I’m currently engaged in a debate regarding how the Koran and/or Islam in general views the following Judao-Christian figures: Jesus, Abraham & Moses (sp?). My friend claims that those figures are accepted within the Islamic faith as prophets. I find this hard to believe but am indeed curious if there is any recognition of those figures within Islam?
Just a quick look at the extremely comprehensive Wikipedia entry on Islam will tell you:
Reading about the prophets of Islam:
There’s also an article about Christianity and Islam:
Islam believes that the three greatest prophets were Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. They believe that Mohammed was the greatest, but they also believe that Moses and Jesus are to be revered. They do not believe that Jesus was God incarnate or that he rose from the dead, but, oddly, they do believe in the Virgin Birth.
So yes it’s true. Jesus is revered as a great prophet in Islam. They just don’t think he was God.
You forgot to mention they don’t even believe he died. So, raising from the dead wasn’t an option to begin with 
.
Not only Jesus, but Mary, too.
More than that, Muslims find the concept of God being in separate parts completely anathema - how can God have a son? How can God BE a son?
Dredging up what I remember of the Qur’an when I read it there are quite a few references to Jesus (Isoud) in there and he is indeed considered a prophet and is a revered figure. The scorn is really heaped on those who came after Jesus (Paul and the early church) who “twisted” his message and idolised him. I couldn’t quite get my head around how the virgin birth figured out in Islamic theology, thought.
Well, there’s no reason why a great prophet shouldn’t have some miraculous circumstances attending his birth. John the Baptist did, for a start. So did Samuel. So it’s not unreasonable for Islam to both accept Jesus as a prophet with a similarly-miraculous background, and yet deny His divinity. (Tho’ that darned Paul must’ve got at John the Evangelist too, when you look at John 1: 1-11 or thereabouts.)
Somewhere in the back of my mind is a tidbit from Islamic essays that Mary and Jesus are the only two humans untouched by sin.
Looks like you owe your friend a beer. You really want to throw him in a loop though, tell him about Mandeans. They consider Jesus a false prophet, but like all the old testament figures. However, they especially worship John the Baptist. I don’t know how they justify his baptism of Jesus, though.
I’ll just note that the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormonism) is also an extension of Christianity (which is itself an extension of Judaism.)
I don’t know if it’s entirely accurate to call Islam an extension of Christianity, since Islam rejects the divinity of Jesus, which is probably the one thing all Christian denominations share in common (as well as Mormonism.)
And Abraham is quite important in Islam (thus its inclusion as an Abrahamic religion) since Muslims believe that Ishmael was a prophet and an ancestor of the Arabs and that he was the rightful recipient of the birthright which Jews and Christians claim for Isaac. Read about Abraham and Ishmael, their status as prophets, and their connection with the Kaaba in this Wikipedia article.
My Muslim uncles-in-law, having been led to believe that my family are all practicing Catholics, were excited to talk to my father about how they had Jesus in common. And the imam at our engagement party gave a special shout-out to Mary, in the spirit of religious brotherhood.
Jesus gets a “peace be upon him” after every mention, which is one step below Muhammad. Muslims also have points of agreement with the Left Behind folks: Jesus will be coming back.
The nature of the return is somewhat different. Muslims believe that Jesus (and the other prophets, maybe) will be reborn - Christians (and not just Left Behind folks) believe that the second coming will be Jesus returning in glory to reign, a global, unmissable event that all will acknowledge.
Si