Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007)
|
|
This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. (June 2007) |
The Injil (Arabic إنجيل (or Injeel) is one of the five Islamic Holy Books the Qur'an records as revealed by God, the others being the Suhuf Ibrahim, Zabur, Tawrat and Qur'an. The word Injil is derived from Greek word Ευαγγέλιον (evangelium).
Muslims generally believe the Gospel or the New Testament to have been corrupted over time. Some also hold the view that the Injil is a lost book, different from the New Testament which was either written by the apostles or people connected to them.
Contents |
The word Injil occurs twelve times in the Qur'an (III, 2, 43, 58; V, 50, 51, 70, 72, 110; VII, 156; IX, 112; XLVIII, 29; LVII, 27) and refers to the revelation transmitted by Isa (Jesus). The word also means the scripture possessed and read by the Christian[citation needed] contemporaries of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad (V, 65 - 68; VII, 156) (that is, the four Gospels), often extended in current usage to mean the whole of the New Testament. Although the Qu'ran refers to the message of Isa, the contents of the revelation contained in the Injil transmitted by Isa is not known from the Qur'an.
Muslim scholars generally dispute that Injil refers to either the entire New Testament or the four Gospels. Others believe the Injil was not a physical book, but simply a set of teachings. The word Injil is used in the Qur'an, the Hadith and early Muslim documents to refer specifically to the revelations made by God to Isa, and is used by both Muslims and some Arabic-speaking Christians today.
Some Muslim scholars[who?] believe that the Injil has undergone tahrif, that the meaning or words were distorted, passages were suppressed and others added. They point to the fact that Christians claim Jesus (who Muslims believe to be a revered but mortal Messenger of God) to be God incarnate or the Son of God as definitive proof that the Injil as interpreted by modern Christians has been corrupted, given that this violates the unitary nature of God and monotheism (tawheed).
Disputed areas of text within the Injil include references where Jesus is called the Son of God by his followers and the events that occurred after Jesus' death. Muslims generally believe that instead of Jesus dying on the cross and then being resurrected, he was never crucified and but was taken into heaven.
Although parts of the Injil are generally believed to have been corrupted over time, the original Injil is, nonetheless, a revelation from God to Isa in the eyes of Muslims. It is therefore treated as such, and belief in it is necessary, as is prescribed by one of the six Islamic articles of faith.
Many Muslims still believe that, of the books sent by God (al-kutub), only the Qur’an does not suffer from tahrif and is considered to be flawless (in contrast to Tawrat, Zabur and Injil) and still existing (in contrast to the Suhuf Ibrahim).
