Isa in the Quran: The Messiah Who Was Not Crucified

The angels announce to Maryam that she will be given a Word from God — his name will be the Messiah, Isa son of Maryam, distinguished in this world and the next, one of those brought near to God. He will speak to people in the cradle and in maturity. He will be made a messenger to the Children of Israel.

Isa's credentials in the Quran are extraordinary. He creates birds from clay and breathes life into them. He heals the blind and the leper. He raises the dead. He knows what people have eaten and what they have stored in their houses. All these things he performs bi idhni-llah — by God's permission — the Quran's consistent framing of prophetic miracles as divine acts rather than independent power.

He is confirmed with the Holy Spirit and sent as a messenger. He comes with the Gospel (Injil) to confirm the Torah before him and to declare lawful some things that were forbidden. He calls the Children of Israel to the straight path and warns of divine judgment.

Then the Quran addresses the crucifixion directly. The Jews claim to have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Maryam, the messenger of God. But they did not kill him, and they did not crucify him — though it was made to appear so to them (shubiha lahum). Those who differ about it are in doubt. They certainly did not kill him. God raised him up to himself. God is Mighty and Wise.

This verse is the single most contested claim in Christian-Muslim dialogue. Islamic exegesis offers various readings: perhaps a substitute was crucified in his place, or perhaps God caused the crucifixion to appear to happen without it actually occurring, or perhaps the verse denies only that the Jews succeeded in their intent — they could not truly kill the one God's Spirit upheld.

Isa is not God in the Quran, and this the Quran states explicitly. He is the greatest of the prophets before Muhammad — a Word from God, a Spirit from God, the Messiah — but to associate him with divinity is called shirk, the gravest theological error.