Islam And Jesus: Understanding Why The Quran Lies About Jesus’ Crucifixion
- Apr 1
- 4 min read
Islam distorts the truth about Christ to convince people to obey Allah instead of following the God of the Bible. This started in the seventh century when Muhammad founded Islam; he tried to convince people that Jesus was merely human and not the Son of God. This way, people would not believe that Jesus is the Savior, but rather they would listen to Muhammad about how to be saved and accepted by Allah.
Muhammad built the religion of Islam on salvation through legalism and the fear of Allah’s wrath. This is entirely oppositional to the core message of the Bible: Humans cannot save themselves from their own sins, and God loved us enough to send His Son Jesus to pay the price and reconcile us to Himself.
Islam tries to oppose the biblical message through many different claims to make its followers doubt Jesus and the Bible:
Muslims are taught they don’t need to be “saved” from their sins. Sins are mistakes that can be wiped out by Allah’s mercy and the Muslim’s good works. (Surah 5:9; Surah 33:70-71)
The Quran claims Jesus was a prophet, not the Son of God (Surah 5:75). (Jesus is called “Isa” in the Quran, but Arab Christians call Him by his true name, Yassu’a. Some Quranic translations call Him Jesus because they are westernized versions).
The Quran claims that Jesus never died on the cross therefore, there could not be a miraculous resurrection. (Sura 4:157)
Islamic leaders teach that the Bible is corrupted, although the Quran affirms that some Jews and Christians twisted scriptures only with their mouths. (Surah 3:78)
Let’s dive more into the third point– what does the Quran say about Jesus’ crucifixion?
The Quran and Jesus' Crucifixion – “Jesus was not crucified!”
The only verse in the Quran about Jesus’ crucifixion is Surah 4:157-158: “...and for boasting, 'We killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.” But they neither killed nor crucified him—it was only made to appear so. Even those who argue for this crucifixion are in doubt. They have no knowledge whatsoever—only making assumptions. They certainly did not kill him. Rather, Allah raised him up to Himself. And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.”
This passage is the core claim by Islam about Jesus' crucifixion: Jesus did not die, instead, Allah raised Jesus from the cross before He died.
Muslims also adopt the idea that Christ was substituted on the cross with someone else who was made to look like him: “...it was only made to appear so…" from the Quranic verse above. This was not an original theory from Islam; rather, this idea existed hundreds of years before Muhammad in Gnosticism and in gospels deemed heretical by the early church.
Why would the Quran deny Jesus’ crucifixion?
The day that Jesus Christ was crucified was the darkest day in all of creation – the Word, the Son of God, and the Messiah had been killed, despite having done nothing wrong. But creation didn’t have to stay in its despair because three days later, Christ rose again from the dead! He defeated death and paid the price for all of humanity’s sins. The Resurrection of Christ allows everyone to reconcile with God.
The enemy has been trying to twist the story of Jesus’s Cross and resurrection for 2,000 years by creating religions and ideologies that oppress people and keep them away from attaining freedom and salvation through Christ. For example, the enemy tries to convince people that they are fine on their own and don’t need saving from their sins at all – this is easily found in the modern “you are enough” sentiment.
Islam keeps people from finding salvation in Christ by misleading Muslims to believe that Christ did not truly die! Muslims are told:
Jesus was a pure man, so Allah would not allow him to die
There is no need for anyone to die to reconcile us with Allah – our good works can cancel out our sins
Prophet Isa “Jesus” is the only prophet who didn’t die – he was taken to paradise to be with Allah
This means that your Muslim friend needs to hear the truth so they can accept the gift of salvation bought by Jesus’ blood.
To learn more about how to share the story of Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection with your Muslim friend or neighbor, you can read more here: Muslims do not believe in Jesus’ crucifixion– Here’s how you can share the truth with them
Be bold in talking about Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection with Muslims because they are entirely misled by Islam and need to hear the truth!
Prayer about sharing the gospel with Muslims
Dear Lord, thank you for sending Jesus to pay the price for my sins. I want to share it with my Muslim friends so they can experience the gift of salvation too. Give me courage and boldness to share the gospel! Amen.
