Jesus

In response to a blog about Early Christianity:
Well, quite a bit of what you write is close to our understanding, but there are certain fundamental differences.

• We Muslims believe that Jesus was a born messenger and prophet, that is, he started speaking God's message(in defense of his pious and innocent mother) right from the cradle, while the people were accusing her of how she bore a child though not married.
• We believe that God sent Jesus to the Jews (Bani Israel) to guide them, to teach them the wisdom of the Torah, to confirm the Laws and explain how it was in their best interests.
• We believe that Jesus was able to heal the lepers, restore sight to the blind, and perform other miracles with God's help and permission.
• We believe that even though they tried to crucify Jesus, God miraclously saved him, and another person was made to resemble him, who was crucified instead.
• We believe that God raised Jesus to Heaven.
• We do not think that Paul had any right to do away with the laws, as it is against the teachings of Jesus.
• We do not hold Jesus to be divine, he is a revered Prophet and Messenger, a highly respected human being.
• We believe that all messengers and prophets brought to mankind the same message from the same original divine source.

Reason why we think Jesus was replaced with a body-double at the Crucifixion:
Firstly these verses:

4:157 And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger - they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt thereof; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain.

3:54 And they (the disbelievers) schemed, and Allah schemed (against them): and Allah is the best of schemers.

3:55 (And remember) when Allah said: O Jesus! Lo! I am gathering thee and causing thee to ascend unto Me, and am cleansing thee of those who disbelieve and am setting those who follow thee above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. Then unto Me ye will (all) return, and I shall judge between you as to that wherein ye used to differ.
www.searchtruth.com

Then, according to The Gospel of Barnabas, towards the end of the book, section 216 reads as follows:"Judas entered impetuously before all into the chamber whence Jesus had been taken up. And the disciples were sleeping. Whereupon the wonderful God acted wonderfully, insomuch that Judas was so changed in speech and in face to be like Jesus that we believed him to be Jesus. And he, having awakened us was seeking where the Master was. Whereupon we marvelled, and answered: 'Thou, Lord, art our master; hast thou now forgotten us?' And he, smiling, said: 'Now are ye foolish, that know not me to be Judas Iscariot! And as he was saying this the soldiery entered, and laid their hands upon Judas, becase he was in every way like Jesus. We having heard Judas' saying, and seeing the multitude of soldiers, fled as beside ourselves....... "

As you know, we take the arabic Quran to be the 'word of God'... thus we evaluate all other texts in the light of what it says in the Holy Quran... if it is in accordance, then it can be a plausible explanation. Therefore, as you can see in the verse (Quran 4:157), God clearly says that Jesus was not crucified; so when we read this account in the Gospel of Barnabas, we find it a closer explanation to our beliefs.I know that the Gospel of Barnabas is not included in the Biblical canon, and therefore, probably not acceptable to most Christians. As far as researching and getting to 'the truth of the matter' is concerned, I doubt if any text can actually provide any conclusive proof about any historical event... in the end it boils down to faith... believing in a certain text to be absolutely true, and taking it as it is.I have mentioned in earlier posts why and how I'm convinced of the absolute authenticity of the Quran. Thus, for me, it is very easy to accept whatever Allah says about any event. That is the source and the reason for my belief that Jesus was not crucified.

Also, check out this article: http://can-you-answer.com/scripts/miscArticles.asp?artno=100