

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(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 1:44) 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 4:3) 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 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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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 )‫ (سومر‬mountain 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 21:95) 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 ٌ ‫ض َر‬ ُ ‫ ال ِّد َيا َنا‬,‫ ْالقِسْ ُم األَ َّول‬:‫ت األَ ْد َيان‬ ‫ت ْال َق ِد ْي َمة‬ ِ ‫ار َنا‬ َ ‫ات فِيْ ُم َق‬ َ ‫ م َُحا‬:‫محمد أبو زهرة‬ Holy Bible: New International Version Collier’s Encyclopaedia, “Christmas” http://www.hope-of-israel.org/cmas1.htm http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jckr1.htm http://www.truthbeknown.com/attis.html http://www.truthbeknown.com/mithra.htm