In
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
,
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
(), referred to by the Arabic rendering of his name Isa, is believed to be the penultimate
prophet and messenger of
God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
and the
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 ...
being the last of the messengers sent to the
Israelites
Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age.
Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...
() with a
revelation
Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of Religious views on truth, truth or Knowledge#Religion, knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and t ...
called the (Evangel or Gospel).
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 ...
, Jesus is described as the Messiah (),
born of a virgin, performing miracles, accompanied by his disciples, and rejected by the
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
religious establishment; in contrast to the traditional
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
narrative, however, he is stated neither to have been crucified, nor to have been
resurrected, rather, he is depicted as having been miraculously saved by God and as having ascended into heaven. The Quran places Jesus among the greatest prophets and mentions him with
various titles. The prophethood of Jesus is preceded by that of
Yaḥyā (John the Baptist) and succeeded by
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
, the coming of latter of whom Jesus is reported in the Quran to have foretold under the name
Ahmad.
Christians view Jesus Christ as
God incarnate, the
Son of God in human flesh, but the Quran denies the divinity of Jesus and his status as Son of God in several verses, and also says that Jesus Christ did not claim to be personally God nor the Son of God. Islam teaches that Jesus' original message was
altered () after his being raised alive. The
monotheism
Monotheism is the belief that one God is the only, or at least the dominant deity.F. L. Cross, Cross, F.L.; Livingstone, E.A., eds. (1974). "Monotheism". The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (2 ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. A ...
() of Jesus is emphasized in the Quran. Like all
prophets in Islam
Prophets in Islam () are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God's message on Earth and serve as models of ideal human behaviour. Some prophets are categorized as messengers (; sing. , ), those who transmit divine revelation, mos ...
, Jesus is also called a
Muslim
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 ...
(''lit. submitter
God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
]''), as he preached that his followers should adopt the 'Sirat al-Mustaqim, straight path' (). Jesus is attributed with a vast number of miracles in Islamic tradition.
In their views of Islamic eschatology#Isa (Jesus), Islamic eschatology, most accounts state that Jesus will return in the
Second Coming#Islam, Second Coming to kill the ('The False Messiah'), after which the ancient tribe of
Gog and Magog () will disperse. After God has got rid of them, Jesus will assume rulership of the world, establish peace and justice, and finally die a natural death and be buried alongside Muhammad in
the fourth reserved tomb of the
Green Dome in
Medina
Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...
.
The place where Jesus is believed to return, the
Umayyad Mosque
The Umayyad Mosque (; ), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus, located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. Its religious importance stems from the eschatological reports ...
in
Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
, is highly esteemed by Muslims as the
fourth holiest site of Islam. Jesus is widely venerated in
Sufism
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism.
Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
, with numerous ascetic and mystic literature written and recited about the most important historical Jewish Christian-Islamic prophet-messenger to these Abrahamic faiths.
Quran
Jesus is referred to in the Quran throughout 15
Surah
A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...
s. 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 ...
emphasizes Jesus as a prophet, unique in creation, born out of a virgin, and messenger from God. He is usually referred to as "ʿĪsā ibn Maryam" (Jesus son of Mary) and ''al-Masīḥ''. Jesus is described as God’s word (''kalima''), which appears to be the equivalent of the Greek ''logos'', imparted to Mary and to be his spirit. Yet, the Quran rejects the identification of Jesus and God (Surah 5:73, 116) in order to protect God's absolute unity (''tawhid''). Jesus is understood to have preached salvation through submission to God's will and worshipping God alone. The Quran states that Jesus will ultimately deny claiming divinity in . Thus, he is considered to have been a ''Muslim'' by the religious definition of the term (i.e., one who submits to God's will). The bodily crucifixion, perceived as an event of humiliation, is denied (4:157).
Birth
Islam's account of Jesus begins with a prologue narrated several 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 ...
which first describes the birth of his mother, Mary, and her service in the
Jerusalem temple while under the care of the prophet
Zechariah, who would become the father of
Yahya (
John the Baptist
John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...
). The Quran's birth narrative of Jesus begins at and . This birth narrative has been recounted with certain variations and detailed additions by Islamic historians over the centuries. In the matter of the
virgin birth of Jesus
In Christianity and Islam, it is asserted that Jesus of Nazareth was conceived by his mother Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary solely through divine intervention and without sexual intercourse, thus resulting in his Virgin birth (mythology), virgin bir ...
, while Islamic theology affirms Mary as a pure vessel, it does not follow the concept of
Immaculate Conception
The Immaculate Conception is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. It is one of the four Mariology, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Debated by medieval theologians, it was not def ...
as related to Mary's birth in some Christian traditions.
Annunciation

Islamic exegesis affirms the virginal birth of Jesus – similarly to the Gospel account and occurring in
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...
. The narrative of the virgin birth opens with an announcement to Mary by the angel
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 ...
while Mary is being raised in the
Temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...
after having been pledged to God by her mother. Gabriel states she is honored over all women of all nations and has brought her glad tidings of a pure son.
Gabriel declares the son is to be named Jesus, the Messiah, proclaiming he will be called a great prophet. Mary, asking how she could conceive and have a child when no man had touched her, was answered by the angel that God can decree what he wills, and that it shall come to pass.
The narrative from the Quran continues with Mary, overcome by the pains of childbirth, being provided with a stream of water under her feet from which she could drink, and with a palm tree which she could shake so ripe dates would fall and be enjoyed. After giving birth, Mary carries the baby Jesus back to the temple and is asked by the temple elders about the child. Having been commanded by Gabriel to a vow of silence, she points to the infant Jesus and the infant proclaims:
Jesus speaking from the cradle is one of six miracles attributed to him in the Quran, an account which is also found in the
Syriac Infancy Gospel, a sixth-century work. According to various
hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
s, Jesus and Mary did not cry at birth.
Birth narratives

The Islamic faith echoed some strands within the Christian tradition that Mary (or Maryam) was a literal virgin when Jesus was conceived. The most detailed account of the annunciation and birth of Jesus is provided in
Surah
A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...
3 (
Al Imran) and 19 (
Maryam) of the Quran, where the story is narrated that God (Allah) sent an angel to announce that Maryam could shortly expect to bear a son, despite being a virgin.
[Sarker, Abraham,''Understand My Muslim People'', 2004, , p. 260.]
Some academics have noted that the account in
Surah
A ''surah'' (; ; ) is an Arabic word meaning 'chapter' in the Quran. There are 114 ''suwar'' in the Quran, each divided into ayah, verses (). The ''suwar'' are of unequal length; the shortest ''surah'' (al-Kawthar) has only three verses, while ...
19 is particularly close to that in the Christian
Gospel of Luke
The Gospel of Luke is the third of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It tells of the origins, Nativity of Jesus, birth, Ministry of Jesus, ministry, Crucifixion of Jesus, death, Resurrection of Jesus, resurrection, and Ascension of ...
. The Annunciation to Mary is mentioned twice in the Quran, and in both instances Mary/Maryam is told that she was chosen by God to deliver a son. In the first instance, the bearer of the news (who is believed by most Muslims to be the archangel Gabriel), delivered the news in () as he takes the form of a man ().
[Jestice, Phyllis G., ''Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia, Volume 1'', 2004, , pp. 558–559] The details of the conception according to and , Mary conceives Jesus by being blown into her womb through the spirit (i.e. archangel Gabriel), Mary asks how she can bear a son in view of her chastity, she is told that God creates what he wills and that these things are easy for God.
The 8th-century Muslim historian
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
(704–767), wrote the account entitled ('In the Beginning'), reporting that Zechariah is Mary's guardian briefly, and after being incapable of maintaining her, he entrusts her to a carpenter named George. Secluded in a church, she is joined by a young man named Joseph, and they help one another fetching water and other tasks. The account of the birth of Jesus follows the Quran's narrative, adding that the birth occurred in
Bethlehem
Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...
beside a palm tree with a manger.

The 10th-century Persian scholar
al-Tabari
Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...
(839–923) mentions envoys arriving from the king of Persia with gifts (similar to the
Magi from the east) for the Messiah; the command to a man called Joseph (not specifically Mary's husband) to take her and the child to Egypt and later return to
Nazareth
Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...
.
The
Fatimid
The Fatimid Caliphate (; ), also known as the Fatimid Empire, was a caliphate extant from the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE under the rule of the Fatimid dynasty, Fatimids, an Isma'ili Shi'a dynasty. Spanning a large area of North Africa ...
Ismaili jurist
Qadi al-Nu'man also contributed to the narrative, explaining that the virgin birth of Jesus is meant to be interpreted symbolically. In his interpretation, Mary was the follower (), of the Imam Joachim ('Imran). However, when Joachim realized that she was not suited for the , he passed it to Zechariah, who then passed it to John the Baptist. Meanwhile, Mary received spiritual inspiration () from God, revealing that he would invite a man (to the faith) who would become an exalted Speaker () of a revealed religion (). According to al-Nu'man, the verses "She said: Lord! How can I have a child when no man has touched me?" () and "neither have I been unchaste" () are symbolic of Mary's saying, "How can I conduct the invitation () when the Imam of the Time has not given me permission to do so?" and "Nor shall I be unfaithful by acting against his command", respectively. To this, a celestial hierarch replies "Such is God. He creates
.e., causes to passwhat he wills" ().
Childhood
The Quran does not include the tradition of the
Flight into Egypt
The flight into Egypt is a story recounted in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 2:13–Matthew 2:23, 23) and in New Testament apocrypha. Soon after the Biblical Magi, visit by the Magi, an angel appeared to Saint Joseph, Joseph in a dream telling ...
, though 23:50 could conceivably allude to it: "And we made the son of Maryam and his mother a sign; and we made them abide in an elevated place, full of quiet and watered with springs." However, narratives similar to the narrative found in the Gospels and non-canonical sources circulated in later Islamic tradition, with some details and elaborations added over the centuries by Islamic writers and historians. Some narratives have Jesus and family staying
in Egypt up to 12 years.
[.] Many moral stories and miraculous events of Jesus' youth are mentioned in ('Stories of the Prophets'), books composed over the centuries about
pre-Islamic prophets and heroes.
Al-Masudi wrote that Jesus as a boy studied the Jewish religion reading from the
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of B ...
and found "traced in characters of light":
with Jesus then claiming:
In Egypt
Several narratives show some disparity and similarity in Islamic writings about Jesus' early childhood, specifically his time in Egypt with regard to duration and events. Most of the narratives are found in non-canonical Christian sources like, for example, the pre-Islamic Gospel of Thomas. One such disparity is from al-Athir in his ''The Perfection of History'' which contains a birth narrative stating Jesus was born in Egypt instead of Bethlehem.
Some other narratives of Jesus' childhood are popular Middle Eastern lore as highlighted by professor of interfaith studies
Mahmoud M. Ayoub. Many miracles are attributed to a young Jesus while in Egypt
(see the sections
Miracles and
Other miracles).
Adulthood
Mission
It is generally agreed that Jesus spoke
Galilean Aramaic, a dialect of the
common language of Judea in the first century and the region at-large.
The first and earliest view of Jesus formulated in Islamic thought is that of a prophet – a human being chosen by God to present both a judgment upon humanity and challenge to turn to the one true God. From this basis, reflected upon all previous prophets through the lens of Muslim identity, Jesus is considered no more than repeating a message of the ages. The miracles of Jesus and the Quranic titles attributed to him demonstrate the power of God rather than the divinity of Jesus – the same power behind the message of all prophets. Some Islamic traditions believe Jesus' mission was only to the children of Israel and his status as a prophet being confirmed by numerous miracles.
A second early high image of Jesus is an end-time figure. This concept arises mostly from the Hadith. Muslim tradition constructs a narrative similarly found in Christian theology, seeing Jesus arriving at the end of time and descending upon earth to fight the Antichrist. This narrative is understood to champion the cause of Islam, with some traditions narrating Jesus pointing to the primacy of Muhammad. Most traditions state Jesus will then die a natural death.
A third and distinctive image is of Jesus representing an ascetic figure – a prophet of the heart. Although the Quran refers to the 'gospel' of Jesus, those specific teachings of his are not mentioned in the Quran or later religious texts. They are largely absent. The Sufi tradition is where Jesus became revered, acknowledged as a spiritual teacher with a distinctive voice from other prophets, including Muhammad. Sufism tends to explore the dimensions of union with God through many approaches, including asceticism, poetry, philosophy, speculative suggestion, and mystical methods. Although Sufism to the Western mind may seem to share similar origins or elements of Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, and Buddhism, the ideology is distinctly Islamic since they adhere to the words of the Quran and pursue imitation of Muhammad as the perfect man.
Preaching
The Islamic concepts of Jesus' preaching is believed to have originated in
Kufa
Kufa ( ), also spelled Kufah, is a city in Iraq, about south of Baghdad, and northeast of Najaf. It is located on the banks of the Euphrates, Euphrates River. The estimated population in 2003 was 110,000.
Along with Samarra, Karbala, Kadhimiya ...
, Iraq, under the
Rashidun Caliphate
The Rashidun Caliphate () is a title given for the reigns of first caliphs (lit. "successors") — Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali collectively — believed to Political aspects of Islam, represent the perfect Islam and governance who led the ...
where the earliest writers of Muslim tradition and scholarship was formulated. The concepts of Jesus and his preaching ministry developed in Kufa was adopted from the early ascetic
Christians of Egypt who opposed official church bishopric appointments from Rome.
The earliest stories, numbering about 85, are found in two major collections of
ascetic literature entitled ('The Book of the Asceticism and Tender Mercies') by
Abd Allah ibn al-Mubarak ( 797), and ('The Book of Asceticism') by
Ibn Hanbal ( 855). These sayings fall into four basic groups:
# eschatological sayings;
# quasi-Gospel sayings;
# ascetic sayings and stories;
# sayings echoing intra-Muslim polemics.
The first group of sayings expands Jesus'
archetype
The concept of an archetype ( ) appears in areas relating to behavior, historical psychology, philosophy and literary analysis.
An archetype can be any of the following:
# a statement, pattern of behavior, prototype, "first" form, or a main mo ...
as portrayed in the Quran. The second group of stories, although containing a Gospel core, are expanded with a "distinctly Islamic stamp". The third group, being the largest of the four, portrays Jesus as a patron saint of Muslim asceticism. The last group builds upon the Islamic archetype and Muslim-centric definition of Jesus and his attributes, furthering esoteric ideas regarding terms such as "Spirit of God" and "Word of God" describing Jesus Christ, attributes given to the Islamic view of Jesus Christ as a holy angelic messenger divinely sent from heaven by God to his fleshly incarnation, like an
Angel of the Lord in some other
Messianic Christian traditions.
Miracles
The Quran attributes at least six miracles to Jesus, with many more being added over the centuries by writers and historians. Miracles were attributed to Jesus as signs of his
prophethood and his authority, according to educator and professor Musa Al-Husayni ( 1990), an author most known for ('Memoirs of a Hen') (Cairo: Dar al-Maarif, 1943; 2nd ed. 1967). In ''Christ in the Quran and Modern Arabic Literature'' (1960), Al-Husayni said it is noteworthy Muhammad attributes no miracles to himself.
These six miracles in the Quran are without detail unlike the Gospel and their non-canonical Gnostic sources, which include details and mention other attributed miracles. Over the centuries, these six miracle narratives have been elaborated through Hadith and poetry, with religious writings including some of the other miracles mentioned in the Gospel, non-canonical sources, and from lore.
Speaking from the cradle
Speaking from the cradle is mentioned in three places in the Quran: , and . Part of the narrative has the infant Jesus defending his mother Mary from the accusation of having given birth without a known husband. Early Islam was unclear about Joseph and his role. Jesus speaks as the angel Gabriel had mentioned at the annunciation: Jesus proclaims he is a servant of God, has been given a book, is a prophet, is blessed wherever he will go, blesses the day he was born, the day he will die, and the day he is raised alive.
Although this particular narrative is not found in the
Bible
The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
, the theme of speaking from the cradle is found in the non-canonical pre-Islamic
Syriac Infancy Gospel. The Syriac Infancy Gospel has Jesus declaring himself the Son of God, the
Word
A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguist ...
, and affirming what the angel
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 ...
had previously announced to Mary as detailed in the Gospel.
Creating birds from clay
The miracle story of creating birds from clay and breathing life into them when a child is mentioned in , . Although this miracle is also not mentioned in the canonical Gospels, the same narrative is found in at least two pre-Islamic sources: the
Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Jewish
Toledot Yeshu, with few variant details between the Quran and these two sources.
Healing the blind and the lepers
Similar to 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 ...
, the Quran mentions Jesus healing the blind and the
lepers in . Muslim scholar and judge
Al-Baydawi
Qadi Baydawi (also known as Naṣir ad-Din al-Bayḍawi, also spelled Baidawi, Bayzawi and Beyzavi; d. June 1319, Tabriz) was a jurist, theologian, and Quran commentator. He lived during the post-Seljuk Empire, Seljuk and early Mongol Empire, Mon ...
( 1286) wrote how it was recorded that many thousands of people came to Jesus to be healed and that Jesus healed these diseases through prayer only. Medieval scholar
Al-Tha'labi wrote about how these two particular diseases were beyond medical help, and Jesus' miracles were meant to be witnessed by others as clear signs of his message.
Raising the dead
Jesus is believed to have raised people from the dead, as mentioned in al-Imran . Although no detail is given as to who was raised or the circumstance, at least three people are mentioned in detail in the Christian Gospel (a
daughter of Jairus, a
widow's son at Nain, and
Lazarus).
Prescience
Jesus was able to
predict, or had
foreknowledge, of what was hidden or unknown to others. One example is Jesus would answer correctly any and every question anyone asked him. Another example is Jesus knew what people had just eaten, as well as what they had stored in their homes.
Table of food from Heaven
In the fifth chapter of the Quran, , a narration mentions the disciples of Jesus requesting a table laden with food, and for it to be a special day of commemoration for them in the future. This may be a possible reference to the
Eucharist
The Eucharist ( ; from , ), also called Holy Communion, the Blessed Sacrament or the Lord's Supper, is a Christianity, Christian Rite (Christianity), rite, considered a sacrament in most churches and an Ordinance (Christianity), ordinance in ...
according to professor of Islamic and Arabic studies
W. Montgomery Watt ( 2006). According to professor of comparative religions
Geoffrey Parrinder ( 2005), it is unclear if this story parallels the Gospel's
Last Supper
Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, ''The Last Supper (Leonardo), The Last Supper'' (1495-1498). Mural, tempera on gesso, pitch and mastic ...
or the
feeding the multitude, but may be tied to the Arabic word (Muslim festival):
In a record by the
Sunni
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Mu ...
exegete
Tabari, before the last supper, the threat of death made him anxious. Therefore, Jesus invited his disciples for the last supper. After the meal, he washed their hands and performed their ablutions to wipe their hands on his clothing. Afterwards Jesus replied to them: "As for that I have done to you tonight, in that I served you the meal and washed your hands in person, let it be an example for you. Since you indeed consider me to be better than you, do not be haughty in relation to each other but rather expand yourselves for each other as I have expanded myself for you." After instructing the disciples in his teachings, Jesus foretells that one of them would deny him and another betray him. However, in accordance with
Islamic views on Jesus' death, just a corpse in semblance of Jesus was crucified and Jesus himself was raised to God.
Other miracles
Many stories and narratives have been developed over the years about Jesus, containing certain inherent lessons or providing meaning due to the lack of detail in the Quran regarding Jesus. Some of these narratives are similar in nature to 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 ...
, while some portray Jesus in a very human manner.
Besides some detailed summaries of miracles of Jesus mentioned by Muslim writers over the centuries, from adulthood (like walking on water – also found in the Gospel – and causing loaves of bread to come from the ground), some other miracles from childhood include: explaining the Muslim creed fundamentals to a schoolmaster, revealing who the thieves were to a wealthy chief, filling empty jars of something to drink, providing food and wine for a tyrannical king while also proving to this king his power in raising a man from the dead, raising a child accidentally killed, and causing the garments from a single-colored vat to come out with various colors.
Healing a royal official's son
Al-Tabari ( 923) reports a story of an adult Jesus' encounter with a certain king in the region and the healing of his son. The identity of the king is not mentioned while legend suggests
Philip the Tetrarch
Philip the Tetrarch (), sometimes called Herod Philip II by modern writers (see #Naming convention, "Naming convention") was the son of Herod the Great and his fifth wife, Cleopatra of Jerusalem. As a Tetrarchy (Judea), Tetrarch, he ruled over ...
. The corresponding Bible reference is "the royal official's son".
Greed and truth-telling
A legendary story of a miracle by a young Jesus, used as a hard-learned lesson popularly found in Middle Eastern lore according to professor Ayoub, has to do with a Jewish man and loaves of bread. Although carrying a polemic tone, the lesson centers on greed with truth-telling woven into the narration. It is a story found often in children's books.
Inherent wisdom
Another legendary miracle story is one regarding Jesus' childhood wisdom. This legend, reported through al-Tabari from ibn Ishaq, talks about Mary sending Jesus to a religious school and the teacher being astonished to find Jesus already knowing the information being taught / discussed.
Food in children's homes
Another story from al-Tabari tells of a young Jesus playing with the youths of his village and telling them what food their parents were preparing for them at home.
According to the details of the narrative, some parents became annoyed and forbade their children to play with Jesus, suspecting he was a magician. As a result, the parents kept their children away from Jesus and gathered their children into a single house. One day, feeling lonely, Jesus went out looking for his friends, and coming upon this house he asked the parents where their children were. The parents lied, responding that the children were not there. After Jesus asks who, then, is in the house, the parents replied that there were
swine
Suina (also known as Suiformes) is a suborder of omnivorous, non-ruminant artiodactyl mammals that includes the domestic pig and peccaries. A member of this clade is known as a suine. Suina includes the family Suidae, termed suids, known in ...
inside. Jesus then says "Let them be swine!", with the parents then discovering that all the children had turned into swine.
Over the centuries, Muslim writers have also referenced other miracles like casting out demons, having borrowed from some
heretical pre-Islamic sources, and from
canonical sources as legends about Jesus were expanded.
Revelation
Muslims believe that God revealed a new scripture to Jesus, called the (the Gospel), while also declaring the truth of the previous revelations: (the
Torah
The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...
) and (the
Psalms
The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament.
The book is an anthology of B ...
). The Quran speaks favorably of , which it describes as a scripture that fills the hearts of its followers with meekness and piety. Traditional Islamic exegesis claims the biblical message to have been distorted (), is termed ("resolution of ambiguity"). This polemic effort has its origins in the medieval period with
Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad's writings. Regarding the
Law of Moses
The Law of Moses ( ), also called the Mosaic Law, is the law said to have been revealed to Moses by God. The term primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
Terminology
The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Heb ...
, the Quran indicates that Jesus never abolished
Jewish laws but rather confirmed them, while making partial abrogations only.
Muslims have long believed that
Paul purposefully corrupted the original teachings of Jesus. The 9th-century historian
Sayf ibn Umar asserted that certain rabbis persuaded Paul to deliberately misguide early Christians by introducing what
Ibn Hazm
Ibn Hazm (; November 994 – 15 August 1064) was an Andalusian Muslim polymath, historian, traditionist, jurist, philosopher, and theologian, born in the Córdoban Caliphate, present-day Spain. Described as one of the strictest hadith interpre ...
viewed as objectionable doctrines into Christianity.
According to
Yusuf al-Qaradawi in his book ''
The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam'', the legal restrictions Jesus abrogated for
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
were those initially legislated by God as a punishment.
Classical commentaries such as specify they pertained to the consumption of
fish
A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
and
bird
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...
meat without spikes, or in general.
Disciples
The Quran states that Jesus was aided by a group of
disciples () who believed in his message. While not naming the disciples, the Quran does give a few instances of Jesus preaching the message to them. Muslims view the disciples of Jesus as identical to the
companions () of Muhammad. According to Christianity, the names of the twelve disciples were
Peter,
Andrew
Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...
,
James,
John,
Philip
Philip, also Phillip, is a male name derived from the Macedonian Old Koine language, Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominen ...
,
Bartholomew,
Thomas,
Matthew,
James,
Jude,
Simon, and
Judas.
The Quran mentions in chapter 3, verses 52–53, that the disciples submitted to the faith of Islam:
The longest narrative involving Jesus' disciples is when Jesus performs the miracle of bringing a table of food from heaven at their request, for further proof that his preaching is the true message.
Ascension
is the primary verse of the Quran to refer to the event of Jesus' crucifixion. It says that Jesus was not killed and neither crucified, but "it was made to appear to them":
Most Islamic traditions categorically deny that Jesus physically died on the cross or otherwise. According to the Quran, he was not
crucified, but was rather saved by God. (Although the earliest Islamic traditions and exegesis quote somewhat conflicting reports regarding a death and its length, Muslims believe that Jesus did not die on the cross, but believe that he was saved by being
raised alive to heaven.) A minority, especially among the ''falāsifa'', and some ''Ismāʿīlī'' interpreted ''walākin s̲h̲ubbiha lahum'' as meaning that the Jews intended to annihilate Jesus completely; but in fact, they crucified only his ''nāsūt'' (form), yet his ''lāhūt'' remained alive. The view is also recalled by some
Sufis.
Substitution
It is unclear exactly where the substitution interpretation originated, but some scholars consider the theory originating among certain Gnostic groups of the second century.
Some disagreement and discord can be seen beginning with Ibn Ishaq's ( 761) report of a brief accounting of events leading up to the crucifixion, firstly stating that Jesus was replaced by someone named Sergius, while secondly reporting an account of Jesus' tomb being located at Medina, and thirdly citing the places in the Quran (, ) that God took Jesus up to himself.
Michael Cook notes that denial that Jesus died follows the Christian heresy of
docetism, who were "disturbed by that God should have died", but that this concern conflicts with another Islamic doctrine, that Jesus was a man, not God. According to
Todd Lawson, Quranic commentators seem to have concluded the denial of the crucifixion of Jesus by following material interpreted in Tafsir that relied upon
extra-biblical Judeo-Christian sources, with the earliest textual evidence having originated from a non-Muslim source – a misreading of the Christian writings of
John of Damascus regarding the literal understandings of docetism (exegetical doctrine describing spiritual and physical realities of Jesus as understood by men in logical terms) as opposed to their figurative explanations. John of Damascus highlighted the Quran's assertion that the Jews did not crucify Jesus being very different from saying that Jesus was not crucified, explaining that it is the varied Quranic exegetes in Tafsir, and not the Quran itself, that denies the crucifixion, further stating that the message in the verse simply affirms the historicity of the event.
Symbolic interpretations
Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman ( 958),
Abu Hatim Ahmad ibn Hamdan al-Razi ( 935),
Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani ( 971),
Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi ( 1078) and the group
Ikhwan al-Safa also affirm the historicity of the Crucifixion, reporting Jesus was crucified and not substituted by another man as maintained by many other popular Quranic commentators and Tafsir. More recently,
Mahmoud M. Ayoub, a professor and scholar, provided a more symbolic interpretation for Surah 4 Verse 157:
Ayoub, instead of interpreting the passage as a denial of the death of Jesus, instead believes the passage is about God denying men the power to vanquish and destroy God's message. The words "but they killed him not, nor crucified him" are meant to show that any power humans believe that they have against God is illusory.
Some
Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr ...
ic
exegesists, such as the anti-Christian polemicist
Muhammad Rashid Rida, held an ambiguous stance on the matter, namely that the
crucifixion
Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the condemned is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross, beam or stake and left to hang until eventual death. It was used as a punishment by the Achaemenid Empire, Persians, Ancient Carthag ...
and ascension of Jesus were allegorical, but with extreme precaution, in order to rebut Christian doctrines on crucifixion and
salvation
Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...
. Comprehensively denouncing Christian doctrines on salvation,
atonement
Atonement, atoning, or making amends is the concept of a person taking action to correct previous wrongdoing on their part, either through direct action to undo the consequences of that act, equivalent action to do good for others, or some othe ...
and crucifixion as irrational and (disbelief) in his , Rida also denounced the
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
for their killings of the
Prophets of God, writing:
An early interpretation of verse 3:55 (specifically "I will cause you to die and raise you to myself"),
Al-Tabari
Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr ibn Yazīd al-Ṭabarī (; 839–923 CE / 224–310 AH), commonly known as al-Ṭabarī (), was a Sunni Muslim scholar, polymath, historian, exegete, jurist, and theologian from Amol, Tabaristan, present- ...
( 923), records an interpretation attributed to
Ibn 'Abbas, who used the literal "I will cause you to die" () in place of the metaphorical ('Jesus died'), while
Wahb ibn Munabbih, an early Jewish convert, is reported to have said "God caused Jesus, son of Mary, to die for three hours during the day, then took him up to himself." Tabari further transmits from Ibn Ishaq: "God caused Jesus to die for seven hours", while at another place reported that a person called Sergius was crucified in place of Jesus. Ibn-al-Athir forwarded the report that it was
Judas, the betrayer, while also mentioning the possibility it was a man named Natlianus.
In reference to the Quranic quote "We have surely killed Jesus the Christ, son of Mary, the apostle of God", Muslim scholar Mahmoud Ayoub asserts this boast not as the repeating of a historical lie or the perpetuating of a false report, but an example of human arrogance and folly with an attitude of contempt towards God and his messenger(s). Ayoub furthers what modern scholars of Islam interpret regarding the historical death of Jesus, the man, as man's inability to kill off God's Word and the Spirit of God, which the Quran testifies were embodied in Jesus Christ. Ayoub continues highlighting the denial of the killing of Jesus as God denying men such power to vanquish and destroy the divine Word. The words, "they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him" speaks to the profound events of ephemeral human history, exposing mankind's heart and conscience towards God's will. The claim of humanity to have this power against God is illusory. "They did not slay him... but it seemed so to them" speaks to the imaginations of mankind, not the denial of the actual event of Jesus dying physically on the cross.
Another report from Ibn Kathir quotes Ishaq Ibn Bishr, on authority of Idris, on authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, that "God caused him to die for three days, then resurrected him, then raised him."
Al-Masudi
al-Masʿūdī (full name , ), –956, was a historian, geographer and traveler. He is sometimes referred to as the "Herodotus of the Arabs". A polymath and prolific author of over twenty works on theology, history (Islamic and universal), geo ...
( 956) reported the death of Christ under
Tiberius
Tiberius Julius Caesar Augustus ( ; 16 November 42 BC – 16 March AD 37) was Roman emperor from AD 14 until 37. He succeeded his stepfather Augustus, the first Roman emperor. Tiberius was born in Rome in 42 BC to Roman politician Tiberius Cl ...
.
Ibn Kathir
Abu al-Fida Isma'il ibn Umar ibn Kathir al-Dimashqi (; ), known simply as Ibn Kathir, was an Arab Islamic Exegesis, exegete, historian and scholar. An expert on (Quranic exegesis), (history) and (Islamic jurisprudence), he is considered a lea ...
( 1373) follows traditions which suggest that a crucifixion did occur, but not with Jesus. After the event, Ibn Kathir reports the people were divided into three groups following three different narratives; The
Jacobites believing "God remained with us as long as He willed and then He ascended to Heaven"; the
Nestorians
Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinary, doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian t ...
believing "The son of God was with us as long as he willed until God raised him to heaven"; and the Muslims believing "The servant and messenger of God, Jesus, remained with us as long as God willed until God raised him to Himself."
Islamic reformer Muhammad
Rashid Rida agrees with contemporary commentators interpreting the physical killing of Christ's apostleship as a metaphorical interpretation.
Modern Islamic scholars like Sayyid
Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i interpret the ascension of Jesus as spiritual, not physical. This interpretation is in accord with
Muʿtazila and Shia metaphorical explanations regarding anthropomorphic references to God in the Quran. Although not popular with traditional Sunni interpretations of the depiction of crucifixion, there has been much speculation and discussion in the effort of logically reconciling this topic.
In ascetic Shia writings, Jesus is depicted having "ascended to heaven wearing a woolen shirt, spun and sewed by Mary, his mother. As he reached the heavenly regions, he was addressed, 'O Jesus, cast away from you the adornment of the world. After his ascension, his word is believed to have been altered.
Apocalyptic literature
According to Islamic apocalyptics, having ascended to heaven and dwelled there for 2000+ years, Jesus will descend to earth shortly before Judgement Day, in the midst of wars fought against
al-Masih ad-Dajjal
Al-Masih ad-Dajjal (), otherwise referred to simply as the Dajjal, is an evil figure in Islamic eschatology who will pretend to be the promised Messiah and later claim to be God in Islam, God, appearing before the Judgement Day in Islam#Destructi ...
('The False Messiah") and his followers, to come to the aid of the
Mahdi
The Mahdi () is a figure in Islamic eschatology who is believed to appear at the Eschatology, End of Times to rid the world of evil and injustice. He is said to be a descendant of Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad, and will appear shortly before Jesu ...
and his Muslim followers. Dressed in saffron robes with his head anointed, Jesus will descend at the point of a white minaret, in eastern
Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
, which is believed to be the Minaret of Isa in the
Umayyad Mosque
The Umayyad Mosque (; ), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus, located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. Its religious importance stems from the eschatological reports ...
. He will then greet the Mahdi and (being a Muslim) pray beside him. Eventually, Jesus will slay the
Dajjal at
Lod.
Afterwards, he will "break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the Jizya tax", according to a well-known
Sahih al-Bukhari hadith.
[WARREN LARSON ''Jesus in Islam and Christianity: Discussing the Similarities and the Differences'' p. 335] "The usual interpretation" of this prophecy is that, being a Muslim, Jesus will put a stop to Christian worship of himself and in belief in his divinity, "symbolized by the cross". He will re-establish the
Kosher
(also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...
/
Halal
''Halal'' (; ) is an Arabic word that translates to in English. Although the term ''halal'' is often associated with Islamic dietary laws, particularly meat that is slaughtered according to Islamic guidelines, it also governs ethical practices ...
dietary laws abandoned by Christianity;
and because Jews and Christians will now all reject their former faith and accept Islam, there will be no more need for the tax on unbelievers. (According to one hadith, Jesus will "destroy the churches and temples and kill the Christians unless they believe in him.")
Islamic texts also allude to the reappearance of the ancient menace
Gog and Magog (), which will break out of its underground confinement and cause havoc around the world. God, in response to Jesus' prayers, will kill them by sending a type of worm in the napes of their necks, and send large birds to carry and clear their corpses from the land. After the death of the Mahdi, Jesus will assume world leadership and peace and justice will be universal.
Also according to tradition, Jesus will then marry, have children, and rule the world for forty years (traditions give many different time periods) after which he will die. Some Muslims believe that the Muslims will then perform the
funeral prayer for him and then bury him at the
Green Dome in the city of
Medina
Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...
in a grave left vacant
beside Muhammad,
Abu Bakr
Abd Allah ibn Abi Quhafa (23 August 634), better known by his ''Kunya (Arabic), kunya'' Abu Bakr, was a senior Sahaba, companion, the closest friend, and father-in-law of Muhammad. He served as the first caliph of the Rashidun Caliphate, ruli ...
, and
Umar
Umar ibn al-Khattab (; ), also spelled Omar, was the second Rashidun caliph, ruling from August 634 until his assassination in 644. He succeeded Abu Bakr () and is regarded as a senior companion and father-in-law of the Islamic prophet Mu ...
respectively.
According to
Ibn Khaldun
Ibn Khaldun (27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732–808 Hijri year, AH) was an Arabs, Arab Islamic scholar, historian, philosopher and sociologist. He is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest social scientists of the Middle Ages, and cons ...
's legend, the two caliphs will rise from the dead between the two prophets.
File:End times.svg, Timeline of the arrival of Jesus before Judgement Day
File:Umayyad Mosque Jesus Minaret.jpg, Minaret of Isa in the Umayyad Mosque
The Umayyad Mosque (; ), also known as the Great Mosque of Damascus, located in the old city of Damascus, the capital of Syria, is one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world. Its religious importance stems from the eschatological reports ...
, Damascus
Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...
, Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
Sources
While the Quran does not describe any of the above narrative of Jesus' return, many Muslims believe that two Quranic verses refer to his second coming during the end times.
(1) The verse mentioned above stating he is never died on earth:
*"And
ortheir saying, 'Indeed, we have killed Christ, Jesus, the son of Mary, the messenger of God.' And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but
notherwas made to resemble him to them. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain." (Q.4:157:)
A second verse interpreted to indicate a connection between Jesus and "the Hour" (end times):
*"And lo! verily there is knowledge of the Hour. So doubt ye not concerning it, but follow Me. This is the right path." (Q.43:61 trans Pickthall).
Hadiths on Jesus's return are traced back to
Abu Hurairah, one of the , but might actually have been introduced later during civil wars in the early
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...
, when a savior was expected. While for Shias, the Mahdi will be the savior, some Sunnis tended to expect Jesus' return. During the early
Abbasid Caliphate
The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes ...
, wearing crucifixes in processions and holding pigs in public, was forbidden. Otherwise, the breaking of the cross, might reflect general disapproval of this symbol by Muslims, and slaying pigs a reference to Jesus exorcism of
Legion.
[Neal Robinson ''Christ in Islam and Christianity'' SUNY Press 1 January 1991 p. 104]
Islamic theology

Jesus is described in various ways in the Quran. The most common reference to Jesus occurs in the form of ('son of Mary'), sometimes preceded with another title. Jesus is also recognized as a ('prophet') and ('messenger') of God. The terms ('servant of God'), ('worthy of esteem in this world and the next') and ('blessed', or 'a source of benefit for others') are all used in reference to him.
According to Islam, Jesus never claimed to be divine.
Jesus' role in Muslim theology falls roughly under four types:
* a perception based on fragments of the New Testament
* anti-Jewish, exposing thieves, criminals, and liars (usually identified with Jews)
* an ascetic, based on monastic tradition; prevalent particularly in
Sufi literature
* an Islamic messenger, exercising polemics against Christians and predicting the coming of Muhammad (as Surah 61:6)
Islam sees Jesus as human, sent as the
last
A last is a mechanical form shaped like a human foot. It is used by shoemakers and cordwainers in the manufacture and repair of shoes. Lasts come in many styles and sizes, depending on the exact job they are designed for. Common variations ...
prophet of Israel to
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
with the
Gospel
Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...
scripture, affirming but modifying the
Mosaic Law
The Law of Moses ( ), also called the Mosaic Law, is the law said to have been revealed to Moses by God. The term primarily refers to the Torah or the first five books of the Hebrew Bible.
Terminology
The Law of Moses or Torah of Moses (Hebr ...
.
Islamic accounts have rejected any divine notions of Jesus being God, or the begotten Son of God, or of the
Trinity
The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...
. Islamic theology teaches such beliefs constitute (the "association" of partners with God) and thereby a rejection of his divine oneness () as the sole unpardonable sin.
[See:
*
*
*] According to Islamic theology, Jesus received an original message, containing references to Muhammad, but which became distorted later under Jewish and Roman influence. Rather than being divine or a savior, Jesus confirms to the Islamic concept of prophetic mission.
The strict monotheism of Islam rejects any
Christological debate which conflates Jesus in any way with Allah or with God the Father, precluding any divinity in Jesus and avoiding the subtleties of
Trinitarianism
The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...
.
A frequent title of Jesus mentioned is , which translates to 'the Messiah', as well as '
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 ...
'. Although the Quran is silent on its significance,
Muslim scholars disagree with the
Christian concepts of the term "Messiah", and lean towards a
Jewish
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
understanding. Muslim exegetes explain the use of the word in the Quran as referring to Jesus' status as the
one anointed by means of blessings and honors; or as the one who helped cure the sick, by anointing the eyes of the blind, for example.
Jesus is also associated both with a word from God and with a spirit. The interpretations are collected by the
Quran exegete Mahmud al-Alusi: Jesus is the embodiment of God's word uttered at the moment of his conception (9:169, 14:30, 3:42), announced in the "word of God", prophesied preached by preceding prophets; Jesus is the word of God because he speaks on behalf of God; or that Jesus is a word of God because Jesus is, in his own person, “good news”.
Muhammad described himself as the "nearest of all people to Jesus".
Similitude with Adam
The Quran emphasizes Allah's creation of Jesus: "The case of Jesus in the eyes of God is like that of Adam. He created him from earth and then said to him, 'Be!' And he is." (Q:3:59),
through his similitude with
Adam
Adam is the name given in Genesis 1–5 to the first human. Adam is the first human-being aware of God, and features as such in various belief systems (including Judaism, Christianity, Gnosticism and Islam).
According to Christianity, Adam ...
in regards to the absence of human origin. Muhammad often used to compare the births of Adam and Jesus.
Islamic exegesis extrapolates a logical inconsistency behind the Christian argument of divine intervention, as such implications would have ascribed divinity to Adam who is understood only as creation.
Precursor to Muhammad
In Islam, Jesus is believed to have been the precursor to the Islamic prophet
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
. According to the Quran, the coming of
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
was predicted by
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
in . Through this verse, early Arab Muslims claimed legitimacy for their new faith in the existing religious traditions and the alleged predictions of Jesus. Muslims believe that Jesus was a precursor to Muhammad, and that he prophesied the latter's coming.
This perspective is based on a verse of the Quran wherein Jesus speaks of a messenger to appear after him named "Ahmad". Islam associates
Ahmad with Muhammad, both words deriving from the ''
h-m-d''
triconsonantal root which refers to praiseworthiness. Muslims assert that evidence of Jesus' pronouncement is present in 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 ...
, citing the mention of the
Paraclete whose coming is foretold in the
Gospel of John
The Gospel of John () is the fourth of the New Testament's four canonical Gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "Book of Signs, signs" culminating in the raising of Lazarus (foreshadowing the ...
.
Muslim commentators claim that the original Greek word used was , meaning 'famed', 'illustrious', or 'praiseworthy'—rendered in Arabic as ; and that this was replaced by Christians with .
This idea is debated, asking if the traditional understanding is supported by the text of the Quran.
Islamic theology claims Jesus had foretold another prophet succeeding him according to
Sura 61:6, with the mention of the name 'Ahmad'. (
Ahmad is an Arabic name from the same
triconsonantal
The roots of verbs and most nouns in the Semitic languages are characterized as a sequence of consonants or " radicals" (hence the term consonantal root). Such abstract consonantal roots are used in the formation of actual words by adding the vowel ...
root
Ḥ-M-D =
� – م – د) In responding to
Ibn Ishaq
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ishaq ibn Yasar al-Muttalibi (; – , known simply as Ibn Ishaq, was an 8th-century Muslim historian and hagiographer who collected oral traditions that formed the basis of an important biography of the Islamic proph ...
's biography of Muhammad, the
Sirat Rasul Allah, Islamic scholar
Alfred Guillaume
Alfred Guillaume (8 November 1888 – 30 November 1965) was a British Christian Arabist, scholar of the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament and Islam.
Career
Guillaume was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, the son of Alfred Guillaume. He took up Arabi ...
wrote:
Messianism
An alternative, more esoteric, interpretation is expounded by
Messianic 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 the
Sufi
Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism.
Practitioners of Sufism are r ...
and
Isma'ili
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 (Imamate in Nizari doctrine, imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the ...
traditions so as to unite
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
,
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
and
Judaism
Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
into a single religious
continuum. Other Messianic Muslims hold a similar theological view regarding Jesus, without attempting to unite the religions. Making use 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 ...
's distinguishing between
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
,
Son of Man (being the physical human Jesus), and
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 ...
,
Son of God (being
the Holy Spirit of God residing in the body of Jesus),
the Holy Spirit, being immortal and immaterial, is not subject to crucifixion – for it can never die, nor can it be touched by the earthly nails of the crucifixion, for it is a being of pure spirit. Thus, while the spirit of Christ avoided crucifixion by ascending unto God, the body that was Jesus was sacrificed on the cross, thereby bringing the
Old Testament
The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
to final fulfillment. Thus Quranic passages on the death of Jesus affirm that while the
Pharisees
The Pharisees (; ) were a Jews, Jewish social movement and school of thought in the Levant during the time of Second Temple Judaism. Following the Siege of Jerusalem (AD 70), destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD, Pharisaic beliefs became ...
intended to destroy
Jesus
Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
completely, they, in fact, succeeded only in killing
the Son of Man, being his ('material being'). Meanwhile,
the Son of God, being his ('spiritual being') remained alive and undying – because it is
the Holy Spirit.
Islamic literature
The Quran does not convey the specific teachings of Jesus. What has developed over the years was authored by later followers of Islam. What is found in the Quran about Jesus is that his teaching conformed to the prophetic model: a human sent by God to present both a judgment upon humanity for worshipping idols and a challenge to turn to the one true God. In the case of Jesus, Muslims believe that his mission was to the people of Israel and that his status as a prophet was confirmed by numerous miracles. The Quran's description of specific events at the end of Jesus' life have continued to be controversial between Christians and Muslims, while the classical commentaries have been interpreted differently to accommodate new information. Jesus is written about by some Muslim scholars as the perfect man.
Hadith
The
Hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
s are reported sayings of Muhammad that developed a canonical status in the third Muslim century as a source of authority for the Muslim community. The Muslim perception of Jesus emerging from the Hadiths is of a miraculous, sinless, and eschatological figure, pointing people, again according to the Muslim's perspective of prophethood, to the Muslim faith (''Muslim''; one who submits to the will of God).
Jesus is featured as a major figure in two categories of hadiths which can be described as apocalyptic and biblical. The eschatological role of Jesus in the hadiths may have been influenced by ideas of the
Second coming
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is the Christianity, Christian and Islam, Islamic belief that Jesus, Jesus Christ will return to Earth after his Ascension of Jesus, ascension to Heaven (Christianity), Heav ...
held by the
Eastern Churches
Eastern Christianity comprises Christianity, Christian traditions and Christian denomination, church families that originally developed during Classical antiquity, classical and late antiquity in the Eastern Mediterranean region or locations fu ...
, as well as the Quranic Jesus mentioned in . Many of the hadiths which feature Jesus's sayings were not included in the canonical
hadith collections, which became more focused on the sayings of Muhammad, but were instead included in a separate genre known as ('Stories of the Prophets').
Sunni Islam
In ,
al-Shahrastani ( 1153), an influential Persian historian, historiographer, scholar, philosopher and theologian, records a portrayal of Jesus very close to the orthodox tenets while continuing the Islamic narrative:
Shia Islam
In the
Nahj al-Balagha, the fourth caliph
Ali () is reported to have talked about the simplicity of Jesus. Ali says that "Jesus used a stone for his pillow, put on coarse clothes and ate rough food. His condiment was hunger. His lamp at night was the moon. He had no wife to allure him, nor any son to give grief, neither wealth to deviate. His two feet were his conveyance and his two hands were his servant". According to
Ja'far al-Sadiq
Ja'far al-Sadiq (; –765) was a Muslim hadith transmitter and the last agreed-upon Shia Imam between the Twelvers and Isma'ilis. Known by the title al-Sadiq ("The Truthful"), Ja'far was the eponymous founder of the Ja'fari school of Isla ...
, a great-great-grandson of Ali, the time between David and Jesus was four hundred years. Ja'far further says that the religion of Jesus was monotheism () and purity (). The (Gospel) was sent down to him and the pledge that other prophets took was also taken from Jesus: to establish prayer with religion, enjoin the good and forbid the evil, allowing what is allowed and forbidding what has been forbidden. Admonitions and parables were sent down to him in the , but there was no law of retribution in it nor precepts of retribution (), and no obligations for inheritance. He was sent what was an alleviation of what was sent down to Moses in the Torah. Jesus commanded of his followers that they believe in the law of the Torah and the .
According to
Qadi al-Nu'man, a famous Muslim jurist of the
Fatimid period, Jesus is referred to as the Messiah () in the Quran because he was sent to the people who responded to him in order to remove () their impurities, the ailments of their faith; whether apparent () or hidden ().
Qadi al- Nu'man, in his work ''Foundation of Symbolic Interpretation'' (), talks about the spiritual birth () of Jesus, as an interpretation of his story of physical birth () mentioned in the Quran. He says that
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a metaphor for someone who nurtured and instructed Jesus (), rather than physically giving birth to him.
Qadi al-Nu'man explains that Jesus was from the pure progeny of
Abraham
Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...
, just as
Ali and his sons were from the pure progeny of
Muhammad
Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...
, through
Fatima.
Sufism
Early Sufis adopted the sayings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount and an ascetic dimension. The submission and sacrifice Jesus exemplified shows the Muslim is to be set apart from worldly compromises. In poetry and mysticism, Jesus was celebrated as a prophet close to the heart of God achieving an uncommon degree of self-denial.
Although the writings developed over the centuries embellished Jesus' miracles, the lessons of Jesus can be seen as metaphors of the inner life. These rich and diverse presentations of Jesus in Sufi traditions are the largest body of Jesus-texts in any non-Christian tradition.
The miraculous birth and life of Jesus becomes a metaphor for
Rumi of the spiritual rebirth that is possible within each human soul. This rebirth is not achieved without effort; one needs to practice silence, poverty, and fasting—themes that were prominent in Jesus' life according to Islamic traditions.
Ibn Arabi stated Jesus was
Al-Insān al-Kāmil
In Islamic theology, ''al-Insān al-Kāmil'' (), also rendered as ''Insān-i Kāmil'' ( Persian/Urdu: ) and ' ( Turkish), is an honorific title to describe Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. The phrase means "the person who has reached perfection ...
, the spirit and simultaneously a servant of God. Jesus is held to be "one with God" in whole coincidence of will, not as a being. Due to the spirit of God dwelling in Jesus, God spoke and acted through him. Yet Jesus is not considered to be God, but a person within God's word and spirit and a manifestation of God's attributes, like a mirror, a view resembling Nestorian traditions.
The conception of Jesus as described by
Ibn Arabi ( 1240), an
Andalusian scholar, Sufi
mystic, poet and philosopher, in the ''Bezels of Wisdom'':
Ascetic literature
Jesus is widely venerated in Muslim
ascetic and
mystic literature, such as in Muslim mystic
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111), archaically Latinized as Algazelus, was a Shafi'i Sunni Muslim scholar and polymath. He is known as one of the most prominent and influential jurisconsults, legal theoreticians, muftis, philosophers, the ...
's ('The revival of the religious sciences'). These works lay stress upon Jesus' poverty, his preoccupation with worship, his detachment from worldly life and his miracles. Such depictions also include advice and sermons which are attributed to him. Later
Sufic commentaries adapted material from Christian gospels which were consistent with their ascetic portrayal. Sufi philosopher
Ibn Arabi described Jesus as "the seal of universal holiness" due to the quality of his faith and "because he holds in his hands the keys of living breath and because he is at present in a state of deprivation and journeying".
Ahmadiyya literature
The Ahmadiyya movement considers Jesus was a prophet and a mortal man, who was crucified and remained on the cross for six hours, until darkness fell. Jesus was taken down from the cross alive and unconscious. He was treated for three days and nights by saint physician Necdemus in a cave like tomb (especially built for
Joseph of Arimathea). Thereafter, Jesus recuperated from his wounds, met his trusted disciples on the Mount of Olives, and left Judea towards the sea of Galilee on his way to Damascus. After his dramatic escape from crucifixion, Jesus traveled to the eastern lands in search of the
ten lost tribes of Israel. Finally, he died a natural death in
Kashmir
Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...
, India, as opposed to having been raised up alive to Heaven.
Appearance
Based upon several
Hadith
Hadith is the Arabic word for a 'report' or an 'account f an event and refers to the Islamic oral tradition of anecdotes containing the purported words, actions, and the silent approvals of the Islamic prophet Muhammad or his immediate circle ...
narrations of Muhammad, Jesus can be physically described thus (with any differences in Jesus' physical description being due to Muhammad describing him when seeing him at different occasions, such as during his ascension to Heaven, or when describing Jesus during
Jesus' second coming):
[, , , , , , , , ]
*A well-built man of medium/moderate/average height and stature with a broad chest.
*Straight, lank, long, red and white hair that fell between his shoulders. It seems as though water is dribbling from his head, though it is not wet.
*A Moderate complexion
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
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Zuckermann, Ghil'ad (2006). "'
Etymythological Othering' and the Power of 'Lexical Engineering' in
Judaism
Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...
,
Islam
Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
and
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
. A Socio-Philo(sopho)logical Perspective", ''Explorations in the Sociology of
Language
Language is a structured system of communication that consists of grammar and vocabulary. It is the primary means by which humans convey meaning, both in spoken and signed language, signed forms, and may also be conveyed through writing syste ...
and
Religion
Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
'', edited by Tope Omoniyi and Joshua A. Fishman, Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 237–258.
External links
Jesus: A Summary of the Points About Which Islam and Christianity Agree and DisagreeDr. Alan Godlas, University of Georgia.
What Do Muslims Think About Jesus – Royal Embassy of Saudi ArabiaJesus Through Muslim Eyes – BBCThe Story of Jesus Through Iranian Eyes – ABC News7 Muslim Beliefs about JesusDr. Warren Larson
* Alim.or
Surah 3. Al-i'Imran, Ayah 4
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jesus In Islam
New Testament people in Islam
Entering heaven alive