Column: Dr Mohammed Fahim, Qur'ani Murkuz Trust - Good Friday: An Islamic perspective
PUBLISHED: 08:30 13 April 2019
My seven year old grandson said to me: "Grandpa do you know that Easter is a very sad occasion?"
I asked him: “Why?”
He replied: “Because Jesus died on the cross.”
So I told him the following:
Muslims believe that every Friday is a Good Friday. Prophet Mohammed pbuh said: “The most prominent of the days (literally the leader of the days) is Friday and the most honoured in God’s sight.
“It is more honoured in God’s sight than the day of breaking the fast or the day of sacrifice. It has five significant merits: God created Adam on this day, on this day God sent Adam down to the earth, on this day God caused Adam to die, on this day there is a time during which if anyone asks anything of God it will be granted to him unless he asks for something which is forbidden and on this day the Hour of Judgement will be established. There are no angels close to God or sky or earth or wind or mountain or sea who are not worried concerning the day of Friday.”
Muslims also believe that God saved and raised Jesus unto Himself on Good Friday. The Quranic teaching is that Christ was not crucified nor killed, notwithstanding certain apparent circumstances which produced that illusion in the minds of some of his enemies, that disputations, doubts, and conjectures on such matters are vain, and that he was taken up to God in body and soul.
The saving of Jesus is an occasion to celebrate by giving thanks to God as the saving of Moses and the Israelites from Pharaoh. This made my grandson so happy.