Why Islam reveres Jesus as a prophet while rejecting his divinity and crucifixion

Cultures · Published 29 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In Islamic tradition, Jesus is not the Son of God, but a revered prophet and the Messiah. While the Quran affirms his virgin birth and miraculous powers, it explicitly denies his divinity and death on the cross, teaching instead that he was raised to heaven to return during the End Times.

In the Quran, Jesus—known as Isa ibn Maryam—is a central figure, mentioned across 15 surahs. He is honored as a messenger sent to the Israelites, tasked with delivering the Injil (Gospel). Islamic theology maintains a strict commitment to tawhid, or the absolute unity of God, which leads to the rejection of the Christian concept of the Trinity and the idea that God could have biological offspring. Consequently, Jesus is viewed as a human servant of God, a prophet who submitted to the divine will, rather than a divine incarnation.

The Quranic narrative of Jesus’ birth shares parallels with Christian apocryphal texts, such as the Gospel of James and the Latin Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew. These accounts describe the virgin birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, often featuring the miracle of the date palm and a stream of water. Some scholars suggest these narratives reflect Palestinian oral traditions that influenced the Quran. Additionally, the Quran recounts unique miracles, such as Jesus speaking from the cradle to defend his mother, Mary, and breathing life into clay birds, which appear in non-canonical sources like the Syriac Infancy Gospel and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.

Islamic eschatology offers a distinct perspective on Jesus' future, positing that he will return during the End Times to defeat the False Messiah, al-Masih ad-Dajjal. Following this victory and the destruction of Gog and Magog, Jesus is expected to establish a period of global peace and justice before eventually dying a natural death. He is then believed to be buried in Medina alongside Muhammad. Beyond his role as a prophet, Jesus is deeply venerated in Sufi tradition, where he is frequently portrayed as a model of asceticism, inner purity, and divine love, serving as a spiritual teacher whose life emphasizes the importance of submission to God.

The development of these traditions was influenced by early ascetic Christian communities in Egypt, whose views on Jesus were integrated into early Islamic scholarship in Kufa, Iraq. While the Quran provides the foundational archetype, later historians and writers expanded upon these accounts, creating a rich tapestry of stories that emphasize Jesus' role as a sign of God's power and a precursor to the mission of Muhammad.

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