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What do Muslims believe about Jesus?

The short answer

Muslims honour Jesus, called Isa, very highly. The Qur'an teaches that he was born of the virgin Mary, that he is a prophet and messenger of God, that he performed miracles, and that he will return. It denies that he is the Son of God, that he is divine, and that he was crucified, and it regards calling him God as a grave error. Christians agree with Muslims that God is one, and then part company: the Bible presents Jesus as the Word made flesh, confessed by Thomas as my Lord and my God.

The fuller answer

The Qur'an speaks of Jesus often and with honour, and fairness starts there. It calls him Messiah, son of Mary, a word from God and a spirit from him, in passages such as surah 3 and surah 19, here summarised by reference rather than quoted. It affirms his virgin conception, his miracles of healing and raising the dead by God's permission, his disciples, and his return before the end. It also teaches that he was a servant and prophet, not God and not God's son, and that those who say God is the Messiah have fallen into error. Both halves of that account belong in any honest summary.

John's Gospel gives the Christian answer at its root. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Qur'an itself uses word language for Jesus, which makes John a natural book to read together, and also the place where the difference becomes unavoidable. For John, the Word was not created or sent as a message only. The Word was God, and then became a man who could be seen, touched, tired, wounded and raised. A prophet points to God. John's Jesus is God present, which is either the heart of the faith or, as Islam holds, an error about a prophet.

Thomas, meeting the risen Jesus, says the sentence Islam cannot say: my Lord and my God. Jesus does not correct him. He blesses those who will believe without seeing. That exchange matters because it rules out the middle position that Jesus was a prophet whom later Christians exaggerated against his own teaching. In the Gospels, the strongest claims are made in Jesus' presence and accepted by him, whether in his I am sayings or in receiving Thomas's confession. The question for any reader is not whether the claims exist. It is whether they are true.

John states the stakes without softening them. Whoever denies that Jesus is the Christ, and so denies the Father and the Son, has neither. Christians do not say this to end friendships but to keep them honest. Agreement that God is one, that Abraham is honoured, and that Jesus was virgin born is real agreement, and it is not the gospel. The gospel is who Jesus is in himself. That is why the kindest shared activity is also the most direct: read John's Gospel together, a chapter at a time, and let Jesus make his own claims.

Sources

• Berean Standard Bible (BSB)
• The Qur'an (Saheeh International translation)

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