Few titles have carried as much hope as ‘Messiah’. Jews await the Messiah, Christians confess Jesus as the Christ, and Muslims call Jesus al-Masīḥ (ٱلْمَسِيح, the Messiah). The word is shared; its meaning differs in each tradition, and the Islamic understanding restores it to its plainest sense.
In this article
The anointed one
The Hebrew mashiach means ‘anointed’. In the Hebrew Bible kings and priests were anointed with oil when they took office, and David, sparing Saul’s life, would not raise his hand against ‘the Lord’s anointed’.1 The Greek translation of the word is christos; the Gospel of John explains that ‘Messias’ is, being interpreted, the Christ.2 Arabic masīḥ belongs to the same Semitic root, m-s-ḥ, to wipe or anoint.
Three understandings
Judaism awaits a Messiah who is fully human: a king of David’s line who will gather Israel and bring an age of peace.3 Christianity holds that Jesus is that Messiah and more, the divine Son of God. The Qur’an gives Jesus the title from the moment of the annunciation, and in the same breath calls him the son of Mary, a word from God, honoured in this world and the next.
إِذْ قَالَتِ ٱلْمَلَـٰٓئِكَةُ يَـٰمَرْيَمُ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِّنْهُ ٱسْمُهُ ٱلْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَجِيهًا فِى ٱلدُّنْيَا وَٱلْـَٔاخِرَةِ وَمِنَ ٱلْمُقَرَّبِينَ ٤٥
[And mention] when the angels said, “O Mary, indeed Allāh gives you good tidings of a word from Him, whose name will be the Messiah, Jesus, the son of Mary – distinguished in this world and the Hereafter and among those brought near [to Allāh].
Qur’an 3:454
The Messiah in Islam
In the Qur’an the title never lifts Jesus above humanity. The Messiah, son of Mary, it says, was no more than a messenger, like the messengers before him; he and his mother both ate food.5 The Qur’an also denies that his enemies killed or crucified him, and Muslims await his return before the end of time. The title is the anointing of a chosen servant of God, which is the meaning the word held for David and for Israel’s kings.
This is the verse’s gift to the other traditions. It keeps the Jewish meaning of the word, a human being anointed by God, and it keeps the Christian conviction that Jesus is that anointed one. What it removes is the claim that the anointed one is God. Al-Masīḥ in the Qur’an is exactly what the word says.
Further reading: Jesus across the traditions, Mary across the traditions.