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The Injil (Arabic: إنجيل‎ ʾInǧīl) is the Arabic name for what Muslims believe to be the original Gospel of Jesus. This Injil is one of the four Islamic Holy Books the Qur'an records as revealed by God (see Allah), the others being the Zabur (possibly the Psalms), the Tawrat (the Torah, or Tanakh), and the Qur'an. The word Injil is derived from the Greek word Εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion)^[1] which means 'good news' (the term injil is also used by Christian Arabs for their gospels; e.g. Gospel of John, انجيل يوحنا as well as Indonesian Christians; e.g. Injil Yohanes). Muslims believe this original Gospel to have been corrupted over time, and the teachings of Jesus lost and replaced with false teachings, often believed to be at the instigation of the Apostle Paul. Muslims believe that the four canonical gospels of Saint Matthew, Saint Mark, Saint Luke and Saint John and lost Gospels, such as that of Saint Peter, contain fragments of Jesus' message, but that the majority of the original teaching has been corrupted or lost.

Authorship[link]

One frequent confusion is the authorship of the Injil. Although many Western scholars believe that the Injil, in Muslim belief, was a scripture authored by Jesus, the Muslim belief is that the author of the Injil was penultimately God, in a manner similar to which they believe the Qur'an to have been revealed, and, for that matter, is similar to the beliefs of some Christians and Jews of the authorship of their respective scriptures: that God inspired Jesus with the verbatim words of the text which were then written by Jesus' hand.^[2] Muslims believe that Jesus, who had memorized the revelation (again, in a parallel to the memorization of the Qur'an in the later, preliterate oral culture of Pre-Islamic Arabia, as compared to the highly lettered culture of the Roman Empire and the Jews within it), then taught it to all his disciples.

In the Qur'an[link]

The word Injil occurs twelve times in the Qur'an and refers to the Book of revelation given to the Prophet Jesus. Muslim scholars^[who?] generally agree that Injil refers to the true Gospel, bestowed upon Jesus by God. The word Injil is used in the Qur'an, the Hadith and early Muslim documents to refer specifically to the revelations made by God to Jesus. Muslims reject that Jesus or any other person wrote the Injil, instead crediting its authorship to God. Many Muslim scholars believe that the Gospel has undergone alteration, that the words and the meaning of the words have been distorted, with some passages suppressed and others added. The Islamic principle of the oneness and wholeness of God's divinity means that in their view it is impossible for Jesus to be God incarnate or the Son of God, and that the worship of Jesus by Christians is due to later additions. The Qur'an says of the Gospel:

"And We sent in their footsteps Jesus, son of Mary, authenticating what was present with him of the Torah. And We gave him the Gospel, in it was a guidance and a light, and authenticating what was present with him of the Torah, and a guidance and a lesson for the righteous."^[3]

The Qur'an further describes the followers of the Gospel, that is the Christians, in a highly positive allegory, saying:

"Muhammad is the messenger of God, and those who are with him are severe against the rejecters, but merciful between themselves. You see them kneeling and prostrating, they seek the blessings and approval of God. Their distinction is in their faces, as a result of prostrating. Such is their example in the Torah. And their example in the Gospel is like a plant which shoots out and becomes strong and thick and it stands straight on its trunk, pleasing to the farmers. That He may enrage the rejecters with them. God promises those among them who believe and do good works a forgiveness and a great reward."^[4]

Arab-Christian Injil[link]

Arab Christians use an Arabic Bible that is the same Bible used by other Christians worldwide, but sometimes refer to it as Injil. The first four books of the New Testament in Arabic are named Injil-Matta, Injil-Markus, Injil-Luka, and Injil-Yohannah. In addition, the canon of the book itself is called Al-Kitab-Ul-Muqaddas, which means "The sacred book" or "The Holy Bible."

Indonesian-Christian and Malaysian-Christian Injil[link]

Indonesian Christians and Malaysian Christians also derived the word from Arabic, thus also used the term for the Gospel. The four Gospels are: Injil Matius, Injil Markus, Injil Lukas, Injil Yohanes. The Bible itself is called as "Alkitab", another name derived from Arabic terms. Indonesian and Malaysian Muslims sometimes call the whole Bible as Injil, without distinction between the Gospels and the Epistles and the Revelation.

See also[link]

• Gospels
• Biblical narratives and the Qur'an
• Christianity and Islam
• Islamic view of the Bible
• List of Christian terms in Arabic
• Islamic view of Jesus
• Suhuf Ibrahim
• Zabur
• Tawrat
• Qur'an
• Islamic holy books

External links[link]

• A discussion of the Injil and some other scriptures A non-Muslim site (site is Christian; see articles and other links from its Main Page).
• An additional Islamic view from Ummah.net. A Muslim site.

References[link]

1. ^ Muhammad in world scriptures Abdul Haque Vidyarthi - 1997 "It is derived from the Greek term evangelion which means gospel, good news and happy tidings. But in the New Testament it has nowhere been given the name of any book."
2. ^ Historical Dictionary of Prophets in Islam and Judaism, B.M. Wheeler, Injil
3. ^ Qur'an V: 46
4. ^ Qur'an XLVIII: 29