The End Times: Islam vs. the Bible, Part 4b: Who Is Eesa (Islam's Jesus)?

The End Times: Islam vs. the Bible, Part 4b: Who Is Eesa (Islam's Jesus)?
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 by Dr. James W. Walraven

Categories: Apologetics / Contemporary issues / Scripture discussion / Spiritual deception / Spiritual warfare / The church / Thought for Today

According to the Qur’an, Eesa, Islam’s Jesus, is born of the Virgin Mary (Maryam), who was the daughter of Amran (‘Imran). It appears that the mother of Eesa, is the same woman biblically identified as the sister of Moses and Aaron! How does the Qur’an say that?

Qur’an 3:35–7 (Pickthall): “(Remember) when the wife of ’Imran said: My Lord! I have vowed unto Thee that which is in my belly as a consecrated (offering). Accept it from me. Lo! Thou, only Thou, art the Hearer, the Knower! And when she was delivered she said: My Lord! Lo! I am delivered of a female — Allah knew best of what she was delivered — the male is not as the female; and lo! I have named her Mary, and lo! I crave Thy protection for her and for her offspring from Satan the outcast. And her Lord accepted her with full acceptance and vouchsafed to her a goodly growth; and made Zachariah her guardian. Whenever Zachariah went into the sanctuary where she was, he found that she had food. He said: O Mary! Whence cometh unto thee this (food)? She answered: It is from Allah. Allah giveth without stint to whom He will.

Mary gives birth to Eesa (Jesus). Qur’an 3:45–6 (Pickthall): “(And remember) when the angels said: O Mary! Lo! Allah giveth thee glad tidings of a word from him, whose name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, illustrious in the world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near (unto Allah). He will speak unto mankind in his cradle and in his manhood, and he is of the righteous.”

But there is more:

Qur’an 19:28–30 (Pickthall): “O sister of Aaron! Thy father was not a wicked man nor was thy mother a harlot. Then she pointed to him. They said: How can we talk to one who is in the cradle, a young boy? He spake: Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet,”

The child in view here is Eesa, the Islamic Jesus. As we have already noted, per the Qur’an, Eesa is a Muslim, a messenger and slave of Allah, in the line of the prophets that will culminate in Muhammad. In the passage we also find a parallel to the “infancy gospel” type of references.

Qur’an 66:11–12 (Ali) “And Allah sets forth, as an example to those who believe the wife of Pharaoh: Behold she said: “O my Lord! Build for me, in nearness to Thee, a mansion in the Garden, and save me from Pharaoh and his doings, and save me from those that do wrong”; And Mary the daughter of ‘Imran, who guarded her chastity; and We breathed into (her body) of Our spirit; and she testified to the truth of the words of her Lord and of His Revelations, and was one of the devout (servants).”

Qur’an 20:24–30 (Pickthall): “Go thou unto Pharaoh! Lo! he hath transgressed (the bounds). (Moses) said: My Lord! relieve my mind And ease my task for me; And loose a knot from my tongue, That they may understand my saying. Appoint for me a henchman from my folk, Aaron, my brother.

‘Imran (Amran), Moses, Aaron, and Mary (often Maryam) are all directly linked, with Eesa being the son of Mary. That Quranic linkage causes all sorts of problems. Some English versions of the Qur’an translate “wife” in surah 3:35, as “woman,” but that does not truly help (it is best translated as “wife”). Some will say that it means that Mary is only in the biological line of ‘Imran, or that Mary had the same type of piety as ‘Imran. Still another answer is that Mary, the mother of Eesa, is a different Mary. That is also not viable, as Mary, the Mother of Eesa, is the only named woman in the Qur’an. There is no way around it. The Qur’anic passages state what they state.

From a biblical perspective, the Qur’an tells us that Eesa is of the tribe of Levi, not Judah. The timing of his birth is problematic. It lends credence to key historical Muslims such as Ibn Taymiyya noting that Christians did not recognize or use the Islamic name Eesa in place of Jesus.

Since Eesa of the Qur’an was taken directly up into Paradise without dying—he only appeared to be crucified—his end-times return as the hadiths describe it, makes sense. But from a biblical perspective, the Islamic version of Jesus, i.e. Eesa (Issa/Isa), is a false Jesus, an antichrist-spirit inspired lie.*

*As Christians, it is critical that we spend time reading the Scriptures and know them well. While the Qur’anic error regarding Jesus’s genealogy is blatant, we need to be able to recognize false teachings, and be able to biblically respond to them.

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