Page:A Moslem seeker after God - showing Islam at its best in the life and teaching of al-Ghazali, mystic and theologian of the eleventh century (IA moslemseekeraft00zwem).pdf/284



said: O Jesus, now you have shown your love for the world! Then Jesus picked up the stone, threw it at him and said: Take it and the world. (Vol. Ill, p. 26.) We find this reference to the days of His youth in Nazareth: " Some one said to Jesus: Who gave you your education? He replied: No one. But I beheld the ignorance of the foolish despicable and so I departed from it. " Jesus the Prophet was of those who were espe cially favoured. Among the proofs of it is this that he called down peace upon himself, for he said: Peace be on me the day I was born and the day I shall die and the day I shall be raised up alive/ And this was because of his peace of mind and his loving kindness towards men. But as for John the son of Zachariah (on him be peace), he took the place of awe and fear towards God and did not utter these words until after they were re peated to him by his Creator, who said: Peace be upon him the day he was born and the day he died and the day he was raised again/ This is an in teresting critical comment on the two passages re ferred to, which occur in the same chapter of the Koran, and I have never seen them used elsewhere as an argument for the superiority of Christ to John. (Vol. IV, p. 245.)

Al-Ghazali gives Jesus the usual titles given Him in the Koran, namely, Son of Mary, Spirit of God, Word of God, Prophet and Apostle. But these latter titles mean little because he endorses the