Jesus And Christianity In The Qur’an

A large Syrian church — The Antiochian Greek Orthodox Church of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, in Hama, Syria (Wikimedia Commons public domain)

Here’s a pleasant article, brought to my attention — if I’m not mistaken — by Matthew Wheeler:

“The Muslim youth group who help bring festive cheer”

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And this is a topic that richly deserves attention:

“One story to watch: Will 2018 see notable decline in the Middle East’s hardline Islam?”

Will such projections turn out to be correct? Much hinges on which way things go. For the entire world.

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Pressing forward with my manuscript on Islam for Latter-day Saints:

After those prophets We sent forth Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming the Torah already revealed, and gave him the gospel, in which there is guidance and light, corroborating that which was revealed before it in the Torah, a guide and an admonition to the righteous.[1]

Jesus came as a messenger to confirm that which had gone before, according to the Qur’an, and to restore to the earth the pure truth that had been lost through sin and rebellion. However, the long-term prospects for his own dispensation were known to be poor, since he also foretold the coming of a messenger whose name would be Ahmad and who would serve as the final restorer of the truth.[2] In fact, Muslims claim, Muhammad—for that is the more common name of Ahmad, built off of the same three-letter Arabic root (hmd, connected with the idea of “praise”)—was foretold in both the Torah and the gospel.[3]

And, again according to the Qur’an, Christianity did not long remain pure. Monasticism, for instance, was a human invention for which God revealed no authority.[4] “With those who said they were Christians We made a covenant also, but they too have forgotten much of what they were enjoined.”[5] Nevertheless, it can be argued that the Qur’an shows a clear preference for Christians over Jews, or, at least, for Christianity over Judaism.[6] The Qur’an expresses admiration for Christianity at several places. God’s light is found, it says, in Christian churches,

in temples God has allowed to be raised up,

and His Name to be commemorated therein;

therein glorifying Him, in the mornings and the evenings, are men whom neither commerce nor trafficking

diverts from the remembrance of God

and to perform the prayer, and to pay the alms.[7]

[1] 5:46.

[2] 61:6.

[3] 7:157.

[4] _57:27.

[5] 5:14.

[6] 5:82-85. This is slightly surprising, since it can be argued that Islam is actually closer theologically to Judaism than to Christianity.

[7] 24:36-37.