Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Karen Armstrong, Jerusalem: One 

City, Three Faiths (New York: Random House, 1996); 

Meron Benvenisti, City of Stone: The Hidden History 

of Jerusalem (Berkeley: University of California Press, 

1996); Oleg Grabar, The Shape of the Holy: Early Islamic 

Jerusalem (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 

1996), F. E. Peters, Jerusalem (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton 

University Press, 1995); ———, Jerusalem and Mecca: 

The Typology of the Holy City in the Near East (New 

York: New York University Press, 1987); A. L. Tibawi, 

“Jerusalem: Its Place in Islam and Arab History.” The 

Islamic Quarterly 12, no. 4 (1968): 185–218.

Jesus

 

(Arabic: Isa)

 

the first-century Jewish 

teacher who Christians believe to be a savior and 

who Muslims believe was a prophet who brought the 

Gospel, which contained part of God’s message for 

humanity

Jesus’ name appears in 15 quranic chapters and 

93 verses. Known as “the Messiah Jesus, the son 

K  396  

Jesus

---

of Mary” (for example, Q 3:45), Muslims believe 

that Jesus was born of a virgin named m

ary

 and 

that he taught the true religion of God, many 

aspects of which Christians later misinterpreted 

(for example, Q 5:17; 19:16–37). Following the 

quranic narrative, they hold that while he was 

not crucified, he was raised to heaven and will 

return at the end of time to defeat the a

ntichrist

(al-Dajjal). Muslims also believe that Jesus was a 

prophet (rasul, nabi) who foretold the coming of 

m

Uhammad

. Additional accounts about Jesus were 

later included in the 

hadith

, Lives of the Prophets

literature, and Sufi poetry and hagiographies.

One of several mistakes Muslims believe Chris-

tians have made about Jesus is their claim that he 

was divine. Because a key belief in Islam is an 

absolute 

monotheism

 (

tawhid

), Muslims believe 

it is blasphemous to maintain that any human 

being can have divine attributes. For Muslims, 

God is perfect and holy and as such cannot be 

captured in any human form. The idea that Jesus 

was human and not divine does not detract from 

his important role as a prophet. The message he 

preached to humanity was as meaningful as the 

prophets who preceded him. Muslims also reject 

the Christian notion of the trinity because they 

believe it is a form of 

idolatry

 that undermines 

God’s oneness.

The  q

Uran

’s assertions about Jesus suggest 

that he and Muhammad had similar experiences, 

and, as such, Muslims believe that there were 

some parallels between the lives of these figures. 

God gave each of them the task of proclaiming 

his message to humanity. They both had compan-

ions who attempted to understand their message, 

encountered opponents who severely criticized 

the ideas they declared, and gave prophecies 

about the future. Muslims believe Jesus foretold 

the coming of Muhammad, while in the hadith, 

Muhammad declared the day of judgment that 

would come at the end of time.

Muslims believe that when Jesus’ enemies 

attempted to crucify him, God intentionally 

deceived them by projecting Jesus’ likeness onto 

someone else whom they mistakenly crucified (Q 

4:157–158). However, Muslims do believe that 

Jesus ascended into heaven. For them, neither 

divinity nor crucifixion is necessary to authenti-

cate the enormous value of Jesus’ life and teach-

ings. The Arabic name Isa (Jesus) is used by 

Muslims as a personal name, and it is thought 

that the mixing of Muslims and Christians in 

a

ndalUsia

 (Islamic Spain) helped make Jesus a 

common name among Spanish-speaking Chris-

tians as well.

Followers of one of the branches of the 

a

hmadiyya

 sect, unlike the majority of Muslims, 

maintain that Jesus survived crucifixion and 

migrated to k

ashmir

 under the name Yuz Asaf, 

where he survived to old age and was buried.

See also c

hristianity

 

and

 i

slam

; g

ospel

; 

holy

books

; 

prophets

 

and

 

prophecy

.

Jon Armajani