By Cyril Anderson

Jesus is recognized as an authentic prophet and messenger of God

 Muslims believe that he was sent to reform the Jewish community from which he came and also to deliver a message to the world as a whole, one of five major prophets in Islam with Messages of a truly global intended reach.  (Also Noah, Abraham, Moses, Muhammad)

 He was sent with a major teaching called the injeel. (See Greek Evangelion, Greek for Gospel) It is not clear from the Qu’ran whether this was a book, or just the teachings and actions of Jesus.  In Islam, Jesus is known as kalimatullah, “Word of God.”  In that light, Jesus himself, with his full collection of speech and actions may be the book.

 In Islam, however, at least amongst the Shia theological school, God’s Words are seen as creations, projections of God’s innate, eternal, and unlimited Wisdom into the form of human language so as to be intelligible to the limited intellect of humans.

 Jesus is seen also more as a manifestation of the Word of God rather than the Word itself.  In any case, Jesus is not seen as divine himself, but rather as a manifestation of divine traits.

 As a prophet and messenger, Jesus is believed to be sinless.  As such, he holds an extremely high and close position with God, one of the highest of all prophets.

 In Islam, as in Christianity, it is believed that pure individuals close to God can seek intercession on behalf of others, seeking forgiveness on their behalf for sins and seeking fulfillment of needs.  Therefore, in theory, there would be nothing wrong with a Christian or any believer trying to seek forgiveness from God though the intercession of Jesus.  At worst, there would be no effect, and there is no harm in doing so from the Islamic perspective.

 So in theory, there is a possibility from the Islamic perspective of Jesus being able to intercede for those who love and follow him.  But there is not much if any support Islamically for the idea of Jesus being able to atone for the sins of all mankind for all time, to be a literal savior.

However, there is no problem with the idea of prophets as indirect saviors, in that through their guidance, they can lead the misguided from misguidance to light through the help of the Grace of God, who can open their hearts to the teachings of these messengers.  In Islam, we can become saved by following in the example of such figures with faith in God and desire to draw near to Him in our hearts.

 There is no concept of original sin in Islam, anyway, so there is accordingly in Islam no perceived essential need for a savior in the same way as in Christianity.

 It is believed, based on the Qu’ran, that Jesus was supported by the Holy Spirit.