Muslims and Jesus Christ
Most Christians are fairly uninformed about Islamic beliefs. In a similar way, many
Muslims do not understand or are ignorant of Christian teaching about Jesus. Most Muslims
believe that Jesus (whom they call Sidna Isa) was a remarkably good prophet who was sent
to the Jews to bring them back to an Israeli form of Islam. Muslims believe that Islam was
the religion which was practiced by all the prophets (Abraham, David, Moses, Solomon,
Jonah and others). Afterwards their followers corrupted the true faith.
Muslims think of Jesus as a prophet who is reputed to have done miracles, but most of them
have no knowledge of most of His life and ministry. Jesus is highly honored by Muslims as
a holy man, but is not seen to be divine. In recent times many Muslims have pointed to the
so-called Gospel of Barnabas as being a source document about the Muslim Jesus. This
document portrays a Jesus who is radically Islamic. Many believe that this so-called
Gospel was possibly written around the year 1600 by a Muslim living in Spain. It was
certainly not written by the disciple Barnabas who was a contemporary of Paul.
(For more information about the Gospel of
Barnabas, see the websites: (Christian site: http://answering-islam.org/Barnabas/,
Muslim site: www.islam101.com/barnabas).
Muslims claim that Jesus did not die on the cross - such a death is considered to be
unworthy of such a good prophet. They affirm that Jesus was taken up to heaven without
dying. Generally they think that Judas Iscariot was crucified in the place of Jesus, and
that God supposedly transformed his face to make him look like Jesus. Judas is seen as
being a traitor who received just punishment while Jesus escaped.
Muslims equally affirm that Jesus (Isa) will return to earth from heaven sometime before
the end of the world to punish the Jews and Christians for their corruption of religious
faith and practice. Eventually Jesus will die a natural death and later be resurrected to
be judged with all men during the last days. The Muslim idea of Christ is actually
significantly different from the Christ of the Bible.
Prayer Topics
* Muslims need to recognize Jesus as Lord and Savior, and to see the glory of the risen
Lord. Pray for spiritual blindness to be removed (2~Corinthians 4:1-7).
* Most Muslims have never even had an opportunity to believe because they have never heard
enough of the real Gospel to be saved. Ask God to raise up an abundance of ministries to
proclaim Christ in a culturally sensitive manner.
* The 'Jesus' film has been an excellent means worldwide of helping Muslims learn about
Jesus. Pray for a wider distribution of this film in more languages (Rom 10:14).
* Most Muslims have needs which can only be answered by Jesus Christ. Pray that Muslims
might find themselves in situations where they would be encouraged to call upon the Lord
Jesus (Rom 10:8-13). Some remarkable healings and conversions have happened when Muslims
call on Jesus as a healer.
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30 Days - Calling all Christians to Pray for all Muslims
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