Jesus in the Qur'an

This book is alot more valuable than I had first expected! He juxtaposes exegesis of the Qur'an and the Christian Injil, not to mention Christian apocryphal works. He reviews all aspects of 'Isa, such as his titles and their implications, the virgin birth (whether or not a Muslim and a Christian could deny it on scriptural grounds), and also rationalization of miracles. Theres no intention to argue his personal opinions however, he presents the insights of many Muslim and Christian scholars. Read his work before you assume that Islam denies the reality of the Crucifixion. He exposes this tradition and many others that are alien to the original writings, another one being that Christ was 'no more than a prophet.' The big doctrine he also inevitably discusses is the Christian Trinity and Islamic Oneness of God. However anyone who can study Christianity unbiasedly would already see that the "trinity", atleast as understood by believers today, was a later Church invention. But he leaves with the message of Muslims and Christians reading each other's holy books and comprehending one another. Jesus in the Qur'an is a step closer to reconciling them. The book is similar to the way in which alleged biblical contradictions are reconciled, though its done with two separate holy books. A process that is not very essential to the religion of most people, though personally to me a very necessary one.

This is a very perceptive and penetrating re-look at the man Jesus, his role, titles and special place not just in the Bible but also in the Quran. The writer is no mean scholar but one whose credentials span the production of many scholarly works published by well-respected and established publishing houses and studied,accepted and endorsed both by campuses across the Globe as well as post-graduate researchers doing critical religious studies. Just because he may be a Christian does not disqualify him from re-appraising the deformed image and role of Jesus Christ painted of him in the Quran. Incidentally the Quran itself is not free from some serious factual errors linguistically as well as historically, and has borrowed a number of non-native Arabic words and terminology from several other foreign languages and has tried to utilise those words for itself.eg.Injil, jahannam, al-Masih,Iblis to name just a few(borrowed from Greek and Hebrew). The previous commenter claims so-called 'serious errors' but provides no proof or evidence to support such accusations towards this well researched piece of work (among Parrinder's many others). I would dare say that some of Parrinder's conclusions here does expose the shallow interpretation-or rather mis-interpretation that traditional Islam has regularly made upon the person of Jesus Christ and so challenges his stand by calling the previous commenter's views into question and has thus evoked his/her defensive reaction. This book deserves more than five stars for both the author's effort in addressing this subject as well as the scholarly contents it contains!

I have spent a substantial amount of time researching Islam and Christianity, specifically the similarities between the two and this is by far the best comparitive book I am found. The objectiveness with which the author approaches this obviously sensitive subject is unparalleled. The book is written to near perfection from a very religious standpoint, as Parrinder is a Methodist minister, but his personal beliefs in no way are presented in the work. I very strongly reccomend this book to anyone interested in Jesus or Islam, it has provided me with more knowledge and explanation than I have found anywhere else combined.