“Prophet Jesus (ISA)” in the Quran

J esus or Isa in Arabic (peace be upon him) is of great significance in both Islam and Christianity. However, there are differences in terms of beliefs about the nature and life occurrences of Jesus . There are about 71 verses in the Quran that refer to Prophet Jesus. Following is a translation and explanation of Chapter 3 verses 44 thru 48 by Sayyid Abul Ala Mawdudi,. English rendering by Muhammad Akbar. O Muhammad, these are the “unseen” things, We are revealing to you: you were not present there when the priests of the Temple were casting lots by throwing their quills to decide which of them should be the guardian of Mary: 43 nor were you with them when they were arguing about it. Quran 3:44 Note 43: As Mary was a girl who had been dedicated by her mother to the Temple in the way of God, the question of her guardianship had become a problem for the keepers because of her sex. They were therefore casting lots to decide the delicate problem. And remember when the angels said, “O Mary, God sends you the good news of a Command of His: his name shall be Messiah, Jesus son of Mary. He will be highly honored in this world and in the Next World and he will be among those favored by God. He will speak to the people alike when in the cradle and when grown up, and he will be among the righteous.” Hearing this, Mary said, “How, O Lord, shall I have a son, when no man has ever touched me?” “Thus shall it be,”44 was the answer. God creates whatever He wills. When He decrees a thing, He only says, “Be” and it is. (Continuing their message, the angels added,) “And God will teach him the Book and wisdom, and give him the knowledge of the Torah and the Gospel, and appoint him as His Messenger to the children of Israel.” Quran 3:45-49 Note 45 That is, “These Signs are clear enough to convince you that I have been sent by that God Who is the Creator and Absolute Ruler of this universe, provided that you are not obdurate but are willing to accept the Truth.” Note 46 That is, “This is yet another proof of the fact that I have been sent by God. If I had been a false prophet I would have invented my own religion and by virtue of these miracles striven to divert you from your previous Faith to the New creed. But I profess the same original religion to be true and confirm the same teachings which were brought by the Prophets before me.” The fact that Jesus taught the same religion that had been presented by Moses and the other Prophets is supported even by the existing Gospels.

For example, according to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus declared in the Sermon on the Mount: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.” (5: 17). One of the Pharisees, who was a lawyer, asked Jesus, “Which is the great commandment in the law?” He replied: Note 48 This shows that like all other Prophets, Jesus also based his teachings on the following three fundamentals: The Supreme Authority to which mankind should submit and surrender exclusively belongs to God and all the social and moral systems should be built entirely on it. Being a representative of the same Paramount Power, a prophet must be obeyed unconditionally. God alone is entitled to prescribe laws and regulations for making things lawful or unlawful, pure and impure; consequently all laws imposed by others must be abolished. Thus it is clear that Jesus, Moses, Muhammad and all other Prophets (God’s peace be upon them all) had one and the same mission. Those people who say that different Prophets were sent with different missions and to fulfill different aims, are gravely mistaken. Anyone, who is delegated by the Absolute Master of the Universe to His subjects, cannot have any other mission than to prevent the people, from becoming disobedient to and independent of Him, and to forbid them to set others to rank with God as partners in His Authority in any way. For, they are sent to invite the people to surrender and submit and be loyal to the Almighty God and worship Him alone.........See more details at