MASIH, AL-

The title al-Masih given to Jesus in the Qur'an clearly refers back to the title "the Messiah" or "the Christ" in Biblical usage. Usually it is translated as Christ.

Al-Masih is, however, not merely a loan word from the Hebrew language, but a proper Arabic word. Both mamsuah and masih mean "annointed" and are formed from the root "msh" (to annoint). It is interesting to observe that the intensive form was chosen in the Quran. Details are discussed in The meaning of al-Masih.

The word al-Masih occurs 11 times in the Qur'an: Âl 'Imran 3:45; an-Nisa' 4:157,171,172; al-Ma'idah 5:17,72,75; at-Taubah 9:30,31

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