Jesus in Islam and Christianity

Both traditions teach that Jesus was born to Mary without a human father, by God’s power. Both call him the Messiah, al-Masih in Arabic. Both describe him healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and raising the dead by God’s permission. Both regard him as sinless and as a central figure at the end of time.

Mary is honoured in both. In Christianity she is the mother of Jesus and, for Catholic and Orthodox Christians, the Mother of God. In the Quran, Maryam has a surah named after her and is described as chosen above the women of the worlds.

For Christians, Jesus is the centre of faith. The New Testament Gospels tell of his birth, teaching, miracles, death by crucifixion under Pontius Pilate and resurrection on the third day.

Christian teaching, defined in the creeds of Nicaea (325) and Chalcedon (451), holds that Jesus is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, who became fully human while remaining fully divine. His death is understood as an atoning sacrifice for sin, and his resurrection as victory over death. Christians worship Jesus, pray to him and expect his return in glory.

In the Quran, Isa is one of the most honoured prophets, alongside Noah, Abraham, Moses and Muhammad. He is called a word from God and a spirit from God, received a revealed scripture called the Injil, or Gospel, and performed miracles, including speaking as an infant.

Islam teaches firmly that Jesus is not God or the Son of God. The Quran presents him as a servant of God and calls on people not to say “three.” The Quran also states that Jesus was not killed or crucified, “but it was made to appear so.” Many Muslim commentators understand this to mean that someone else was made to resemble Jesus while God raised him bodily to heaven; others have offered different interpretations.

This is a key point of difference. For Christianity, the crucifixion is a historical event and the heart of salvation; most historians, religious and secular, regard Jesus’ crucifixion as one of the best-attested facts about his life.

For Islam, the Quranic verse is the authority, and mainstream Muslim belief holds that Jesus was not crucified but raised to God.

Both traditions expect Jesus to return. Christians await his second coming to judge the living and the dead and to establish God’s kingdom fully. Many Muslims, based on hadith, believe Jesus will return near the end of time, defeat the false messiah (al-Dajjal), establish justice and later die a natural death.

The Christian portrait comes mainly from the four Gospels and the rest of the New Testament, written in the first century. The Islamic portrait comes from the Quran and hadith literature. Some Quranic details, such as Jesus speaking from the cradle, have parallels in early non-canonical Christian writings, which shows the shared religious environment of late antiquity.

For Christians, Jesus’ divinity, death and resurrection are the basis of salvation. For Muslims, honouring Jesus as a prophet while denying his divinity is part of upholding tawhid, the oneness of God. Both positions follow from each religion’s deepest commitments, which is why this question is central in Christian–Muslim dialogue.

Christians and Muslims agree that Jesus was the Messiah, born of the virgin Mary, a worker of miracles and a figure who will return. Christians believe he is the divine Son of God who died and rose again to save humanity; Muslims believe he is a human prophet of God who was not crucified and who did not claim divinity.