Christmas Who’s Who: Jesus was Jewish, Was Muhammad a Christian or a Jew?

Jesus was Jewish 

He was born in Bethlehem, a Palestinian city which is now in the West Bank under Israeli military occupation.

Jesus is a Palestinian from Galilee.  Jesus was considered as a Jewish rabbi (teacher). He also preached his oral message in synagogues in Galilee. 

Jesus was referred to as “Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth”. 

Both Joseph and Mary were Jews. 

Jesus was Aramaic speaking.

Aramaic was a Semitic language of communication and trade in the Levant. Aramaic is still spoken in certain parts of  Syria. Arabic and Hebrew are related to Aramaic.

Jesus was a Jew, so that the first attempts to understand his message took place within the context of Judaism. The New Testament was written in Greek, but the language Jesus and his disciples usually spoke seems to have been Aramaic, a Semitic tongue related to Hebrew but not identical with it. Aramaic words and phrases are scattered throughout the Gospels and other early Christian books, reflecting the language in which various sayings and liturgical formulas had been repeated before the transition to Greek became complete (Jesus Many Face, PBS)

Jesus was not born on Christmas Day

There is no evidence that Jesus was born on December 25th.  Historians confirm that Christmas was borrowed from pagan celebrations.

The Romans had their mid-winter Saturnalia festival in late December; barbarian peoples of northern and western Europe kept holidays at similar times. To top it off, in 274 C.E., the Roman emperor Aurelian established a feast of the birth of Sol Invictus (the Unconquered Sun), on December 25. Christmas, …

According to this theory, early Christians deliberately chose these dates to encourage the spread of Christmas and Christianity throughout the Roman world: If Christmas looked like a pagan holiday, more pagans would be open to both the holiday and the God whose birth it celebrated. (Biblical History Archive)

Judaism, Christianity and Islam

(Mohamed) Muḥammad, born 570 AD: Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim.

Muhammad viewed Christians and Jews, as “People of the Book” referring to the Old Testament.

Muslims consider that Jesus was a prophet and a Messiah. So were Abraham and Moses.

Muhammad was influenced by Nestorian Christians in Arabia and the Levant (al Sham):

The Nestorians … established schools in many towns. In their monasteries monks could be heard chanting their offices, so that the Arabs became accustomed to seeing the monks at pray day and night, …  The monastery at Hira was established by the Nestorians in the fifth century, and from thence Christianity was carried to Bahrayn. While Muhammad was a young man, King Nu’man of Hira was converted to Christianity. The church in the east was predominately Nestorian, though a fair number of Monophysites were to be found there. (Guillaume, “Islam”, p. 15)

Bahira, a Nestorian Christian monk who lived in Al Sham (Syria) is considered to have influenced Muhammad.

Muhammed sought to unify the Pagan, Jewish and Christian tribes of Arabia.

Reverse the Tide of War and Global Poverty

Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Pagans, Atheists, the various communities of faith around the World:

The Obama administration seeks to create sectarian divisions as an instrument of imperial conquest.

On Christmas, let us remember what unites humanity in terms of fundamental values against the imperial architects of global warfare and poverty, not to mention the lies and fabrications of the corporate media which seek to divide us.

Christmas greetings from Global Research.

Let us celebrate Christmas and the New Year together in the spirit of World Peace, Solidarity and Social Justice.

Consider a Christmas donation to Global Research.

It will be used to further the causes of  World Peace and Truth in Media

Without our readers support, we would not be here.


Comment on Global Research Articles on our Facebook page

Become a Member of Global Research


About the author:

Michel Chossudovsky is an award-winning author, Professor of Economics (emeritus) at the University of Ottawa, Founder and Director of the Centre for Research on Globalization (CRG), Montreal, Editor of Global Research. He has taught as visiting professor in Western Europe, Southeast Asia, the Pacific and Latin America. He has served as economic adviser to governments of developing countries and has acted as a consultant for several international organizations. He is the author of 13 books. He is a contributor to the Encyclopaedia Britannica. His writings have been published in more than twenty languages. In 2014, he was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit of the Republic of Serbia for his writings on NATO's war of aggression against Yugoslavia. He can be reached at [email protected]

Disclaimer: The contents of this article are of sole responsibility of the author(s). The Centre for Research on Globalization will not be responsible for any inaccurate or incorrect statement in this article. The Centre of Research on Globalization grants permission to cross-post Global Research articles on community internet sites as long the source and copyright are acknowledged together with a hyperlink to the original Global Research article. For publication of Global Research articles in print or other forms including commercial internet sites, contact: [email protected]

www.globalresearch.ca contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available to our readers under the provisions of "fair use" in an effort to advance a better understanding of political, economic and social issues. The material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving it for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes other than "fair use" you must request permission from the copyright owner.

For media inquiries: [email protected]