The Islamic Jesus: How the King of the Jews Became a Prophet of the Muslims

Mustafa Akyol

Feb 2017 · Sold by St. Martin's Press

About this ebook

“A welcome expansion of the fragile territory known as common ground.” —The New York Times

When Reza Aslan’s bestseller Zealot came out in 2013, there was criticism that he hadn’t addressed his Muslim faith while writing the origin story of Christianity. In fact, Ross Douthat of The New York Times wrote that “if Aslan had actually written in defense of the Islamic view of Jesus, that would have been something provocative and new.”

Mustafa Akyol’s The Islamic Jesus is that book.

The Islamic Jesus reveals startling new truths about Islam in the context of the first Muslims and the early origins of Christianity. Muslims and the first Christians—the Jewish followers of Jesus—saw Jesus as not divine but rather as a prophet and human Messiah and that salvation comes from faith and good works, not merely as faith, as Christians would later emphasize. What Akyol seeks to reveal are how these core beliefs of Jewish Christianity, which got lost in history as a heresy, emerged in a new religion born in 7th Arabia: Islam.

Akyol exposes this extraordinary historical connection between Judaism, Jewish Christianity and Islam—a major mystery unexplored by academia. From Jesus’ Jewish followers to the Nazarenes and Ebionites to the Qu’ran’s stories of Mary and Jesus, The Islamic Jesus will reveal links between religions that seem so contrary today. It will also call on Muslims to discover their own Jesus, at a time when they are troubled by their own Pharisees and Zealots.

Ratings and reviews

The book is wrong on many of the claims that the author-mustafa- has raised such like james the brother of jesus taught a different gospel which is salvation on works which is contrary to the fact that james starts by calling himself a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. Mustafa generally tries to infuse the islamic view of jesus into the bible which ofcourse is problematic!

Arguably the best book ever written on the Islamic version of Jesus. The strength of the book lies in historically linking and comparing Islamic theology with the theology of the ancient and now extinct "Jewish-Christian" sect. A great read for all students of comparative religion.

This book gave me a fascinating insight into both christian and islamic studies. not being a member of any religious belief system I warmly embraced what this book had to say about Jesus, thank you

About the author

MUSTAFA AKYOL is a regular columnist for the Hurriyet Daily News, Al-Monitor.com, and the International New York Times. His book, Islam without Extremes, has been reviewed and quoted by The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Washington Post, NPR, The Guardian, National Review, and Washington Times. Akyol has appeared on Fareed Zakaria’s GPS on CNN, Hardtalk on BBC, and TED.com. Islam without Extremes was long-listed for the 2012 Lionel Gelber Prize literary prize.