Jesus
Jesus in Islam
What the Qur'an says about Isa, the son of Maryam, with the verses given. Where it touches the Bible, and where it truly differs.
Jesus is not important to Christians alone. In the Qur'an He is called Isa, the son of Maryam, and Muslims honour Him as one of the greatest prophets. Many Muslims and Christians know little of what the other believes about Him. Here we set side by side what the Qur'an says about Jesus and what the Bible says: where they meet, and where they truly differ.
Thread writes from the Christian faith and does not proclaim another religion. But whoever speaks about someone else's faith must do so honestly: with the verses given, without mockery. The short quotations come from a free, older translation of the Qur'an; the verse is always named.
A short comparison with other faiths is under Who is Jesus? Here we look more deeply at the Qur'an.
Where they meet
More than many people think, the Qur'an and the Bible say the same things about Jesus.
Born of the virgin Mary
Qur'an 3:42–47; 19:16–34; 21:91
An angel brings Maryam the news that she will have a son, though no man has touched her. Maryam is greatly honoured: a whole sura bears her name, and according to 3:42 she is chosen above all the women of the world.
O Mary! Lo! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a word from him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary.
Qur'an 3:45 The Bible
Luke and Matthew also tell that Jesus was born of Mary without a human father, through the Holy Spirit. For Christians that means more than a miracle: God Himself enters the world.
The Messiah, a word from God
Qur'an 3:45; 4:171
The Qur'an calls Jesus al-Masih, the Messiah, and also 'his word' and 'a spirit from Him'. No other prophet receives these titles. At the same time the Qur'an says He is 'only a messenger' and compares Him with Adam, whom God also created without a father (3:59).
The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him.
Qur'an 4:171 The Bible
John also calls Jesus the Word, but adds: the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and He became flesh. The same words, a different meaning.
One God, three personsSigns and wonders
Qur'an 3:49; 5:110–115; 19:29–33
As a baby Jesus speaks from the cradle to defend His mother. He heals the blind and lepers and raises the dead, each time 'by Allah's leave'. He makes a bird of clay that flies, and at His prayer a laden table comes down from heaven.
I fashion for you out of clay the likeness of a bird, and I breathe into it and it is a bird, by Allah's leave. I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I raise the dead, by Allah's leave.
Qur'an 3:49 The Bible
The gospels know the healings too. The story of the clay birds is not in the Bible, but it is in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas from the second century, which the church did not accept as Scripture.
The other gospelsThe Gospel
Qur'an 5:46; 57:27
God gave Jesus the Injil, the Gospel, with guidance and light, confirming the Torah that was already there.
The Bible
For Christians the gospel is not a book Jesus received, but the good news about who He is and what He did, written down by His disciples. Many Muslims believe that today's gospels are no longer the original Injil. What the manuscripts show about that, you can read under 'Is it true?'.
Has the Bible been changed?He will return
Qur'an 4:159; 43:61
Many Muslims expect Jesus to return before the Last Day. That rests mainly on traditions outside the Qur'an (hadith) and on how a few verses are explained.
The Bible
Christians too await His return, and confess that He will come 'to judge the living and the dead'.
Where they differ
And yet the differences are great, and they concern the core. Set honestly side by side.
Son of God?
Qur'an 4:171; 19:35; 112:1–4
The Qur'an firmly rejects that God would take or beget a son, and says: 'say not "Three"'. God is one; He begets not and was not begotten.
It befitteth not (the Majesty of) Allah that He should take unto Himself a son. Glory be to Him! When He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be! and it is.
Qur'an 19:35 The Bible
Here lies the greatest difference. But notice what Christians mean: not that God took a wife and fathered a child, nor that there are three gods. They confess one God, and that the Son is 'begotten, not made', eternally with the Father. Christians too would reject a god with a bodily son.
One God, three personsMary as a goddess?
Qur'an 5:116
God asks Jesus whether He told people to take Him and His mother as two gods beside God, and Jesus denies it.
O Jesus, son of Mary! Didst thou say unto mankind: Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah?
Qur'an 5:116 The Bible
Christians do not recognise their faith in this: the Trinity is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and Mary is not God. Catholics and Orthodox honour her highly, but do not worship her. Muslim and Christian scholars discuss whom this verse had in view; Thread leaves that question open.
One God, three personsCrucified?
Qur'an 4:157–158
The Qur'an says they did not kill Jesus and did not crucify Him, but that it appeared so to them, and that God took Him up to Himself. Most classical commentators read this as meaning that someone else died in His place. A few modern thinkers read it differently: that not they, but God had the last word.
They slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them … But Allah took him up unto Himself.
Qur'an 4:157–158 Some old European translations write 'someone who resembled him' into the text itself. The Arabic only says that it appeared so to them; the substitution is interpretation. Pickthall translates more literally.
The Bible
For Christians the cross is the heart of the gospel: Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised. Historians too, believers or not, count the crucifixion under Pontius Pilate among the surest facts about Jesus.
What historians knowServant, prophet, or more?
Qur'an 4:171; 5:75; 19:30
In the cradle Jesus says: I am God's servant, He has made me a prophet. He is a messenger, as there were messengers before Him.
Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet.
Qur'an 19:30 The Bible
Here the two touch surprisingly: the New Testament also calls Jesus a servant, who took 'the form of a servant' and came to serve. But for Christians He is servant and Lord: whoever sees Him sees the Father.
The promise of a helper
Qur'an 61:6
Jesus announces a messenger who comes after Him, 'whose name is the Praised One' (Ahmad). Muslims see Muhammad in this, and some link it with the 'Counselor' of John's gospel.
Lo! I am the messenger of Allah unto you, confirming that which was (revealed) before me in the Torah, and bringing good tidings of a messenger who cometh after me, whose name is the Praised One.
Qur'an 61:6 The Bible
In John 14–16 Jesus names the Counselor Himself: 'the Holy Spirit', whom the Father sends, who stays with the disciples and lives in them. That is why Christians read this promise as the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost.
Who is the Holy Spirit?
Talking with each other
Conversations about Jesus between Muslims and Christians are best begun by listening well. Ask what Isa means to the other, and tell what Jesus means to you. You don't have to agree to respect each other. Peter wrote that Christians should be ready to explain where their hope comes from, 'with humility and fear'.
Sources
The quotations from the Qur'an: M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930; in the public domain). An older English translation. It follows the standard verse numbering.
Sources
- Project Gutenberg, “De Koran, uitgegeven onder toezicht van dr. S. Keyzer (eBook 19786)”
- Wikisource, “Le Koran, traduction de Kazimirski”
- Projekt Gutenberg-DE, “Max Henning, Der Koran”
- Tanzil, “M. M. Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (1930)”
- University of Toronto, Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations, “Todd Lawson, The Crucifixion and the Qur'an (2009)”
- SOAS Research Online, “Review of Todd Lawson, The Crucifixion and the Qur'an (M. Shah)”