Introduction: The Muslim Gospel The Background A Sketch of the Qur'anic Jesus Jesus in the Muslim Gospel The Early Context Emergence and Development The Earliest Sayings: Character and Function The Later Sayings and Stories Conclusion The Sayings and Stories Notes Bibliography of Arabic Sources Index to the Sayings General Index
Tarif Khalidi's commentary and compilation of Muslim depictions of Jesus is a remarkable, eye-opening work of deep scholarship, profound religious understanding, and unprecedentedly rich cross-cultural exchange. A work as full of novelty as it is of wonderful illumination, Khalidi's effort to show how one major religion adopted and loved the central figure of another religion establishes him as one of the foremost Islamic scholars of our time. This book is a pleasure to read, accessible to generalists and to those for whom bellicose claims about the clash of civilizations are as unsatisfactory as they are false. -- Edward W. Said, author of Reflections on Exile and Other Essays The 300-odd logia are enormously impressive, reminiscent of the Nag Hammadi corpus as well as of the Gospels, especially the Sermon on the Mount, yet altogether distinctive. The combination of sublime moralist and magician is striking, and so is the virtual exclusion of reference to the Crucifixion. The author's introduction makes the general history easily intelligible. -- Frank Kermode, author of Shakespeare's Language Despite the stereotypes and ignorance that have sometimes marred it, the long relationship between Christians and Muslims has also been mutually appreciative and productive. Both traditions have, for centuries, shared a love for the prophet of Galilee. Now for the first time we have The Muslim Jesus, a previously uncollected compendium of stories and sayings of Jesus from Muslim sources, some of them over a millennium old. This invaluable classroom resource will also enrich the present lively dialogue between the two fraternal faiths. -- Harvey Cox, author of The Secular City and Fire from Heaven Ascetic saint, lord of nature, miracle worker, healer, social and ethical model: such is the figure of Jesus in Professor Khalidi's 'Muslim gospel.' A figure of universal reach and resonance, the object of a ubiquitous and all-too-human religious sentiment unfettered by sectarian affiliation, the Jesus of Muslim penitential and sententious literature assembled by Tarif Khalidi is particularly salutary today. -- Aziz Al-Azmeh, Zayed Professor of Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut and author of Muslim Kingship: Power and the sacred in Muslim, Christian, and Pagan Polities
Tarif Khalidi is Sheikh Zayed Chair in Islamic and Arabic Studies at the American University of Beirut. He is the author of numerous books, including Classical Arab Islam: The Culture and Heritage of the Golden Age and Arabic Historical Thought in the Classical Period.
Tarif Khalidi's commentary and compilation of Muslim depictions of
Jesus is a remarkable, eye-opening work of deep scholarship,
profound religious understanding, and unprecedentedly rich
cross-cultural exchange. A work as full of novelty as it is of
wonderful illumination, Khalidi's effort to show how one major
religion adopted and loved the central figure of another religion
establishes him as one of the foremost Islamic scholars of our
time. This book is a pleasure to read, accessible to generalists
and to those for whom bellicose claims about the clash of
civilizations are as unsatisfactory as they are false.
*Edward W. Said, author of Reflections on Exile and Other
Essays*
The 300-odd logia are enormously impressive, reminiscent of the Nag
Hammadi corpus as well as of the Gospels, especially the Sermon on
the Mount, yet altogether distinctive. The combination of sublime
moralist and magician is striking, and so is the virtual exclusion
of reference to the Crucifixion. The author's introduction makes
the general history easily intelligible.
*Frank Kermode, author of Shakespeare's Language*
Despite the stereotypes and ignorance that have sometimes marred
it, the long relationship between Christians and Muslims has also
been mutually appreciative and productive. Both traditions have,
for centuries, shared a love for the prophet of Galilee. Now for
the first time we have The Muslim Jesus, a previously uncollected
compendium of stories and sayings of Jesus from Muslim sources,
some of them over a millennium old. This invaluable classroom
resource will also enrich the present lively dialogue between the
two fraternal faiths.
*Harvey Cox, author of The Secular City and Fire from
Heaven*
Ascetic saint, lord of nature, miracle worker, healer, social and
ethical model: such is the figure of Jesus in Professor Khalidi's
'Muslim gospel.' A figure of universal reach and resonance, the
object of a ubiquitous and all-too-human religious sentiment
unfettered by sectarian affiliation, the Jesus of Muslim
penitential and sententious literature assembled by Tarif Khalidi
is particularly salutary today.
*Aziz Al-Azmeh, Zayed Professor of Islamic Studies at the American
University of Beirut and author of Muslim Kingship: Power and
the sacred in Muslim, Christian, and Pagan Polities*
Jesus figures prominently in Islam. Alongside the hadiths, the
stories of the Prophet's sayings and actions, appear stories of
Jesus' sayings and actions, 303 of which Tarif Khalidi has
collected and translated to produce, for the first time, a Muslim
gospel. Some of the sayings reflect certain of Jesus' sayings in
the Christian gospels, while others probably derive from
pre-Islamic ascetics and heroes...Khalidi's efforts bring
a...[great] diversity of Muslim beliefs about Jesus into the book.
To each story, Khalidi appends astute analysis, and a lengthy
general introduction provides a historical and functional overview
of the Muslim understanding of Jesus. An unique and important
addition to the corpus of writings about Jesus.
*Booklist*
Tarif Khalidi brings together Islamic primary sources about Jesus
from the eighth to eighteenth centuries. Included are mystical
works, historical texts about prophets and saints and, of course,
the foundational words about Jesus in the Qur’an…the literary
quality of the texts and the role ‘the Muslim Jesus’ has played in
both Muslim piety and Muslim–Christian relations.
*Publishers Weekly*
[The Muslim Jesus] helps dispel the ignorance among Christians
about Islam. It is a collection of Islamic sayings about Jesus in
the Koran and Islamic literature...With a little perseverance, the
reader is rewarded with a better understanding of Islam, and an
appreciation of how one of the most central figures in Western
civilization--Jesus of Nazareth--is perceived by another
tradition.
*Los Angeles Times*
Jesus captivated the Muslim imagination; in Islam, he is regarded
as the last great prophet to precede Muhammad. Khalidi reminds us
of the Middle Eastern milieu into which Islam arrived. Under a
blazing desert sun, many of the world's great traditions--Judaism,
Christianity, Zoroastrianism--mingled in a vibrant, dynamic
atmosphere. The proximity of so many religions bred, along with
tolerance, unmistakable signs of each other's influence...For many
years, Khalidi engaged in scholarly archeology, poring over the
Hadith for any sightings of Jesus. In The Muslim Jesus, he presents
more than 300 stories and sayings...Consider one interesting
East-West parallel aided by the book's chronological format. In a
14th century collection by the lawmaker al-Subki, Jesus is still a
cherished figure, instructing Muslims that 'the rich shall not
enter the kingdom of Heaven.' About the same time, Dante consigned
Muhammad to cruel suffering in 'Inferno.' We might explain such
drastically different treatments by the fact that imperial Islam
was flourishing while Western civilization was in turmoil. Today,
with the situation reversed, the value of The Muslim Jesus is all
the more evident. 'Amid the current tensions between Christianity
and Islam,' Khalidi writes, 'it is salutary to remind ourselves of
an age and a tradition when Christianity and Islam were more open
to each other, more aware of and reliant on each other's
wishes.'
*Los Angeles Times*
The Muslim Jesus is as fascinating as it is timely. The sayings are
remarkable and often beautiful literary artifacts in their own
right; but more importantly, they demonstrate that the links that
bind Christianity and Islam are much deeper, more complex, and far
more intricately woven, that most of us would expect...Now of all
times, it should be welcomed as a book of the greatest
importance.
*The Guardian*
Khalidi's long introduction is a gem of graceful erudition and
analytical wisdom, setting the stage for dozens of often surprising
and always fascinating extracts which show all the numerous ways in
which Muslims, while denying both Incarnation and Crucifixion,
nevertheless have a deep-seated affection and reverence for
Jesus.
*Times Literary Supplement*
This short book contains a millennium's worth of sayings and
stories of Jesus drawn from Islamic literature. The title may seem
paradoxical; we are not accustomed to thinking of Jesus in Muslim
contexts. Enter Tarif Khalidi, Sir Thomas Adams professor of Arabic
and director of the Centre of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at
King's College...Khalidi proves to be an expert guide to this
wealth of material. As a result, The Muslim Jesus is a book of
spiritual connoisseurship with a timely and seductive appeal...The
Muslim Jesus is handsomely produced. Its pages are well designed
and spacious. They invite the eye to linger and the mind to
ruminate. Tarif Khalidi has not only risen to the occasion of our
present discontents, he has transcended it and lifted the heart
beyond sorrow and distraction to delight.
*Christian Science Monitor*
The Muslim Jesus is a very good book. Khalidi writes in eloquent
yet never pompous English...always striving to be comprehensible to
the nonspecialist. Moreover, he has done valuable work simply in
collecting, annotating, and translating his material. Thereafter,
he lets the material about Jesus speak for itself, in order (I
think) to make an important point: that the Jesus of Islam is a
creation of Islam. In Khalidi's words, the Muslim Jesus is "a
compound image," a figure "resurrected in an environment where he
becomes a Muslim prophet." Thus, Khalidi explains, a wide range of
Muslim authors used the figure of Jesus as a spokesman for their
cause, be it asceticism, quietism, Shi'ism, or anti-Christian
polemic...Khalidi is to be congratulated for collecting this
material and presenting it in a clear and accessible manner. He has
also included a complete bibliography of Arabic sources for the
specialist and detailed endnotes with the most important secondary
literature for the specialist and nonspecialist alike. Khalidi
might also be thanked for writing a book remarkably free of the
arrogant tone and the gratuitous attacks on earlier scholars that
seem to plague the field of Islamic studies.
*Books & Culture*
Tarif Khalidi, professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge,
has assembled a very valuable collection of sayings and
stories--303 in number--of Jesus in Arabic Islamic literature. The
sources scanned reach from the second to the twelfth Islamic
centuries. The book consists of a comprehensive and illuminating
fifty-page introduction, the 303 items in chronological order of
their sources, and brief helpful comments (on sources, parallels,
and function in Islamic discourse) appended to each item
Before
Khalidi's efforts, the basic corpus of the "Muslim gospel" used to
be a collection of 225 sayings by the Spanish scholar Miguel Asín y
Palacios who translated the sayings into Latin (!) and provided
brief Latin commentaries on them
Khalidi's collection will now
replace that one for those of us whose needs are served by good
translations
[The Muslim Jesus] is a great accomplishment,
rewarding reading for anyone interested in Islam and in religious
transculturation (sic).
*Journal of Biblical Literature*
From the Qur'an on, Jesus has always had a special place in Muslim
piety as Khalidi (professor of Arabic at Cambridge University)
shows in his exemplary study, The Muslim Jesus
The 303 snippets
that Khalidi translates and comments on from a wide range of
sources (hadith, belles-lettres, mystical works, etc.) do
convincingly establish his point that "In his Muslim habitat. Jesus
becomes an object of intense devotion, reverence, and love."
*Middle East Quarterly*
The Muslim Jesus: Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature is the
English translation of the largest collection ever published for a
western readership of the sayings and stories of Jesus as found in
Arabic Islamic literature. A unique and invaluable resource for the
study of Jesus' role and position within an Islamic context
Tarif
Khalidis's informative introduction and commentaries place the
sayings and stories within an historical context
The Muslim Jesus
is an indispensable and greatly appreciated addition to Islamic
Studies.
*The Midwest Book Review Bookwatch*
In his fascinating book The Muslim Jesus, Tarif Khalidi brings
together, from a vast range of sources, 303 stories, sayings and
traditions of Jesus that can be found in Muslim literature, from
the earliest centuries of Islamic history. These paint a picture of
Christ not dissimilar to the Christ of the Gospels. The Muslim
Jesus is the patron saint of asceticism, the lord of nature, a
miracle worker, a healer, a moral, spiritual and social role
model.
*New Statesman*
Tarif Khalidi's commentary and compilation of Muslim depictions of
Jesus is a remarkable, eye-opening work of deep scholarship,
profound religious understanding, and unprecedentedly rich
cross-cultural exchange. A work as full of novelty as it is of
wonderful illumination, Khalidi's effort to show how one major
religion adopted and loved the central figure of another religion
establishes him as one of the foremost Islamic scholars of our
time. This book is a pleasure to read, accessible to generalists
and to those for whom bellicose claims about the clash of
civilizations are as unsatisfactory as they are false. -- Edward W.
Said, author of Reflections on Exile and Other Essays
The 300-odd logia are enormously impressive, reminiscent of the Nag
Hammadi corpus as well as of the Gospels, especially the Sermon on
the Mount, yet altogether distinctive. The combination of sublime
moralist and magician is striking, and so is the virtual exclusion
of reference to the Crucifixion. The author's introduction makes
the general history easily intelligible. -- Frank Kermode, author
of Shakespeare's Language
Despite the stereotypes and ignorance that have sometimes marred
it, the long relationship between Christians and Muslims has also
been mutually appreciative and productive. Both traditions have,
for centuries, shared a love for the prophet of Galilee. Now for
the first time we have The Muslim Jesus, a previously
uncollected compendium of stories and sayings of Jesus from Muslim
sources, some of them over a millennium old. This invaluable
classroom resource will also enrich the present lively dialogue
between the two fraternal faiths. -- Harvey Cox, author of The
Secular City and Fire from Heaven
Ascetic saint, lord of nature, miracle worker, healer, social and
ethical model: such is the figure of Jesus in Professor Khalidi's
'Muslim gospel.' A figure of universal reach and resonance, the
object of a ubiquitous and all-too-human religious sentiment
unfettered by sectarian affiliation, the Jesus of Muslim
penitential and sententious literature assembled by Tarif Khalidi
is particularly salutary today. -- Aziz Al-Azmeh, Zayed Professor
of Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut and author
of Muslim Kingship: Power and the sacred in Muslim, Christian,
and Pagan Polities
Jesus figures prominently in Islam. Alongside the hadiths,
the stories of the Prophet's sayings and actions, appear stories of
Jesus' sayings and actions, 303 of which Tarif Khalidi has
collected and translated to produce, for the first time, a Muslim
gospel. Some of the sayings reflect certain of Jesus' sayings in
the Christian gospels, while others probably derive from
pre-Islamic ascetics and heroes...Khalidi's efforts bring
a...[great] diversity of Muslim beliefs about Jesus into the book.
To each story, Khalidi appends astute analysis, and a lengthy
general introduction provides a historical and functional overview
of the Muslim understanding of Jesus. An unique and important
addition to the corpus of writings about Jesus. -- John Green *
Booklist *
Tarif Khalidi brings together Islamic primary sources about Jesus
from the eighth to eighteenth centuries. Included are mystical
works, historical texts about prophets and saints and, of course,
the foundational words about Jesus in the Qur'an...the literary
quality of the texts and the role 'the Muslim Jesus' has played in
both Muslim piety and Muslim-Christian relations. * Publishers
Weekly *
[The Muslim Jesus] helps dispel the ignorance among
Christians about Islam. It is a collection of Islamic sayings about
Jesus in the Koran and Islamic literature...With a little
perseverance, the reader is rewarded with a better understanding of
Islam, and an appreciation of how one of the most central figures
in Western civilization--Jesus of Nazareth--is perceived by another
tradition. -- Larry B. Stammer * Los Angeles Times *
Jesus captivated the Muslim imagination; in Islam, he is regarded
as the last great prophet to precede Muhammad. Khalidi reminds us
of the Middle Eastern milieu into which Islam arrived. Under a
blazing desert sun, many of the world's great traditions--Judaism,
Christianity, Zoroastrianism--mingled in a vibrant, dynamic
atmosphere. The proximity of so many religions bred, along with
tolerance, unmistakable signs of each other's influence...For many
years, Khalidi engaged in scholarly archeology, poring over the
Hadith for any sightings of Jesus. In The Muslim Jesus, he
presents more than 300 stories and sayings...Consider one
interesting East-West parallel aided by the book's chronological
format. In a 14th century collection by the lawmaker al-Subki,
Jesus is still a cherished figure, instructing Muslims that 'the
rich shall not enter the kingdom of Heaven.' About the same time,
Dante consigned Muhammad to cruel suffering in 'Inferno.' We might
explain such drastically different treatments by the fact that
imperial Islam was flourishing while Western civilization was in
turmoil. Today, with the situation reversed, the value of The
Muslim Jesus is all the more evident. 'Amid the current
tensions between Christianity and Islam,' Khalidi writes, 'it is
salutary to remind ourselves of an age and a tradition when
Christianity and Islam were more open to each other, more aware of
and reliant on each other's wishes.' -- Nick Owchar * Los Angeles
Times *
The Muslim Jesus is as fascinating as it is timely. The
sayings are remarkable and often beautiful literary artifacts in
their own right; but more importantly, they demonstrate that the
links that bind Christianity and Islam are much deeper, more
complex, and far more intricately woven, that most of us would
expect...Now of all times, it should be welcomed as a book of the
greatest importance. -- William Dalrymple * The Guardian *
Khalidi's long introduction is a gem of graceful erudition and
analytical wisdom, setting the stage for dozens of often surprising
and always fascinating extracts which show all the numerous ways in
which Muslims, while denying both Incarnation and Crucifixion,
nevertheless have a deep-seated affection and reverence for Jesus.
-- Edward W. Said * Times Literary Supplement *
This short book contains a millennium's worth of sayings and
stories of Jesus drawn from Islamic literature. The title may seem
paradoxical; we are not accustomed to thinking of Jesus in Muslim
contexts. Enter Tarif Khalidi, Sir Thomas Adams professor of Arabic
and director of the Centre of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at
King's College...Khalidi proves to be an expert guide to this
wealth of material. As a result, The Muslim Jesus is a book
of spiritual connoisseurship with a timely and seductive
appeal...The Muslim Jesus is handsomely produced. Its pages
are well designed and spacious. They invite the eye to linger and
the mind to ruminate. Tarif Khalidi has not only risen to the
occasion of our present discontents, he has transcended it and
lifted the heart beyond sorrow and distraction to delight. --
Thomas D'Evelyn * Christian Science Monitor *
The Muslim Jesus is a very good book. Khalidi writes in
eloquent yet never pompous English...always striving to be
comprehensible to the nonspecialist. Moreover, he has done valuable
work simply in collecting, annotating, and translating his
material. Thereafter, he lets the material about Jesus speak for
itself, in order (I think) to make an important point: that the
Jesus of Islam is a creation of Islam. In Khalidi's words, the
Muslim Jesus is "a compound image," a figure "resurrected in an
environment where he becomes a Muslim prophet." Thus, Khalidi
explains, a wide range of Muslim authors used the figure of Jesus
as a spokesman for their cause, be it asceticism, quietism,
Shi'ism, or anti-Christian polemic...Khalidi is to be congratulated
for collecting this material and presenting it in a clear and
accessible manner. He has also included a complete bibliography of
Arabic sources for the specialist and detailed endnotes with the
most important secondary literature for the specialist and
nonspecialist alike. Khalidi might also be thanked for writing a
book remarkably free of the arrogant tone and the gratuitous
attacks on earlier scholars that seem to plague the field of
Islamic studies. -- Gabriel Said Reynolds * Books & Culture *
Tarif Khalidi, professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge,
has assembled a very valuable collection of sayings and
stories--303 in number--of Jesus in Arabic Islamic literature. The
sources scanned reach from the second to the twelfth Islamic
centuries. The book consists of a comprehensive and illuminating
fifty-page introduction, the 303 items in chronological order of
their sources, and brief helpful comments (on sources, parallels,
and function in Islamic discourse) appended to each item Before
Khalidi's efforts, the basic corpus of the "Muslim gospel" used to
be a collection of 225 sayings by the Spanish scholar Miguel Asin y
Palacios who translated the sayings into Latin (!) and provided
brief Latin commentaries on them Khalidi's collection will now
replace that one for those of us whose needs are served by good
translations [The Muslim Jesus] is a great accomplishment,
rewarding reading for anyone interested in Islam and in religious
transculturation (sic). -- Heikki Raisanen * Journal of Biblical
Literature *
From the Qur'an on, Jesus has always had a special place in Muslim
piety as Khalidi (professor of Arabic at Cambridge University)
shows in his exemplary study, The Muslim Jesus The 303
snippets that Khalidi translates and comments on from a wide range
of sources (hadith, belles-lettres, mystical works, etc.) do
convincingly establish his point that "In his Muslim habitat. Jesus
becomes an object of intense devotion, reverence, and love." *
Middle East Quarterly *
The Muslim Jesus: Sayings and Stories in Islamic Literature
is the English translation of the largest collection ever published
for a western readership of the sayings and stories of Jesus as
found in Arabic Islamic literature. A unique and invaluable
resource for the study of Jesus' role and position within an
Islamic context Tarif Khalidis's informative introduction and
commentaries place the sayings and stories within an historical
context The Muslim Jesus is an indispensable and greatly
appreciated addition to Islamic Studies. * The Midwest Book Review
Bookwatch *
In his fascinating book The Muslim Jesus, Tarif Khalidi
brings together, from a vast range of sources, 303 stories, sayings
and traditions of Jesus that can be found in Muslim literature,
from the earliest centuries of Islamic history. These paint a
picture of Christ not dissimilar to the Christ of the Gospels. The
Muslim Jesus is the patron saint of asceticism, the lord of nature,
a miracle worker, a healer, a moral, spiritual and social role
model. -- Mehdi Hasan * New Statesman *
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