Jesus in Islam

Jesus in Islam

Jesus and his mother Mary are held in high esteem in Islamic sources.1 It is even reported that when Muslims captured the Ka‘bah in 630, Muhammad ordered that all the statues there should be destroyed except for those of Mary and Jesus. 

In fact, right from the beginning, Muhammad saw himself as the immediate successor of Jesus. A tradition reports him as saying, ‘I am the nearest of mankind to Jesus son of Mary – on both of whom be peace – because there has been no Prophet between him and me’.

Why Study Jesus in Islam?

Some people might wonder why it is necessary to concern ourselves with what people of other faiths, and particularly Muslims, have to say about Jesus Christ. Kwame Bediako’s response to this question is astute:

Strange as it may seem, theological affirmations are meaningful ultimately, not in terms of what adherents say, but in terms of what persons of other faiths understand those affirmations to imply for them. 

In other words, our Christian affirmations are validated when their credentials and validity are tested not only in terms of the religious and spiritual universe in which Christians habitually operate, but also – indeed especially – in terms of the religious and spiritual worlds which persons of other faiths inhabit. 

For it is in those ‘other worlds’ that the true meaning of Jesus Christ becomes apparent and validated. Christian history shows that as Christian faith engages with new cultures, new insights about Jesus Christ emerges.

Jesus’ Birth

Sixty-four  of  the  93  verses  in  the  Qur’¯an  that  speak  about  Jesus is found in the nativity narratives in Suras 3 and 19. Kenneth Cragg  observes that if the Gospels are said to be really passion narratives with extended introductions, ‘it could well be said that the Jesus cycle in the Qur’¯an is nativity narrative with attenuated sequel’.3  Maryam, or Mary the mother of Jesus, is greatly honoured in Islam.

She is the only woman mentioned by name in the Qur’¯an (34 times) and a whole chapter (19) is named after her. She is identified as the daughter of Imran, the sister of Aaron (3:35; 19:28),4 and is described as a chaste woman whom God chose, made pure and preferred to all the women of creation (3:42). 

Before her birth, her mother pledged her unborn child to God. She was greatly distressed when she gave birth to a girl, and asked that she and her daughter be protected from Satan. Mary was put under the guardianship of Zachariah in the temple, where she was miraculously fed.5

The  Qur’¯an  contains  two  accounts  of  the  annunciation  of  Jesus’ coming birth (3:33–49; 19:16–34). In Sura 3, God is said to have sent an angel to Mary, while in Sura 19, it was a spirit that was sent to give her the good news. The angel appeared to Mary and addressed her in the following words:

O Mary! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a word from Him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in the world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near (unto Allah). He will speak unto mankind in his cradle and in his manhood, and he is of the righteous (3:45–46).

When Mary queried how this was going to be since no man had known her, the angel assured her that God could do anything. Some Muslim exegetes state that the angel then breathed into a slit in Mary’s cloak, which she had taken off. 

When she put it on again, she conceived Jesus. However it was done, Mary conceived and withdrew to a distant place. When the time came, she gave birth under a palm tree and took the child home to her people. 

She was accused of having brought shame and dishonour to her family. In response, Mary simply pointed to the infant Jesus lying his cradle, who then spoke the following words:

Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet, And hath made me blessed wheresoever I may be, and hath enjoined upon me prayer and almsgiving so long as I remain alive, And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me, and hath not made me arrogant, unblest. Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive! (19:30–33).

Jesus’ Mission and Miracles

According to the Qur’¯an, Jesus was no more than a prophet. His mission was primarily to the children of Israel, whereas Muhammad’s mission was universal. Jesus was a sign from God for humanity, strengthened by the Holy Spirit (5:110, 2:87). He was taught Scripture by God (3:48). The content of Jesus’ teaching, for example, the Sermon on the Mount, is barely mentioned in the Qur’¯an. All that is said is that he came to confirm the truth in the Torah and make lawful what was hitherto declared unlawful (3:50, 4:46, 3:93). He came to clarify previous revelations (43:63), enjoin the fear of the one God, and warn against ascribing partners to God (5:72). The religion Jesus established was the same as that of Noah, Abraham, Moses and subsequently 

Muhammad or in other words, Islam (33:7, 42:13). The injil (gospel) given to Jesus contains guidance, light and admonition (5:46) as well as good tidings about the coming of an ‘unlettered prophet’ (7:157). 

The gospel and message preached by Jesus have, however, been tampered with and corrupted by successive generations of Christians. Jesus himself prophesied the coming of a prophet named Ahmad or ‘the praised one’ (61:6). 

The Gospel of Barnabas, which has been proved beyond any doubt to be a fictitious work produced in Spain in the late sixteenth and early the seventeenth century develops this theme more fully.In this so-called ‘gospel’, 

Jesus predicts the coming of Muhammad by name, and Muhammad, rather then Jesus is identified as the Messiah.

Jesus and Mary are the only two people whom the Qur’¯an describes as sinless (3:36, 46). Islam rejects the concept of original sin, but nevertheless there is a tradition which states that ‘every son of Adam when newly born is touched (or probably squeezed) by Satan [and infected with sin] … it is at this contact that the child utters his first cry.’10 The only exceptions were Mary and Jesus, both of whom were granted the extraordinary privilege of being preserved from any contact with the devil at the instant of their birth. They are unique, for the Qur’¯an  reports  other  prophets  falling  into  temptation,  sinning  and asking for forgiveness – Adam (7:22–23), Abraham (26:82), Moses (28:16), Jonah (37:142) and Muhammad (3:31; 47:19).

Many traditions abound about Jesus’ omniscience and supernatural powers both as a child and an adult. He is the only one, apart from God, with the power to create life (birds) by using clay and breathing life into them (3:49). 

This tradition about his modelling of birds is found in the apocryphal gospels (the Gospel of Thomas, chapter 2; the Arabic Gospel of the Infancy chapters 1, 36, 46; and the Armenian Gospel of the Infancy chapters 18 and 2). Christian apologists have always pointed out that the verb khalaqa, used of Jesus’ creating birds, is a verb that the Qur’¯an elsewhere uses exclusively to refer to God’s activity. 

The substance used, clay is what God used to create the first man, Adam (6:2; 7:12; 28:38). The act of breathing into the birds is similar to the way God breathed into Adam and into Mary. The breath of Jesus, like that of God, has the power to give life