"And when I inspired the apostles to believe in Me and in My messenger, they said, 'We believe. Bear witness that we are submitters.' When the apostles said, 'O Jesus son of Mary! Is thy Lord able to send down to us from Heaven a table spread with food?' He said, 'Reverence God, if you are believers.' They said, 'We desire to eat from it, so that our hearts may be at peace, and we may know thou hast spoken truthfully unto us, and we may be among the witnesses thereto.' Jesus son of Mary said, 'O God, our Lord! Send down unto us a table from Heaven spread with food, to be a feast for us - for the first of us and the last of us - and a sign from Thee, and provide for us, for Thou art the best of providers.' God said, 'I shall indeed send it down unto you. But whosoever among you disbelieves thereafter, I shall surely punish him with a punishment wherewith I have not punished any other in all the worlds.'"
Quran 5:111-115
This famous passage, which essentially gives the name to the fifth surah, al-Ma'idah, "the Table Spread," is one of the two miracles associated with Jesus that appear in the Quran but not in mainstream Christianity (at least not in Pauline Christianity; they do appear in the Jewish Christian tradition, as is laid out in Mustafa Akyol's fascinating The Islamic Jesus, which I suspect I'll talk more about in the future). The other is the story of Jesus breathing life into the clay birds, which I discussed earlier. It's a fascinating section for any number of reasons, one of them being that it suggests doubt on the part of the disciples. As Nasr discusses in the Study Quran, "The apostles' question seems to suggest a certain doubt in God's Omnipotence, since they ask whether God is able to send down the table spread with food. They may have desire such food for either simple nourishment or the spiritual blessing of consuming heavenly food, or both." (p. 335) This causes Jesus to rebuke them for their lack of gratitude, and maybe for their lack of faith. Nasr continues: "Although this story has no direct parallel in the Gospel accounts, some consider it something known only to Muslim through the Quran, it may be linked with the Gospel account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes." Many Christians who are unfamiliar with Islam are surprised to find Jesus in the Quran, although, as we know, he's mentioned many more times in it than Muhammad is. You can then imagine their surprise/astonishment that there would be miracles associated with Jesus that are unknown in Christianity.
Quran 5:111-115
This famous passage, which essentially gives the name to the fifth surah, al-Ma'idah, "the Table Spread," is one of the two miracles associated with Jesus that appear in the Quran but not in mainstream Christianity (at least not in Pauline Christianity; they do appear in the Jewish Christian tradition, as is laid out in Mustafa Akyol's fascinating The Islamic Jesus, which I suspect I'll talk more about in the future). The other is the story of Jesus breathing life into the clay birds, which I discussed earlier. It's a fascinating section for any number of reasons, one of them being that it suggests doubt on the part of the disciples. As Nasr discusses in the Study Quran, "The apostles' question seems to suggest a certain doubt in God's Omnipotence, since they ask whether God is able to send down the table spread with food. They may have desire such food for either simple nourishment or the spiritual blessing of consuming heavenly food, or both." (p. 335) This causes Jesus to rebuke them for their lack of gratitude, and maybe for their lack of faith. Nasr continues: "Although this story has no direct parallel in the Gospel accounts, some consider it something known only to Muslim through the Quran, it may be linked with the Gospel account of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes." Many Christians who are unfamiliar with Islam are surprised to find Jesus in the Quran, although, as we know, he's mentioned many more times in it than Muhammad is. You can then imagine their surprise/astonishment that there would be miracles associated with Jesus that are unknown in Christianity.
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