Jesus - Man Messenger Messiah

Jesus of Nazareth occupies a rather unusual position in human history: revered by billions, discussed for two thousand years and still capable of producing a theological disagreement before everyone has finished introducing themselves. In Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah, Abu Zakariya examines Jesus from an Islamic perspective, explaining how the figure known to Muslims as Isa fits into the wider story of prophecy, revelation and humanity’s relationship with God.

For readers accustomed to Christianity, the Islamic view can seem both strikingly familiar and fundamentally different. Islam honours Jesus as the Messiah, accepts his miraculous birth to the Virgin Mary, recognises his miracles and regards him as one of God’s greatest messengers. It does not, however, identify him as God or as the literal son of God. Thus begins a discussion in which agreement and disagreement sit beside one another with the slightly strained politeness of relatives at a large family gathering.

Zakariya sets out to explore who Jesus was, what he taught and how beliefs about him developed. Drawing upon the Qur’an, the Bible and historical arguments, he compares Islamic and Christian understandings of Jesus and considers whether later doctrines accurately reflect the message preached by Jesus himself. The central contention is that Jesus belonged to the long succession of prophets who called humanity to worship the one God—the same essential mission associated with Abraham, Moses and Muhammad.

The book addresses some fairly substantial questions: Was Jesus divine? What did he mean by “Son of God”? Did he teach the doctrine of the Trinity? How did early Christians understand him? And how did a Jewish preacher in Roman Palestine eventually become the subject of creeds written in specialised theological language centuries later? These are not small matters, although religious history has never shown much enthusiasm for limiting itself to small matters.

Written as an accessible work of Islamic outreach rather than a neutral academic survey, the book argues its position openly. Readers are not required to hunt through the undergrowth wondering what the author thinks. Zakariya presents the Islamic case directly, challenges conventional Christian interpretations and invites the reader to reconsider assumptions that may previously have arrived fully assembled and without an instruction manual.

The result is an introduction both to the Islamic Jesus and to the broader Muslim understanding of revelation. In this account, prophets do not establish competing religions like rival shops on the same high street; they deliver successive versions of one enduring message. Humanity, displaying its usual gift for administrative complication, then supplies denominations, councils, controversies, technical vocabulary and several thousand years of disagreement.

This will appeal to readers interested in comparative religion, Islam, Christianity, theology, interfaith discussion or the historical development of beliefs about Jesus. Christian readers may disagree strongly with its conclusions, Muslim readers may find it a useful presentation of familiar beliefs, and readers of neither faith may simply be intrigued to discover how differently the same religious figure can be understood.

It is also a useful reminder that Jesus is not solely a Christian figure. He has an honoured and important place within Islam, where he is regarded as Messiah and messenger, but emphatically a man rather than a deity. That distinction is the heart of this book and, as theological distinctions go, it is not one likely to pass unnoticed.

This copy is in As New condition, having apparently undergone none of the trials, schisms or doctrinal controversies discussed within. Offered by Crappy Old Books, it is a clean and thought-provoking introduction to a Jesus many Western readers may know surprisingly little about—despite his having been famous for approximately two millennia.

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