Gospel in Islam


Injil is the Arabic name for the Gospel of Jesus. This Injil is described by the Qur'an as one of the four Islamic holy books which was revealed by God, the others being the Zabur, the Tawrat, and the Qur'an itself. The word Injil is also used in the Quran, the Hadith and early Muslim documents to refer to both a book and revelations made by God to Jesus.

Etymology

The Arabic word Injil as found in Islamic texts, and now used also by Muslim non-Arabs and Arab non-Muslims, is derived from the Syriac Aramaic word awongaleeyoon found in the Peshitta, which in turn derives from the Greek word euangelion of the originally Greek language New Testament, where it means "good news" The word Injil occurs twelve times in the Quran.

Identification

Muslim scholars have resisted identifying the Injil with the New Testament Gospels. Some have suggested the Injil may be the Gospel of Barnabas or Gospel of Thomas. More commonly, Muslim scholars have argued that the Injil refers to a text now lost or hopelessly corrupted. For example, Abdullah Yusuf Ali wrote:

Several verses in the Qur'an have been understood by non-Muslim scholars to be problematic to this view, such as:
While Muslim scholars interpret this verse as God warning the Christians not to enforce the law contrary to the law sent by God, other scholars see it as affirming the preservation of the New Testament Gospels:

Nature

Regardless of scholarly disagreement, Muslims commonly believe that Injil refers to a true Gospel, bestowed upon Jesus by God. Many Muslims believe that the Injil was revealed by God to Jesus in a manner comparable to the way the Quran was revealed to Muhammad; as presumed from passages in the Quran stating the gospel was a received message, such as :
Muslims reject the view that Jesus or any other person wrote the Injil, instead crediting its authorship to God. Many Muslim scholars continue to believe that the Biblical Gospel has undergone alteration, that the words and the meaning of the words have been distorted, with some passages suppressed and others added. A key Islamic principle of oneness and wholeness of God's divinity means that in their view it is impossible for Jesus to be God incarnate or the Son of God, and claims to the contrary within the Biblical Gospels must be due to later additions. Nevertheless, the Bible has been used by Muslims as an historical source. It is said in the Quran :
According to a hadith collected by al-Bukhari: