Author Dr. Louay Fatoohi, has recently announced  that his book Jesus the Muslim Prophet: History Speaks of a Human Messiah Not a Divine is now permanently available online for free and easy access.

The book is a detailed comparative study of the nature of Jesus according to the Qur’an and the New Testament and other Christian sources. Relevant concepts are also examined in the Old Testament and other Jewish sources, as well as historical sources. The book avoids polemics, focusing on analysing the relevant texts.

This book contrasts the human Jesus of the Qur’an an with the divine Jesus of Christian sources. It shows that the Qur’anic Jesus is the one that fits in history. This focused study is for both the general reader and the expert. This easy-to-read and enjoyable book is for anyone interested in the question of the nature of Jesus in various scriptures and historical sources.

Jesus introduced himself as a prophet of Islam and the awaited Messiah. Like the many Muslim prophets before him, his core message was to call people to worship God. He also tried to reform the practice of Judaism which had been corrupted over the centuries and brought the good news about the coming of Prophet Muhammad. Jesus spoke about one God. He never taught that he or anybody else was or could be divine. He even called himself a son of man to pre-empt the attempts to make him divine after him. It was Paul who started and promoted the concept that Jesus was man and god. He put Jesus divinity at the heart of his theology, creating a religion, Christianity, that Jesus would not have recognized.

The deification of Jesus was developed further by later theologians, leading to a Jesus that cannot be distinguished from God. This is the Jesus of the last of the four Gospels, John. The different Jesuses that early Christianity created can be seen by comparing the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, and Luke with John, Paul’s writings, and other New Testament books. Putting all twenty seven books in one volume cannot hide the fact that they do not promote one Jesus. In fact, inconsistency can be clearly seen even within most of these books, including each of the four Gospels.

Dr. Louay Fatoohi was an Arab Christian from Iraq who  converted to Islam in his early twenties. Albeit an Astrophysicist he have been particularly interested in studying the Qur’an and Islamic studies. His advocates the need to fill the gap of religious studies (In Islam and Christianity) which deal with independent sources from both Muslims and christian historical accounts. Being familiar with both tradition makes Louay Fatoohi ideal to serve this purpose.

Categories: Christianity, Islam, Recommended Reading

Tags: Isa Al Masih, Jesus, Jesus the Messiah