The Quran honours Jesus as the Messiah, "a messenger of GOD, and His word that He had sent to Mary, and a revelation from Him" (4:171), born of a virgin, working miracles "by GOD's leave" (3:49), "prominent in this life and in the Hereafter, and one of those closest to Me" (3:45) — and says he was a man who ate food (5:75) and who told his people, "O Children of Israel, you shall worship GOD; my Lord and your Lord" (5:72). The Gospels, read in their own words, say the same: Jesus called GOD "my God" (John 20:17), said "the Father is greater than I" (14:28), disclaimed knowledge of the Hour (Mark 13:32), refused the title "good" because "there is none good but one, that is, God" (Matthew 19:17), and was proclaimed by Peter "a man approved of God… by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him" (Acts 2:22). "Son of God" in the Bible's own idiom is said of Adam, Israel, David, Solomon, the angels and the peacemakers; the only "Trinity" verse (1 John 5:7) is absent from the RSV as a late insertion. Muhammad, likewise, "was no more than a messenger like the messengers before him" (3:144): "I am no more than a human like you" (18:110). Krishna, Rama and Buddha the project neither names as prophets nor denies, because the Quran says "Messengers we have told you about, and messengers we never told you about" (4:164); what it can say is that the message of the one GOD, if they carried it, is the message of every messenger.
"Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."
[5:72] …The Messiah himself said, "O Children of Israel, you shall worship GOD; my Lord and your Lord."…
"My Father is greater than I." (also John 10:29 "My Father… is greater than all")
[4:171] …GOD is only one god. Be He glorified; He is much too glorious to have a son…
"I ascend unto my Father and your Father; and to my God and your God."
[19:36] He also proclaimed, "GOD is my Lord and your Lord; you shall worship Him alone. This is the right path."* (AEV fn 19:36: "This is similar to the statement attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John 20:17." AEV fn 3:51 likewise cites John 20:17.)
"Of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father."
[7:187] (knowledge of the Hour with GOD alone, as cited by the source)
"I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me."
[3:52] …The disciples said, "We are GOD's supporters; we believe in GOD, and bear witness that we are submitters."
"For I speak not from myself; but the Father that sent me, he hath given me the commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak… even as the Father hath said unto me, so I speak."
[53:3] Nor was he speaking out of a personal desire. [53:4] It was divine inspiration. [53:5] Dictated by the Most Powerful.
"Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you."
[3:49] …"I come to you with a sign from your Lord - I create for you from clay the shape of a bird, then I blow into it, and it becomes a live bird by GOD's leave. I restore vision to the blind, heal the leprous, and I revive the dead by GOD's leave…"
"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
[4:171]
"I and my Father are one." / "Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came… say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?" / "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us."
[5:116] GOD will say, "O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to the people, `Make me and my mother idols beside GOD?' " He will say, "Be You glorified. I could not utter what was not right…"
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us."
[4:171] …His word that He had sent to Mary… [3:45] …a Word from Him whose name is `The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary…
"Before Abraham was, I am." / "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."
[7:172] Recall that your Lord summoned all the descendants of Adam, and had them bear witness for themselves: "Am I not your Lord?"…
KJV: "I am Alpha and Omega… saith the Lord…" RSV: "'I am the Alpha and the Omega,' says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."
[57:3] He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the Outermost and the Innermost…
"come to worship him" (KJV) vs "have come to pay him homage" (NAB); John 9:38 "he worshipped him" — NAB footnote: "This verse, omitted in important MSS, may be an addition for a baptismal liturgy." Lamsa: Aramaic sagad = kneel in homage.
[5:117] "I told them only what You commanded me to say, that: `You shall worship GOD, my Lord and your Lord.'…
"Adam, which was the son of God." / "Israel is my son, even my firstborn." / "Ephraim is my firstborn." / "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." (of David) / "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God." / "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God."
[19:35] It does not befit GOD that He begets a son, be He glorified… [6:101] …How can He have a son, when He never had a mate?… [112:3]
"For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one." Scofield: "IT IS GENERALLY AGREED THAT THIS VERSE HAS NO MANUSCRIPT AUTHORITY AND HAS BEEN INSERTED." Removed by the RSV ("32 scholars… 50 co-operating denominations").
[4:171] …You shall not say, "Trinity." You shall refrain from this for your own good. GOD is only one god… [5:73] Pagans indeed are those who say that GOD is a third of a trinity. There is no god except the one god…
"Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus." (Isaiah 45:1) — GOD addresses a pagan king as His mashiach.
[3:45] …`The Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary…
"…without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life…"
[3:59] The example of Jesus, as far as GOD is concerned, is the same as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him, "Be," and he was.
"For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." / "Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist" (who did no miracle).
[40:78] …No messenger can produce any miracle without GOD's authorization… [3:49] …by GOD's leave…
"And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."
[3:43] "O Mary, you shall submit to your Lord, and prostrate and bow down with those who bow down." [19:31] "He made me blessed wherever I go, and enjoined me to observe the Contact Prayers (Salat) and the obligatory charity (Zakat) for as long as I live.
"Go not into the way of the Gentiles… but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." / "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel."
[3:49] As a messenger to the Children of Israel… [61:6] Recall that Jesus, son of Mary, said, "O Children of Israel, I am GOD's messenger to you…
"How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?" / "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee."
[3:47] She said, "My Lord, how can I have a son, when no man has touched me?" He said, "GOD thus creates whatever He wills. To have anything done, He simply says to it, `Be,' and it is. [3:45]; [19:27–28] …"O descendant of Aaron, your father was not a bad man, nor was your mother unchaste." [4:156] (They are condemned) for disbelieving and uttering about Mary a gross lie.
[19:30] (The infant spoke and) said, "I am a servant of GOD. He has given me the scripture, and has appointed me a prophet. [19:32] "I am to honor my mother; He did not make me a disobedient rebel.
"I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your SAVIOR… there is NO SAVIOR BUT ME." / "You know no God besides me, and there is NO SAVIOR but me." / Mary: "God, MY SAVIOR." / "A man will REAP ONLY what he SOWS." / "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father…"
[53:38] No soul bears the sins of another soul. [53:39] Every human being is responsible for his own works. [6:164] …No soul benefits except from its own works, and none bears the burden of another…
[4:171]
[3:144] Muhammad was no more than a messenger like the messengers before him… [18:110] Say, "I am no more than a human like you, being inspired that your god is one god…" [41:6] Say, "I am no more than a human being like you…" [29:50] …"All miracles come only from GOD; I am no more than a manifest warner." [29:51] Is it not enough of a miracle that we sent down to you this book, being recited to them?…
Naik's honest concession: "Regarding Veda, Upanishad, Geeta, Zend Avesta, Dasatir, I can say — maybe they were the word of God… I cannot say for sure"; "maybe [Ram, Buddha, Zoroaster] were messengers"; calling Rama "alaihis-salam" without proof "is totally wrong… however, a person may say that perhaps they may have been the prophets of God."
[4:164] Messengers we have told you about, and messengers we never told you about… [40:78] We have sent messengers before you - some of them we mentioned to you, and some we did not mention to you…
With a Christian, open by saying what the Quran says for Jesus before anything it says against a doctrine: the virgin birth, the miracles, the Messiah, "prominent in this life and in the Hereafter" (3:45), and a whole sura named after his mother; "No Muslim is a Muslim if he or she does not believe in Jesus." Then let Jesus speak for himself in the listener's own KJV: Mark 12:29, Matthew 19:17, John 14:28, Mark 13:32, John 5:30, John 20:17 — in that order, without commentary — and only then read 4:171 and 5:116–117, which is Jesus on the Day of Resurrection saying the same thing. Handle "son of God" as idiom from the listener's own book (Luke 3:38, Exodus 4:22, Psalm 2:7) before quoting 19:35. Leave 1 John 5:7 and the RSV for last and state it as a fact the listener's own scholars established, not as an accusation. Say nothing about Paul's character; say only what the texts say. With a Hindu, use strand 2's avatar reading and this strand's Naik concession: the project does not deny Rama or Krishna were messengers; it says that if they were, their message was the one message. With a Muslim listener, 3:144 and 18:110 and Sura 80 keep the thread symmetrical: no messenger is worshipped.