GOSPEL
INJIL

Ar: Injil / Injeel
Gk: Evangelion, meaning the Good News.

Mark 1:1 begins with :

> The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; (Mark 1:1, see also Luke 4:18-19)

> Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. (Matthew 4:23, also Matthew 9:35, 24:14, 26:13, Mark 1:14-15, 8:35, 10:29, 13:10, 14:9, 16:15)

> And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. (Revelation 14:6-7)

In English, it went from "Godspel" to "Gospel". Arabic injil is said to have come from Greek to Syriac to Arabic (Arthur Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Quran, pp. 71-72, quoted by Abdul Haqq, p. 60).

Muslims take the Injil to mean the scripture believed to be sent down to Jesus. This word occurs 12 (or 16?) times in the Qur'an, and occurs only in the later surahs (Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, p. 211). According to Baidawi and Zamakshari, Injil is not Arabic, but Syriac, (Arthur Jeffery, The Foreign Vocabulary of the Quran, pp. 71-72, quoted by Abdul Haqq, pp. 60), used by Syriac Christians themselves. Many modern Muslims believed that the Injil has been lost or corrupted (see TAHRIF). The Shiite Encyclopaedia states that the Injil is the New Testament.

> Muhammad was much more indebted to Judaism than Christianity for the teaching he received, which enabled him to overthrow Arabian idolatry and to establish the worship of the One True God, and consequently we find more frequent allusions to the Law of Moses than to the Gospel of Christ; and as it has been already stated, the references to the Gospel as a revelation are in the later surahs. But in all references to the Gospel as an inspired record, there is not one single statement to the effect that the Christians of Muhammad's day did not possess the genuine Scriptures. In Surah iv.169 (which is an al-Madinah Surah), the Christians are charged with extravagance or error in doctrine, but not with possessing the true Gospels. (Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, p. 211)

Hughes quoted extensively from Hajji Khalifah's kashfu'z Zunun, a bibliographical dictionary published about 200 years ago:

> The Injil is a book which God revealed to `Isa ibn Maryam. In the work entitled al-Muwahib (by Shihabu 'd-Din Ahmad al-Qas-alaui, A.H. 923), it is recorded that the Injil was first revealed in the Syriac tongue, and has since been translated into seventeen languages. But in the Sahihu `l-Bukhari (A.H. 256), in the story of Waraqah ibn Naufal, it is related that the Injil was revealed in Hebrew .... At the commencement of the Injil is inscribed `In the name of the Father and of the Son,' &c. And the Injil, which is now in the hands of the Christians, is merely a history of the Christ (Siratu 'l-Masih), collected by his four companions Matta, Luqa, Marqus and Yuhanna. ...

> In the work entitled al-Insanu 'l-Kamil (written by the Shaikh `Abdul 'l-Karim ibn Ibrahim al-Jili, lived A.H. 767-811) it is said that when the Christians found that there was at the commencement of the Injil the superscription i.e. (in the name of the Father and Son,' they took the words in their natural meaning and [thinking it ought to be Ab, father, Umm, mother, and Ibn, Son] understood by Ab, the spirit, by Umm, Mary, and by Ibn, Jesus; and on this account they said Salisu Salasatin, i.e. `(God is) the third of three.'' (Surah v.77). But they did not undersand that by Ab is meant God most high, by Umm the Mahiyatu 'l-Haqa'iq or `Essence of Truth' (Quidditas veritatum), and by Ibn, the Book of God, which is called Wujudu 'l-Mutlaq, or `Absolute Existence,' being an emanation of the Essence of Truth, as it is implied in the words of the Qur'an, Surah xiii.9; `And with him is the Umm 'l-Kitab, or the Mother of the Book.' (Hughes, Dictionary of Islam, pp. 212-213)

See Is "Torah" and "Injil" in the Bible? for more discussion.

- in the possession of Christians, al-Ma'idah 5:47, *al-A`raf 7:157*

- people of, al-Ma'idah 5:46,68

- revealed, al-Ma'idah 5:66,110; al-A`raf 7:157; at-Taubah 9:111; al-Fath 48:29

- revelation given to Jesus, al-Ma'idah 5:46, al-Hadid 57:27,
  cf. the articles Did Allah give a Greek Injil to the Jews? and What kind of book is the Injil?

- NOTE: "The four Evangelists to him are four recensions which he compares with the three copies of the Bible, the Jewish, the Christians and the Samaritan." (Muslim Chronicler Al-Bairuni, Shorter Encyclopeadia of Islam, quoted by Abdul-Haqq, p.66)

- Âl 'Imran 3:3,48,65; al-Ma'idah 5:46-47,66,68,77,110; al-A`raf 7:157; at-Taubah 9:111; al-Fath 48:29.

Go Back to Main Index