Islam Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for Muslims, experts in Islam, and those interested in learning more about Islam. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
I have been doing some research to find similarity between the three Holy books (Torah, Injil and the Holy Qur'an), and one of the things that I came across is that the Injil was written by the followers of Jesus, whereas Christians claim that it was not a book sent down by God, rather it was a book of the description of Jesus's life.
If so, what exactly is the Qur'an referring to when it uses the term "Injil"?
Salams,
If you have referred the Bible, you will notice that it is written by various human authors. For eg:
Now these books are written by people after Isa(as) was raised up in heaven. Injil is referred as the book which was reveled 'during the life of Isa(as)'s stay on earth'. It was reveled to him, and not the one which are written later on.
Hope it answers the question.
This is a very complicated question. As Tehreem has mentioned in his answer, there are no perfect answers for this. But at the most what we can do is we can guess.
As clearly stated, Injeel was revealed onto Prophet Jesus(pbuh) during his lifetime on earth. So, now if we extract just the words of Jesus (pbuh) alone from the 4 canonical Gospels, what we are left with is this Teachings of Jesus in his words (Note: Consider his words before his death)
So, from this we can guess some of the words are his own, which he spoke out of the Hikmah(intellect) which was given to him, and it can be believed that at least a few of the words from this are from God, i.e. that hey belong to Injil which was revealed onto him.
But although it is very difficult to make exact distinction between which words are of Jesus(pbuh) and which words are of God.
May the creator guide us all.
The Injil was the revelation sent down to prophet Isa (Jesus). The Injil is one of the four revelations recognised by Islam. The 4 revelations being:
Torah Zabur Injil Qur'an The word Injil is often used in the Qur'an, the hadith and early Muslim documents to refer to the revelations made by God to Jesus - it had never been compiled in the form of a literal book, revealed only as an oral book:
نَزَّلَ عَلَيْكَ الْكِتَابَ بِالْحَقِّ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ وَأَنزَلَ التَّوْرَاةَ وَالْإِنجِيلَ
He has sent down upon you, [O Muhammad], the Book in truth, confirming what was before it. And He revealed the Torah and the Gospel. (Qur'an 3:3)
From what the Qur'an tells us, this message was revealed to Isa (as) who went through great hardship to spread the message of Allah. Allah supported him with miracles to evidence his prophethood to his people:
Speaking from the cradle Creating birds from clay Healing the blind leaper Power over death Table of food from heaven And so on.
Below is a verse from the Qur'an talking about the table of food from the heavens.
قَالُوا نُرِيدُ أَن نَّأْكُلَ مِنْهَا وَتَطْمَئِنَّ قُلُوبُنَا وَنَعْلَمَ أَن قَدْ صَدَقْتَنَا وَنَكُونَ عَلَيْهَا مِنَ الشَّاهِدِينَ
They said, "We wish to eat from it and let our hearts be reassured and know that you have been truthful to us and be among its witnesses." (Qur'an 5:113)
As you can see, his followers asked him to do a miracle for them to believe the words he speaks.
The Injil was revealed to Isa (as) comparable to how the Qur'an was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (saw):
فَآتَيْنَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا مِنْهُمْ أَجْرَهُمْ ۖ وَكَثِيرٌ مِّنْهُمْ فَاسِقُونَ
Then We sent following their footsteps Our messengers and followed [them] with Jesus, the son of Mary, and gave him the Gospel. And We placed in the hearts of those who followed him compassion and mercy and monasticism, which they innovated; We did not prescribe it for them except [that they did so] seeking the approval of Allah . But they did not observe it with due observance. So We gave the ones who believed among them their reward, but many of them are defiantly disobedient. (Qur'an 57:27)
Conclusion
The revelation to Isa (as) known as the Injil has not been transmitted faithfully to us - undergoing changes, necessitating yet another messenger, the Prophet Muhammad (saw), to convey the truth.
