WHEN WAS PROPHET ISA (JESUS) BORN?

Nearly a decade ago, the book written by the Pope under the title "Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narratives" rekindled the debates on the birth date of the prophet Isa (Jesus). Historical and religious sources do not give much information on this subject. Neither the birth day nor the birth year of the prophet Isa is known.
 

The night of 24–25 December, Christmas, is accepted as the birthday of the prophet Isa. This is according to the Catholics, Protestants, Syriacs, and Greeks, who rely on the Gregorian calendar arranged by Pope Gregory. The Russian, Balkan, and Armenian churches celebrate Christmas on the night of 6–7 January. For they use the Julian calendar belonging to Julius Caesar. There is a 13-day difference between the two calendars. Celebrations begin 24 days earlier (50 days for Armenians). These days, fasting is practiced.

From Mithra to Christmas

The ancient Romans mourned that the sun abandoned them in winter; and on 25 December, when the days began to lengthen, they held great and immoral festivities in honor of the sun’s liberation. This is the birthday of Mithra, the God of Light. Due to this habit, the first Christians would even salute the sun when entering the church on that day. In the time of the Roman emperor Constantine, 25 December was celebrated as the birth of the prophet Isa. In the year 354, by the decision of the bishop of Rome, Liberius, this celebration became official. Thus another ancient pagan custom was Christianized with the slogan “Jesus is our sun.” Moreover, considering that most people were farmers or fishermen, it is more logical for Christmas to be celebrated in winter.

The naming of this night as Christmas/Noel is from the year 597. Christ is the name of the prophet Isa. It comes from the Greek Christos meaning savior. Mass means to enter the body. The French word Noel comes from the Latin word nativitatis/natalis meaning birth. In the year 525, Pope Dionysius determined the hitherto unknown milad (birth year) of the prophet Isa as the 754th Roman year. This corresponds to the year AD 1. The year zero was skipped, so as not to be disrespectful (or because zero was not known in Europe at the time). Pope Benedictus, taking Kepler’s theory into consideration, said that it could be 6–7 years earlier. According to the Gospel, the Iranian astrologers, who saw a great star rise in the sky and associated it with the birth of a great man, came to Jerusalem; they saw the prophet Isa in the cradle. On 25 March, 6–7 years BC, the planets Jupiter and Saturn met in the zodiac belt. What the astrologers saw must have been this.

There is no definite information about the birthday of the prophet Isa. According to the Gospel of Luke (2/4–8), when the prophet Isa was born, shepherds were grazing their flocks in the fields day and night. Whereas this is not possible in winter. In the year AD 6–7 the emperor Augustus ordered a census to be taken (Luke 2/1–3). Everyone went to their hometown for this. Maryam bint Imran (Virgin Mary) also went with her fiancé Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem, 150 km away. Putting aside the fact that a pregnant woman could not make such a journey on a winter day, it is not reasonable that an emperor who did not interfere with local administration would expect the Jews—who were always ready to rebel—to make a long journey for a census in winter. According to the report, the prophet Yahya (John) was born at the Passover Festival (15 April) and six months before his cousin Isa. The Qur’an states that Maryam bint Imran gave birth during the season of fresh dates (Maryam: 22–25). From all this, it appears that the prophet Isa was born in October during the Festival of Sukkot.

Is Only the Day Unknown?

Not only the birthday of the prophet Isa, but even his birth year is not known. Some says he was born in the time of the Roman governor Herod (Herodes) who died in the year 4 BC (Matthew 2/1) and some says he was born during the census ordered by Augustus in AD 6 (Luke 2/1–3). But there were several Herods and several Augustuses. The census was also conducted several times. The Roman histories—which narrate every event in the finest detail—give not the slightest clue on this matter in the volumes that concern that era. The first to mention a person resembling the prophet Isa is Tacitus (AD 55–120). In 1947, documents in Hebrew were found in the Qumran cave on the shores of the Dead Sea in Jordan, and it was revealed that these were texts of the Holy Scripture; and according to the dates and descriptions in these documents, it was seen that a person very similar to the prophet Isa had lived about a century and a half before Christ. These documents, which came into the hands of the Syrian Patriarch of Jerusalem and whose contents were carefully guarded, were purchased by the Israelis after a long struggle and recently placed in the Jerusalem Museum. It has been understood that they belonged to the Essenes, who had settled there escaping Roman persecution.

Islamic authors give different lengths of time between the prophet Isa and the prophet Muhammad. From Salman, Ibn Abbas, Muqatil, Qatadah, and Ibn Ishaq there is the narration of 600 years; from Muammar, al-Kalby, and Mujahid, 540 years; from al-Dahhak, 440 years. Some histories write that the prophet Isa was born 65 years after Alexander the Great defeated Darius. This war was in 334 BC. In the book Mawahib-i Ladunniyya it is stated: According to Ibn Asakir, who reported from al-Sha‘bi, there were 963 years between the prophet Isa and the prophet Muhammad.

Imam al-Ghazali says that the time between the two prophets is not less than a thousand years. He says it because for according to the hadith, the interval between every ulu’l-azm prophet is a thousand years. Imam Rabbani says: When it was reported to Plato in Palestine that the prophet Isa had appeared, he (Plato) famously said, “We are pure people; we have no need for someone to purify us.” Accordingly, the prophet Isa lived in the time of Plato, who died in the year 347 BC. Since the lessons of the Greek philosopher are famous, his death date is believed; but since the prophet Isa came secretly into the world, remained in the world for a short time, and was raised to the heavens, since few believed in him, and since the followers of Isa (Christians) were few and lived secretly for centuries, the date of Christmas may have not been correctly understood. Whenever it may be, the birth of Isa  is worthy of congratulations.