In Islam, Jesus (), 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. He was the last messenger sent to the Israelites (Banī Isrāʾīl) and received a revelation known as the Injīl (Gospel). The Quran describes Jesus as the Messiah, Messenger of Allah, and His Word, born of a virgin, performing miracles, accompanied by disciples, and rejected by the Israelites. In contrast to Christian belief, Islamic tradition holds that Jesus was neither crucified nor killed, but was instead raised to Heaven by God. The Quran places Jesus among the greatest prophets and refers to him by various titles. His prophethood was preceded by that of Yahya (John the Baptist), who acted as a verifier of the mission of Jesus and followed by Muhammad, whom Jesus is understood to have foretold in the Quran under the name Ahmad.
Christians consider Jesus the incarnation of God the Son and the awaited Messiah, or Christ. The Quran rejects the idea of Allah having a son - وَلَد (a "walad", which implies biological procreation/offspring and generation of another being), and states that Jesus said to worship Allah alone and that he truly (the word used isإِنِّى "inni", meaning "verily", showing that Isa really has the attributes mentioned) an 'abd (servant) and nabiyyan (someone who delivers a message on the behalf of somebody, a "prophet"), while simultaneously being called the Word of God and a spirit created by Allah. These several verses are understood as a rejection of the divinity of Jesus and his status as the Son of God, and states that Jesus did not claim to be God or the Son of God. Islam teaches that Jesus' original message was altered (taḥrīf) after his disciples claimed that he had risen from the dead. The monotheism (tawḥīd) of Jesus is emphasized in the Quran. Like all prophets in Islam, Jesus is also described as a Muslim, meaning one who submits to God, as he preached that his followers should follow the 'straight path' (Ṣirāṭ al-Mustaqīm). Jesus is attributed with numerous miracles in Islamic tradition.
In Islamic eschatology, Jesus and the Mahdi are believed to appear together during the events of the End Times. Jesus will kill al-Masih ad-Dajjal (the False Messiah), after which the ancient tribe of Gog and Magog (Yaʾjūj and Maʾjūj) will emerge and spread across the earth. After God destroys them, Jesus will rule the world, establish peace and justice, and eventually die a natural death. He will be buried alongside Muhammad in the fourth reserved tomb at the Prophet's Mosque in Medina. The Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, associated with Jesus' return in the Second Coming, is highly revered by both Muslims and Christians. Jesus is also widely venerated in Sufism, with numerous ascetic and mystical works written and recited about him, in which he is often portrayed as a model of asceticism, divine love, and inner purity.
Quran Jesus is referred to in the Quran throughout 15 surahs.Anawati, G. C. (2012). ʿĪsā. In P. Bearman (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Islam New Edition Online (EI-2 English). Brill. The Quran emphasizes Jesus as a prophet, unique in creation, born out of a virgin, and messenger from God.Thomas, D. (2006). The encounter of Eastern Christianity with early Islam. In The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam. Brill. p. 188 He is usually referred to as (Jesus son of Mary), (The Christ son of Mary), and a few times in 23:50 and 43:57 as (Son of Mary).Thomas, D. (2006). The encounter of Eastern Christianity with early Islam. In The Encounter of Eastern Christianity with Early Islam. Brill. p. 189 Jesus is described as God's word (), which appears to be the equivalent of the Greek logos, imparted to Mary and to be his spirit.
Yet, the Quran rejects associating partners with Allah (Surah 5:73 - rejects saying Allah is the third of three, 116 rejects associating deities aside Allah) in order to protect God's absolute unity (). Jesus is understood to have preached salvation through submission to God's will and worshipping God alone. Quran 5:116 states that Jesus will deny teaching people to consider him and his mother deities aside Allah, potentially (although disputed) matching the teachings of the Collyridians.. Thus, he is considered to have been a Muslim by the religious definition of the term (i.e., one who submits to God's will).
Birth
Islam's account of Jesus begins with a prologue narrated several times in the Quran which first describes the birth of his mother, Mary, and her service in the Jerusalem temple while under the care of the prophet Zechariah, who would become the father of Yahya (John the Baptist). The Quran's birth narrative of Jesus begins at and . This birth narrative has been recounted with certain variations and detailed additions by Islamic historians over the centuries. In the matter of the virgin birth of Jesus, while Islamic theology affirms Mary as a pure vessel, it does not follow the concept of Immaculate Conception as related to Mary's birth in some Christian traditions.
Annunciation
Islamic exegesis affirms the virginal birth of Jesus – similarly to the Gospel account and occurring in Bethlehem. The narrative of the virgin birth opens with an announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel while Mary is being raised in the Temple after having been pledged to God by her mother. Gabriel states she is honored over all women of all nations and has brought her glad tidings of a pure son.
Gabriel declares the son is to be named Jesus, the Messiah, proclaiming he will be called a great prophet. Mary, asking how she could conceive and have a child when no man had touched her, was answered by the angel that God can decree what he wills, and that it shall come to pass.
The narrative from the Quran continues with Mary, overcome by the pains of childbirth, being provided with a stream of water under her feet from which she could drink, and with a palm tree which she could shake so ripe dates would fall and she be enjoyed. After giving birth, Mary carries the baby Jesus back to the temple and is asked by the temple elders about the child. Having been commanded by Gabriel to a vow of silence, she points to the infant Jesus and the infant proclaims:
Jesus speaking from the cradle is one of six miracles attributed to him in the Quran, an account which is also found in the Syriac Infancy Gospel, a sixth-century work. Referencing this tradition, an alcove-structure in the south-eastern corner of the Masjid Aqsa complex, is believed by some to be the cradle where Jesus was placed on his 40-day presentation. According to various hadiths, Jesus and Mary did not cry at birth.
Birth narratives
The Islamic faith echoed some strands within the Christian tradition that Mary (or Maryam) was a literal virgin when Jesus was conceived. The most detailed account of the annunciation and birth of Jesus is provided in Surah 3 (Al Imran) and 19 (Maryam) of the Quran, where the story is narrated that God (Allah) sent an angel to announce that Maryam could shortly expect to bear a son, despite being a virgin.Sarker, Abraham,Understand My Muslim People, 2004, , p. 260.
The Qurʾanic birth narrative closely resembles ones found in Christian apocryphal texts, which modern scholars consider the Qurʾanic account to be dependent on. The primary two accounts the Quʾran is thought to recount in some way are found in the Latin Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew which features a Maryam date-palm (and spring) miracle in Egypt and the Gospel of James which features a remote/cave birth narrative. Of additional importance are also the pictorial mosaics found in the Church of the Seat of Mary, which was converted into a mosque and served as the primary architectural inspiration for the Dome of the Rock. These mosaics already display the narrative conflation between the remote birth and the date-palm episode later found in the Quʾran. They thereby likely attest the Palestinian oral tradition recounted by the author of the Quʾran.
Despite common objections that the canonical Biblical accounts share little resemblance to the Qurʾanic account, some academics have argued that Surah 19 is particularly close to that in the canonical Christian Gospel of Luke.Jackson, Montell, Islam Revealed, 2003, , p. 73. The Annunciation to Mary is mentioned twice in the Quran, and in both instances Mary/Maryam is told that she was chosen by God to deliver a son. In the first instance, the bearer of the news (who is believed by most Muslims to be the archangel Gabriel), delivered the news in () as he takes the form of a man ().Jestice, Phyllis G., Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia, Volume 1, 2004, , pp. 558–559 The details of the conception according to and are that Mary conceives Jesus by having him blown into her womb through the spirit (i.e. archangel Gabriel). Mary asks how she can bear a son in view of her chastity and is told that God creates what he wills and that these things are easy for God.
More recently Suleiman Ali Mourad began to look at broader mythological traditions of antiquity, rather than only identifying well-established pre-Islamic Christian intertexts. He thereby identified divine birth narratives as general sources and particularly the birth of the Greek god, Apollo, as a prototype for the Quranic account.
The 8th-century Muslim historian Ibn Ishaq (704–767), wrote the account entitled ('In the Beginning'), reporting that Zechariah is Mary's guardian briefly, and after being incapable of maintaining her, he entrusts her to a carpenter named George. Secluded in a church, she is joined by a young man named Joseph, and they help one another fetching water and other tasks. The account of the birth of Jesus follows the Quran's narrative, adding that the birth occurred in Bethlehem beside a palm tree with a manger.
The 10th-century Persian scholar al-Tabari (839–923) mentions envoys arriving from the king of Persia with gifts (similar to the Magi from the east) for the Messiah; the command to a man called Joseph (not specifically Mary's husband) to take her and the child to Egypt and later return to Nazareth.
The Fatimid Ismaili jurist Qadi al-Nu'man also contributed to the narrative, explaining that the virgin birth of Jesus is meant to be interpreted symbolically. In his interpretation, Mary was the follower (), of the Imam Joachim (Imran). However, when Joachim realized that she was not suited for the , he passed it to Zechariah, who then passed it to John the Baptist. Meanwhile, Mary received spiritual inspiration () from God, revealing that he would invite a man (to the faith) who would become an exalted Speaker () of a revealed religion (). According to al-Nu'man, the Quran verses "She said: Lord! How can I have a child when no man has touched me?" () and "neither have I been unchaste" () are symbolic of Mary's saying, "How can I conduct the invitation () when the Imam of the Time has not given me permission to do so?" and "Nor shall I be unfaithful by acting against his command", respectively. To this, a celestial hierarch replies "Such is God. He creates [i.e., causes to pass] what he wills" ().
Childhood