LESSONS FROM JESUS CHRIST — To Forgive and Forbear

LESSONS FROM JESUS CHRIST To Forgive And Forbear W E find from the Quran and Hadith that a large number of God’s messengers were sent to different nations and regions. Nearly all of these prophets are unknown from the historical point of view. The records of their contemporaries make no mention of them or their work. It is as if these prophets and the incidents connected with their lives were thought not worthy of being mentioned. Without a doubt, the prophets are examples of the loftiest human character. But because of the unpredictable nature of History, only events largely connected with people in power have been recorded, thus depriving posterity of the precious details of the lives of the prophets. The Quran revealed this lost chapter for the first time in history. It might seem that a recital of the facts relating to the life and mission of the Prophet of Islam would have sufficed, but there was a very good reason for making frequent mention of other prophets and also testifying to their having received God’s guidance, a blessing that exalted them above all other creatures. It was so that the Prophet of Islam and his ummah might learn valuable lessons from the ways in which these prophets dealt with the situations in which they found themselves. In the Quran, the Prophet of Islam is thus addressed: These are whom God guided aright, so follow their guidance. THE QURAN 6:90 Every one of the prophets mentioned in the Quran was an upright man, guided by God along a straight path. The Quran mentions a number of these prophets by name—Ibrahim (Abraham), Ishaq (Isaac), Yaqub (Jacob), Nuh (Noah), Dawood (David), Sulaiman (Solomon), Ayyub (Job), Yousuf (Joseph), Musa (Moses), Haroon (Aaron), Zakariya (Zachariah), Isa (Jesus), Ismail, Yahya (John the Baptist), Younus (Jonah), and Lut (Lot) peace be upon them all God has also instructed us not to differentiate between the prophets as they essentially brought the same message to mankind (2:285).