Why Muslims Love Jesus

Many Christians have no idea that Muslims unquestionably love Jesus and his mother, Mary, and that Islam holds them in the highest esteem. Jesus is mentioned in fifteen chapters of the Qur'an, and more verses in the Qur'an mention Mary than in the New Testament.

While Christians may address Jesus simply as "Jesus", Muslims almost always use an honorific phrase — unto him be peace — after his name. So what is behind the Muslim reverence for a figure Christians assume Islam rejects?

Why This Is the Most Useful Da'wah Subject There Is

Because it starts from agreement rather than dispute.

Almost every conversation between a Muslim and a Christian eventually reaches Jesus عليه السلام, and it usually reaches him as a point of conflict. Beginning instead from what Islam actually affirms — his miraculous birth, his miracles, his messiahship, his return — changes the entire character of the exchange.

The detail about Maryam عليها السلام is the one that lands hardest. A surah bears her name; no woman is named in the Qur'an but her; and there is more about her in the Qur'an than in the Christian scripture. Most Christians simply do not know this.

Who It Is For

Christians curious about what Muslims actually believe. Muslims doing da'wah who want something to hand over. And interfaith settings, where this is among the more productive places to begin.

Related Reading

• Muhammad: Son of Abraham — the same author on the three Abrahamic faiths
• What did Jesus Really Say? — a more polemical treatment of the Gospels
• Prophet Jesus in The Qur'an (CD) — the Quranic verses on Jesus, recited on CD