Jesus in al-Kafi and the Bible: A Comparative Study

The Holy Quran speaks of Jesus as a great prophet of God and emphasizes on confirming him by the Holy Spirit and plainly calls him word and spirit of God. In Islamic hadiths he is also regarded as the Spirit of Allah. However Jesus in the holy Quran is a humble servant on whom God has bestowed a special gift. In hadith books, Christianity is called Nasraniyyat and Christians are called Nasara. More information is found in hadith books about life and personality of Jesus. Christians accept only some of these hadiths and reject the others. In fact Christian theology has depicted a fully exceptional picture of Jesus and even has changed the picture of theology from God-centeredness to Jesus-centeredness. Christians regard Islamic hadiths as mystical reports which are deprived of reality. Reporting the most important passages of al-Kafi about Jesus, peace be upon him, and comparing them with Christian current views, the author rejects the above mentioned claims and concludes that Islamic discourse is based on historical realities and rational theology more than what Christian discourse is and this fact is also accepted by some christions like John Hick.