Jesus and Isa: A Comparison of the New Testament and Qur’anic Narratives of Jesus Farah Charania College

The Qur’anic presentation of Jesus is oddly similar to the New Testament presentation of Jesus; this may come unexpected to any individual not well-versed in both the Qur’an and the New Testament. At its core, the Qur’an narrative corroborates every characteristic attributed to Jesus — except that he is God. By comparing the Qur’anic and New Testament narratives, it is clear that the Qur’anic view of Jesus only slightly differs from the New Testament view of Jesus; the Qur’anic narrative goes to great lengths to emphasize that Jesus is merely a prophet, yet it goes to equal lengths to agree with all other aspects of Jesus.

Beginning with the birth of Jesus, the Qur’anic and New Testament narratives already agree on a fundamental doctrine: Jesus was born from a virgin — Mary. In the Qur’anic narrative, Mary exclaims, “My Lord! How can I have a child when no mortal hath touched me?” (Q 3:47). The New Testament narrative contains nearly the same exclamation: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). In both instances, Mary questions how she became pregnant since she was still a virgin. The similarity of language between the Qur’anic and New Testament narratives is not a coincidence; the Qur’anic narrative is wholly...