Answer
Salam (Peace) Brother,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
The original word for messiah in Arabic, Hebrew, and Aramaic- which is the language that was spoken by Jesus (peace be upon him), is Maseeh with a slight pronunciation difference between Arabic and Aramaic.
This has been translated into “Christ” in English which is derived from Greek, “Christos”, meaning anointed. In the past, the kings and priests were anointed to symbolize their appointment to their respective offices. In this context, messiah means nearest to God.
However, if we still take the word to mean “savior” in a sense that no one will attain salvation at the time of Jesus (peace be upon him) except the one who follows his teachings, the way they were originally revealed to him by God, then Islamically it is acceptable.
However, if it is interpreted that on the Day of Judgment, people will stand in front of Jesus (peace be upon him) instead of God Himself, who is the Creator of heavens and earth and whatever is between them, to be judged then this meaning is Islamically unacceptable.
The Quran further explains that there is a major misunderstanding among the Christians, concerning who God is, the translation of which is:
{Say: O people of the Scripture! Come to an agreement between us and you: that we shall worship none but Allah, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside Allah. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are they who have surrendered (unto Him).} (Quran 3:64)
{O people of the Scripture! Why confound the truth with falsehood and knowingly conceal the truth?} (Quran 3:71)
{It is not (possible) for any human being unto whom Allah had given the Scripture and wisdom and the prophethood that he should afterwards have said unto mankind: Be slaves of me instead of Allah; but (what he said was): Be ye faithful servants of the Lord by virtue of your constant teaching of the Scripture and of your constant study thereof.} (Quran 3:79)
The people of the Scripture are the Christians and the Jews who hold a special place in Islam since they have received divine revelations prior to the Quran. To understand the entire context, please read in the Quran, 3:45, 4:171-172, 5:17, 5;72, 5:75, and 9:31.
Also people could have a part of some of the good qualities of God. For example a person could be loving, merciful, and compassionate; however, God is the Most Loving, the Most Merciful, and the Most Compassionate.
God combines all the best attributes that we can think of and He is most perfect in all of them. Whereas a human being may only have partial attributes of what is good and will have shortcomings in them.
{ Say, “He is Allah, [who is] One, Allah, the Eternal Refuge. He neither begets nor is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent.”} (Quran 112:1-4)
God is not created, nor is He in need of sons. He is eternal so, He never dies and none of His creation could be compared to Him. So, the question is: was Jesus (peace be upon him) created or did he create himself?
If he was created then he cannot be the Creator, and if he was God and created himself why would he be born from a womb, eat, and drink, therefore discharging of what he had ate and drank. How can we attribute such things to God?!
It makes more sense that God sent prophets to tell people about Him and His message to humanity, and that Jesus (peace be upon him) is one of those prophets.
Elevating Jesus to the level of God, saying that he is God and the son of God at the same time, is a confusion that is not even emphasized in the Bible.
For a creed to be clear, it must be constantly repeated over and over, the way it is in the Quran, that God is One and there are no other gods beside Him.
In fact, it is even mentioned in the Bible that Jesus (peace be upon him) was a prophet:
[And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this? And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee]. (Matthew, 21:10-11 emphasis added)
Clearly the masses at that time of Jesus did not have any confusion. If you start reading from Matthew 21:3, Jesus is even addressing himself as a prophet. There are also multiple places elsewhere in the Bible where it refers to Jesus (peace be upon him) as a prophet.
I hope this helps answer your question.
Salam and please keep in touch.
This response is from About Islam’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.
Please continue feeding your curiosity, and find more info in the following links:
https://aboutislam.net/reading-islam/understanding-islam/jesus-in-the-quran-2/