Muslims respect and revere Jesus, and await his Second Coming. They consider him one of the greatest of God\u2019s messengers to mankind. A Muslim never refers to him simply as \u2018Jesus\u2019, but always adds the phrase \u2018upon him be peace\u2019. The Quran confirms his virgin birth (a chapter of the Quran is entitled \u2018Mary\u2019), and Mary is considered the purest woman in all creation. The Quran describes the Annunciation as follows:<\/p>\n
\u2018Behold!\u2019 the Angel said, \u2018God has chosen you, and purified you, and chosen you above the women of all nations. O Mary, God gives you good news of a word from Him, whose name shall be the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honored in this world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near to God. He shall speak to the people from his cradle and in maturity, and shall be of the righteous.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n She said: \u2018O my Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me?\u2019 He said: \u2018Even so; God creates what He will. When He decrees a thing, He says to it, \u201cBe!\u201d and it is.\u2019 (Quran, 3:42-7)<\/p>\n Jesus was born miraculously through the same power which had brought Adam into being without a father:<\/p>\n Truly, the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, and then said to him, \u2018Be!\u2019 and he was. (Quran, 3:59)<\/p>\n During his prophetic mission Jesus performed many miracles. The Quran tells us that he said:<\/p>\n I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God\u2019s leave. And I heal the blind, and the lepers and I raise the dead by God\u2019s leave. (Quran, 3:49)<\/p>\n Neither Muhammad nor Jesus came to change the basic doctrine of the belief in One God, brought by earlier prophets, but to confirm and renew it. In the Quran Jesus is reported as saying that he came:<\/p>\n To attest the law which was before me. And to make lawful to you part of what was forbidden you; I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear God and obey Me. (Quran, 3:5O)<\/p>\n The Prophet Muhammad said:<\/p>\n Whoever believes there is no god but God, alone without partner, that Muhammad is His messenger, that Jesus is the servant and messenger of God, His word breathed into Mary and a spirit emanating from Him, and that Paradise and Hell are true, shall be received by God into Heaven. (Hadith from Bukhari)<\/p>\n Muslims believe that Jesus (peace be upon him) was not crucified. It was the plan of Jesus’ enemies to crucify him, but God saved him and raised him up to Him. And the likeness of Jesus was put over another man. Jesus’ enemies took this man and crucified him, thinking that he was Jesus.<\/p>\n According to Quran:<\/p>\n They said: “We killed the Messiah Jesus son of Mary, the messenger of God.” They did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but the likeness of him was put on another man (and they killed that man). (Qur’an 4:157)<\/p>\n