The Bible: An Islamic Perspective: Jesus

Jesus, son of God or Prophet? Jesus, though not as central in Islam as he is in Christianity, is revered by all Muslims. This study of his life and impact in The Bible: An Islamic Perspective series compares the Jesus of Christianity with the Jesus of Islam through a detailed examination of the Biblical record, the Quranic references to him, and Surabadi’s stories about him in his 11th-century Quranic Commentary. Many other classical sources are called upon for their witness. In the stories of Jesus’ birth, his miracle working, and his special nature, Islam may differ in detail, but there is no broad disagreement until we reach the defining events of the crucifixion and their outcome. With the Quranic verse They slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them (Q. 4:158), the Islamic view of the human Jesus separates from the superhuman Jesus of Christianity. The last section of the book reviews the Second Coming in Christianity and Islam, and the impact of eschatological beliefs upon Christo-Islamic relations.