Jesus was a Muslim and not a Christian.

The term Christian was first used at Antioch (Acts 11:26) and as such, Jesus during his ministry would not have known it and so, would not have identified himself with it. Though the term 'Muslim' is Arabic and therefore, foreign to the tongue of Jesus, it is, nonetheless, a sound and historical nomenclature to describe Jesus' religious ethos-- a belief founded upon absolute trust and subservience to God's Divine Will. Jesus' obedience to his mission that he saw came from God is a stellar example of a person that submits his person and his being to the Divine Prerogative and Will. A simple word for that in the Arabic language is 'Muslim'. Professor and Scholar in residence, at the Pacific School of Religion in Berkley, Mahmoud Ayoub states at a Muslim-Christian Colloquium on March 31, 1989, in Toronto:

"Throughout the trial and subsequent crucifixion Jesus showed himself as an absolute Muslim, that is to say, as one who absolutely submitted his life and his will to the will of God. The Qur'an and earlier scriptures tell us in so many words that God's mercy, sometimes called love,... transcends all our folly and tempers even God's justice, thus making it possible for us to be called children of God." [1]

Though Jesus may not be described as a Muslim in the technical sense, i.e., one that follows the canon of religious instructions brought by the Prophet Muhammad s.a.w., he is, as indicated above, a Muslim in the generic sense of the term, i.e., a person that obeyed and followed God's edicts in his own unique dispensation. Professor of Jewish Studies, Aaron Hughes, who occupies the Philip S. Bernstein Chair of Jewish Studies in the Department of Religion and Classics at the University of Rochester, writes:

According to accounts in later Muslim sources--which include the Quran; the hadith (sayings of Muhammad); the biography of Muhammad; tafsir (commentary). especially on the Quran; and other genres-- the original religion of the Arabian Peninsula, indeed, the original religion of all humanity, was that of islam. The word islam means "to surrender"-- that is, surrender to the will of God. The adjective muslim, deriving from the same root, means "one who surrenders." Arabic, like all Semitic languages, lacks capital letters, so one can theoretically and ostensibly submit to the will of God without being a capital M "Muslim." One this reading, although Muhammad or those who came after him brought capital I "Islam" to the Arabian tribes, islam has always existed-- in some way, shape, or form--in the world. According to this model, everyone from Adam, the first man, to Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Dawud (David), Isa (Jesus), most of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible, and others were muslims. According to the Qur'an 3:67, for instance, Abraham is described in the following terms: "Abraham was not a Jew [yahudi] nor was he a Christian [nasrani]; he submitted his will to God [muslim] and he not add gods to God." The later Islamic tradition interpreted such passages to mean that even though Ibrahim may not have been a Muslim and did not practice Islam in the same way Muslims would after Muhammad, he--like all individuals who submitted his will to God--was nonetheless still a muslim. [2]

Notes:

[1] Block, C. J. (2014). The Qur'an in Christian-Muslim Dialogue: Historical and modern interpretations. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. pg. 228

[2] Hughes, A. W. (2013). Muslim Identities: An Introduction to Islam. New York: Columbia University Press. pg. 32

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Author: Ibn Anwar (Msc, MCollT)