The Islamic Dilemma: What the Qur’an Says About the Bible
Muslims say the Qur’an confirms the earlier Scriptures. Read what the Qur’an actually says about the Bible, and the dilemma it creates for itself.
IMPORTANT: The articles on this site are the personal opinion of the author and are provided for informational purposes only. Use of this website is at the reader's own risk.
Ask most Muslims about the Bible and you get the same story. God gave earlier scriptures, the Qur’an came to confirm them, and the parts that disagree with Islam were corrupted later. The trouble with that story is the Qur’an itself.
Two stories about Jesus
Christianity’s claims about Jesus are specific, public, and easy to check. He is God:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was crucified:
And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left.
And he rose, on the strength of a creed Paul says he received, a tradition that critical scholars across the spectrum date to within a few years of the events:
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures
Islam denies all of it. The Qur’an declares that Allah is not the Messiah (5:72) and that Jesus was never crucified (4:157, quoted below). Both accounts cannot be true, and the God of the Bible does not contradict himself:
For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.
But the LORD is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King.
Six centuries separate the two books. A revelation that overturns what God already said cannot come from the same God. Everything below is built from sources both sides accept: the Qur’an itself, the Bible, and the historians.
The Qur’an’s testimony about the Bible
Five passages carry almost the whole case. Each is quoted in Arabic with Pickthall’s translation, exactly as they read on quran.com.
1. Qur’an 10:94: when in doubt, ask the People of the Book
فَإِن كُنتَ فِى شَكٍّ مِّمَّآ أَنزَلْنَآ إِلَيْكَ فَسْـَٔلِ ٱلَّذِينَ يَقْرَءُونَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ مِن قَبْلِكَ ۚ لَقَدْ جَآءَكَ ٱلْحَقُّ مِن رَّبِّكَ فَلَا تَكُونَنَّ مِنَ ٱلْمُمْتَرِينَ“And if thou (Muhammad) art in doubt concerning that which We reveal unto thee, then question those who read the Scripture (that was) before thee. Verily the Truth from thy Lord hath come unto thee. So be not thou of the waverers.”
— Qur’an 10:94 · Sūrat Yūnus · Pickthall
Muhammad is told plainly that if he doubts the revelation, he should consult those who read the Scripture before him. The instruction only makes sense if their scriptures are true, if they carry authority, and if they are actually in their hands. It also sets the direction of authority: the Bible judges the Qur’an, not the reverse. And the test cuts both ways. If the People of the Book tell Muhammad that Jesus was crucified and is the Son of God, and he rejects their testimony, the Qur’an has failed its own standard.
2. Qur’an 5:47: judge by the Gospel
وَلْيَحْكُمْ أَهْلُ ٱلْإِنجِيلِ بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فِيهِ ۚ وَمَن لَّمْ يَحْكُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُو۟لَـٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلْفَـٰسِقُونَ“Let the People of the Gospel judge by that which Allah hath revealed therein. Whoso judgeth not by that which Allah hath revealed: such are evil-livers.”
— Qur’an 5:47 · Sūrat al-Māʾidah · Pickthall
This is a command, not a courtesy. Allah tells the People of the Gospel to judge by the Gospel, and calls anyone who refuses an evildoer. So a Christian does exactly that. The Gospel affirms the crucifixion, the Fatherhood of God, and the sonship of Christ. Judged by the standard the Qur’an itself supplies, the Qur’an’s denials fail. The verse argues the case on its own.
3. Qur’an 4:47: confirming “that which ye possess”
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ أُوتُوا۟ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ ءَامِنُوا۟ بِمَا نَزَّلْنَا مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا مَعَكُم مِّن قَبْلِ أَن نَّطْمِسَ وُجُوهًا فَنَرُدَّهَا عَلَىٰٓ أَدْبَارِهَآ أَوْ نَلْعَنَهُمْ كَمَا لَعَنَّآ أَصْحَـٰبَ ٱلسَّبْتِ ۚ وَكَانَ أَمْرُ ٱللَّهِ مَفْعُولًا“O ye unto whom the Scripture hath been given! Believe in what We have revealed confirming that which ye possess, before We destroy countenances so as to confound them, or curse them as We cursed the Sabbath-breakers (of old time). The commandment of Allah is always executed.”
— Qur’an 4:47 · Sūrat an-Nisāʾ · Pickthall
The confirmation is of what the People of the Book possess, present tense. Not a lost original, not an uncorrupted archetype in heaven: the books in their hands in Muhammad’s generation. The usual reply, “we believe in the original Bible,” is not what this text says. Whether what they possessed matches what we possess is a question the manuscripts answer below.
4. Qur’an 29:46: one belief, one God
۞ وَلَا تُجَـٰدِلُوٓا۟ أَهْلَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ إِلَّا بِٱلَّتِى هِىَ أَحْسَنُ إِلَّا ٱلَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا۟ مِنْهُمْ ۖ وَقُولُوٓا۟ ءَامَنَّا بِٱلَّذِىٓ أُنزِلَ إِلَيْنَا وَأُنزِلَ إِلَيْكُمْ وَإِلَـٰهُنَا وَإِلَـٰهُكُمْ وَٰحِدٌ وَنَحْنُ لَهُۥ مُسْلِمُونَ“And argue not with the People of the Scripture unless it be in (a way) that is better, save with such of them as do wrong; and say: We believe in that which hath been revealed unto us and revealed unto you; our Allah and your Allah is One, and unto Him we surrender.”
— Qur’an 29:46 · Sūrat al-ʿAnkabūt · Pickthall
The same belief Muslims owe the Qur’an is owed, in the same sentence, to what was revealed “to you.” Belief in the Qur’an is all or nothing; there is no such thing as a partial Muslim. The verse applies that standard to the previous scriptures, then closes with “our Allah and your Allah is One,” presenting the Qur’an as one continuous line with the Torah and the Gospel. That claim of continuity is what makes the contradictions so serious.
5. Qur’an 3:81: the covenant that sets the standard
وَإِذْ أَخَذَ ٱللَّهُ مِيثَـٰقَ ٱلنَّبِيِّـۧنَ لَمَآ ءَاتَيْتُكُم مِّن كِتَـٰبٍ وَحِكْمَةٍ ثُمَّ جَآءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مُّصَدِّقٌ لِّمَا مَعَكُمْ لَتُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهِۦ وَلَتَنصُرُنَّهُۥ ۚ قَالَ ءَأَقْرَرْتُمْ وَأَخَذْتُمْ عَلَىٰ ذَٰلِكُمْ إِصْرِى ۖ قَالُوٓا۟ أَقْرَرْنَا ۚ قَالَ فَٱشْهَدُوا۟ وَأَنَا۠ مَعَكُم مِّنَ ٱلشَّـٰهِدِينَ“When Allah made (His) covenant with the prophets, (He said): Behold that which I have given you of the Scripture and knowledge. And afterward there will come unto you a messenger, confirming that which ye possess. Ye shall believe in him and ye shall help him. He said: Do ye agree, and will ye take up My burden (which I lay upon you) in this (matter)? They answered: We agree. He said: Then bear ye witness. I will be a witness with you.”
— Qur’an 3:81 · Sūrat Āl ʿImrān · Pickthall
Allah takes a covenant from the prophets. He gives them Scripture and wisdom, and a later messenger will come confirming what they possess. They must believe in him and help him. How, then, would anyone recognize that messenger? By the covenant’s own criterion: he confirms what the prophets already have. A man who arrives saying “that didn’t happen” and “that got corrupted” disqualifies himself by the terms of the agreement. The Qur’an makes the Bible the measuring line for Muhammad’s own prophethood.
The dilemma
See the whole argument as a flowchart
Verse chips open at quran.com and Bible Gateway; the manuscript chips link to their standard reference pages.
Put the pieces together and the Qur’an is trapped by its own words. If the Bible is true, the Qur’an is false, because it contradicts it. If the Bible is corrupted, the Qur’an is still false, because it calls corrupted books true and authoritative and sends people to them for certainty. There is no third option.
The usual escape is “corrupted later.” All right: when? If it was corrupted before Muhammad, then Allah is confirming corrupted books (4:47), commanding judgment by a corrupted Gospel (5:47), and sending a doubting prophet to corrupted books for the truth (10:94). That reading is incoherent. If it was corrupted after Muhammad, the manuscripts settle it. The New Testament is preserved in documents that predate him by centuries: P52, a fragment of John’s Gospel from the first half of the second century; P46, Paul’s letters including 1 Corinthians, around AD 200; P66 and P75, second- and third-century copies of John, Luke and Matthew; Codex Sinaiticus and Codex Vaticanus, complete Greek New Testaments from the fourth century. The text the Christians of Muhammad’s day held is the text we hold today.
And a test for prophets
Qur’an 3:81 submits Muhammad to the standard of the previous Scriptures, and those Scriptures have a test for prophets (Matthew 7:16):
You will recognize them by their fruits.
Islam’s own most authoritative collection records this without embarrassment:
Narrated ʿĀʾisha: that the Prophet married her when she was six years old and he consummated his marriage when she was nine years old, and then she remained with him for nine years (i.e., till his death).
— Sahih al-Bukhari 5133 · USC-MSA Vol. 7, Bk 62, No. 64
An angel, a new book, and a nine-year-old wife. Anyone who has studied Joseph Smith will recognize the pattern. He fails the fruit test, the covenant test, and the appeal to the Book, all at once.
“Just a messenger”?
The Qur’an’s Christology reads first as a denial:
لَقَدْ كَفَرَ ٱلَّذِينَ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ هُوَ ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ ۖ وَقَالَ ٱلْمَسِيحُ يَـٰبَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ ٱعْبُدُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ رَبِّى وَرَبَّكُمْ ۖ إِنَّهُۥ مَن يُشْرِكْ بِٱللَّهِ فَقَدْ حَرَّمَ ٱللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ ٱلْجَنَّةَ وَمَأْوَىٰهُ ٱلنَّارُ ۖ وَمَا لِلظَّـٰلِمِينَ مِنْ أَنصَارٍ“They surely disbelieve who say: Lo! Allah is the Messiah, son of Mary. The Messiah (himself) said: O Children of Israel, worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Lo! whoso ascribeth partners unto Allah, for him Allah hath forbidden paradise. His abode is the Fire. For evil-doers there will be no helpers.”
— Qur’an 5:72 · Sūrat al-Māʾidah · Pickthall
and then as a reduction. The Messiah was a messenger like the messengers before him, and he ate food:
مَّا ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلَّا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ ٱلرُّسُلُ وَأُمُّهُۥ صِدِّيقَةٌ ۖ كَانَا يَأْكُلَانِ ٱلطَّعَامَ ۗ ٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ نُبَيِّنُ لَهُمُ ٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ ثُمَّ ٱنظُرْ أَنَّىٰ يُؤْفَكُونَ“The Messiah, son of Mary, was no other than a messenger, messengers (the like of whom) had passed away before him. And his mother was a saintly woman. And they both used to eat (earthly) food. See how We make the revelations clear for them, and see how they are turned away!”
— Qur’an 5:75 · Sūrat al-Māʾidah · Pickthall
Yet the same book hands Jesus a portfolio it gives to no one else. He is the Word of Allah and a Spirit from Him, titles applied to no other prophet:
يَـٰٓأَهْلَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبِ لَا تَغْلُوا۟ فِى دِينِكُمْ وَلَا تَقُولُوا۟ عَلَى ٱللَّهِ إِلَّا ٱلْحَقَّ ۚ إِنَّمَا ٱلْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولُ ٱللَّهِ وَكَلِمَتُهُۥٓ أَلْقَىٰهَآ إِلَىٰ مَرْيَمَ وَرُوحٌ مِّنْهُ ۖ فَـَٔامِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِۦ ۖ وَلَا تَقُولُوا۟ ثَلَـٰثَةٌ ۚ ٱنتَهُوا۟ خَيْرًا لَّكُمْ ۚ إِنَّمَا ٱللَّهُ إِلَـٰهٌ وَٰحِدٌ ۖ سُبْحَـٰنَهُۥٓ أَن يَكُونَ لَهُۥ وَلَدٌ ۘ لَّهُۥ مَا فِى ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِى ٱلْأَرْضِ ۗ وَكَفَىٰ بِٱللَّهِ وَكِيلًا“O People of the Scripture! Do not exaggerate in your religion nor utter aught concerning Allah save the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only a messenger of Allah, and His word which He conveyed unto Mary, and a spirit from Him. So believe in Allah and His messengers, and say not “Three” - Cease! (it is) better for you! - Allah is only One Allah. Far is it removed from His Transcendent Majesty that He should have a son. His is all that is in the heavens and all that is in the earth. And Allah is sufficient as Defender.”
— Qur’an 4:171 · Sūrat an-Nisāʾ · Pickthall
He is born of a virgin:
قَالَتْ رَبِّ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِى وَلَدٌ وَلَمْ يَمْسَسْنِى بَشَرٌ ۖ قَالَ كَذَٰلِكِ ٱللَّهُ يَخْلُقُ مَا يَشَآءُ ۚ إِذَا قَضَىٰٓ أَمْرًا فَإِنَّمَا يَقُولُ لَهُۥ كُن فَيَكُونُ“She said: My Lord! How can I have a child when no mortal hath touched me? He said: So (it will be). Allah createth what He will. If He decreeth a thing, He saith unto it only: Be! and it is.”
— Qur’an 3:47 · Sūrat Āl ʿImrān · Pickthall
He creates living things and raises the dead:
وَرَسُولًا إِلَىٰ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ أَنِّى قَدْ جِئْتُكُم بِـَٔايَةٍ مِّن رَّبِّكُمْ ۖ أَنِّىٓ أَخْلُقُ لَكُم مِّنَ ٱلطِّينِ كَهَيْـَٔةِ ٱلطَّيْرِ فَأَنفُخُ فِيهِ فَيَكُونُ طَيْرًۢا بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ وَأُبْرِئُ ٱلْأَكْمَهَ وَٱلْأَبْرَصَ وَأُحْىِ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۖ وَأُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا تَأْكُلُونَ وَمَا تَدَّخِرُونَ فِى بُيُوتِكُمْ ۚ إِنَّ فِى ذَٰلِكَ لَـَٔايَةً لَّكُمْ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ“And will make him a messenger unto the Children of Israel, (saying): Lo! I come unto you with a sign from your Lord. Lo! I fashion for you out of clay the likeness of a bird, and I breathe into it and it is a bird, by Allah’s leave. I heal him who was born blind, and the leper, and I raise the dead, by Allah’s leave. And I announce unto you what ye eat and what ye store up in your houses. Lo! herein verily is a portent for you, if ye are to be believers.”
— Qur’an 3:49 · Sūrat Āl ʿImrān · Pickthall
إِذْ قَالَ ٱللَّهُ يَـٰعِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ ٱذْكُرْ نِعْمَتِى عَلَيْكَ وَعَلَىٰ وَٰلِدَتِكَ إِذْ أَيَّدتُّكَ بِرُوحِ ٱلْقُدُسِ تُكَلِّمُ ٱلنَّاسَ فِى ٱلْمَهْدِ وَكَهْلًا ۖ وَإِذْ عَلَّمْتُكَ ٱلْكِتَـٰبَ وَٱلْحِكْمَةَ وَٱلتَّوْرَىٰةَ وَٱلْإِنجِيلَ ۖ وَإِذْ تَخْلُقُ مِنَ ٱلطِّينِ كَهَيْـَٔةِ ٱلطَّيْرِ بِإِذْنِى فَتَنفُخُ فِيهَا فَتَكُونُ طَيْرًۢا بِإِذْنِى ۖ وَتُبْرِئُ ٱلْأَكْمَهَ وَٱلْأَبْرَصَ بِإِذْنِى ۖ وَإِذْ تُخْرِجُ ٱلْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِى ۖ وَإِذْ كَفَفْتُ بَنِىٓ إِسْرَٰٓءِيلَ عَنكَ إِذْ جِئْتَهُم بِٱلْبَيِّنَـٰتِ فَقَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ مِنْهُمْ إِنْ هَـٰذَآ إِلَّا سِحْرٌ مُّبِينٌ“When Allah saith: O Jesus, son of Mary! Remember My favour unto thee and unto thy mother; how I strengthened thee with the holy Spirit, so that thou spakest unto mankind in the cradle as in maturity; and how I taught thee the Scripture and Wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and how thou didst shape of clay as it were the likeness of a bird by My permission, and didst blow upon it and it was a bird by My permission, and thou didst heal him who was born blind and the leper by My permission; and how thou didst raise the dead by My permission; and how I restrained the Children of Israel from (harming) thee when thou camest unto them with clear proofs, and those of them who disbelieved exclaimed: This is naught else than mere magic;”
— Qur’an 5:110 · Sūrat al-Māʾidah · Pickthall
Now hold that against the Qur’an’s own benchmark:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلنَّاسُ ضُرِبَ مَثَلٌ فَٱسْتَمِعُوا۟ لَهُۥٓ ۚ إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ تَدْعُونَ مِن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ لَن يَخْلُقُوا۟ ذُبَابًا وَلَوِ ٱجْتَمَعُوا۟ لَهُۥ ۖ وَإِن يَسْلُبْهُمُ ٱلذُّبَابُ شَيْـًٔا لَّا يَسْتَنقِذُوهُ مِنْهُ ۚ ضَعُفَ ٱلطَّالِبُ وَٱلْمَطْلُوبُ“O mankind! A similitude is coined, so pay ye heed to it: Lo! those on whom ye call beside Allah will never create a fly though they combine together for the purpose. And if the fly took something from them, they could not rescue it from it. So weak are (both) the seeker and the sought!”
— Qur’an 22:73 · Sūrat al-Ḥajj · Pickthall
Those who call on anyone besides Allah cannot create a fly even if they combine all their strength. Jesus shaped clay into a bird, breathed on it, and it flew. A bird is larger than a fly. By the Qur’an’s own logic, creative, life-giving power belongs to God alone, and the Qur’an assigns that power to the man it calls “just a messenger.” Either he is far more than a messenger, or the book contradicts itself within a few pages.
The crucifixion and the historians
وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا ٱلْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخْتَلَفُوا۟ فِيهِ لَفِى شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّ ۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًۢا“And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah’s messenger - they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain.”
— Qur’an 4:157 · Sūrat an-Nisāʾ · Pickthall
Inside the denial there is an unwitting confession. The verse says that those who disagree about the crucifixion have “no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture.” Ask who actually disagrees. Christians do not: the Gospels report the crucifixion plainly (Luke 23:33 above), and the earliest creed in the church affirms it (1 Corinthians 15:3–4 above). It is Islam that disagrees with itself. One tradition puts a look-alike on the cross, another a volunteer disciple, another a bystander swapped in at the last moment. No two commentators agree on what happened. The verse describes its own interpreters.
The historians do not disagree. Tacitus, a Roman senator and no friend of Christianity, wrote around AD 116:
Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus, and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judaea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their centre and become popular.
— Tacitus, Annals 15.44 · Church & Brodribb (1876), public domain
Josephus, the Jewish historian, wrote around AD 93:
Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man; for he was a doer of wonderful works, a teacher of such men as receive the truth with pleasure. He drew over to him both many of the Jews and many of the Gentiles. He was [the] Christ. And when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake him;
— Josephus, Antiquities 18.63–64 · Whiston, public domain
A word of honesty about this source. Scholars agree the passage (the Testimonium Flavianum) picked up Christian interpolations in later copying. The standard critical reconstructions still keep the core: Jesus was a teacher and wonder-worker, and Pilate condemned him to the cross. Even the skeptics’ minimal version keeps the crucifixion.
A second, undisputed passage confirms Jesus as a historical figure known as “Christ”:
…he assembled the sanhedrim of judges, and brought before them the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James, and some others; and when he had formed an accusation against them as breakers of the law, he delivered them to be stoned.
— Josephus, Antiquities 20.200 · Whiston, public domain
A Roman, a Jew, every Christian source, and most critical scholars agree that Jesus died under Pilate. Six centuries later the Qur’an says it never happened and cannot say what did. That is not an alternative reading of history.
Jesus’ own claims
Everything above presses one question: who did Jesus claim to be? Let him answer:
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.
The standard Muslim reply is that “one” means unity of purpose, since Jesus prayed that his disciples would be one as well:
that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
The contexts are not parallel. John 17 is a prayer about the disciples’ mission. John 10 is a list of claims, and every one of them was first spoken about Yahweh. “My sheep hear my voice”: the sheep belong to Yahweh:
Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD, our Maker! For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
“I give them eternal life, and no one will snatch them out of my hand”: life, death, and the hand no one can escape belong to Yahweh:
See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
Jesus takes each of these texts and applies it to himself: my sheep, my voice, my hand, my gift of life. Then he says, “I and the Father are one.” That is not a statement about teamwork. It is a claim about essence.
He makes the same kind of claim elsewhere:
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”
He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.”
“Before Abraham was, I am” reaches back to the divine name of Exodus 3:14 and claims eternal existence for himself. This is what Jesus teaches about himself.
What the cross achieved
The crucifixion is not one detail among many. It is where salvation happens:
But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
Christ died “for our sins” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Deny the crucifixion and there is no atonement, no adoption, no risen Savior. What remains is a slave before a master. That is the real difference between the two faiths, and both cannot be right.
The final question
Jesus still asks the question he asked his disciples:
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
A prophet? A moral teacher? Or the Word made flesh, crucified for sins and raised on the third day? Read the sources above; the answer decides everything.
Sources
Qur’an: Arabic (Uthmani) with M. M. Pickthall’s translation (quran.com, translation 19)
- Qur’an 10:94 (Sūrat Yūnus)
- Qur’an 5:47, 5:72, 5:75, 5:110 (Sūrat al-Māʾidah)
- Qur’an 4:47, 4:157, 4:171 (Sūrat an-Nisāʾ)
- Qur’an 3:47, 3:49, 3:81 (Sūrat Āl ʿImrān)
- Qur’an 29:46 (Sūrat al-ʿAnkabūt)
- Qur’an 22:73 (Sūrat al-Ḥajj)
Bible: English Standard Version (biblegateway.com)
- John 1:1; John 8:23; John 8:58; John 10:27–30; John 17:21; Luke 23:33; Matthew 7:16; Matthew 16:15–16
- Psalm 95:6–7; Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 53:5; Jeremiah 10:10
- 1 Corinthians 14:33; 1 Corinthians 15:3–4; 1 Peter 2:24
Historical sources (public-domain translations)
- Tacitus, Annals 15.44 (Church & Brodribb, 1876)
- Josephus, Antiquities 18.63–64 (Whiston)
- Josephus, Antiquities 20.200 (Whiston)
- Sahih al-Bukhari 5133
New Testament manuscripts cited: P. Rylands 457 (P52, first half of 2nd c.); P. Chester Beatty I (P46, c. AD 200); P. Bodmer II (P66) and P. Bodmer XIV–XV (P75), 2nd–3rd c.; Codex Sinaiticus (c. 330–360) and Codex Vaticanus (c. 300–325).
Qur’an quotations: Uthmani text with Marmaduke Pickthall’s translation (public domain), via quran.com. Bible quotations: The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, via Bible Gateway; copyright © Good News Publishers, quoted within their permissions policy. Tacitus and Josephus quotations are from public-domain translations (Church & Brodribb 1876; Whiston). All quotations were pulled programmatically from the linked sources and verified before publication.