Jesus, Mary and the Prophets in the Qur'an

What the Qur'an says about Jesus, Mary, Abraham, Moses, Noah, Joseph and Adam, verse by verse in Arabic and English, next to where the Bible tells the same story, and plainly where Muslim and Christian belief part ways.

Dates ripening on the palm
Dates ripening on the palm. Photo: Ahmed1251985, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

New to the Qur'an? Start with The Qur'an: What It Is, How It Came Down, and How It Was Kept, then read Muhammad ﷺ: A Life. All articles: Deen: Start Here.

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Many people are surprised to learn that the Qur'an names Jesus 25 times and has a whole chapter called Mary. This page sets out what it says about them and about Abraham, Moses, Noah, Joseph and Adam, verse by verse, next to where the Bible tells the same story, and is plain about where Muslim and Christian belief part ways.

136Moses (Mūsā)
69Abraham (Ibrāhīm)
43Noah (Nūḥ)
34Mary (Maryam)
27Joseph (Yūsuf)
25Jesus (ʿĪsā)
25Adam

Times each name appears, counted in the full Arabic text (all 6,236 verses, from quran.com), including forms such as wa-Mūsā and li-Ādam. Muhammad ﷺ is named 4 times. Jesus is also called “the Messiah” 11 times and “son of Mary” 23 times.

How this page is written, and sources

The Qur'an is quoted in Arabic with Dr Mustafa Khattab's English (The Clear Quran, quran.com). Bible references point to the passages that tell the same story; read them in any translation. Where scholars link a Qur'anic detail to an early Christian text outside the Bible, the page says so and labels it as a scholarly observation. The page describes Christian belief briefly and in its own terms; it is not trying to argue anyone out of their faith.

    Research, not a fatwa. Corrections welcome.

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