As ‘ISA1 passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
3‘ISA answered, “Neither did this man sin, nor his parents; but, that the works of God2 might be revealed in him. 4I must work the works of him who sent me, while it is day. The night is coming, when no one can work. 5While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6When he had said this, he spat on the ground, made mud with the saliva, anointed the blind man’s eyes with the mud, 7and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he went away, washed, and came back seeing. 8The neighbours therefore, and those who saw that he was blind before, said, “Isn’t this he who sat and begged?” 9Others were saying, “It is he.” Still others were saying, “He looks like him.”
He said, “I am he.” 10They therefore were asking him, “How were your eyes opened?”
11He answered, “A man called ‘ISA made mud, anointed my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash.’ So I went away and washed, and I received sight.”
12Then they asked him, “Where is he?”
He said, “I do not know.”
13They brought him who had been blind to the Pharisees. 14It was a Sabbath when ‘ISA made the mud and opened his eyes. 15Again therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and I see.”
16Some therefore of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath.” Others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” There was division among them. 17Therefore they asked the blind man again, “What do you say about him, because he opened your eyes?”
He said, “He is a prophet.”
18The Jews therefore did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and had received his sight, until they called the parents of him who had received his sight, 19and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?”
20His parents answered them, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; 21but how he now sees, we do not know; or who opened his eyes, we do not know. He is of age. Ask him. He will speak for himself.” 22His parents said these things because they feared the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that if any man would confess him as AL-MASIH3, he would be put out of the synagogue. 23Therefore his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24So they called the man who was blind a second time, and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.”
25He therefore answered, “I do not know if he is a sinner. One thing I do know: that though I was blind, now I see.”
26They said to him again, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?”
27He answered them, “I told you already, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You do not also want to become his disciples, do you?”
28They insulted him and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Musa. 29We know that God has spoken to Musa. But as for this man, we don’t even know where he comes from.”
30The man answered them, “How amazing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshipper of God, and does his will, he listens to him. 32Since the world began it has never been heard of that anyone opened the eyes of someone born blind. 33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.”
34They answered him, “You were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us?” They threw him out.
35‘ISA heard that they had thrown him out, and finding him, he said, “Do you believe in the SON OF GOD4?”
36He answered, “Who is he, Lord, that I may believe in him?”
37‘ISA said to him, “You have both seen him, and it is he who is speaking with you.”
38He said, “Lord, I believe!” and he worshiped him.
39‘ISA said, “I came into this world for judgment, that those who do not see may see; and that those who see may become blind.”
40Those of the Pharisees who were with him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?”
41‘ISA said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.
- 9:1 ‘ISA – The names ‘ISA (Arabic), ISHO (Syriac) and JESUS (Greek, IESOUS) are all derived from the Hebrew name YEHOSHUA, which means “YAHWEH saves.” (YAHWEH is God’s personal name revealed to Prophet Musa in the Taurat, Exodus 3:15 – God said moreover to Musa, “You shall tell Bani-Israel this, ‘YAHWEH, the God of your fathers, the God of Ibrahim, the God of Ishaq, and the God of Yaqub, has sent me to you.’ This is my Name forever, and this is how I am to be remembered to all generations.”) ↩︎
- 9:3 God, English translation of theos. It is the Greek equivalent of elohim and eloah (Hebrew) which are related to allah (Arabic) and alaha (Syriac), all of which translate as “God,” and refer to the one true God. ↩︎
- 9:22 AL-MASIH – an Arabic title equivalent to the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Greek), all of which mean the Anointed One, that is, God’s Chosen One. In ancient times, divinely-appointed kings, priests and prophets were anointed with oil to signify their appointment to office. All of them point ahead to God’s ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah, AL-MASIH. Al-Kitab unanimously points to ‘ISA Ibn Maryam as the only person worthy to bear the title AL-MASIH. He is the one whom God sent into this world to save people from sin, and to usher in God’s Kingdom at his Second Coming. ↩︎
- 9:35 SON OF GOD, a title of the Messiah, ‘ISA AL-MASIH, revealed through Prophet Dawud in the Zabur 2:7-9, which says: I will tell of the decree. YAHWEH said to me, “You are my SON. Today I have become your FATHER. Ask of me, and I will give the nations for your inheritance, The ends of the earth for your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron. You shall dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” ↩︎