Islam accepts Jesus as a great Prophet of God. The teachings of Jesus are, therefore, accepted. These are known as Injil. But from the Islamic point of view these teachings have been corrupted by misinterpretations, biased selection, additions and subtractions. This does not necessary refer to the written scriptures themselves but mainly to how they are taught.

But it is obvious that, though the New Testament contains the teachings of Jesus and these are certainly sublime, it consists of reports about the doings and teachings of Jesus by third parties - they are not directly the Word of God or of Jesus. These accounts vary from one another and sometimes even contradict each other. They also contain the ideas and interpretations of various Apostles, mainly those of Paul. Greek ideas have influenced their perception. The Gospel of John, for instance, starts with the notion of the Logos (Word) which comes from Plato. Legends and symbolism about gods who sacrifice themselves and earthly rulers who are "sons of god" come from ancient Egypt and Babylon. Pharaohs and Caesars were so regarded. We know also that, though the Apostles were given a teaching which the ordinary man could not understand (Mark 4:11, Luke 8:10), yet their understanding was also limited (John 16:12-13).

The Quran agrees with Christian teachings in the following:-

That Jesus was a Messenger from Allah (3:49, 19:30), received the Holy Spirit (2:87, 2:254, 5:110), was a Word of God (3:45, 4:171), was born of a virgin (3:48, 19:20-22), came in fulfillment of the Old Testament (3:50, 5:46, 61:6), did many miracles (3:49, 5:110), appeared to have been crucified (4:157), and that he taught the unity and supremacy of Allah (3:52, 5:117, 19:36, 43:64).

The Quran contradicts the Christian teachings as follows:-

That he was not God (5:17, 72,73), nor the son of God (9:19); that there are not three gods forming a trinity (4:171); that Jesus was not crucified by the Jews and did not die on the Cross (2:72, 4:157, 5:110); that salvation is not possible by belief alone (17:15), nor that it is only possible exclusively through Jesus (5:69).

It is necessary to remember that in Islam the word for God is "Allah" and refers to the ultimate Self-existing, all pervasive creator and Lord of the Universe. The word is reserved exclusively for Him. It is not used as loosely as it is in the West or even in the Bible where it can refer to anything which people might worship or for anyone who might have extra-ordinary qualities or even mythological figures such as the gods of Greece. No man limited in space, time and qualities, and dependent on food and air and other resources can possibly fit the definition of Allah. It is first necessary to dispel this basic source of misunderstanding.

But it is also true that religions degenerate in practice and doctrine over the years owing to the influence of worldly affairs, the changes in conditions of life and language and the accumulation of commentaries and elaboration of the doctrine by lesser self-interested men. The original message gets "drowned" and accidentals take priority. The Religious institutions and organizations become more concerned with power, prestige and self-perpetuation.

Jesus himself predicted the corruption of Christianity:-

We have the parable of the sower:-

The Apostle Paul wrote:-

Thus we see that Christians had already departed from the teachings of Jesus.

The Gospel of Matthew Chapter 24 indicates that the corruption of religion and the increase in wickedness would be accompanied by the arising of many false Prophets (or ideologies), increasing conflicts and war as well as geophysical upheavals. It is in these times of trouble:-

This is surely a symbolic description of the return of a Prophet (the Son of Man) when spiritual darkness has spread over the world. The question is: When will this take place?

The destruction of the Temple took place in 70 AD at the hands of the Romans and the Jews were expelled from Jerusalem. The desecration of the temple is also spoken of in Matthew 24:15, which refers to Daniel 9:26-27. These verses in the Old Testament also tell us about the mission of the Messiah and the destruction of the Temple thereafter. In the 5th Century a major disaster appears to have taken place, perhaps because of earthquakes and a Volcanic explosion which plunged the world in darkness. This was followed by famines, epidemics, migrations of peoples, wars, the collapse of the Roman Empire, and the rise of a new religion Islam and a new empire and civilization. This also conquered Jerusalem and restored the worship of God there. Therefore, the Prophet who regenerated religion, we must assume, was Muhammad (saw). According to the Book of Revelations 20 this was the first Resurrection and was to last for a thousand years after which Satan would again be loosed. This would be followed by the Second Resurrection, the Day of Judgment, when all the dead were raised and everyone was judged according to their works. In the Quran, the following may refer to this:-

Christianity differs from Islam mainly on those points in which the former misunderstands its own scriptures and because of some misunderstandings by Muslims. These are:- (1) Original Sin (2) the divinity of Jesus (3) the Trinity of God (4) salvation by faith without works which also led to the suspension of the religious Law. (5) The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. These are inter-dependent and support each other. It is the claim of the Quran that it has rectified these corruptions and omissions.

The Christian doctrine, though not uniformly accepted by all, is in the main as follows:- Human beings suffer from Original Sin, committed by Adam which led to his expulsion from Paradise and to death. Jesus came to atone for this sin by sacrificing his life. (1Corinthians 15:21-45) Only the acceptance of this can earn the forgiveness of God and re-admit mankind back into Paradise. This sacrifice can only be valid if Jesus is the son of God (but the verses in 1Corinthians above tell us that "by man came death, by MAN came also the resurrection of the dead."). He is the son because he is the Word of God, begotten by God, the Father, and informed by the Spirit. The Word of God and the Spirit are also God, thus forming a Trinity. Christianity is regarded as a monotheistic religion in so far as the three are not regarded separately as Gods, but as aspects of a single God.

The Quran agrees with the Bible that Adam sinned and was expelled from Paradise. However, he was forgiven and became a Prophet. But the rest of mankind were still prone to sin which spiritual death and that is why they required Prophets to resurrect them. The Quran tells us :-

We can, therefore, take our choice of whether we concentrate our attention on the original potentiality for perfection of man or his Fall. Among the ones who believe and act righteously are the Messengers of God who are sent to put mankind on the right road and thus save them from Hell i.e. from this original sin. Moses, Jesus and Muhammad were such. They did devote their lives to this service. They are a sign of the mercy of Allah. But if human beings had not had this potentiality for perfection then there could have been no messengers and human beings could not be improved by them.

The Quran does not, in fact, deny the idea of the trinity, but denies the idea of three separate Gods and that Jesus is one of them. Indeed, Allah has 99 attributes or aspects. What it says is:-

The words "it is better for you" appear to indicate that the Trinity is a mistake which is, perhaps, not utterly fatal, but better to give up. If the Christian had said that Religion, not God, is presented to us by God, the Prophet and the Spirit (which informs both the Prophet and those who accept and follow him), then this would have been perfectly acceptable.

Note, however that there is a connection between Allah, His Command (or Word) and His Spirit:-

The Islamic doctrine can be represented by the following sequence:-

That is, God utters the Word, which produces the Spirit. (Command (Amr) does not refer to the creativity of God but to His ability to direct.) The Spirit carries the Word of God to the Messenger and he passes it on to mankind. In this sequence Christians take the first three as God, but Islam takes only the first (called the Father by Christians). The other two are clearly dependent on Allah and have no existence apart from Him. They are, therefore, not what Muslims understand by the word "God". Jesus is a Messenger in whom the Word is manifested by the Spirit, not to be confused with either the Word or the Spirit.

Here God Himself is outside time without a beginning or end.

Spiritually speaking, of course, the Spirit of God is in us all (Quran 32:9), so we are part of God. But there is a confusion of terminology when the word "man" is used for the creature of flesh in the case of ordinary human beings but it is used in the spiritual sense when speaking of Jesus who was also in the flesh.

God is not like man. Therefore, when the scriptures speak about God creating he World by His Word, this cannot be taken literally. When the relationship between a person and what he says is considered then according to some people they have "created" the words and according to others they have "begotten" the words. So a controversy arises about the words "creation" and "begotten" and the reality for which they stand is completely ignored. This kind of superficiality must be condemned. To avoid this conflict one could use the word "emanation". But this would still become cause for conflict among literalists.

The fact is that the Quran as a book in this world has certainly been created. But the Truth in it is uncreated. Allah is Truth. In the same way Jesus on earth has certainly been created, but the truth he represents is uncreated.

These verses indicate that because the Word of Allah is Truth and all things are made of Truth, then they are made by Allah from His own substance. According to some Hindus, as also some Christians, God is everything. Therefore, the Avatar or Messenger is God. The Quran does say that Allah is everywhere (2:115) and that He is the inner and the outer (57:3), that He is within us (32:9, 50:16) and that we should make no distinction between Allah and the Messengers (4:150). But it also insists that Allah is independent of all his creatures (29:6). Created things are limited in space, time and characteristics, whereas Allah is not. Islam, therefore, makes a strict distinction between the Creator and the Created. All things are sacred in that Allah made them, and in essence there is nothing but Allah (28:88) and Muslims are required to seek only the countenance (essence) of Allah (13:22, 2:112, 30:39), but the forms by which we distinguish one thing from another are limitations and not Allah. They may be symbolized as thoughts in the mind of Allah. They are not illusions, because Allah made them, but attachment to them on the part of man creates a world of illusion. The Hindu notions of Prakriti (forms) and Maya (illusion) are relevant here, though also often misunderstood.

Jesus said:-

Paul also wrote:- "..to us, there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things.." 1Corinthians 8:6 "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" 1 Tim 2:5 "There is actually to us one God the Father,...and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ" 1 Cor. 8:6 "One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" Eph. 4:6 "And ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's" 1 Cor. 3:23

John 10:33-38 is sometimes advanced as proving that Jesus claimed to be God that is why the Jews wanted to stone him. But Jesus points to Psalms 82:6 to show that the Old Testament calls the Israelites gods and the children of God because those terms were used for those who followed the Word of God (John 10:35). The phrase "son of God" is defined in Romans 8:14 as "those who are led by the Spirit of God". This definition is also found in John 1:12-13 and implied in John 3:5-7. This phrase has the same significance as the word "Muslim" and implies one who is righteous. This can be seen by comparing Mathew 27:54 with Luke 23:47 which describe the same event, an earthquake and the witnesses according to Matthew exclaimed, "Surely he was the son of god". But in Luke he said, "Surely this was a righteous man"

Christians appear to have taken symbolism literally. Probably because of this mistake, Islam replaces this symbolism by that of the servant or slave of God.

Jesus said:-

This is also what the Quran teaches (3:62, 37:35, 38:66 etc. and 2:286, 14:51, 16:111, 17:7).

Can God forsake himself?

Obviously, there is a distinction between the Prophet and the Spirit. It is the Spirit which carries truth and informs the Prophet.

He is speaking about spiritual regeneration as being essential to salvation or entry into the Kingdom of God. Nothing is said about Physical resurrection leading to salvation. This appears to be Paul's idea (though it is doubtful that he meant it that way). The idea that the crucifixion and death of Jesus is essential to salvation is, from the Islamic point of view, a superstition not taught by Jesus, and this causes the teachings of Jesus and the other Prophets to be set aside, making their missions futile. God is perfectly capable of forgiving sins to the repentant without requiring a death as ransom. He is the Forgiver Himself. If Jesus was resurrected then there was no ransom. If he was the Word what can "sacrificing the Word" mean? No one can bear another's sin, and all are judged by their own works. This is Divine Justice. But it is true that God has shown his love for mankind by sending them Prophets who also show their love for God and mankind by devoting their lives to God and the service of man. Obviously, the Prophet must be accepted and followed if a person is to benefit from his mission. What the Quran says is :-

This may simply mean that it was not the Jews who crucified him. The New Testament tells us that it was the Romans who crucified him, but Jesus says :-

The Quran tells us that it was Allah who took him up to himself. Obviously, it is Allah who had the power and Jesus did as he was required. We read :-

This may refer to the return of Jesus or it might mean that Jesus is, himself, a sign of resurrection. If the last, it could mean that Jesus is an example of a spiritually resurrected person. Others interpret it as meaning that Jesus did die and was resurrected.

However, the doctrine that Jesus was crucified, died and was resurrected in the way Christians believe is doubtful for several other reasons :-

(1) There are Apocryphal Gospels, which the Church excluded from the New Testament which affirm that Jesus was not crucified but that a substitute was.

(2) Jesus himself said that he had to go to "other sheep" (John 10:16). There are legends that he went to India. There is a community in Kashmir, the territory in the Himalayas under dispute between India and Pakistan, which claims descent from Jesus.

(4) When Jesus was asked by the Sadducees, who did not believe in Resurrection, if a woman married several men and they were all resurrected whose wife would she be, he said:-

Obviously, resurrection is a spiritual, not a physical event. This was also confirmed by Paul :-

(6) The following saying of Jesus is taken as referring to his death and resurrection:-

This refers to Jonah 1:17. But Jonah 2:1-10 tells us that Jonah prayed to God and that after 3 days and 3 nights the Fish vomited Jonah out upon the dry land. Jonah fainted in the belly. He did not die. This contrasts with the account of Jesus' supposed death.

Obviously, if Jesus was God it makes no sense to say that God has forsaken God. According to Luke 23:52-54, Arimathaea went to Pilate and begged the body of Jesus. And he took it down, and wrapped it in linen, and laid it in a sepulchre that was hewn of stone. And that day was the preparation, and the Sabbath drew on. It was Friday night. Luke 24:1-3 tells us that On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them. And they found the stone rolled away from the sepulcher and the body of Jesus was missing. This was Sunday morning. It was the third day as the angels said (Luke 24:7), but only 36 hours later, one and a half days, one day and two nights, not three days and three nights as Jesus is supposed to have predicted. Obviously, the sign of Jonah did not refer to time, but to the disappearance of Jesus from amidst his followers. They felt he had deserted them. This caused their spirit and faith to sink, to be revived again when he re-appeared.

However, Quran 4:155-157, quoted above, tell us that the events as to what happened to Jesus were obscure and that opinions about it are speculations. This may mean that there was confusion in the minds of the Christians in that they mistook a case of fainting or deep coma as death, and physical resurrection for spiritual resurrection. It could be that the coma and recovery from it were taken as symbols for spiritual resurrection. The fact is that the Quran does not completely condemn Christians. They might have taken appearance for fact. The Quran obviously considers this event to be irrelevant - religion should be about God and the Message He sends, not about the Messenger.

The crucifixion, death and resurrection of Jesus can be regarded as really symbols for the fact that the Christian faith died at a point when Jesus was taken away, and was then resurrected when he reappeared. The resurrection story was widely accepted because it provides a kind of explanation and consolation for the existence of suffering, especially among the poor and oppressed. In fact, the emblem of the Cross is much older than Christianity and has another meaning. The Universe contains both order and chaos. It has a direction of development. Man is part of this process and the Spirit (consciousness, conscience and will) he has been given (32:9) bestows responsibilities on him. The cross consists of a horizontal line representing the earth, crossed by a vertical line which represents evolution from below (hell) to above (heaven). Man is symbolically nailed to this. This applies to all mankind. But it can refer to the representative of God on earth, the Prophet or Messenger, on behalf of all mankind in that it is he who brings the reminder of his responsibilities back to mankind. Symbolically, one could say that the Spirit of God is nailed to this cross because it is this spirit within man, which makes him into a Vicegerent (or Son in Christian terms). In this connection note the words of Jesus:-

This cannot mean a literal cross. It is the worldly life, which is to be given up in favour of the spiritual.

But the tittle "Son of Man" is obviously not "Son of God". This tittle refers to Prophets who carry the Word of God. The "only begotten" refers to the Word by which people might become metaphorical "sons of God" as John 1:12 and John 3:5-7 says i.e. by being born again of the spirit not the flesh. The Quran states the same thing in another way:-

It remains true also in Islam, but without complicated arguments, that:- (a) God shows his love for mankind by sending them the Prophets, the Scriptures and the Spirit. (b) Acceptance of the Word of God also means accepting the Messenger who is an example to be followed. (c) The Messengers show their love of God and for mankind in their willingness to devote their lives in the face of great difficulties and dangers, to their mission.

See also 3:103, 5:3, 20, 21:107, 33:45 and many others.

Other passages brought in evidence by Christians are:-

The gospels are the words of the apostles written after it had been assumed that Jesus had been killed. Yes all Prophets devote their lives to God and are persecuted for this. Yes, Prophets devote their lives to save mankind by conveying to them the word of God and suffering the persecution by opponents. It is the acceptance of the Word of God and action accordingly which saves. But it is doubtful that the original word meant "ransom". The effort made by the Messenger is a payment he makes in order to convey the Word of God.

Isaiah 52:13-15 and Isaiah 53:3-12 are also regarded as referring to Jesus. It could be a case of making Jesus fit the verses. But even if we accept that they do refer to Jesus, as they seem to, they do not lead to the three Christian doctrine that (1) Jesus is God, son of God (2) the Trinity and (3) vicarious atonement. The reference in Isaiah is to "My Servant" (Isaiah 52:13) To say that "he was wounded for our transgressions" (Isaiah 53:5) means that he was persecuted not because he sinned but because the persecutors sinned. It is a tendency in us all to persecute those who show us our sins - we try to get rid of the discomfort by trying to get rid of those who make us aware of the sin. Nor does the above contradict the assertion of the Quran that it was not the Jews who crucified or killed him but that God took him up to himself. "It pleased the Lord to bruise him" (Isaiah 53:10) and "he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high." (Isaiah 52:13).

The sacrament of the bread and wine symbolizing the flesh and blood of Jesus to be taken in by Christians is also taken as evidence of the crucifixion. But the blood of Jesus was not poured out. This ritual, like other rituals, is symbolic and has effects on the conscious and sub-conscious minds of those who perform it with concentration and reverence. Jesus, a Messenger of God, carried the Word and Spirit of God to his followers. The followers are required to take Christ into themselves in order that they should be transformed spiritually. The flesh and blood are clearly symbols. This is equivalent in Islam to accepting the Prophet Muhammad who also devoted his life to conveying the Word of God to his followers:-

Different times required different methods. Islam replaced that ritual with the Shahadah "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger". A study of the Gospels shows that the Jews among whom Jesus came were very much concerned with food and wine - hence miracles of turning water into wine, the miraculous feeding of the multitude with fish and loaves, the prayer "give us our daily bread" and so on. Jesus was trying to lift their minds to spiritual matters to "living bread and water". As Jesus is a Word of God for Christians (also for Muslims Quran 3:45, 4:171) and the Quran is a Word of God for Muslims, then the study and absorption of the Quran is for them also the equivalent of the Christian sacrament. The Quran came to introduce an age where the teaching or ideas were more important than the messenger - the cult of personality was replaced and there was to be an increasing emphasis on records, writing and reading which the Quran is constantly mentioning.

The problem with Christianity is this that the above three doctrines, if accepted, produce a contradiction with the teachings of Jesus, which Christians have endeavoured to reconcile by damaging the rational faculty. If the contradiction is to be avoided then these doctrines must be dropped. And everything becomes quite plain. It is also possible that times had changed, the need for effectiveness made a new formulation necessary. A cult of personality may have been needed in the past, but later and today it the teaching, the ideas which are more important.

As for the Trinity, the Illustrated Bible Dictionary states:- "The word Trinity is not found in the Bible....It did not find a place formally in the theology of the church till the 4th century." The New Catholic Encyclopedia states :- "The Trinity is not....directly and immediately the word of God.....In Scripture there is as yet no single term by which the Three Divine Persons are denoted together."

The Trinity could perhaps have been justified by 1John 5:7. But this verse was found to be spurious and has been removed from modern Bibles.

It is the Roman Emperor Constantine who made Christianity into the official religion of the Roman Empire for political reasons. But there was a dispute regarding the status of Jesus within the Church. Though Constantine did not understand theology, he realized that doctrinal differences were threatening the unity of his Empire. To resolve this he summoned all Christian Bishops to Nicaea. Not all attended. "Constantine himself presided," The Encyclopedia Brittanica tells us, "actively guiding the discussions, and personally proposed the crucial formula expressing the relation of Christ to God in the creed issued by the council, 'of one substance with the Father'..... Overawed by the emperor, the bishops, with two exceptions only, signed the creed, many of them much against their inclination."

The debates, however, continued. The Emperor Theodosius decided to settle the issue by confirming the creed of the Council of Nicaea. He convened the Council of Constantinople in 381 A.D to produce a standard official formula. It is this council which agreed to elevate the Holy Spirit to the same level as God and Jesus. Thus the Trinity was created. It was not unanimously accepted, but opponents were violently persecuted. It was only formulated into set creeds in the Middle Ages

Trinities existed in Pagan religions long before Christianity in ancient Assyria and Babylon. In Hinduism we have Brahma (the Creator), Vishnu (the Maintainer) and Shiva (the Destroyer). But these are regarded as aspects of the one supreme God, Brahman. In ancient Egypt there was Osiris (the Sun-god), Isis (the moon-goddess), and Horus their son. Here Mother and Son (Isis and Horus) are transformed into Mary and Jesus and they are depicted in Christian paintings with the disc of the Sun behind their heads. Horus was regarded as the founder of the Egyptian Civilization. As such he was equivalent to a Prophet. The Pharaohs were thought to be incarnations of Horus. They were, therefore, sons of god, Osiris. Sometimes, the sun-god was called Ra and Osiris was his son. Osiris was killed by his evil brother but resurrected again. He was reborn as his own son through Isis. This myth probably referred to the fact that the Sun goes down every evening and re-appears the next morning. But it also symbolises the cycles of nature - death in winter and resurrection in spring, and this was associated with the rains and the floods of the river Nile upon which the prosperity and civilisation of Egypt depended. The Nile was seen as an earthly symbol of the Milky Way in heaven. The Pharaoh was the ruler on earth who kept order and civilisation on earth. He was, therefore, an equivalent on earth of the sun in heaven that provided the energy, the heat and light and controlled all the natural processes on earth. It is not unlikely that in the Egyptian hidden mystery religion all these were also regarded as having equivalents in the psychological and spiritual world. The religion was not, therefore, as naive as is commonly supposed, but no doubt became a superstition for the common man who did not understand the symbolism. Even Jesus had to hide his teachings by means of parables (Mark 4:11). Moses who rescued religion when the Egyptian civilization collapsed is regarded as having learnt all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). He probably also learnt from his father-in-law, Jethro, a priest of Midian, an Ishmaelite (Exodus 3:1-. 4:18-, 18:5-24).

Some Christians have a more sophisticated or enlightened understanding of the doctrines of the Trinity, and Muslims cannot quarrel with this. For instance, the Trinity could be understood as consisting of the Essence, Word (Will or Command) and Spirit of God. Or that Allah is One in essence, but manifests himself in the phenomenal world of relativity by His Attributes, Word and Spirit. Or that He is Transcendental, Imminent and Personal. Or that Religion rather than God is presented to us by God, the Messenger and the Spirit (which informs the Messenger and the people). The word "Christ" could be understood as one in whom the Spirit was active and who could activate the spirit in other people, causing their regeneration or resurrection. This is also the view of Prophets in the Quran 8:24. The love of God is shown by the fact that He sends Prophets to guide mankind, and the love of the Prophets for God and mankind is shown by the fact that they are in state of Surrender to God (at one with God because they identify their purpose with that of God) and are willing to devote their lives to the service of God and man. This is their sacrifice. (6:163-164). The idea that God has to sacrifice His son in order to atone for the sins of mankind makes no sense. Where is the sacrifice if he was resurrected? Surely, God is perfectly able to forgive the repentant directly. Certainly, the Messenger sent by God must be accepted as such if the message is to be accepted and acted on. That, surely, is the purpose of the message.

But this is not how the ordinary Christian thinks. He thinks of Jesus as a God, a literal son of God, and God as consisting of three persons, and that salvation is obtained by believing that Jesus died for the sins of the believer and that this frees him. It is this view which is incompatible with Islam. On the other hand such a belief does improve some people. And it may be argues that dogma itself has no meaning, it is how it is understood and its effects that make it significant. But the nature of a dogma also imposes limitations. A great number of Christians, apart from having an anthropomorphic concept of God, also worship various saints and Mary whom they call "Mother of God", and even their statues, icons or Pictures. Surely, this displays a most primitive mentality which also traps the mind.

An impartial study of the New Testament and the Quran shows that there is much more in the Quran than there is in the New Testament, and that Jesus was correct when he predicted that someone would come to bring them greater knowledge than that which the disciples of Jesus were then able to understand (John 16:12-14). Christians think that this verse does not refer to a person but to the Holy Ghost. But John 16:7 tells us that the Comforter would not come until Jesus went away. This cannot refer to the Holy Spirit which certainly was present always and with Jesus himself (Luke 3:22-23). So those who continue to confine themselves to the New Testament, having made it into an idol to be worshipped, are cutting themselves off from the higher knowledge. This applies even more to those who have made Jesus, the messenger, into an idol and ignore the message he brings from God, the conveying of which is the very reason why he was sent.

It is doubtful that it is possible for Christians to understand Islam unless they realise that God is not a man and that as Jesus added (or emphasized) the doctrine of love and compassion to the Hebrew one of law and justice, so Islam added a third dimension, namely truth and objectivity (61:9, 9:29,33). It is from this point of view that Islam must be studied and understood.