Jesus in Islam (ʿĪsā al-Masīḥ)
We love Jesus. We honor him. We follow his true message. And we do not worship him.
In Islam, Jesus son of Mary stands among the greatest messengers Allah ever sent. Born by a miracle, given the Gospel, supported with signs, and sent to call people back to the worship of the One God.
Who Jesus is in Islam
A messenger; honoured, loved, followed. Not an object of worship.
QURANThe Messiah, the son of Maryam (Mary), is (nothing) but a Messenger (neither a god nor a son of God nor His partner). Many Messengers have indeed preceded him, and his mother was a paragon of truth (a saintly person). Both (were mortal creatures as they) used to eat food. (O Beloved!) Observe how clearly We explain the Revelations for their (guidance), but again observe how (in spite of that) they are turning away (from the truth)!
مَّا الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ وَأُمُّهُ صِدِّيقَةٌ ۖ كَانَا يَأْكُلَانِ الطَّعَامَ ۗ انظُرْ كَيْفَ نُبَيِّنُ لَهُمُ الْآيَاتِ ثُمَّ انظُرْ أَنَّىٰ يُؤْفَكُونَ ٧٥
QURANThe Messiah, the son of Maryam (Mary), is (nothing) but a Messenger (neither a god nor a son of God nor His partner). Many Messengers have indeed preceded him, and his mother was a paragon of truth (a saintly person). Both (were mortal creatures as they) used to eat food. (O Beloved!) Observe how clearly We explain the Revelations for their (guidance), but again observe how (in spite of that) they are turning away (from the truth)!
مَّا الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ وَأُمُّهُ صِدِّيقَةٌ ۖ كَانَا يَأْكُلَانِ الطَّعَامَ ۗ انظُرْ كَيْفَ نُبَيِّنُ لَهُمُ الْآيَاتِ ثُمَّ انظُرْ أَنَّىٰ يُؤْفَكُونَ ٧٥
The Messiah The Qur'an gives him the title outright, in Allah's own speech, with no hedging and no reluctance. Muslims do not avoid the word Messiah or soften it. We use it because Allah used it.
Sent to the Children of Israel, to a people who had drifted, to call them back to the true path.
His birth, his miracles, his healing of the incurable, his message, all signs of Allah’s power.
A servant of Allah The first words out of his mouth, spoken as an infant in his mother's arms. "Indeed, I am the servant of Allah." (QURAN 19:30)
A prophet Given scripture and made a prophet, in the same breath, in the same sentence, by his own account.
Mary (Maryam): the only woman mentioned by name in the Quran
Islam does not treat Mary as a footnote.. She is named thirty four times in the Quran, more than any other woman, she is the only woman the Quran names at all. The nineteenth chapter carries her name. The third carries her family's.
QURANWhen the angels said: ‘O Maryam (Mary), surely, Allah gives you glad tidings of a (particular) Word from Him named the Messiah, ‘Isa, the son of Maryam (Jesus, the son of Mary), who would be eminent and exalted, (both) in this world and in the Hereafter, and would be of those who are exceptionally intimate servants of Allah blessed with His nearness.
إِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِّنْهُ اسْمُهُ الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَجِيهًا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ ٤٥
QURAN“He said: Indeed, I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet.”
قَالَ إِنِّي عَبْدُ اللَّهِ آتَانِيَ الْكِتَابَ وَجَعَلَنِي نَبِيًّا ٣٠
A birth without a father is not a claim to divinity
A Muslim believes Jesus was born of a virgin. Not as a concession to anyone, but because the Qur'an states it plainly and returns to it more than once. The disagreement was never about whether the birth was miraculous. It is about what a miracle proves.
Had No father and no mother. Formed from dust by a command. No one in the history of the world has worshipped Adam.
No father. Formed in the womb by the same command. The miracle is the same kind of miracle, and the smaller of the two.
QURAN“Indeed, the example of Jesus in the sight of Allah is like that of Adam. He created him from dust, then said to him: Be and he was.”
إِنَّ مَثَلَ عِيسَىٰ عِندَ اللَّهِ كَمَثَلِ آدَمَ ۖ خَلَقَهُ مِن تُرَابٍ ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُ كُن فَيَكُونُ ٥٩
Why he is called a word from Him and a spirit from Him
These two phrases carry more weight in Muslim and Christian conversation than almost anything else in the Qur'an, and they are almost always quoted without the rest of the sentence they live in.
Allah says “Be” and the thing is. Jesus came into existence by that command, delivered to Mary without the ordinary means. The title describes how he was brought about, not what he is made of. The same command made Adam out of dust, and the Qur'an draws that parallel itself rather than leaving it to be argued.
An honor, and a statement of origin. The Arabic min, from, does not imply a piece broken off from God. The Qur'an uses the identical construction elsewhere for the sun, the moon, and everything in the heavens and the earth, all of it "from Him" (Qur'an 45:13), and no one has ever concluded that the sea is part of God's essence. The phrase raises Jesus. It does not raise him to God.
Do these titles make Jesus divine?
No, and the answer is not a Muslim inference drawn from somewhere else in the book. It is in the same verse. Allah calls him a messenger, a word delivered to Mary, and a spirit from Him, and before the sentence finishes He has forbidden the word "three," declared His own oneness, and denied having a son.
QURANPeople of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say not as to God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only the Messenger of God, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a Spirit from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers, and say not, ’Three.’ Refrain; better is it for you. God is only One God. Glory be to Him -- That He should have a son! To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth; God suffices for a guardian.
يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ لَا تَغْلُوا فِي دِينِكُمْ وَلَا تَقُولُوا عَلَى اللَّهِ إِلَّا الْحَقَّ ۚ إِنَّمَا الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَكَلِمَتُهُ أَلْقَاهَا إِلَىٰ مَرْيَمَ وَرُوحٌ مِّنْهُ ۖ فَآمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ ۖ وَلَا تَقُولُوا ثَلَاثَةٌ ۚ انتَهُوا خَيْرًا لَّكُمْ ۚ إِنَّمَا اللَّهُ إِلَٰهٌ وَاحِدٌ ۖ سُبْحَانَهُ أَن يَكُونَ لَهُ وَلَدٌ ۘ لَّهُ مَا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ ۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِاللَّهِ وَكِيلًا ١٧١
Every miracle, and the three words attached to each one.
A Muslim affirms all of it. The blind who saw. The leper who was cleansed. The dead who stood up. The bird shaped from clay that beat its wings and flew off his palm. None of it is treated in Islam as legend, exaggeration, or metaphor. It happened, and it happened publicly. By Allah's permission.
Speaking as an infant by Allah’s permission
Healing the blind and the leper by Allah’s permission
Bringing the dead back to life by Allah’s permission
Forming a bird from clay that becomes real by Allah’s permission
Why the Qur’an phrases it this way
A miracle is evidence that God is standing behind a man. It has never once been evidence that the man is God. Moses split a sea.
QURANWhen God said, ’Jesus Son of Mary, remember My blessing upon thee and upon thy mother, when I confirmed thee with the Holy Spirit, to speak to men in the cradle, and of age; and when I taught thee the Book, the Wisdom, the Torah, the Gospel; and when thou createst out of clay, by My leave, as the likeness of a bird, and thou breathest into it, and it is a bird, by My leave; and thou healest the blind and the leper by My leave, and thou bringest the dead forth by My leave; and when restrained from thee the Children of Israel when thou camest unto them with the clear signs, and the unbelievers among them said,'This is nothing but sorcery manifest'.
إِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ اذْكُرْ نِعْمَتِي عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَىٰ وَالِدَتِكَ إِذْ أَيَّدتُّكَ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ تُكَلِّمُ النَّاسَ فِي الْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلًا ۖ وَإِذْ عَلَّمْتُكَ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَالتَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنجِيلَ ۖ وَإِذْ تَخْلُقُ مِنَ الطِّينِ كَهَيْئَةِ الطَّيْرِ بِإِذْنِي فَتَنفُخُ فِيهَا فَتَكُونُ طَيْرًا بِإِذْنِي ۖ وَتُبْرِئُ الْأَكْمَهَ وَالْأَبْرَصَ بِإِذْنِي ۖ وَإِذْ تُخْرِجُ الْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِي ۖ وَإِذْ كَفَفْتُ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ عَنكَ إِذْ جِئْتَهُم بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ فَقَالَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْهُمْ إِنْ هَٰذَا إِلَّا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ ١١٠
Crucifixion: what we believe happened at the end
This is where Islam and Christianity stand furthest apart, and there is no way to narrow the distance by choosing softer words, so here it is plainly. Muslims do not believe Jesus was killed. We believe Allah protected His messenger and raised him to Himself.
The Qur'an does not mention this in passing. It answers the report directly, as a correction.
QURANand for their saying, ’We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God’ -- yet they did not slay him, neither crucified him, only a likeness of that was shown to them. Those who are at variance concerning him surely are in doubt regarding him; they have no knowledge of him, except the following of surmise; and they slew him not of a certainty -- no indeed;
وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ ۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا ١٥٧
He is coming back
The two faiths that disagree most sharply about how his life ended agree that it has not ended.
Muslims believe Jesus will return before the end of time. He will descend, he will judge with justice, and what was distorted about him will be corrected by the one it was distorted about.
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The Judgement Day will not be established until the son of Mary descends among you as a just ruler. He will break the cross, kill the swine, and abolish the jizya. Wealth will be so abundant that nobody will accept it."
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The Judgement Day will not be established until the son of Mary descends among you as a just ruler. He will break the cross, kill the swine, and abolish the jizya. Wealth will be so abundant that nobody will accept it."
He returns as a servant of Allah, which is what he was the whole time.
He judges with justice, and the justice is Allah's rather than his own.
He confirms what he actually taught, in his own voice, to everyone who has argued about him for two thousand years.
It is the last movement of Allah’s plan, not a god stepping down into the world.
The Gospel he was given
Allah revealed guidance to Jesus. The Qur'an calls it the Injīl and speaks of it as real revelation, carried faithfully by a real prophet, calling people to the worship of Allah alone. What the Qur'an does not say is that four accounts written after him by other hands are that revelation intact.
Revelation was given to Jesus. Allah sent him with guidance and he carried it without altering it.
The guidance he carried called people to worship Allah alone. That is its content, not our summary of it.
Claims about his divinity developed later, among people arguing after he was gone. They are not what he brought.
Two ways to get him wrong
Islam refuses both, and the refusal is the whole position.
Treating him as ordinary Plenty of people diminish him. Muslims are not among them.
“The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was no more than a messenger of Allah…” — Qur’an 4:171
Treating him as God Worship belongs to Allah alone, and the sharpest statement of that in the Qur'an is placed in Jesus's own mouth.
“Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.” Qur’an 5:72, Jesus speaking