The Rightly-Guided Injil

Section 5: John the Baptist

The Gospel According to Islam · Chapter 2, John and the Beginning of the Ministry · Section 5

John the Baptist. 23 verses.

5

1And John, the son of Zacharias, too, was given wisdom and good judgement even as a youth: 2He grew up in the wilderness to be tender to all creatures; and he was pure and devout; 3Kind to his parents; and he was not overbearing or rebellious.1 4He renounced the pleasures of this world and preferred garments of camel’s hair over soft raiment; and he did eat locusts and wild honey.2 5And in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod Antipas was the Tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip the Tetrarch of Ituraea and of the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias the Tetrarch of Abilene; and when Caiaphas and his father-in-law were the high priests, 6A word from God came unto John in the wilderness, and he began to preach in the country about the river Jordan, 7Saying, Repent and reform for the day of the Lord is drawing near.

8And he administered the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 9Then went out to him whole Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region round about Jordan, 10To be baptized of him in Jordan and to confess their sins. 11And baptizing them, he said, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 12Bring forth, therefore, fruits worthy of repentance, and begin not to say that we have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.

13And now also the axe is laid unto the roots of the trees: every tree, therefore, which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. 14And the people asked him, saying, What shall we do then? 15He answered and saith unto them, He that hath two coats, let him impart one to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise. 16And there also came tax collectors to be baptized and said unto him, Master, what shall we do? 17And he said unto them, Exact no more than that which is appointed to you.

18And soldiers likewise asked him, saying, And what shall we do? 19And he said unto them, Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely, and be content with your wages.3 20And as the people were in expectation, all men mused in their hearts of John whether he was the Messiah of Aaron, or the Messiah of Israel, or that Prophet4 21John answered, saying unto them all, I indeed am annointed to be the priest of the house of Aaron, who was to come in the last days, 22And from among my disciples whom I have baptized there shall arise the Messiah of Israel.

23And as for that prophet, of whom God has been promising through the mouths of all his messengers, he will come after us to be a light for the nations.

  1. Qur’an 19:12-14. ↩
  2. Mark 1:6, Matt. 3:4. ↩
  3. Matt. 3:1-10; Luke 3:7-14. ↩
  4. Cf. Luke 3:15; John 1:20-23. Our messianic titles are derived from the Qumran scrolls, where, in the Community Rule IX, men of the Qumran community are commanded to stick to the primitive precepts in which they “were first instructed until there shall come the prophet and the messiahs of Aaron and Israel.” The Gospel of John refers to the three messianic figures as “that Prophet,” “Elias,” and “the Christ” (= “the Messiah”). We have already noted (see note 17) that the priestly Messiah of Aaron and Elias were sometimes identified and that in thinking of John’s messianic role it is better to think in terms of the former figure than of Elias. ↩

From the Infancy Gospel of James

The Infancy Gospel of James tells of the birth and childhood of Mary. It is not scripture for Muslims or for most Christians. Its earliest manuscript is Papyrus Bodmer V, of the late third or early fourth century, and most scholars place the composition in the second century. Where it agrees with the Qur’an the item is marked green; where the Qur’an is silent it is marked blue; where the sense is uncertain it is marked gold. Summaries are this website’s own, from Mark M. Mattison’s public-domain translation at gospels.net.

  • Beyond the measure James 22-24. Herod seeks John, and Zechariah, refusing to say where the child is hidden, is killed at the temple.5

These books are weighed by the same measure as the gospels. Whether the Qur’an took its stories from them is answered on Did the Qur’an borrow its stories?

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Notes

  1. The Qur’an does not say how Zechariah died. It names him among the righteous (6:85) and says that some prophets were killed unjustly (2:61; 3:21). Neither confirms nor denies this account. ↩