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The Mystery of the Historical Jesus: The Messiah in the Qur'an, the Bible, and Historical Sources Paperback – September 17, 2007

by Louay Fatoohi (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars 7 ratings
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Jesus remains one of the most studied characters in history. In the two millennia since his birth, countless writers have published numerous books and articles on every aspect of his life, personality, teachings, and environment. Depending on the backgrounds, goals, and trainings of their respective authors, these works relied on the New Testament, other Christian sources, Jewish writings, or other historical sources, or on combinations of these writings. The Qur'an is rarely mentioned, let alone seriously considered, by the mainly Christian authors of these studies. This explicit or implicit neglect reflects a presumed historical worthlessness of the Qur'an. Muslim scholars have also written extensively about Jesus. Contrary to their Western counterparts, they have studied in detail what the Qur'an and other Islamic sources say about Jesus. The Christian image of Jesus is often cited to be dismissed, usually on the basis of what Islamic sources say, but at times also because of its incoherence and inconsistency. Like Western scholars who have ignored the Qur'an, Muslim writers have shown no interest in independent historical sources. This book fills a gap in the literature on the historical Jesus by taking the unique approach of considering together the Qur'an, the Gospels, and other religious and historical sources. This genuinely new contribution to the scholarship on the historical Jesus shows that, unlike the New Testament accounts, the Qur'anic image of Jesus is both internally consistent and reconcilable with known history. While showing that our understanding of how the New Testament was formed and our growing knowledge of history confirm that the Christian Jesus is unhistorical, this study makes a strong case for the historicity of the Jesus of the Qur'an. Its friendly style makes this comprehensive book suitable for the general reader as well as the specialist. Readers with interest in the historical Jesus, the Messiah in the various scriptures, modern Qur'anic exegesis, or comparative religion will find this compelling study highly informative and thought-provoking. No specialist knowledge of any scripture or history is required for reading the book.
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  1. Print length
    568 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Safis Publishing
  4. Publication date
    September 17, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    6.69 x 1.15 x 9.61 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1906342016
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1906342012
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About the Author

Louay Fatoohi was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1961. He and his wife migrated to the UK in 1992. He lives in Birmingham, England. He obtained a BSc in physics from Baghdad University, Iraq, in 1984 and a PhD in astronomy from Durham University, UK, in 1998. Originally from a Christian family, Louay reverted to Islam in his early twenties. In addition to being his faith of choice and way of life, Islam is for him is a subject of deep intellectual interest. He has authored over twenty books in English and Arabic, edited and translated two manuscripts, and published tens of articles. Louay is interested in Qur'anic and Islamic studies in general, but his main areas of research are as follows: - Comparative study of history in the Qur'an, Jewish and Christian scriptures, and independent historical sources - Sufism - History of the Qur'anic text and revelation - Quranic Exegesis

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Safis Publishing
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 17, 2007
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 568 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1906342016
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1906342012
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.97 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.69 x 1.15 x 9.61 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 out of 5 stars 7 ratings

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Louay Fatoohi

Louay Fatoohi

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Louay Fatoohi was born in Baghdad, Iraq, in 1961. He and his wife migrated to the UK in 1992. He lives in Birmingham, England. He obtained a BSc in physics from Baghdad University, Iraq, in 1984 and a PhD in astronomy from Durham University, UK, in 1998.

Originally from a Christian family, Louay reverted to Islam in his early ‎twenties. In addition to being his faith ‎of choice and way of life, Islam is ‎for him is a subject of deep intellectual interest. He is interested in ‎Qur’anic ‎and Islamic studies in general, but his main areas of research are as follows: ‎

• Comparative study of history in the Qur’an, Jewish and Christian ‎scriptures, and independent ‎historical sources‎

• Sufism

• History of the Qur’anic text and revelation

• Quranic Exegesis

Louay is a prolific author who has published over twenty-five books in English and Arabic in Islamic studies. He has also published over twenty research papers in cosmology, applied historical astronomy, and the Islamic calendar.

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  • R. Ahmed
    5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
    Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2015
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Dr. Fatoohi had done an incredible job surveying countless western scholarly works on the historical Jesus and expanded their conclusions with what the Quran says about Jesus. Although I have read numerous books by Western scholars on the topic, I still have many unanswered questions as far as is to interpret their conclusions with what the Quran says. For the most part, western scholars agree with the Quranic image of Jesus being a Jewish prophet who preached about the coming end of the world and the fact that he never claimed any divinity in his life time. However, I've always wondered where the injeel, Holy Spirit, second coming, and many other matters fall into with the western scholarly conclusions about Jesus when combined with the Islamic understanding of these topics. This is part of what this book does a great job of analyzing. Muslim scholars of the past have either relied too heavily on unreliable Christian sources or complelty disregarded them without much basis other than their own dogmatic views. Dr. Fatoohi takes a much more scholarly approach. Though I don't agree with all of his conclusions, this book is much better than anything I have read from other Muslim authors on the subject. This was a much needed book for Muslims. Thank you for writing this.
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  • The Adawm
    4.0 out of 5 stars The Jesus (Yahushua) Factor
    Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2009
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    It is believed that the Koran became established in the Arabic nation around the 3rd to 9th century. Also, it is believed that many of the writings which are coined to the Koran originates from the Jewish Torah, and many Christian apocryphal writings. Now, if we choose to be directed by concrete historical facts; the researcher knows that Judaism and Christianity was literally before the Arabic nation's Koran (Qur'an). This conclusion is not to insult anyone who is Moslem (Muslim) but to establish tangible facts. Is there a possibility that Islam represents hybrid philosophies of the Judeo-Christian world, which interests are political and religious superiority; maybe. Can the Judeo-Christian world be inscribed to the same political and religious superiority of Islam; maybe.

    All Abrahamic faiths claim divinity, and all have proven by scripture to fall short of the glory of God. Was Yahushua (Jesus) a prophet, a god, God-Almighty, or the second-person of the triune which was prescribed by Tertullian. This doctrine though in it's original context was formulated to demonstrate the collective unity of God, the son, and the Set-Apart Spirit but its philosphical ideas can be linked to foreign religious philosphies which predated Christianity. So, as a believer in the Universal-One Uncreated God of the Cosmos I must agree with my brothers and sisters who practice Judaism, Islam, and a host of other Christian Sects; God is One and is not a "Trinity."

    Does the scriptures which are transcribed or translated in the English language have flaws; yes. Anything, I repeat-anything that man puts his hands on eventually he will corrupt, whether, it's today or tommorrow. Page 439: "Throughout history, religious followers have had the histories of their leaders mixed with myths and legends to the point that separating between them is at times impossible. The strength of popular belief in a concept or claim or is no guarantee that this concept or claim is more likely to be real."

    Dr. Louay Fatoohi does have many biases in his book, only because he has established himself as a Muslem. Like for example: he teaches that all of the biblical patriachs & prophets are Muslems. This is not a fact, this is a learned man who uses the science of "dialectics." All religious followers and organizations who claim divinity devise this particular form of reasoning to support their own self anointed belief systems.

    I have nothing but resepect for Dr. Fatoohi who states in his book that the Qur'an is not a history book and that it often bypasses details that are given prominence in traditional recounting of history. I do not agree with all of Dr. Fatoohi's interpretations, or conclusions but some of his scholarship is based on simple common sense. For instance page 500 states: "Christians, like Jews, believed that it is only them who will enter paradise. The Qur'an refutes this claim, clarifying the requirements for salvation and stressing that they apply to "All" people without exception or discrimination." Does this view contradict what the set-apart scriptures teach? Go to Mark 9:38-40 and Luke 9:49-50, scriptures indicate that by two or three witnesses every matter must be established. Mark and Luke are my 2 witneses. This particular man was not with the chosen flock, but he was a chosen vessel. This can not be refuted if we conform to what the scriptures teach. A human being does not have to be with the governing body to be a follower of the "Nazarene." But you must be a believer in his light, and truth which bears the semblance of the Father. A religious order's name nor philosphies cannot save a believer, only their faith and works can do that. In conclusion, I think that Dr. Fatoohi's book is well designed for the Moslem believer, or perhaps the Liberal Christian Community. But his views cannot and will not be accepted by the Orthodox Judeo-Christian world.
    3 people found this helpful
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  • yoginder
    5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!
    Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2015
    Format: Paperback
    The quest for the `historical Jesus', as distinct from the Jesus of faith of diverse groups of Christians, is a subject on which an impressive corpus of literature exists. Down the centuries, and more so in recent times, numerous writers have written and debated about who the actual Jesus was and what his teachings really were, reflecting a profound uneasiness with some of the things that are claimed about him in the New Testament, whose contents were penned considerably after Jesus left the world.

    The vast majority of writings on the issue of the historical Jesus have been by writers of Christian background, and almost all by Westerners. This book is of a different sort altogether. It is an attempt to seek to understand the historical Jesus from a Qur'anic perspective.

    This attempt might seem bizarre for some, for what, they might ask, might the Quran, which appeared centuries after Jesus, have to contribute to our understanding of the historical Jesus? A great deal, a study of this voluminous tome will reveal, for Jesus is honoured as a prophet in the Quran, which refers to him in several verses. Belief in Jesus is integral to faith in Islam. Muslims regard Jesus as a `Muslim' (that is, one who has submitted to God) and as having preached Islam--that is, submission to the one God.

    Author Louay Fatoohi is brilliantly qualified for the task that he has undertaken. Born in Baghdad in 1961 in an Iraqi Christian family (his father was Catholic and his mother Orthodox), he accepted Islam in his 20s. A Ph.D. in Astronomy, he has spent years studying Islam, Christianity and ancient Middle Eastern history and has written extensively on these subjects.

    Fatoohi shares with us that following his acceptance of Islam, the Qur'an `took center stage' in his life. This, he says, renewed his interest in Jesus. While the Quran speaks highly of all prophets, he tells us, `it paints a particularly venerable picture of Jesus and presents him as a unique prophet, but this image is very different from the divine Jesus of the New Testament.'

    This book, Fatoohi writes, is an `expression of my lifelong fascination with Jesus.' Fatoohi sees it as filling a major gap in the existing literature on the historical Jesus by considering the Qur'anic account of Jesus' life, its counterparts in the New Testament and other sources. He contends that, "unlike the New Testament stories, the Qur'anic statements about Jesus are consistent and can be reconciled with what we know from history." "The Qur'an", he says, "provides a coherent and consistent image of Jesus, whereas the Gospels draw conflicting images. In fact, the image of Jesus even within any one Gospel is inconsistent. Furthermore, the Quranic image makes much more sense of the limited historical information on Jesus than his images in the Gospels do."

    The 22 chapters of this book deal with a range of issues involved in the quest for the historical Jesus. Fatoohi indicates that there are numerous inconsistencies, unfactual statements and contradictions in reports related to Jesus in the Bible, underscoring clearly the role of human invention and imagination therein and the unreliability of several of the Bible's claims. Drawing on the Quran, the books of the New Testament, `apocryphal' texts by early Christians that were condemned by the Church as forgeries (often simply because they challenged the theology championed by the Church) and other sources, Fatoohi convincingly shows how Christian theology deviated widely from the original teachings of Jesus. In other words, Christianity does not represent Jesus' teachings, and nor does the Jesus of Christianity truly reflect the historical Jesus.

    Several claims that the New Testament makes about Jesus are patently false, Fatoohi brings out. These include, for instance, the concept of the Trinity, the deification of Jesus, the claim that Jesus was the Son of God (as Christians generally understand that term) or even God in human form, the claim that Jesus was crucified, and the claim that Jesus' alleged crucifixion was the atonement for the sins of mankind and that faith in this is indispensable for human salvation. All these represent, Fatoohi indicates, sheer invention, a complete deviation from the actual teachings of Jesus and a total departure from the pure monotheism that Jesus taught. `While the Jews changed the Messiah into their political and military leader,' Fatoohi notes, `the Christians turned Jesus, and thus the Messiah, into a divine being. They gave the Jewish concept of "son of God" divine connotations it never had and applied it to Jesus.'

    At the same time, Fatoohi reflects on what the Quran has to say about Jesus, showing that, like all the prophets commissioned by God, he preached the oneness of God. Unlike what Christians claim, Jesus never claimed divinity for himself. `He was a faithful servant of God who stressed his servanthood to the Lord', Fatoohi says.

    This book is, clearly, the result of great dedication and enormous labour. It is a major contribution to the quest for the historical Jesus. Its large list of references indicates the author's familiarity with a wide range of writings related to the subject. It is an eminently scholarly work, quite distinct from the many polemical writings on the subject. At a little over than 800 pages, it might be just too long for the average reader, though. Summarising its findings in the form of a slim volume might help in getting its vital message across on a wider level.
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  • Fara Vanbaelinghem
    4.0 out of 5 stars Historical Jesus
    Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2017
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    If you care to know about the Historical Jesus, whether the Christian one or the Islamic one, then this should be a book of interest to you.
    One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • saxoclariman
    5.0 out of 5 stars excellent research, lousy proof-reading
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 23, 2013
    Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase
    Very clever writer -- has done a lot of good work -- proof-reading on the book is TERRIBLE, the publisher should be ashamed to have allowed so many small irritating errors into the text, just like 'The Mystery of the Crucifxion' by the same author and publishing house -- spoils the continuity of thought and flow of reading - just awful. I can only think that as the writer does not have English as his first language he was just unaware of the mess the publisher has made of the job he entrusted to them. However the book deserves top rating because the author has done a good job -- of course you will still need that doubtful quality 'faith' to accept some of the more important conclusions the author arrives at. If however, you are interested in comparative religion and interested in seeing why Islam regards Christianity as being untrue in so many important respects, and if you want to have your eyes opened to the incredible inconsistencies in the Bible -- then buy it -- and if you think the Bible is the 'Word of God' you will be living in denial if you still think that after reading this.
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