Jesus in the Quran

For many readers the first surprise is how much honour the Quran gives to Jesus, peace be upon him. He is the Messiah, al-Masih (3:45). He is born of the virgin Mary, the only woman named anywhere in the Quran and the only one with a chapter that carries her name. He is called a word from God and a spirit from Him (4:171). He speaks while still in the cradle. None of it is grudging. The Jesus of the Quran stands among the very greatest of the prophets, and to insult him or his mother is unthinkable in Islam.

His own first words

The chapter named for his mother gives Jesus his first words, spoken from the cradle. He says that he is a servant of God, that God has given him the Scripture and made him a prophet, and that peace was upon him the day he was born and will be upon him the day he dies and the day he is raised again (19:30 to 19:33). It is a remarkable way to be introduced. Before he can teach a single thing, the infant places himself in the line of the prophets and under the one God who sent him.

The one place we see him differently

Here is the single place where the Quran and the Christian heart hold him differently, and love asks us to name it plainly rather than blur it, because to blur it would be to flatter you, and you deserve better than flattery. The Quran honours Jesus as prophet and messenger, and it does not place him as God or as the son of God. It calls its own readers, and the People of the Book, gently back toward the oneness of God, who is far above the need of a son (4:171). It says the Messiah was a messenger, that messengers came and went before him, and that he and his mother ate food as mortals do (5:75). On the cross it holds its own witness, that they did not kill him and did not crucify him, though it was made to appear so (4:157). And in a scene late in the book, Jesus himself is asked whether he ever told people to take him and his mother as gods, and he answers that he would never say what he had no right to say (5:116).

This is a real difference, and we hold it without raising our voice. But notice what the disagreement is not about. It is not about whether Jesus is beloved. It is about how high to place one who is already placed so high, and the Quran's answer is plain: among the highest of the prophets, sent by the one God, and in God's sight like Adam, brought into being by a word (3:59).

How the Quran speaks of those who love him

And the Quran does not leave the Christian at arm's length. It says the nearest in affection to the believers are those who say, We are Christians, for among them are people devoted to learning and humble worshippers who are not given to arrogance (5:82). It calls across the table to a shared word: People of the Book, let us come to a statement common to us all, that we worship none but God and set up no partner with Him (3:64). It instructs the believer to dispute with the People of the Book only in the kindest way, and to say, our God and your God are one, and to Him we submit (29:46). It honours the Gospel given to Jesus, with guidance and light, confirming what came before it (5:46). And it lets us hear God's own tenderness toward him, the promise that He would take Jesus to Himself and raise him up (3:55). Whatever else divides the page, this much is shared ground, and it is wide.

The number, where you would least expect it

One last thing, offered as an observation and nothing more. The chapter that carries Jesus's birth, the chapter named for Mary, is the nineteenth chapter of the Quran. And like the others in the project's marked set, it opens with the disconnected letters, Kaf Ha Ya Ain Sad (19:1). The structure this whole project is about runs straight through the chapter where the Quran tells the story of the Messiah. The researcher does not believe in coincidences, and he will not tell you what to make of that one. He will only point at it.

This is written to open a hand, not to win an argument. If you love Jesus, the Quran asks you to love him the way it does, as a prophet of the one God who sent him, and it counts you close while it says so. The book itself promises that the believers, the Jews, the Christians, and all who believe in God and the Last Day and do good, will have their reward with their Lord, with no fear upon them and no grief (2:62). That is a horizon wide enough to walk toward together, even where the rest of the road is not yet shared.

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