Question 3. Perception of Jesus

About a few days ago, I became aware of a certain video named "The Innocence of Muslims." The film has offended millions of Muslims everywhere around the world, as evident of the protests-especially the ones in Libya and Egypt. According to reports on Yahoo and Wikipedia, the film contains anti-Islamic, depicting the Islamic Prophet Muhammad as a pedophile, womanizer, and that other s**t that people seem to relate this man to.

This is not the first time something like this is happened. Back in the 1980's, Salman Rushdie released a book known as the Satanic Verses, which caused much of the same reaction which we see today in the Middle East. Around 2005, a few Danish newspapers released cartoons of Muhammad, depicting him as a terrorist. Like Rushdie's book, this caused protests within the Middle East and other Muslim countries.

Now, if Muslims are so offended about insults of Muhammad, a question came up in my mind: How come you don't hear Muslims beating down on Jesus, the Christian Son of God?

The answer was obvious to me because I've known about for a while. This is something that most people that I've met, Muslims included, aren't aware of: Jesus is one of our prophets in Islam.

Yes, you heard me: Jesus, the guy who's believed to be the Son of God by Christians, is one of the prophets of Islam.

Within Islam, Isa (Jesus' name in Islam) is believed to be born of Mary without any male intervention (basically, no sex). However, he's not believed to be the son of God. Instead, Allah (the Islamic god) just willed Isa into Mary's womb, to put it simply. Isa performed miracles (bringing life to the dead, healing the lepers and the blind, etc.) through Allah's permission.

Furthermore, Muslims believe he is the Messiah (not the same Messiah as Christians may see it), and we also believe he was never crucified. In the Qur'an and Sunnah (sayings of Muhammad, written down by his followers), it states that the guy who was crucified was a double. Finally, it's believed that Allah took Isa up into heaven, waiting for the day he would return.

As for Christians, they believe Jesus to be the son of God, conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary. He was made the Messiah and meant to die for humanity's sins. That was obvious for me, since I live in America.

Now here's my question:

For what sins did Jesus die for? Did Jesus die for the sins made before his death and resurrection? Do Christian sects view Jesus differently, or is it all the same view?

I'm asking this because it's to my understanding that Jesus died to forgiven the original sin, the sin made by Adam and Eve. However, I'm not complete sure if that is correct, so I'm asking this question.

Also, is it to my understanding that the main Jewish belief is that Jesus is not the son of God or the Messiah. Some Jews also believe that Mary was raped and gave birth to Jesus, making him an illegitimate child.

However, I've heard a few rumors of a Jewish sect who believe Jesus is the Messiah. Is that true? If it is, how does that sect view Jesus? Do they see him as the Son of God?

Again, I'm not trying to offend anyone's religion. While recent events have offended me, I know that taking it out on other people will not make it better. I need to follow the guidelines which I put down in the first post and I ask for you dear readers to do the same. Hopefully, there will be more people who can see through the insults and use their understanding to stop this nonsense from happening again. Thank you.

-Wandering Scholar