Early version. Transcripts and tags are labelled by accuracy tier. A position is shown only after two independent reviews have found it in his own words.
Research › Quran and tafsir › Stories of the prophets
Jesus in the Quran
37 answers in 20 recordings, 2018 to 2022. 26 with a checked position in his own words.
Indexed so far: 259 of 1,859 recordings (1,904 answers, 2014 to 2025). Anything below may change as the rest are indexed. Limits of the data
Thought Evolution
2018answers checked positions2022
Oldest first. A checked position shows what he holds, then the sentence he says, word for word from the transcript, with its moment. Years without one list the answers that have not been checked yet. Recordings not yet indexed may hold more.
Mufti Abu Layth holds that kahl in the verse means mature adulthood, which Jesus reached on earth as al-Razi states, and that the reading of the verse as a prophecy of his return originated with a scholar who died in the 280s AH and was unknown to the salaf.
“who said that this verse could refer to Jesus coming back India his second coming before him nobody said that this wasn't how they understood the Quran”
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran applies to Jesus terms such as the Word of God and the Holy Spirit that it uses for no other prophet and that Muslims do not take literally, and suggests this Christian rhetoric may have been meant to build bridges with the Christian community.
“Christian rhetoric that is used in the Quran perhaps in a sense of building bridges between the Muslim and Christian communities”
Mufti Abu Layth says that no verse of the Quran states that Jesus's birth was a virgin birth, only implies it, that Muslim scholars have differed on the question, and that Mary, who was married, is never called the Virgin Mary in Islam.
“no verse in the Quran says that she had virgin birth a verse implies it does not say just as the table verse implies that the table may come down”
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quranic account of Mary implies but does not state a virgin conception, that 66:12 is read literally by no Muslim so literal reading cannot be demanded everywhere, and that declaring deviant those scholars who hold Jesus had a natural birth is a huge stretch; he presents 6:85-87 and 6:101 as those scholars' arguments.
“no Muslim that I'm aware of generally believes that to be literal so yet yet you're saying that any other verse must always take every literal implication”
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran uses Christian rhetoric about Jesus, such as the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, perhaps in order to build bridges between the Muslim and Christian communities.
“there's a lot of rhetoric being used when it comes to Jesus that was generally the kind of Christian rhetoric that is used in the Quran perhaps in a sense of building bridges between the Muslim and Christian communities”
Mufti Abu Layth says that no verse of the Quran directly says that Mary's was a virgin birth, though a verse implies it.
“that you do have that as a general belief that Muslims feel that Mary had a virgin birth although no verse in the Quran says that she had in birth a verse implies it does not say”
Mufti Abu Layth says that declaring those who read the Quran as not teaching a virgin birth deviant or no longer mainstream Muslims is a huge stretch, when the Quran itself does not actually say it.
“they've lost the plot they they no longer main three Muslims they no longer this they no longer that because they have this reading of the Quran when the Quran itself doesn't actually say that that's a huge stretch”
Mufti Abu Layth says the verse means that Jesus, when he preached, would have such wisdom that he could relate to people of every age, from the very young to the old.
“what that means is that Jesus when he will preach that he will have such wisdom”
Mufti Abu Layth says the earlier scriptures can be called corrupted if that means they were not preserved verbatim.
“so when we keep saying that the the other messages are corrupted it depends what you mean by that that from yes they weren't preserved verbatim so if that's what we mean by corrupted then yes that is true”
Mufti Abu Layth says he would be in line with the scholars who say Jesus was of natural birth.
“to make it coherent to me that makes sense that hmm you know i i'd be in line with those scholars that say well no you know that jesus was of natural birth”
Mufti Abu Layth says belief in the virgin birth spread among Muslims through the mass proliferation of the Christian narrative around Arabia.
“now what simply led to it is the mass proliferation of the christian myth that this had happened because the christians had this myth that was everywhere”
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran does not state that Jesus spoke as a newborn, and that its reference to his speaking from the cradle as a boy points to the episode in Luke of the young Jesus arguing with the Temple priests.
“jesus it doesn't mention he's speaking as a baby that's just inferred by people he actually says that kefanu who was a boy”
Mufti Abu Layth says the Quran does not say how Jesus died, which does not mean he did not die, just as it does not say how Moses died.
“there are some things the quran does not highlight how did jesus die it doesn't highlight that okay it doesn't mean he didn't die but then the quran doesn't mention how moses died”
Mufti Abu Layth says that in the verse on speaking in the cradle and in maturity it is the people Jesus addresses, the child and the mature man, who are meant, not Jesus speaking at an older age.
“it's not jesus who's going to be speaking like that it's the people he will address he will address the child in the crib and he will address the old man or the mature man”
Mufti Abu Layth says it makes much more sense to read 43:61 as speaking of the Quran, since revelation ends with it, than of Jesus as a sign of the Hour.
“and that actually makes much more sense if you think about it that the entire revelation will now end makes a lot more sense than rather saying jesus is a sign for the hour”
Mufti Abu Layth says the Prophet's use of Jesus's words 'when you took me' for himself, in a report in Bukhari, shows that he understood the verse to mean Jesus had died.
“according to bukhari as saying that this that jesus had died because he is saying that oh what about my companions”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that 'he will speak to people in the cradle and in maturity' refers to those Jesus addresses, children and grown men, not to a return, that the first to read it as a return was al-Husayn ibn al-Fadl al-Bajali (d. 282 AH), a transmitter of strange reports, and that 'before his death' was recited as 'before their death' and read by commentators as referring to Jesus, the Prophet, the truth or Allah.
“it's not jesus who's going to be speaking like that it's the people he will address he will address the child in the crib and he will address the old man or the mature man”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that 43:61 means the Quran is knowledge of the Hour, as Hasan and others said, and that 5:75, 21:34 and 43:59 count against a second coming, since Jesus ate food and was subject to natural laws, no human before the Prophet was given eternal life, and Jesus is called an example for the children of Israel alone.
“notice that this is actually a verse to show that jesus will not be coming back”
Mufti Abu Layth holds that the verse 'I will give you death' and the dialogue of 5:116-118, in which Jesus says he does not know what his people did after he was taken, show that Jesus died and will not return, and that the Prophet's own use of the verse in a Bukhari report about his companions turning bad after him confirms this reading.
“this verse where allah says that i will give you death now note that this counts against the second coming because jesus has died”
Mufti Abu Layth says he personally does not agree with the view, if he has understood it correctly, that Zakariya married Mary and was the father of Jesus.
“i mean i don't agree with that in personally if that is the view”
How many of these answers cite each (guest speech left out). Cited means named as evidence or discussed, not necessarily accepted: open the answers to see which.
