() is the

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

translation of the

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

title (, '

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

') or the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

title (, '

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

'), meaning "the anointed one". It is the common word used by

Arab Christians Arab Christians () are the Arabs who adhere to Christianity. The number of Arab Christians who live in the Middle East was estimated in 2012 to be between 10 and 15 million. Arab Christian communities can be found throughout the Arab world, bu ...

for 'Christ', a usage which was adopted by both

Christians A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the world. The words '' Christ'' and ''C ...

and

Muslims Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

in a number of languages influenced by Arabic. It also occurs eleven times in the

Quran The Quran, also Romanization, romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a Waḥy, revelation directly from God in Islam, God (''Allah, Allāh''). It is organized in 114 chapters (, ) which ...

as a

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

for Jesus (ʿĪsā), both followed by his proper name as "the Messiah/Christ Jesus the Son of Mary" (three times) or "the Messiah/Christ the Son of Mary" (five times) and independently as "the Messiah/Christ" (three times). The title was interpreted in many different ways by Muslim exegetes, all of which tended to downplay the connection of the word to Jesus' central role in Christianity as the savior-God.

Historical background

It was a common practice in the

ancient Near East The ancient Near East was home to many cradles of civilization, spanning Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran (or Persia), Anatolia and the Armenian highlands, the Levant, and the Arabian Peninsula. As such, the fields of ancient Near East studies and Nea ...

to confer kingship to new rulers by

anoint Anointing is the ritual, ritual act of pouring aromatic oil over a person's head or entire body. By extension, the term is also applied to related acts of sprinkling, dousing, or smearing a person or object with any perfumed oil, milk, butter, ...

ing them, rather than by crowning them. It is in this context that the Hebrew term (Messiah, meaning "anointed") was originally used, referring to an

eschatological Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negative world ...

figure who was expected to rise from the royal line of

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

and who would rule like a divine king, being God's 'anointed one'. Among Christians, Jesus was believed to fulfill this role of Messiah, and the authors of the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

generally referred to Jesus as ("Jesus Christ" or "Jesus the Messiah") or as ("the Christ Jesus" or "the Messiah Jesus").

In the Quran

In the Quran, however, the original meaning of the word as "anointed" seems to play no role of significance, and the term appears to have simply become a title commonly affixed to Jesus' name, not unlike the usage of the word 'Christ' in English. Although many interpreters of the Quran did recognize the Arabic word (derived from , 'to wipe', 'to touch', 'to stroke', 'to anoint') as meaning "anointed", they did not connect the concept of being anointed with a Davidic messianic figure. Many interpretations of the word existed. The Arabic lexicographer Fairuzabadi (1329–1414) listed no less than 49 different meanings for the title as elaborated by Quranic exegetes. Most exegetes (correctly) understood the word to be equivalent to the passive participle of the

root In vascular plants, the roots are the plant organ, organs of a plant that are modified to provide anchorage for the plant and take in water and nutrients into the plant body, which allows plants to grow taller and faster. They are most often bel ...

m-s-ḥ, meaning 'wiped', 'touched', 'anointed'. Interpretations based on this derivation included that Jesus had been 'touched' by the wing of the archangel

Gabriel In the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam), Gabriel ( ) is an archangel with the power to announce God's will to mankind, as the messenger of God. He is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. Many Chris ...

at birth in order to safeguard him from

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

, that he had been 'anointed' with oil (as all the prophets in Islamic tradition), or that he had been 'anointed' with the blessing (Arabic: ) of God. Other interpretations took the word to be an active form of the root m-s-ḥ, meaning 'wiping', 'touching', etc. This interpretation was often connected to the idea of Jesus as

healing With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells ...

the sick by 'touching' them, or because he purified believers by 'wiping' away their sins. This latter interpretation, which among others was given by the

Ismaili Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept ...

jurist al-Qāḍī al-Nu‘mān (died 974), was often criticized because it violates the principle found throughout the Quran that every believer is responsible for their own virtues and sins, and that only God can forgive sin. Finally, some interpreters of the Quran took the word to be derived not from the root m-s-ḥ, but rather from the root s-y-ḥ, meaning 'to travel', believing Jesus to have received this title because of his itinerant lifestyle..

References

Works cited

* * * {{Cite book, last=Virani, first=Shafique N., author-link=Shafique Virani, date=2019, chapter=Hierohistory in Qāḍī l-Nuʿmān's Foundation of Symbolic Interpretation (Asās al-Taʾwīl): The Birth of Jesus, editor1-last=Massoud, editor1-first=Sami G., title=Studies in Islamic Historiography: Essays in Honour of Professor Donald P. Little, location=Leiden, publisher=Brill, pages=147–169, chapter-url=https://www.academia.edu/41992496, doi=10.1163/9789004415294_007, isbn=978-90-04-41529-4 Religious titles Christianity and Islam Christology

Historical background

In the Quran

See also

References

Works cited