The Gospel of Barnabas

One of them came to him, saying: 'Good master, thou teaches well and truly; tell me therefore, in paradise what reward shall God give us?'

    Jesus answered: 'Thou callest me good, and knowest not that God alone is good, even as said Job, the friend of God: "A child of a day old is not clean; yea, even the angels are not faultless in God's presence." Moreover he said: "The flesh attracteth sin, and sucketh up iniquity even as a sponge sucketh up water."

   Wherefore the priest was silent, being confounded. And Jesus said: 'Verily I say unto you, naught is more perilous than speech. For so said Solomon: "Life and death are in the power of the tongue."'

   And he turned to his disciples, and said: 'Beware of those who bless you, because they deceive you. With the tongue Satan blessed our first parents, but miserable was the outcome of his words. So did the sages of Egypt bless Pharaoh. So did Goliath bless the Philistines. So did four hundred false prophets bless Ahab; but false were their praises, so that the praised one perished with the praisers. Wherefore not without cause did God say by Isaiah the prophet: "My people, those that bless thee deceive thee."

   'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees; woe unto you, priests and Levites, because ye have corrupted the sacrifice of the Lord, so that those who come to sacrifice believe that Go eateth cooked flesh like unto a man.'

 

An Islamic Perspective and Commentary
by
Ishaq Zahid

    Islam condemns hypocrisy. One of the "qualities" of the hypocrites mentioned by Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) is that when such a person speaks, he lies. Allah's punishment on a hypocrite is sever. Having said that, the statement about a day old child being unclean may lead someone to reinforce the Christian concept of "born in sin." In Islam, every child is born good and on the right path. It is only later that his or her parents and the surrounding society help the child turn a believer or a disbeliever.