Jesus in Islam

  • ʿĪsā
  • عِيسَىٰ
  • Jesus
Alayhi as-Salam
Isa feeding his disciples with food from heaven.
Bornc. 4 BCE
Herodian Kingdom or Judea, Roman Empire
Disappearedc. 33 CE
Gethsemane, Jerusalem, Judea, Roman Empire
Known forBeing the Messiah, prophet
PredecessorYahya (John the Baptist)
SuccessorMuhammad
OpponentAl-Masih ad-Dajjal
ParentMaryam bint Imran (mother)
Relatives
  • Zakariyyā (adoptive maternal grandfather)
  • Yaḥyā ibn Zakariyyā (maternal cousin)

In Islam, Jesus (Arabic: عِيسَىٰ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ, romanized: ʿĪsā ibn Maryam, lit.'Jesus, son of Mary'), referred to by the Arabic rendering of his name Isa, is believed to be the penultimate prophet and messenger of God (Allāh) and the Messiah being the last of the messengers sent to the Israelites (Banī Isra'īl) with a revelation called the Injīl (Evangel or Gospel). In the Quran, Jesus is described as the Messiah (Arabic: المسيح, romanized: al-Masīḥ), born of a virgin, performing miracles, accompanied by his disciples, and rejected by the Jewish establishment; in contrast to the traditional Christian narrative, however, he is stated neither to have been crucified, nor executed, nor to have been resurrected. Rather, it is that stated that it appeared to the Jews, as if they had executed him and that they therefore say they killed Jesus, who had in truth 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 ibn Zakariyyā (John the Baptist) and succeeded by Muhammad, the coming of latter of whom Jesus is reported in the Quran to have foretold under the name Ahmad.

Most Christians view Jesus 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 did not claim to be personally God nor the Son of God. Islam teaches that Jesus' original message was altered (taḥrīf) after his being raised alive. The monotheism (tawḥīd) of Jesus is emphasized in the Quran. Like all prophets in Islam, Jesus is also called a Muslim (lit. submitter [to God]), as he preached that his followers should adopt the 'straight path' (Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm). Jesus is attributed with a vast number of miracles in Islamic tradition.

In their views of Islamic eschatology, most accounts state that Jesus will return in the Second Coming to kill the Al-Masih ad-Dajjal ('The False Messiah'), after which the ancient tribe of Gog and Magog (Yaʾjūj Maʾjūj) will disperse. After God has gotten 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.

The place where Jesus is believed to return, the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, is highly esteemed by Muslims as the fourth holiest site of Islam. Jesus is widely venerated in Sufism, with numerous ascetic and mystic literature written and recited about him where he is often portrayed as the paragon of asceticism, divine love, and inner purity.[1][2]

  1. ^ Cook, David (2021). Studies in Muslim Apocalyptic. Gerlach Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1b9f5v8. ISBN 978-3-95994-120-4.
  2. ^ Leirvik 2010, pp. 66–71.