eucharist

Behold! the disciples, said: "O Jesus the son of Mary! can thy Lord send down to us a table set (with viands) from heaven?" Said Jesus: "Fear Allah, if ye have faith."

"And behold! I inspired the disciples to have faith in Me and Mine Messenger. they said, 'We have faith, and do thou bear witness that we bow to Allah as Muslims'".

They said: "We only wish to eat thereof and satisfy our hearts, and to know that thou hast indeed told us the truth; and that we ourselves may be witnesses to the miracle."

Said Jesus the son of Mary: "O Allah our Lord! Send us from heaven a table set (with viands), that there may be for us - for the first and the last of us - a solemn festival and a sign from thee; and provide for our sustenance, for thou art the best Sustainer (of our needs)." (Quran: 5:111-114)

From my perspective as someone coming from a church background, one of the most striking aspects of Islam, especially when I was first learning about it, was how old Judeo-Christian elements were rearranged in "new" ways which were fresh yet familiar. Joseph and his brothers. Moses and Pharaoh. Noah and the flood. In some cases, like the doctrine of the immaculate conception of Mary the similarities are fairly clear. In the case of something like the non-crucifixion of Jesus the differences are quite radical.

The miracle described in the above provocative passage from the Quran seems to fall somewhere in the middle. At once, it is reminiscent of Christ (as) feeding the multitudes, Moses (as) calling down manna from heaven, and even of the "daily bread" mentioned in the Our Father. But an argument can also be made that it refers to the Christian celebration of the eucharist. Heavenly food. A solemn festival. For the first of us (followers of Christ) and the last of us (the later generations of Christians). I might even suggest that from a spiritual perspective the Quran is actually evoking all of these associations at once. Just as there are other examples in Islam of entire worlds of meaning being compressed and represented by simpler elements. (allahu alim)