Just what is the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit a concept that is strictly Christian? Does the Qur'an mention the Holy Spirit? These are a few question I hope to answer.
The Qur'an speaks of the Holy Spirit in the following excerpt:
We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of apostles; We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the Holy Spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you an apostle with what ye yourselves desire not, ye are puffed up with pride?- Some ye called impostors, and others ye slay! AL-BAQARAH, 2:87
Those apostles We endowed with gifts, some above others: To one of them God spoke; others He raised to degrees (of honour); to Jesus the son of Mary We gave clear (Signs), and strengthened him with the holy spirit. If God had so willed, succeeding generations would not have fought among each other, after clear (Signs) had come to them, but they (chose) to wrangle, some believing and others rejecting. If God had so willed, they would not have fought each other; but God Fulfilleth His plan. AL-BAQARAH, 2:253
Then will God say: "O Jesus the son of Mary! Recount My favour to thee and to thy mother. Behold! I strengthened thee with the holy spirit, so that thou didst speak to the people in childhood and in maturity. Behold! I taught thee the Book and Wisdom, the Law and the Gospel and behold! thou makest out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, by My leave, and thou breathest into it and it becometh a bird by My leave, and thou healest those born blind, and the lepers, by My leave. And behold! thou bringest forth the dead by My leave. And behold! I did restrain the Children of Israel from (violence to) thee when thou didst show them the clear Signs, and the unbelievers among them said: 'This is nothing but evident magic.' AL-MA'IDAH, 5:113
From the above, it seem to me that the Holy Spirit is not exclusive to Christianity. The Holy Spirit is also found in Judaism.
The Hebrew for Holy Spirit is ruah ha-kodesh and is found in Is. 63:10 and Ps. 51:13. It translate as Divine Spirit. Later, it came to means Divine inspiration in rabbinic literature. Another translation is Divine Breath. The Greek term for Holy Spirit is pneuma hagion. Pneuma is the root of the word pneumatic or air driven. This also, at least in my opinion, includes the concept of Divine Breath.
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to Lloyd Madansky's Baha'i Faith topic, please visit the Discussions page.