Images of Jesus Christ in Islam, 2nd edition Also available from Continuum: A Mirror for Our Times, Paul Weller Religious Cohesion in Times of Conflict, Andrew Holden Understanding Christian–Muslim Relations, Clinton Bennett Images of Jesus Christ in Islam, 2nd ed. Oddbjørn Leirvik Continuum International Publishing Group The Tower Building 80 Maiden Lane 11 York Road Suite 704 London SE1 7NX New York NY 10038 www.continuumbooks.com © Oddbjørn Leirvik, 2010 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN: HB: 978–1-4411–7739–1 PB: 978–1-4411–8160–2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Images of Jesus Christ in Islam, 2nd ed./Oddbjørn Leirvik p. cm. ISBN 978–1-4411–7739–1 ISBN 978–1-4411–8160–2 1. Jesus Christ—Islamic interpretations. 2. Jesus Christ—In the Koran. 3. Christianity and other religions—Islam. I. Title. BP172.L355 1999 297.2’465–dc22 2009040851 Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire Contents Preface ix 1 Introduction 1 A Sensitive Question 1 The Status of Christology in Christian–Muslim Dialogue 3 Bibliographical Introduction 6 Contributions from the Christian Side and from Western Scholars 7 Contributions from Muslim Contexts 10 Some Methodological Considerations 14 2 Christ in the Qur’a¯n and in Hadı¯th 19 Christ in the Qur’a¯n˙ 19 Thematic Summary of the Qur’a¯ nic References to Christ 20 Thematic Studies of Qur’a¯ nic Christology 24 Grammatical Problems, Literary Character and Language Structure 25 The Overall Qur’a¯ nic Context 27 Historical Background and External Context 33 Jesus in Hadı¯th 36 Sayings˙ Clarifying the Relation between Muhammad and Jesus 37 Descriptions of Jesus’ Appearance˙ 38 Foretelling of the Descent of Jesus in the Eschatological Sayings Attributed to Muhammad 39 Jesus and al-Mahdı¯41˙ Mention of Specific Merits of Jesus 42 Further Similarities to the New Testament Gospels 43 The Understanding of ‘Gospel’ (Injı¯l)45 Muhammad and Jesus in Hadı¯th and Legend 47 ˙ ˙ 3 Jesus in Muslim Legend and Qur’a¯nic Exegesis 54 Jesus in Muslim Legend and Storytelling 54 Agrapha (Sayings), in Context 55 The Storytelling Tradition, from Wahb to the ‘Stories of the Prophets’ 57 vi Contents Jesus in Muslim Perceptions of World History 63 Questions of Christian Influences 66 Classical Exegesis of the Qur’a¯ n (Tafsı¯r) 66 The Demise of Jesus and the Substitutionist Theory 67 The Return of Jesus 69 The Miracles of Jesus and his Virginal Conception 69 4 Jesus in Shı¯ite Tradition 74 A Shı¯ite Jesus 74 Jesus in Shı¯ite Hadı¯th and Tafsı¯r 76 The Brethren of˙ Purity 78 The Significance of Suffering 80 5 Jesus in Su¯ fism 83 Su¯fı¯ Reception˙ of Jesus-Sayings and Jesus-Stories 84 Various˙ Representations of Jesus in Su¯ fism 85 Jesus in Su¯fı¯ ‘Moralism’˙ 85 Transgressions˙ of Orthodoxy in Search for Union with God 86 Jesus in the Orthodox Su¯ fism of al-Ghaza¯lı¯86 Jesus in the Theosophical˙ System of ibn al-Arabı¯89 Jesus in the Poetry and Meditative Discourses of Ru¯mı¯91 Jesus in Su¯fı¯ Tafsı¯r 95 Summarizing˙ Central Features of Su¯fı¯ Images of Jesus 96 Jesus as the Perfect Man: A Generalizing˙ Concept 97 Jesus as Theophany: A Non-Exclusive Attribute 97 Sainthood and Breath 98 The Spiritual Meaning of the Miracles 98 Suffering, Death, Cross 99 The Mystical Perfection: Muhammad 101 ˙ 6 Encounters and Confrontations: Dialogue, Apologetics, Polemics 107 The Role of Christ in Early Intra-Muslim Polemics 107 Christian Apologetics under Muslim Rule 109 Muslim Polemics, Directed towards Submitted Christians 111 The Image of Paul in Early and Medieval Islamic Polemics 114 The Understanding of Jesus’ Miracles 115 Muslim Polemical Refutations and Sympathetic Reinterpretations in the Medieval Era 116 The Claim of Tahrı¯f (Falsification of the Scriptures) 116 Benign Reinterpretations˙ 118 Christian Polemics against Islam in the Medieval Era: Enemy Images and Attempts at Understanding 119 Contents vii 7 Twentieth-Century Tendencies and Discussions 127 Christ in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Muslim Theology: Reinterpretation, Polemics and Dialogue 127 Nineteenth-Century Beginnings: India 128 The Christology of the Ahmadiyya Movement 129 The Barnabas Argument 132 Twentieth-Century Egyptian Theology: al-Mana¯ r and al-Azhar 144 Twentieth-Century Indo-Pakistani Contributions 151 Jesus in Revolutionary Iran 161 Apologetic Writings for a Western Audience 162 Convert Literature 163 Approaches Emerging from Christian–Muslim Dialogue 164 Jesus in Twentieth-Century Muslim Poetry 165 From Miracle to Cross: Jesus in Modern Persian Poetry 166 From Miracle to Cross: Images of Jesus in the Literatures of Pakistan 167 From Miracle to Cross: Modern Arabic Poetry (and Art) 170 From Miracle to Cross: Interpretations 174 Christ in Egyptian Muslim Literature, from 1950 Onwards 175 Christian Contributions 175 Muslim Contributions 176 The Symbol of the Cross: Husayn, Abd al-Quddu¯ s, al-Sabu¯r, al-Nowaihi ˙ ˙ 176 Christ-Biographies and Christ-Allegories: al-Aqqa¯ d, al-Sahha¯r, Uthma¯ n, Mahfu¯z ˙ ˙ 183 Christ and Muhammad:˙ ˙ Kha¯ lid Muhammad Kha¯ lid 193 Christ, Muhammad˙ and Human Conscience:˙ al-Aqqa¯d, Uthma¯ n,˙ Husayn, Kha¯ lid 198 ˙ 8 Issues of Dialogue 221 Why Christology? 221 Jesus and Muhammad 222 Historical Jesus,˙ Historical Muhammad 224 Christ of Faith, Muhammad of ˙Faith 228 Christology, Anthropology,˙ Theology 233 Rethinking Christology in Dialogue with Islam 235 Rethinking Incarnation: Generation and Procession 235 Rethinking Sonship: Son of God, Servant of God 237 Rethinking the Cross 238 Rethinking Exclusivism: Jesus between Christianity and Islam 240 Rethinking ‘Christianity’: Jesus-Followers between Christianity and Islam 242 Christology and Human Experience: From Miracles to Cross 244 viii Contents Miracles in the World of Mystics: Christ, Healer of Minds 244 Miracles in Folk Islam: Christ, Healer of Bodies 244 The Symbol of the Cross: From Theological Rejection to Human Affirmation 245 The Ethical Connection 246 Human Conscience 248 The Golden Rule 251 Faith, Power, Non-Violence 252 ‘Disciplining the Soul’ 253 Divine Pedagogy 254 Doing Theology 255 Implications of Monotheism 256 Reading the Signs of God 257 Modes of Doing Theology 260 9 Postscript 267 Knowing by Oneself, Knowing with the Other: A ‘Conscientious’ Dialogue between Religions 267 Bibliography 271 Index 287 Preface This book adds to a number of studies on the image of Jesus Christ in Islam, and related issues of dialogue. During my work with Islamic Christologies,1 I have seen the need of a general introduction to the issue, and a survey of research. In the present study, a general introduction to the theme has been merged with a survey of research, organized in a historically oriented presentation. My approach to this matter has not, however, been that of an Islamicist or a scholar of religious studies. As a Christian theologian committed to Christian–Muslim dialogue, it has been natural to add a third section of the study, identifying issues of dialogue arising from inherited polemics and apologetics on both sides, as well as from serious attempts at mutual understanding. The background of this study is not purely academic. My involvement in Christian–Muslim dialogue is rooted in a Norwegian encounter between a well-established Christian majority and a more recent Islamic minority. The starting point was in the east end of Oslo, during my time as a Lutheran minister in a district with a substantial Muslim community. From the mid- 1980s, I have had the privilege of taking part in living dialogues between Chris- tians and Muslims in different contexts and on different levels, first as a parish minister, then at the church-related Emmaus Centre for Dialogue and Spiritual- ity. Gradually, my involvement in the field led me to academic work with issues pertaining to interreligious studies and Christian–Muslim dialogue, in the context of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo. My presentation of Images of Jesus Christ in Islam was first published in 1999.2 The book relies partly on my own work with the primary sources (clas- sical and modern), but also to a great extent on secondary sources, i.e. compil- ations and studies made by others. In relation to the first edition, the current edition has been updated by references to more recent research. It goes without saying that the presentation is not exhaustive, and some strands of the Islamic tradition and of current research have been given more weight than others. Nevertheless, I hope this book will aid others in finding their way into the subject. Its theme may reveal a typical Christian concern for the image of Christ in other religions. However, as I see it, the issue of x Preface Christology touches upon a number of other questions of shared concern between Christians and Muslims. It relates to general questions in theology and anthropology as well as in ethics. As for the genesis of the present book, my initial work on Islamic Christolo- gies (a typical interest of a Christian theologian approaching Islam) evolved gradually into research on questions pertaining to ethics and the philosophy of dialogue, with the notion of ‘conscience’ at the focal point. My interest in images of Christ in Islam led me to the innovative contributions from the modern Egyptian authors Abba¯s Mahmu¯ d al-Aqqa¯ d, M. Ka¯ mil Husayn and Kha¯ lid Muhammad Kha¯ lid (cf.