title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In April 1973, Nilsen completed his police training and was posted to Willesden Green. Still a cadet and junior constable, he performed several arrests but never had to physically subdue a member of the public. Nilsen enjoyed the work, but missed the comradeship of the army. He began to drink alone in the evenings. During the summer and autumn of 1973, Nilsen began frequenting gay pubs and engaged in several casual liaisons with men. He viewed these encounters as "soul-destroying" liaisons in which he "would only lend" his partner his body in a "vain search for inner peace" as he sought a lasting relationship. In August, following a failed relationship, Nilsen came to the conclusion that his personal lifestyle was at odds with his job. His birth father died the same month, leaving each of his three children £1,000 (the equivalent of about £9,693 as of 2022). In December, Nilsen resigned from the police.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Between December 1973 and May 1974, Nilsen worked as a security guard. The work was intermittent, and he resolved to find more stable, secure employment. He found work as a civil servant in May 1974. He was initially posted to a Jobcentre in Denmark Street, where his primary role was to find employment for unskilled labourers. At his workplace, Nilsen was known to be a quiet, conscientious employee who was active in the trade union movement. His attendance record was mediocre, although he frequently volunteered to work overtime, leading several colleagues to suspect he was something of a loner. In 1979, Nilsen was appointed acting executive officer. He was officially promoted to the position of executive officer, with additional supervisory responsibilities, in June 1982, and transferred to another Jobcentre in Kentish Town, continuing in this job until his arrest.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In November 1975, Nilsen encountered a 20-year-old man named David Gallichan being threatened outside a pub by two other men. Nilsen intervened in the altercation and took Gallichan to his room at 80 Teignmouth Road in the Cricklewood district of North London. The two men spent the evening drinking and talking; Nilsen learned that Gallichan had recently moved to London from Weston-super-Mare, Somerset, was gay, unemployed, and residing in a hostel. The following morning, both men agreed to live together in a larger residence and Nilsen—using part of the inheritance bequeathed to him by his father—immediately resolved to find a larger property. Several days later, the pair viewed a vacant ground floor flat at 195 Melrose Avenue, also in Cricklewood, and they decided to move into the property. Prior to moving into Melrose Avenue, Nilsen negotiated a deal with the landlord whereby he and Gallichan had exclusive use of the garden at the rear of the property.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: The flat was supposed to be furnished, but upon moving in, the pair found it to be largely threadbare. Over the following months, the couple redecorated and furnished the entire flat. Much of this work was performed by Gallichan, as Nilsen—having discovered Gallichan's lack of employment ambitions—began to view himself as the breadwinner in their relationship. Nilsen later recollected that he was sexually attracted to Gallichan, but the pair seldom had intercourse.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Initially, Nilsen experienced domestic contentment with Gallichan, but within a year of their moving to Melrose Avenue, the superficial relationship between the two men began to show signs of strain. They slept in separate beds, and both began to bring home casual sexual partners. Gallichan later insisted Nilsen had never been violent towards him, but that he did engage in verbal abuse, and the pair had begun arguing with increasing frequency by early 1976. Nilsen later stated that, following a heated argument in May 1977, he demanded Gallichan leave the residence. (Gallichan later informed investigators that he had chosen to end the relationship.)


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen formed brief relationships with several other young men over the following eighteen months; none of these relationships lasted more than a few weeks, and none of the men expressed any intention of living with him on a permanent basis.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: By late-1978, Nilsen was living a solitary existence; he had experienced at least three failed relationships in the previous eighteen months, and he later confessed to having developed an increasing conviction that he was unfit to live with. Throughout 1978, he devoted an ever-increasing amount of his time, effort and assiduity to his work, and most evenings he spent consuming spirits and/or lager as he listened to music.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Between 1978 and 1983, Nilsen is known to have killed a minimum of twelve men and boys, and to have attempted to kill seven others (he initially confessed in 1983 to having killed about sixteen victims). The majority of Nilsen's victims were homeless or gay men; others were heterosexual people he typically met in bars, on public transport or—on one occasion—outside his own home. All of Nilsen's murders were committed inside the two North London addresses where he resided in the years he is known to have killed. His victims were lured to these addresses through guile—typically the offer of alcohol and/or shelter.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Inside Nilsen's home, the victims were usually given food and alcohol, then strangled—typically with a ligature—either to death or until they had become unconscious. If the victim had been strangled into unconsciousness, Nilsen then drowned him in his bathtub, his sink or a bucket of water before observing a ritual in which he bathed, clothed and retained the bodies inside his residences for several weeks or, occasionally, months before he dismembered them. Each victim killed between 1978 and 1981 at his Cricklewood residence was disposed of via burning upon a bonfire. Prior to their dissection, Nilsen removed their internal organs, which he disposed of either beside a fence behind his flat, or close to Gladstone Park. The victims killed in 1982 and 1983 at his Muswell Hill residence were retained at his flat, with their flesh and smaller bones flushed down the lavatory.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen admitted to engaging in masturbation as he viewed the nude bodies of several of his victims, and to have engaged in sexual acts with six of his victims' bodies, but was adamant that he had never penetrated any of his victims.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen killed his first victim, 14-year-old Stephen Holmes, on 30 December 1978. Holmes encountered Nilsen in the Cricklewood Arms pub, where Holmes had unsuccessfully attempted to purchase alcohol. According to Nilsen, he had been drinking heavily alone on the day he met Holmes before deciding in the evening that he must "at all costs" leave his flat and seek company. Nilsen invited Holmes to his house with the promise of the two drinking alcohol and listening to music, believing him to be approximately 17 years old. At Nilsen's home, both he and Holmes drank heavily before they fell asleep. The following morning, Nilsen awoke to find the sleeping Holmes beside him on his bed. In his subsequent written confessions, Nilsen stated he was "afraid to wake him in case he left me". After caressing the sleeping youth, Nilsen decided Holmes was to "stay with me over the New Year whether he wanted to or not". Reaching for a necktie, Nilsen straddled Holmes as he strangled him into unconsciousness, before drowning the teenager in a bucket filled with water. Nilsen then washed the body in his bathtub before placing Holmes on his bed and caressing his body. He twice masturbated over the body, before awaiting the passing of rigor mortis to enable him to stow the corpse beneath his floorboards. Holmes' bound corpse remained beneath the floorboards for almost eight months, before Nilsen built a bonfire in the garden behind his flat and burned the body on 11 August 1979.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Reflecting on his killing spree in 1983, Nilsen stated that, having killed Holmes: "I caused dreams which caused death ... this is my crime," adding that he had "started down the avenue of death and possession of a new kind of flatmate".


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: On 11 October 1979, Nilsen attempted to murder a student from Hong Kong named Andrew Ho, whom he had met in a St Martin's Lane pub and lured to his flat on the promise of sex. Nilsen attempted to strangle Ho, who managed to flee from his flat and reported the incident to police. Nilsen was questioned in relation to the incident, but Ho decided not to press charges.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Two months after the attempted murder of Ho, on 3 December 1979, Nilsen encountered a 23-year-old Canadian student named Kenneth Ockenden, who had been on a tour of England visiting relatives. Nilsen encountered Ockenden as they both drank in a West End pub. Upon learning the young man was a tourist, Nilsen offered to show Ockenden several London landmarks, an offer which Ockenden accepted. Nilsen then invited the student to his house on the promise of a meal and further drinks. The pair stopped at an off licence en route to Nilsen's residence and purchased whisky, rum, and beer, with Ockenden insisting on sharing the bill. Nilsen was adamant he could not recall the precise moment he strangled Ockenden, but recalled that he strangled the young man with the cord of his (Nilsen's) headphones as Ockenden listened to music. He also recalled dragging Ockenden across his floor with the wire wrapped around his neck as he strangled him, before pouring himself half a glass of rum and continuing to listen to music on the headphones with which he had strangled Ockenden.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: The following day, Nilsen purchased a Polaroid camera and photographed Ockenden's body in various suggestive positions. He then laid Ockenden's corpse spreadeagled above him on his bed as he watched television for several hours before wrapping the body in plastic bags and stowing the corpse beneath the floorboards. On approximately four occasions over the following fortnight, Nilsen disinterred Ockenden's body from beneath his floorboards and seated the body upon his armchair alongside him as he himself watched television and drank alcohol.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen killed his third victim, 16-year-old Martyn Duffey, on 17 May 1980. Duffey was a catering student from Birkenhead, Merseyside, who had hitchhiked to London without his parents' knowledge on 13 May after being questioned by the British Transport Police for evading his train fare. For four days, Duffey had slept rough near Euston railway station before Nilsen encountered the youth as he returned from a union conference in Southport. Duffey, Nilsen recollected, was both exhausted and hungry, and happily accepted Nilsen's offer of a meal and a bed for the evening. After the youth had fallen asleep in Nilsen's bed, Nilsen fashioned a ligature around his neck, then simultaneously sat on Duffey's chest and tightened the ligature with a "great force". Nilsen held this grip until Duffey became unconscious; he then dragged the youth into his kitchen and drowned him in his sink before bathing with the body—which he recollected as being "the youngest-looking I had ever seen."


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Duffey's body was first placed upon a kitchen chair, then upon the bed on which he had been strangled. The body was repeatedly kissed, complimented and caressed by Nilsen, both before and after he had masturbated while sitting upon the stomach of the corpse. For two days, Duffey's body was stowed in a cupboard, before Nilsen noted signs of bloating; therefore, "he went straight under the floorboards".


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Following Duffey's murder, Nilsen began to kill with increasing frequency. Before the end of 1980, he killed a further five victims and attempted to murder one other; only one of these victims whom Nilsen murdered, 26-year-old William Sutherland, has ever been identified. Nilsen's recollections of the unidentified victims were vague, but he graphically recalled how each victim had been murdered and just how long the body had been retained before dissection. One unidentified victim killed in November had moved his legs in a cycling motion as he was strangled (Nilsen is known to have absented himself from work between 11 and 18 November, likely due to this particular murder); another unidentified victim Nilsen had unsuccessfully attempted to resuscitate, before sinking to his knees and sobbing, then spitting at his own image as he looked at himself in the mirror. On another occasion, he had lain in bed alongside the body of an unidentified victim as he listened to the classical theme "Fanfare for the Common Man" before bursting into tears.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Inevitably, the accumulated bodies beneath Nilsen's floorboards attracted insects and created a foul odour—particularly throughout summer months. On occasions when Nilsen disinterred victims from beneath the floorboards, he noted that the bodies were covered with pupae and infested with maggots; some victims' heads had maggots crawling out of eye sockets and mouths. He placed deodorants beneath the floorboards and sprayed insecticide about the flat twice daily, but the odour of decay and the presence of flies remained.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In late 1980, Nilsen removed and dissected the bodies of each victim killed since December 1979 and burned them upon a communal bonfire he had constructed on waste ground behind his flat. To disguise the smell of the burning flesh of the six dissected bodies placed upon this pyre, Nilsen crowned the bonfire with an old car tyre. Three neighbourhood children stood to watch this particular bonfire, and Nilsen later wrote in his memoirs that he felt it would have seemed "in order" if he had seen these three children "dancing around a mass funeral pyre". When the bonfire had been reduced to ashes and cinders, Nilsen used a rake to search the debris for any recognisable bones. Noting a skull was still intact, he smashed it to pieces with his rake.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: On or about 4 January 1981, Nilsen encountered an unidentified man whom he described for investigators as an "18-year-old, blue-eyed" young Scot at the Golden Lion pub in Soho; he was lured to Melrose Avenue upon the promise of partaking in a drinking contest. After Nilsen and this victim had consumed several beverages, Nilsen strangled him with a tie and subsequently placed the body beneath the floorboards. Nilsen is known to have informed his employers he was ill and unable to attend work on 12 January in order that he could dissect both this victim and another unidentified victim he had killed approximately one month earlier. By April, Nilsen had killed two further unidentified victims: one of whom he described as an English skinhead whom he had met in Leicester Square; the other he described as "Belfast boy"; a man in his early 20s, approximately height, whom he had murdered sometime in February. In relation to the first of these three unidentified victims, he later casually reflected: "End of the day, end of the drink, end of a person ... floorboards back, carpet replaced, and back to work at Denmark Street". The following month, Nilsen removed the internal organs of several victims stowed beneath his floorboards. He discarded these innards both upon the waste ground behind his flat, and in his household rubbish.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: The final victim to be murdered at Melrose Avenue was 23-year-old Malcolm Barlow, whom Nilsen discovered slumped against a wall outside his home on 17 September 1981. When Nilsen enquired as to Barlow's welfare, he was informed the medication Barlow was prescribed for his epilepsy had caused his legs to weaken. Nilsen suggested that Barlow should be in hospital and, supporting him, walked him into his residence before phoning for an ambulance. The following day, Barlow was released from hospital and returned to Nilsen's home, apparently to thank him. He was invited in and, after eating a meal, began drinking rum and coke before falling asleep on the sofa. Nilsen manually strangled Barlow as he slept, before stowing his body beneath his kitchen sink the following morning.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In mid-1981, Nilsen's landlord decided to renovate 195 Melrose Avenue, and asked Nilsen to vacate the property. Nilsen was initially resistant to the proposal, but accepted an offer of £1,000 from the landlord to vacate the residence. He moved into an attic flat at 23D Cranley Gardens in the Muswell Hill district of North London on 5 October 1981. The day before he vacated the property, Nilsen burned the dissected bodies of the last five victims he had killed at this address upon a third and final bonfire he constructed in the garden behind his flat. Again, Nilsen ensured the bonfire was crowned with an old car tyre to disguise the smell of burning flesh (Nilsen had already dissected the bodies of four of these victims in January and August, and needed only to complete the dissection of Barlow for this third bonfire).


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: At 23 Cranley Gardens, Nilsen had no access to a garden, and as he resided in an attic flat, he was unable to stow any bodies beneath his floorboards. For almost two months, any acquaintances Nilsen encountered and lured to his flat were not assaulted in any manner, although he did attempt to strangle a 19-year-old student named Paul Nobbs on 23 November 1981, but stopped himself from completing the act.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In March 1982, Nilsen encountered 23-year-old John Howlett while drinking in a pub near Leicester Square. Howlett was lured to Nilsen's flat on the promise of continuing drinking with Nilsen. There, both Nilsen and Howlett drank as they watched a film, before Howlett walked into Nilsen's front room and fell asleep in his bed (which was located in the front room at this time). One hour later, Nilsen unsuccessfully attempted to rouse Howlett, then sat on the edge of the bed drinking rum as he stared at Howlett before deciding to kill him. Following a ferocious struggle (in which Howlett himself attempted to strangle his attacker), Nilsen strangled Howlett into unconsciousness with an upholstery strap before returning to his living room, shaking from the "stress of the struggle" in which he had believed he would be overpowered. On three occasions over the following ten minutes, Nilsen unsuccessfully attempted to kill this victim after noting he had resumed breathing, before deciding to fill his bathtub with water and drown him. For over a week following Howlett's murder, Nilsen's own neck bore the victim's finger impressions.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In May 1982, Nilsen encountered Carl Stottor, a 21-year-old gay man, as the young man drank at the Black Cap pub in Camden. Nilsen engaged Stottor in conversation, discovering he was depressed following a failed relationship. After plying him with alcohol, Nilsen invited Stottor to his flat, assuring his guest he had no intention of sexual activity. At the flat, Stottor consumed further alcohol before falling asleep upon an open sleeping bag; he later awoke to find himself being strangled with Nilsen loudly whispering, "Stay still".


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In his subsequent testimony at Nilsen's trial, Stottor stated he initially believed Nilsen was trying to free him from the zip of the sleeping bag, before he returned to a state of unconsciousness. He then vaguely recalled hearing "water running" before realising he was immersed in the water and that Nilsen was attempting to drown him. After briefly succeeding in raising his head above the water, Stottor gasped the words, "No more, please! No more!" before Nilsen again submerged Stottor's head beneath the water. Believing he had killed Stottor, Nilsen seated the youth in his armchair, then noted his mongrel dog, Bleep, licking Stottor's face. Nilsen realised he was still barely alive. He rubbed Stottor's limbs and heart to increase circulation, covered the youth's body in blankets, then laid him upon his bed. When Stottor regained consciousness, Nilsen embraced him; he then explained to Stottor he had almost strangled himself on the zip of the sleeping bag, and that he had resuscitated him.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Over the following two days, Stottor repeatedly lapsed in and out of consciousness. When Stottor had regained enough strength to question Nilsen as to his recollections of being strangled and immersed in cold water, Nilsen explained he had become caught in the zip of the sleeping bag following a nightmare, and that he had placed him in cold water as "you were in shock". Nilsen then led Stottor to a nearby railway station, where he informed the young man he hoped they might meet again before he bade him farewell.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Three months after Nilsen's June 1982 promotion to the position of executive officer in his employment, he encountered a 27-year-old named Graham Allen attempting to hail a taxi in Shaftesbury Avenue. Allen accepted Nilsen's offer to accompany him to Cranley Gardens for a meal. As had been the case with several previous victims, Nilsen stated he could not recall the precise moment he had strangled Allen, but recalled approaching him as he sat eating an omelette with the full intention of murdering him. Allen's body was retained in the bathtub for a total of three days before Nilsen began the task of dissecting his body upon the kitchen floor. Nilsen is again known to have informed his employers he was ill and unable to attend work on 9 October 1982—likely in order that he could complete the dissection of Allen's body.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: On 26 January 1983, Nilsen killed his final victim, 20-year-old Stephen Sinclair. Sinclair was last seen by acquaintances in the company of Nilsen, walking in the direction of a tube station. At Nilsen's flat, Sinclair fell asleep in a drug- and alcohol-induced stupor in an armchair as Nilsen sat listening to the rock opera "Tommy". Nilsen approached Sinclair, knelt before him and said to himself, "Oh Stephen, here I go again", before strangling Sinclair with a ligature constructed with a necktie and a rope. Noting crepe bandages upon each of Sinclair's wrists, Nilsen removed these to discover several deep slash marks from where Sinclair had recently tried to kill himself.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Following his usual ritual of bathing the body, Nilsen laid Sinclair's body upon his bed, applied talcum powder to the body, then arranged three mirrors around the bed before himself lying naked alongside the dead youth. Several hours later, he turned Stephen's head towards him, before kissing the youth's body on the forehead and saying, "Goodnight, Stephen". Nilsen then fell asleep alongside the body. As had been the case with both Howlett and Allen, Sinclair's body was subsequently dissected, with various dismembered parts wrapped in plastic bags and stored in either a wardrobe, a tea chest or within a drawer located beneath the bathtub. The bags used to seal Sinclair's remains were sealed with the same crepe bandages Nilsen had found upon Sinclair's wrists. Nilsen attempted to dispose of the flesh, internal organs and smaller bones of all three victims killed at Cranley Gardens by flushing their dissected remains down his toilet. In a practice which he had conducted upon several victims killed at Melrose Avenue, he also boiled the heads, hands and feet to remove the flesh off these sections of the victims' bodies.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: On 4 February 1983, Nilsen wrote a letter of complaint to estate agents complaining that the drains at Cranley Gardens were blocked, and that the situation for both himself and the other tenants at the property was intolerable. The following day, he refused to allow an acquaintance to enter his property, the reason being he had begun to dismember Sinclair's body on the floor of his kitchen.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen's murders were first discovered by a Dyno-Rod employee, Michael Cattran, who responded to the plumbing complaints made by both Nilsen and other tenants of Cranley Gardens on 8 February 1983. Opening a drain cover at the side of the house, Cattran discovered the drain was packed with a flesh-like substance and numerous small bones of unknown origin. Cattran reported his suspicions to his supervisor, Gary Wheeler. As Cattran had arrived at the property at dusk, he and Wheeler agreed to postpone further investigation into the blockage until the following morning. Prior to leaving the property, Nilsen and fellow tenant Jim Allcock convened with Cattran to discuss the source of the substance. Upon hearing Cattran exclaim how similar the substance was in appearance to human flesh, Nilsen replied: "It looks to me like someone has been flushing down their Kentucky Fried Chicken."


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: At 7:30a.m. the following day, Cattran and Wheeler returned to Cranley Gardens, by which time the drain had been cleared. This aroused the suspicions of both men. Cattran discovered some scraps of flesh and four bones in a pipe leading from the drain which linked to the top flat of the house. To both Cattran and Wheeler, the bones looked as if they originated from a human hand. Both men immediately called the police who, upon closer inspection, discovered further small bones and scraps of what looked to the naked eye like either human or animal flesh in the same pipe. These remains were taken to the mortuary at Hornsey, where pathologist David Bowen advised police that the remains were human, and that one particular piece of flesh he concluded had been from a human neck bore a ligature mark.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Upon learning from fellow tenants that the top floor flat from where the human remains had been flushed belonged to Nilsen, Detective Chief Inspector Peter Jay and two colleagues opted to wait outside the house until Nilsen returned home from work. When Nilsen returned home, DCI Jay introduced himself and his colleagues, explaining they had come to enquire about the blockage in the drains from his flat. Nilsen asked why the police were interested in his drains and also whether or not the two officers present with Jay were health inspectors. In response, Jay informed Nilsen that the other two were also police officers, and requested access to his flat to discuss the matter further.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: The three officers followed Nilsen into his flat, where they immediately noted the odour of rotting flesh. Nilsen questioned further as to why the police were interested in his drains, to which he was informed the blockage had been caused by human remains. Nilsen feigned shock and bewilderment, stating, "Good grief, how awful!" In response, Jay replied: "Don't mess about, where's the rest of the body?" Nilsen responded calmly, admitting that the remainder of the body could be found in two plastic bags in a nearby wardrobe, from which DCI Jay and his colleagues noted the overpowering smell of decomposition emanated. The officers did not open the cupboard, but asked Nilsen whether there were any other body parts to be found, to which Nilsen replied: "It's a long story; it goes back a long time. I'll tell you everything. I want to get it off my chest. Not here—at the police station." He was then arrested and cautioned on suspicion of murder before being taken to Hornsey police station. While en route to the police station, Nilsen was asked whether the remains in his flat belonged to one person or two. Staring out of the window of the police car, he replied, "Fifteen or sixteen, since 1978."


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: That evening, Detective Superintendent Chambers accompanied DCI Jay and Bowen to Cranley Gardens, where the plastic bags were removed from the wardrobe and taken to Hornsey mortuary. One bag was found to contain two dissected torsos, one of which had been vertically dissected, and a shopping bag containing various internal organs. The second bag contained a human skull almost completely devoid of flesh, a severed head, and a torso with arms attached, but hands missing. Both heads were found to have been subjected to moist heat.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In an interview conducted on 10 February, Nilsen confessed there were further human remains stowed in a tea chest in his living room, with other remains inside an upturned drawer in his bathroom. The dismembered body parts were the bodies of three men, all of whom he had killed by strangulation—usually with a necktie. One victim he could not name; another he knew only as "John the Guardsman", and the third he identified as Stephen Sinclair. He also stated that, beginning in December 1978, he had killed "twelve or thirteen" men at his former address, 195 Melrose Avenue. Nilsen also admitted to having unsuccessfully attempted to kill approximately seven other people, who had either escaped or, on one occasion, had been at the brink of death but had been revived and allowed to leave his residence.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: A further search for additional remains at Cranley Gardens on 10 February revealed the lower section of a torso and two legs stowed in a bag in the bathroom, and a skull, a section of a torso, and various bones in the tea chest. The same day, Nilsen accompanied police to Melrose Avenue, where he indicated the three locations in the rear garden where he had burned the remains of his victims.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Cattran contacted the "Daily Mirror" on 10 February, informing the newspaper of the ongoing search for human remains at Cranley Gardens, leading the newspaper to break the story and spark intense national media interest. By 11 February, reporters from the "Mirror" had obtained photographs from Nilsen's mother in Aberdeenshire, which appeared on their front page the following day.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Under English law, the police had forty-eight hours in which to charge Nilsen or release him. Assembling the remains of the victims killed at Cranley Gardens on the floor of Hornsey mortuary, Professor Bowen was able to confirm the fingerprints on one body matched those on police files of Sinclair. At 5:40 pm on 11 February, Nilsen was charged with Sinclair's murder, and a statement revealing this was released to the press. Formal questioning of Nilsen began the same evening, with Nilsen agreeing to be represented by a solicitor (a facility he had earlier declined). Police interviewed Nilsen on sixteen separate occasions over the following days, in interviews which totalled over thirty hours.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen was adamant that he was uncertain as to why he had killed, simply saying, "I'm hoping you will tell me that" when asked his motive for the murders. He was adamant that the decision to kill was not made until moments before the act of murder. Most victims had died by strangulation; on several occasions, he had drowned the victims once they had been strangled into unconsciousness. Once the victim had been killed, he typically bathed the victim's body, shaved any hair from the torso to conform it to his physical ideal, then applied makeup to any obvious blemishes upon the skin. The body was usually dressed in socks and underpants, before Nilsen draped the victims around him as he talked to the corpse. With most victims, Nilsen masturbated as he stood alongside or knelt above the body, and Nilsen confessed to having occasionally engaged in intercrural sex with his victims' bodies, but repeatedly stressed to investigators he had never actually penetrated his victims—explaining that his victims were "too perfect and beautiful for the pathetic ritual of commonplace sex".


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: All the victims' personal possessions were destroyed following the ritual of bathing their bodies in an effort to obliterate their identity prior to their murder and their now becoming what Nilsen described as a "prop" in his fantasies. In several instances, he talked to the victim's body as it remained seated in a chair or prone on his bed, and he recalled being emotional as he marvelled at the beauty of their bodies. With reference to one victim, Kenneth Ockenden, Nilsen noted that Ockenden's "body and skin were very beautiful", adding the sight "almost brought me to tears". Another, unidentified victim had been so emaciated that he had simply been discarded under the floorboards.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: The bodies of the victims killed at his previous address were kept for as long as decomposition would allow: upon noting any major signs of decomposition in a body, Nilsen stowed it beneath his floorboards. If a body did not display any signs of decomposition, he occasionally alternately stowed it beneath the floorboards and retrieved it before again masturbating as he stood over or lay alongside the body. Make-up was again applied to "enhance its appearance" and to obscure blemishes.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: When questioned as to why the heads found at Cranley Gardens had been subjected to moist heat, Nilsen stated that he had frequently boiled the heads of his victims in a large cooking pot on his stove so that the internal contents evaporated, thus removing the need to dispose of the brain and flesh. The torsos and limbs of the three victims killed at this address were dissected within about one week of their murder before being wrapped in plastic bags and stowed in the three locations he had indicated to police; the internal organs and smaller bones he flushed down the toilet. This practice—which had led to his arrest—had been the only method he could consider to dispose of the internal organs and soft tissue as, unlike at Melrose Avenue, he had no exclusive use of the garden of the property.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: At Melrose Avenue, Nilsen typically retained the victims' bodies for a much longer period before disposing of the remains. He kept "three or four" bodies stowed beneath the floorboards before he dissected the remains, which he would wrap inside plastic bags and either return under the floorboards or, in two instances, place inside suitcases which had been left at the property by a previous tenant. The remains stowed inside suitcases—those of Ockenden and Duffey—were placed inside a shed in the rear garden, and were disposed of upon the second bonfire Nilsen had constructed at Melrose Avenue. Other dissected remains—minus the internal organs—were returned beneath the floorboards or placed upon a bonfire he had constructed in the garden.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen confirmed that on four occasions, he had removed the accumulated bodies from beneath his floorboards and dissected the remains, and on three of these occasions, he had then disposed of the accumulated remains upon an assembled bonfire. On more than one occasion, he had removed the internal organs from the victims' bodies and placed them in bags, which he then typically dumped behind a fence to be eaten by wildlife. All the bodies of the victims killed at Melrose Avenue were dismembered after several weeks or months of interment beneath the floorboards. Nilsen recalled that the putrefaction of these victims' bodies made this task exceedingly vile; he recalled having to fortify his nerves with whisky and having to grab handfuls of salt with which to brush aside maggots from the remains. Often, he vomited as he dissected the bodies, before wrapping the dismembered limbs inside plastic bags and carrying the remains to the bonfires. Nonetheless, immediately prior to his dissecting the victims' bodies, Nilsen masturbated as he knelt or sat alongside the corpse. This, he stated, was his symbolic gesture of saying goodbye to his victims.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: When questioned as to whether he had any remorse for his crimes, Nilsen replied: "I wished I could stop, but I couldn't. I had no other thrill or happiness". He also emphasised that he took no pleasure from the act of killing, but "worshipped the art and the act of death".


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: On 11 February 1983, Nilsen was officially charged with the murder of Stephen Sinclair. He was transferred to HMP Brixton to be held on remand until his trial.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: According to Nilsen, upon being transferred to Brixton Prison to await trial, his mood was one of "resignation and relief", with his belief being that he would be viewed, in accordance with law, as innocent until proven guilty. He objected to wearing a prison uniform while on remand. In protest at having to wear a prison uniform and what he interpreted to be breaches of prison rules, Nilsen threatened to protest against his remand conditions by refusing to wear any clothes; as a result of this threat, he was not allowed to leave his cell. On 1 August, Nilsen threw the contents of his chamber pot out of his cell, hitting several prison officers. This incident resulted in Nilsen being found guilty on 9 August of assaulting prison officers and subsequently spending fifty-six days in solitary confinement.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: On 26 May, Nilsen was committed to stand trial at the Old Bailey on five counts of murder and two of attempted murder (a sixth murder charge was later added). Throughout this committal hearing, he was represented by a solicitor named Ronald Moss, whom he had previously dismissed as his legal representative on 21 April, before Moss was reappointed to the role after Nilsen had complained to magistrates he had been afforded no facilities with which he could mount his own defence. Moss was to remain Nilsen's legal representative until July 1983, when Nilsen—again expressing his intention to defend himself—discharged him, until 5 August when Nilsen once again reappointed Moss.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Initially, Nilsen intended to plead guilty to each charge of murder at his upcoming trial. With Nilsen's full consent, Moss had fully prepared his defence; five weeks before his trial, Nilsen again dismissed Moss, and opted instead to be represented by Ralph Haeems, upon whose advice Nilsen agreed to plead not guilty by diminished responsibility.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen was brought to trial on 24 October 1983, charged with six counts of murder and two of attempted murder. He was tried at the Old Bailey before Mr Justice Croom-Johnson and pleaded not guilty on all charges.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: The primary dispute between the prosecuting and defence counsel was not whether Nilsen had killed the victims, but his state of mind before and during the killings. The prosecuting counsel, Allan Green QC, argued that Nilsen was sane, in full control of his actions, and had killed with premeditation. The defence counsel, Ivan Lawrence QC, argued that Nilsen suffered from diminished responsibility, rendering him incapable of forming the intention to commit murder, and should therefore be convicted only of manslaughter.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: The prosecution counsel opened the case for the Crown by describing the events of February 1983 leading to the identification of human remains in the drains at Cranley Gardens and Nilsen's subsequent arrest, the discovery of three dismembered bodies in his property, his detailed confession, his leading investigators to the charred bone fragments of twelve further victims killed at Melrose Avenue, and the efforts he had taken to conceal his crimes. In a tactful reference to the primary dispute between opposing counsel at the trial, Green closed his opening speech with an answer Nilsen had given to police in response to a question as to whether he needed to kill: "At the precise moment of the act [of murder], I believe I am right in doing the act". To counteract this argument, Green added: "The Crown says that even if there was mental abnormality, that was not sufficient to diminish substantially his responsibility for these killings".


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: The first witness to testify for the prosecution was Douglas Stewart, who testified that in November 1980, he had fallen asleep in a chair in Nilsen's flat only to wake to find his ankles bound to a chair and Nilsen strangling him with a tie as he pressed his knee to his (Stewart's) chest. Successfully overpowering Nilsen, Stewart testified that Nilsen had then shouted, "Take my money!" This, the prosecution attested, reflected Nilsen's rational, cool presence of mind in that he hoped to be overheard by other tenants. Upon leaving Nilsen's residence, Stewart had reported the attack to police, who in turn questioned Nilsen. Noting conflicting details in accounts given by both men, police had dismissed the incident as a lovers' quarrel. Upon cross-examination, the defence counsel sought to undermine Stewart's credibility, pointing to minor inconsistencies in the testimony, the fact he had consumed much alcohol on the night in question, and suggesting his memory had been selectively magnified as he had previously sold his story to the press.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: On 25 October the court heard testimony from two further men who had survived attempts by Nilsen to strangle them. The first of these, Paul Nobbs, provided testimony which the prosecution asserted was evidence of Nilsen's self-control and ability to refrain from homicidal impulses. A university student, Nobbs testified that he accompanied Nilsen to Cranley Gardens for alcohol and sex and woke in the early hours of the morning with "a terrible headache". Upon washing his face in Nilsen's bathroom, as Nobbs noted his eyes were bloodshot and his face completely red, Nilsen had exclaimed, "God! You look bloody awful!" Nilsen then advised the youth to see a doctor. Nobbs had not reported the attack to police for fear of his sexuality being discovered. Contrary to the prosecution claims, the defence counsel asserted that Nobbs' testimony reflected Nilsen's rational self being unable to control his impulses. The fact Nilsen had selected a university student as a potential victim was at odds with the prosecution's claim that Nilsen intentionally selected rootless males whose disappearance was unlikely to be noted.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Immediately after the testimony of Nobbs had concluded, Carl Stottor took the stand to recount how, in May 1982, Nilsen had attempted to strangle and drown him, before bringing him "back to life". Stottor's voice frequently quavered with emotion as he recounted how Nilsen had repeatedly attempted to drown him in his bathtub as he pleaded in vain for his life to be spared, and how he later awoke to find Nilsen's mongrel dog licking his face; on several occasions, the judge had to allow Stottor time to regain his composure. (The evidence provided by Stottor was not included as part of the indictment against Nilsen as his whereabouts were not known until after the indictment had been completed.)


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: DCI Jay then recounted the circumstances of Nilsen's arrest and his "calm, matter-of-fact" confessions, before reading to the court several statements volunteered by Nilsen following his arrest. In one of these statements, Nilsen had said: "I have no tears for my victims; I have no tears for myself, nor those bereaved by my actions". Jay admitted it was unusual for anyone accused of such horrific crimes to be so forthcoming in providing information, and conceded upon questioning by defence counsel that Nilsen not only provided most of the evidence against himself, but also encouraged the discovery of evidence which could contradict his own version of events. Following Jay's testimony, DS Chambers recited Nilsen's formal confession to the court. This testimony included graphic descriptions of the ritualistic and sexual acts Nilsen performed with his victims' bodies, his various methods of storage of bodies and body parts, dismemberment and disposal, and the problems decomposition—particularly regarding colonies of maggots—afforded him. Several jurors were visibly shaken throughout this testimony; others looked at Nilsen with incredulous expressions on their faces as Nilsen listened to the testimony with apparent indifference. This testimony lasted until the following morning, when the prosecution included several exhibits into evidence. This included the cooking pot in which Nilsen had boiled the heads of the three victims killed at Cranley Gardens, the cutting board he had used to dissect John Howlett, and several rusted catering knives which had formerly belonged to victim Martyn Duffey.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Two psychiatrists testified on behalf of the defence. The first of these, James MacKeith, began his testimony on 26 October. MacKeith testified as to how, through a lack of emotional development, Nilsen experienced difficulty expressing any emotion other than anger, and his tendency to treat other human beings as components of his fantasies. The psychiatrist also described Nilsen's association between unconscious bodies and sexual arousal; stating that Nilsen possessed narcissistic traits, an impaired sense of identity, and was able to depersonalise other people. He stated his conclusions that Nilsen displayed many signs of maladaptive behaviour, the combination of which, in one man, was lethal. These factors could be attributed to an unspecified personality disorder from which MacKeith believed Nilsen suffered. In response to prosecution contention that, in attributing an unspecified disorder to Nilsen, MacKeith was undecided in his conclusions, MacKeith contended that this unspecified personality disorder was severe enough to substantially reduce Nilsen's responsibility.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: The second psychiatrist to testify for the defence, Patrick Gallwey, diagnosed Nilsen with a "borderline, false-self as if pseudo-normal, narcissistic personality disorder", with occasional outbreaks of schizoid disturbances that Nilsen managed most of the time to keep at bay; Gallwey stated that, in episodic breakdowns, Nilsen became predominantly schizoid—acting in an impulsive, violent and sudden manner. Gallwey further added that someone suffering from these episodic breakdowns is most likely to disintegrate under circumstances of social isolation. In effect, Nilsen was not guilty of "malice aforethought". Upon cross-examination, Green largely focused upon the degree of awareness shown by Nilsen and his ability to make decisions. Gallwey conceded that Nilsen was intellectually aware of his actions, but stressed that, due to his personality disorder, Nilsen did not appreciate the criminal nature of what he had done.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: On 31 October, the prosecution called Paul Bowden to testify in rebuttal of the psychiatrists who had testified for the defence. Prior to Nilsen's trial, Bowden had interviewed the defendant on sixteen separate occasions in interviews totalling over fourteen hours. Over two days, Bowden testified that, although he found Nilsen to be abnormal in a colloquial sense, he had concluded Nilsen to be a manipulative person who had been capable of forming relationships, but had forced himself to objectify people. Refuting the testimony of MacKeith and Gallwey, Bowden further testified he had found no evidence of maladaptive behaviour, and that Nilsen suffered from no disorder of the mind.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Following the closing arguments of both prosecution and defence, the jury retired to consider their verdict on 3 November 1983. The following day, the jury returned with a majority verdict of guilty upon six counts of murder and one of attempted murder, with a unanimous verdict of guilty in relation to the attempted murder of Nobbs. Croom-Johnson sentenced Nilsen to life imprisonment with a recommendation that he serve a minimum of 25 years' imprisonment.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Following his conviction, Nilsen was transferred to HMP Wormwood Scrubs to begin his sentence. As a Category A prisoner, he was assigned his own cell and could mix freely with other inmates. Nilsen did not lodge an appeal, accepting that the Crown's case—that he had had the capacity to control his actions and that he had killed with premeditation—was essentially correct. He further elaborated on the day of his conviction that he took an enormous thrill from the "social seduction; the getting the 'friend' back; the decision to kill; the body and its disposal". Nilsen also claimed drunkenness was the sole reason at least two of his attempted murders were unsuccessful.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In December 1983, Nilsen was cut on the face and chest with a razor blade by an inmate named Albert Moffatt, resulting in injuries requiring eighty-nine stitches. Afterward, he was briefly transferred to HMP Parkhurst, before being transferred to HMP Wakefield, where he remained until 1990. In 1991, Nilsen was transferred to a vulnerable-prisoner unit at HMP Full Sutton upon concerns for his safety. He remained there until 1993, when he was transferred to HMP Whitemoor, again as a Category A prisoner, and with increased segregation from other inmates.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: The minimum term of 25 years imprisonment to which Nilsen was sentenced in 1983 was replaced by a whole-life tariff by Home Secretary Michael Howard in December 1994. This ruling ensured Nilsen would never be released from prison, a punishment he accepted.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In 2003, Nilsen was again transferred to HMP Full Sutton, where he remained incarcerated as a Category A prisoner. In the prison workshop, Nilsen translated books into braille. He spent much of his free time reading and writing, and was allowed to paint and compose music upon a keyboard. He also exchanged letters with numerous people who sought his correspondence. Nilsen remained at HMP Full Sutton until his death on 12 May 2018.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In September 1992, Central Television conducted an interview with Nilsen as part of the programme "Viewpoint 1993 – Murder In Mind", which focused upon offender profiling. A four-minute section of this interview, in which Nilsen frankly discussed his crimes, was initially scheduled to be broadcast on 19 January 1993; the Home Office sought to ban the interview from being broadcast on the grounds that they had not granted permission for Central Television to conduct interviews with Nilsen which were later broadcast to the public, and claimed ownership of copyrighted material. Central Television challenged the Home Office ruling in court, citing sections of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, and that full permission to conduct an interview with Nilsen had been granted in advance. On 26 January 1993 Judge William Aldous ruled in Central's favour, and the same day, three appeal court judges, Sir Thomas Bingham, Master of the Rolls; Lord Justice McCowan; and Lord Justice Hirst upheld his decision. The interview was screened in full that evening.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen repeatedly sought legal avenues to challenge real and perceived abuses of prison rules by prison officers—regularly petitioning the Home Office and, later, the European Court of Human Rights with complaints. As a result, he was an unpopular inmate with successive governors at the various prisons in which he was incarcerated. In October 2001, Nilsen brought a judicial review against the prison service, citing that the gay softcore pornography magazines "Vulcan" and "Him", to which he subscribed regularly, had some images and articles of a more explicit nature removed before the magazine reached him. The legal case he brought against the prison service was dismissed because he could not establish that any breach of his human rights had occurred.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In the years following his incarceration, Nilsen composed an unpublished, 400-page autobiography, entitled "The History of a Drowning Boy" (the title being a reference to his concepts of the tranquility of death following his grandfather's death and his own near-fatal drowning in 1954). In his autobiography, Nilsen states that, beginning with his service in the army, he constantly lived two separate lives: his "real life" and his "fantasy life". He writes: "When I was with people, I was in the 'real' world, and in my private life, I snapped instantly into my fantasy life. I could oscillate between the two with instant ease." With reference to his murders, Nilsen claimed that his emotional state upon the dates of the murders, in conjunction with the amount of alcohol he had consumed, were both core factors in his decision to kill. He further emphasised that, when feeling low, seizing an opportunity to satisfy the sexual fantasies he had developed in which the victim is the young, attractive and passive partner, and he the older active partner, temporarily relieved him of a general feeling of inadequacy.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen's first murder victim was identified in 2006 as 14-year-old Stephen Holmes. Formal identification was confirmed via a combination of circumstantial evidence and by Nilsen identifying a photograph of the youth shown to him by police (all bone fragments found at Melrose Avenue had been destroyed). He was not charged with this murder as the Crown Prosecution Service decided that a prosecution would not be in the public interest, and would not contribute to his current sentence.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: At least four victims killed between 1980 and 1981 at Melrose Avenue remain unidentified. A forensics expert testified at Nilsen's 1983 trial that "at least eight bodies" had been incinerated at Melrose Avenue, academically confirming he had murdered at least eleven victims. Several items confiscated from Nilsen's Cranley Gardens address—some of which had been introduced as evidence at Nilsen's trial—are on display at New Scotland Yard's Crime Museum. These exhibits include the stove upon which Nilsen had boiled the heads of his final three victims; the knives he had used to dissect several of his victims' bodies; the headphones Nilsen had used to strangle Ockenden; the ligature he had fashioned to strangle his last victim; and the bath from his Cranley Gardens address in which he had drowned Howlett and retained the body of Allen prior to dissection.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In January 2021, a former confidant of Nilsen's named Mark Austin revealed that an edited version of "The History of a Drowning Boy" was to be posthumously published by RedDoor Press. The autobiography, based upon the 6,000 pages of typewritten notes Nilsen authored while incarcerated, examines his life and crimes, and is edited by Austin, who became a pen pal of Nilsen's in the years prior to his death and who exchanged more than 800 letters with him. This autobiography was published on 21 January 2021.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: On 10 May 2018, Nilsen was taken from HMP Full Sutton to York Hospital after complaining of severe stomach pains. He was found to have a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, which was repaired, although he subsequently suffered a blood clot as a complication of the surgery. Nilsen died on 12 May. A subsequent post-mortem examination revealed that the immediate cause of Nilsen's death was pulmonary embolism and retroperitoneal haemorrhage.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen's body was cremated in June 2018. This service was held with only five mourners present, including three prison officers and the individual with whom Nilsen had corresponded while in prison. No family members were present at the service. In line with Ministry of Justice policy, HMP Full Sutton paid £3,323 towards the cost of Nilsen's funeral. His ashes were later handed to his family.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: Nilsen is known to have killed twelve young men and boys between 1978 and 1983; it is suspected that the true number of victims may be fifteen. At least nine victims had been killed at 195 Melrose Avenue, with his final three victims being killed at 23 Cranley Gardens. Of Nilsen's eight identified victims, only three—Stephen Holmes, Kenneth Ockenden and Graham Allen—had a permanent address at the time of their murder, with the remaining victims largely (though not exclusively) consisting of vagrants, runaways and male prostitutes.


title: Dennis Nilsen

text: In 1992, Nilsen claimed the true total of victims he killed was twelve, and that he had fabricated the three additional victims he initially confessed to having killed at Melrose Avenue, both in response to pressure as he was being interviewed as well as to simply "stick with the figure" of approximately fifteen victims he had provided investigators with as he was initially escorted to Hornsey police station. Nilsen said that three unidentified victims he had initially confessed to killing—an Irishman in September 1980; a "long-haired hippy" in November or December 1980, and an English skinhead in April 1981—had been invented to simply "complement the continuity of evidence". DCI Jay dismisses Nilsen's claims to have killed only twelve victims, stating that in the more than thirty hours of interviews police had conducted with Nilsen, when discussing the fifteen victims he had initially confessed to killing, he had never provided any inconsistencies in the physical characteristics, the date or place of encounter, the act of murder, or the ritual he observed with the body of any of the fifteen victims.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: In Islam, Jesus () is believed to be the penultimate prophet and messenger of God and the Messiah. He is also considered to be the prophet sent to guide the Children of Israel (), being revealed the third holy book called the "Injīl."


title: Jesus in Islam

text: In the Quran, Jesus is described as the Messiah (), born of a virgin, performing miracles, accompanied by disciples, rejected by the Jewish establishment, and being raised to heaven. The Quran asserts that Jesus wasn't crucified nor died on the cross, but was miraculously saved by God. The Quran places Jesus amongst the greatest prophets, and mentions him with various titles. The prophethood of Jesus is preceded by that of Yahya and succeeded by Muhammad, the latter of whom Jesus is reported to have prophesied by using the name Ahmad.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The Quran rejects the Christian view of the divinity of Jesus as God incarnate, or the literal Son of God. It denies Jesus as a deity in several verses, and also mentions that Jesus did not claim to be divine. Muslims believe that Jesus' original message was altered (), after him being raised alive. The monotheism () of Jesus is emphasized in the Quran. Like all prophets in Islam, Jesus is also called a Muslim, as he preached that his followers should adopt the 'straight path' (). Jesus is attributed with a vast amount of miracles in Islamic tradition.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: In Islamic eschatology, Jesus will return in the Second Coming with Imam Mahdi to kill the "Al-Masih ad-Dajjal" ('The False Messiah'), after which with the ancient tribes Gog and Magog () would disperse. After these creatures would miraculously perish, Imam Mahdi and Jesus would rule the entire world, establish peace and justice, and die after a reign of 40 years. Some Muslims believe that he would then be buried alongside Muhammad at the fourth reserved tomb of the Green Dome in Medina.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Jesus is understood by Muslims to be one of the most important prophets of Islam. The place where Jesus is believed to return, the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, is highly esteemed by Muslims as the fourth holiest site of Islam. Jesus is widely venerated in Sufism, with numerous ascetic and mystic literature being written and recited about the Islamic prophet.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Islam's account of Jesus begins with a prologue narrated several times in the Quran which first describes the birth of his mother, Mary, and her service in the Jerusalem temple while under the care of the prophet Zechariah, who would become the father of Yahya (John the Baptist). The Quran's birth narrative of Jesus begins at and . This birth narrative has been recounted with certain variations and detailed additions by Islamic historians over the centuries. In the matter of the virgin birth of Jesus, while Islamic theology affirms Mary as a pure vessel, it does not follow the concept of Immaculate Conception as related to Mary's birth in some Christian traditions.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Islamic exegesis affirms the virginal birth of Jesus - similarly to the Gospel account and occurring in Bethlehem. The narrative of the virgin birth opens with an announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel while Mary is being raised in the Temple after having been pledged to God by her mother. Gabriel states she is honored over all women of all nations and has brought her glad tidings of a holy son.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Gabriel declares the son is to be named Jesus, the Messiah, proclaiming he will be called a great prophet. Mary, asking how she could conceive and have a child when no man had touched her, was answered by the angel that God can decree what He wills, and that it shall come to pass.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The narrative from the Quran continues with Mary, overcome by the pains of childbirth, being provided with a stream of water under her feet from which she could drink, and with a palm tree which she could shake so ripe dates would fall and be enjoyed. After giving birth, Mary carries the baby Jesus back to the temple and is asked by the temple elders about the child. Having been commanded by Gabriel to a vow of silence, she points to the infant Jesus and the infant proclaims:


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Jesus speaking from the cradle is one of six miracles attributed to him in the Quran, an account which is also found in the Syriac Infancy Gospel, a sixth-century work. According to various hadiths, Jesus and Mary didn't cry at birth.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The Islamic faith echoed some strands within the Christian tradition that Mary (or Maryam) was a literal virgin when Jesus was conceived. The most detailed account of the annunciation and birth of Jesus is provided in Surah 3 (Al Imran) and 19 (Maryam) of the Quran, where the story is narrated that God (Allah) sent an angel to announce that Maryam could shortly expect to bear a son, despite being a virgin.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Some academics have noted that the account in Surah 19 is particularly close to that in the Christian Gospel of Luke. The Annunciation to Mary is mentioned twice in the Quran, and in both instances Mary/ Maryam is told that she was chosen by God to deliver a son. In the first instance, the bearer of the news (who is believed by most Muslims to be the archangel Gabriel), delivered the news in () as he takes the form of a man (). The details of the conception are not discussed, but when Mary asks how she can bear a son in view of her chastity, she is told that God creates what he wills and that these things are easy for God.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The 8th-century Muslim historian Ibn Ishaq (704–767), wrote the account entitled "Kitab al-Mubtada" (In the Beginning), reporting that Zechariah is Mary's guardian briefly, and after being incapable of maintaining her, he entrusts her to a carpenter named George. Secluded in a church, she is joined by a young man named Joseph, and they help one another fetching water and other tasks. The account of the birth of Jesus follows the Quran's narrative, adding that the birth occurred in Bethlehem beside a palm tree with a manger.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The 10th-century Persian scholar Al-Tabari (839–923), mentions envoys arriving from the king of Persia with gifts (similar to the Magi from the east) for the Messiah; the command to a man called Joseph (not specifically Mary's husband) to take her and the child to Egypt and later return to Nazareth.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The Fatimid Ismaili jurist Qadi al-Nu’man also contributed to the narrative, explaining that the virgin birth of Jesus is meant to be interpreted symbolically. In his interpretation, Mary was the follower ("lāḥiq"), of the Imam Joachim ('Imran). However, when Joachim realized that she was not suited for the "Imamah", he passed it to Zechariah, who then passed it to John the Baptist. Meanwhile, Mary received spiritual inspiration ("mādda") from God, revealing that he would invite a man [to the faith] who would become an exalted Speaker ("nāṭiq") of a revealed religion ("sharīʿa"). According to al-Nu’man, the verses “She said: Lord! How can I have a child when no man has touched me?” () and “neither have I been unchaste” () are symbolic of Mary's saying, “How can I conduct the invitation ("daʿwa") when the Imam of the Time has not given me permission to do so?” and “Nor shall I be unfaithful by acting against his command”, respectively. To this, a celestial hierarch replies “Such is God. He creates [i.e., causes to pass] what he wills” (Quran 3:47).


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The Quran does not include the tradition of the Flight into Egypt, though sūra 23:50 could conceivably allude to it: "And we made the son of Maryam and his mother a sign; and we made them abide in an elevated place, full of quiet and watered with springs." However, narratives similar to the narrative found in the Gospels and non-canonical sources circulated in later Islamic tradition, with some details and elaborations being added over the centuries by Islamic writers and historians. Some narratives have Jesus and family staying in Egypt up to 12 years. Many moral stories and miraculous events of Jesus' youth are mentioned in "Qisas al-anbiya" (Stories of the Prophets), books composed over the centuries about pre-Islamic prophets and heroes.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Al-Masudi wrote that Jesus as a boy studied the Jewish religion reading from the Psalms and found "traced in characters of light":


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Several narratives show some disparity and similarity in Islamic writings about Jesus' early childhood, specifically his time in Egypt with regard to duration and events. Most of the narratives are found in non-canonical Christian sources like, for example, the pre-Islamic Gospel of Thomas. One such disparity is from al-Athir in his "The Perfection of History" which contains a birth narrative stating Jesus was born in Egypt instead of Bethlehem.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Some other narratives of Jesus' childhood are popular Middle Eastern lore as highlighted by professor of interfaith studies Mahmoud M. Ayoub. Many miracles are attributed to a young Jesus while in Egypt (see §§ Miracles and Other miracles).


title: Jesus in Islam

text: It is generally agreed that Jesus spoke Aramaic, the common language of Judea in the first century A.D. and the region at-large.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The first and earliest view of Jesus formulated in Islamic thought is that of a prophet – a human being chosen by God to present both a judgment upon humanity for worshipping idols and a challenge to turn to the one true God. From this basis, reflected upon all previous prophets through the lens of Muslim identity, Jesus is considered no more than a messenger repeating a repetitive message of the ages. The miracles of Jesus and the quranic titles attributed to Jesus demonstrate the power of God rather than the divinity of Jesus – the same power behind the message of all prophets. Some Islamic traditions believe Jesus' mission was only to the people of Israel and his status as a prophet being confirmed by numerous miracles.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: A second early high image of Jesus is an end-time figure. This concept arises mostly from the Hadith. Muslim tradition constructs a narrative similarly found in Christian theology, seeing Jesus arriving at the end of time and descending upon earth to fight the Antichrist. This narrative is understood to champion the cause of Islam, with some traditions narrating Jesus pointing to the primacy of Muhammad. Most traditions state Jesus will then die a natural death.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: A third and distinctive image is of Jesus representing an ascetic figure – a prophet of the heart. Although the Quran refers to the 'gospel' of Jesus, those specific teachings of his are not mentioned in the Quran or later religious texts. They are largely absent. The Sufi tradition is where Jesus became revered, acknowledged as a spiritual teacher with a distinctive voice from other prophets, including Muhammad. Sufism tends to explore the dimensions of union with God through many approaches, including asceticism, poetry, philosophy, speculative suggestion, and mystical methods. Although Sufism to the Western mind may seem to share similar origins or elements of Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, and Buddhism, the ideology is distinctly Islamic since they adhere to the words of the Quran and pursue imitation of Muhammad as the perfect man.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The Islamic concepts of Jesus' preaching is believed to have originated in Kufa, Iraq, under the Rashidun Caliphate where the earliest writers of Muslim tradition and scholarship was formulated. The concepts of Jesus and his preaching ministry developed in Kufa was adopted from the early ascetic Christians of Egypt who opposed official church bishopric appointments from Rome.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The earliest stories, numbering about 85, are found in two major collections of ascetic literature entitled "Kitab al-Zuhd wa'l Raqa'iq" (The Book of the Asceticism and Tender Mercies) by Ibn al-Mubarak (d. 797), and "Kitab al-Zuhd" (The Book of Asceticism) by Ibn Hanbal (d. 855). These sayings fall into four basic groups: a) eschatological sayings; b) quasi-Gospel sayings; c) ascetic sayings and stories; d) sayings echoing intra-Muslim polemics.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The first group of sayings expands Jesus' archetype as portrayed in the Quran. The second group of stories, although containing a Gospel core, are expanded with a "distinctly Islamic stamp". The third group, being the largest of the four, portrays Jesus as a patron saint of Muslim asceticism. The last group builds upon the Islamic archetype and Muslim-centric definition of Jesus and his attributes, furthering esoteric ideas regarding terms such as "Spirit of God" and "Word of God".


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The Quran attributes at least six miracles to Jesus, with many more being added over the centuries by writers and historians. Miracles were attributed to Jesus as signs of his prophethood and his authority, according to educator and professor Ishaq Musa Al-Husayni (d. 1990), an author most known for "Mudhakkirat Dajaja (Memoirs of a Hen)" (Cairo: Dar al-Maarif, 1943; 2nd ed. 1967). In "Christ in the Quran and Modern Arabic Literature" (1960), Al-Husayni said it is noteworthy Muhammad attributes no miracles to himself.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: These six miracles in the Quran are without detail unlike the Gospel and their non-canonical Gnostic sources, which include details and mention other attributed miracles. Over the centuries, these six miracle narratives have been elaborated through Hadith and poetry, with religious writings including some of the other miracles mentioned in the Gospel, non-canonical sources, and from lore.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Speaking from the cradle is mentioned in three places in the Quran: al-Imran (3) 41, 46, al-Maida (5) 109–110 and Maryam (19) 29–30. Part of the narrative has the infant Jesus defending his mother Mary from the accusation of having given birth without a known husband. Early Islam was unclear about Joseph and his role. Jesus speaks as the angel Gabriel had mentioned at the annunciation: Jesus proclaims he is a servant of God, has been given a book, is a prophet, is blessed wherever he will go, blesses the day he was born, the day he will die, and the day he is raised alive.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Although this particular narrative is not found in the Bible, the theme of speaking from the cradle is found in the non-canonical pre-Islamic Syriac Infancy Gospel. That source has Jesus declaring himself the Son of God, the Word, and affirming what the angel Gabriel had previously announced to Mary as detailed in the Gospel.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The miracle story of creating birds from clay and breathing life into them when a child is mentioned in al-Imran (3) 43, 49 and al-Maida (5) 109–110. Although this miracle is also not mentioned in the canonical Gospel, the same narrative is found in at least two pre-Islamic sources: the Infancy Gospel of Thomas and the Jewish Toledot Yeshu, with few variant details between the Quran and these two sources.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Similar to the New Testament, the Quran mentions Jesus healing the blind and the lepers in al-Imran (3) 49. Muslim scholar and judge al-Baydawi (d. 1286) wrote how it was recorded that many thousands of people came to Jesus to be healed and that Jesus healed these diseases through prayer only. Medieval scholar al-Tha'labi wrote about how these two particular diseases were beyond medical help, and Jesus' miracles were meant to be witnessed by others as clear signs of his message.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Jesus is believed to have raised people from the dead, as mentioned in al-Imran (3) 49. Although no detail is given as to who was raised or the circumstance, at least three people are mentioned in detail in the Christian Gospel (a daughter of Jairus, a widow's son at Nain, and Lazarus).


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Jesus was able to predict, or had foreknowledge, of what was hidden or unknown to others. One example is Jesus would answer correctly any and every question anyone asked him. Another example is Jesus knew what people had just eaten, as well as what they had stored in their homes.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: In the fifth chapter of the Quran, al-Ma'ida (5) 112–115, a narration mentions the disciples of Jesus requesting a table laden with food, and for it to be a special day of commemoration for them in the future. This may be a possible reference to the Eucharist according to professor of Islamic and Arabic studies W. Montgomery Watt (d. 2006). According to professor of comparative religions Geoffrey Parrinder (d. 2005), it is unclear if this story parallels the Gospel's Last Supper or the feeding the multitude, but may be tied to the Arabic word "ʿīd" (Muslim festival):


title: Jesus in Islam

text: In a record by the Sunni exegete Tabari, before the last supper, the threat of death made him anxious. Therefore, Jesus invited his disciples for the last supper. After the meal, he washed their hands and performed their ablutions to wipe their hands on his clothing. Afterwards Jesus replied to them: "As for that I have done to you tonight, in that I served you the meal and washed your hands in person, let it be an example for you. Since you indeed consider me to be better than you, do not be haughty in relation to each other but rather expand yourselves for each other as I have expanded myself for you." After instructing the disciples in his teachings, Jesus foretells that one of them would deny him and another betray him. However, in accordance with Islamic views on Jesus' death, just a corpse in semblance of Jesus was crucified and Jesus himself was raised to God.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Many stories and narratives have been developed over the years about Jesus, containing certain inherent lessons or providing meaning due to the lack of detail in the Quran regarding Jesus. Some of these narratives are similar in nature to the New Testament, while some portray Jesus in a very human manner.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Besides some detailed summaries of miracles of Jesus mentioned by Muslim writers over the centuries, from adulthood (like walking on water – also found in the Gospel – and causing loaves of bread to come from the ground), some other miracles from childhood include: explaining the Muslim creed fundamentals to a schoolmaster, revealing who the thieves were to a wealthy chief, filling empty jars of something to drink, providing food and wine for a tyrannical king while also proving to this king his power in raising a dead man from the dead, raising a child accidentally killed, and causing the garments from a single-colored vat to come out with various colors.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Al-Tabari (d. 923) reports a story of an adult Jesus' encounter with a certain king in the region and the healing of his son. The identity of the king is not mentioned while legend suggests Philip the Tetrarch. The corresponding Bible reference is "the royal official's son".


title: Jesus in Islam

text: A legendary story of a miracle by a young Jesus, used as a hard-learned lesson popularly found in Middle Eastern lore according to professor Ayoub, has to do with a Jewish man and loaves of bread. Although carrying a polemic tone, the lesson centers on greed with truth-telling woven into the narration. It is a story found often in children's books.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Another legendary miracle story is one regarding Jesus' childhood wisdom. This legend, reported through al-Tabari from ibn Ishaq, talks about Mary sending Jesus to a religious school and the teacher being astonished to find Jesus already knowing the information being taught / discussed.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Another story from al-Tabari tells of a young Jesus playing with the youths of his village and telling them what food their parents were preparing for them at home.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: According to the details of the narrative, some parents became annoyed and forbade their children to play with Jesus, suspecting he was a magician. As a result, the parents kept their children away from Jesus and gathered their children into a single house. One day, feeling lonely, Jesus went out looking for his friends, and coming upon this house he asked the parents where their children were. The parents lied, responding that the children were not there. After Jesus asks who, then, is in the house, the parents call Jesus a pig. Jesus then says "Let there be swine in this house", turning all the children into swine.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Over the centuries, Muslim writers have also referenced other miracles like casting out demons, having borrowed from some heretical pre-Islamic sources, and from canonical sources as legends about Jesus were expanded.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Muslims believe that God revealed a new scripture to Jesus, called the "al-Injil" (the Gospel), while also declaring the truth of the previous revelations: "al-Tawrat" (the Torah) and "al-Zabur" (the Psalms). The Quran speaks favorably of "al-Injīl", which it describes as a scripture that fills the hearts of its followers with meekness and piety. Traditional Islamic exegesis claims the biblical message to have been distorted ("tahrif"), is termed "ta'yin al-mubham" ("resolution of ambiguity"). This polemic effort has its origins in the medieval period with Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad's writings. Regarding the Law of Moses, the Quran indicates that Jesus never abolished Jewish laws but rather confirmed them, while making partial abrogations only.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Muslims have long believed that Paul purposefully corrupted the original teachings of Jesus. The 9th-century historian Sayf ibn Umar asserted that certain rabbis persuaded Paul to deliberately misguide early Christians by introducing what Ibn Hazm viewed as objectionable doctrines into Christianity.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: According to Yusuf al-Qaradawi in his book "The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam", the legal restrictions Jesus abrogated for Jews were those initially legislated by God as a punishment. Classical commentaries such as "Tafsir al-Jalalayn" specify they pertained to the consumption of fish and bird meat without spikes, or in general.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The Quran states that Jesus was aided by a group of disciples () who believed in his message. While not naming the disciples, the Quran does give a few instances of Jesus preaching the message to them. Muslims view the disciples of Jesus as identical to the companions () of Muhammad. According to Christianity, the names of the twelve disciples were Peter, Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Jude, Simon, and Judas.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The longest narrative involving Jesus' disciples is when Jesus performs the miracle of bringing a table of food from heaven at their request, for further proof that his preaching is the true message.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: An-Nisa's verse 157 is the primary verse of the Quran to refer to the event of Jesus' crucifixion. It says that Jesus was not killed and neither crucified, but 'it was made to appear to them'. Most Islamic traditions categorically deny that Jesus physically died on the cross or otherwise. Islamic exegesis report that another person was crucified in Jesus' place. However, some modern Muslim scholars believe that Jesus did indeed die, and references to his survival are symbolic, not literal. This disagreement on the nature of Jesus' death is found within the Islamic canon itself, with the earliest Hadith quoting the companions of Muhammad saying that Jesus had died. Meanwhile, the majority of subsequent Hadith and Tafsir argue in favor of the opposite.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: According to the Quran, he was not crucified, but was rather saved by God. (Although the earliest Islamic traditions and exegesis quote somewhat conflicting reports regarding a death and its length, Muslims believe that Jesus did not die on the cross, but believe that he was saved by being raised alive to heaven).


title: Jesus in Islam

text: It is unclear exactly where the substitutionist interpretation originated, but some scholars consider the theory originating among certain Gnostic groups of the second century. Leirvik finds the Quran and Hadith to have been clearly influenced by the non-canonical ('heretical') Christianity that prevailed in the Arab peninsula and further in Abyssinia.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: While most Western scholars, Jews, and Christians believe Jesus died, orthodox Muslim theology teaches he ascended to Heaven without being put on the cross and God transformed another person, Simon of Cyrene, to appear exactly like Jesus who was crucified instead of Jesus (cf. Irenaeus' description of the heresy of Basilides, Book I, ch. XXIV, 4.).


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Some disagreement and discord can be seen beginning with Ibn Ishaq's (d. 761) report of a brief accounting of events leading up to the crucifixion, firstly stating that Jesus was replaced by someone named Sergius, while secondly reporting an account of Jesus' tomb being located at Medina and thirdly citing the places in the Quran (3:55; 4:158) that God took Jesus up to himself.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Michael Cook notes that denial that Jesus died follows the Christian heresy of Docetism, who were "disturbed by that God should have died", but that this concern conflicts with another Islamic doctrine, that Jesus was a man, not God. According to Todd Lawson, Quranic commentators seem to have concluded the denial of the crucifixion of Jesus by following material interpreted in Tafsir that relied upon extra-biblical Judeo-Christian sources, with the earliest textual evidence having originated from a non-Muslim source; a misreading of the Christian writings of John of Damascus regarding the literal understandings of Docetism (exegetical doctrine describing spiritual and physical realities of Jesus as understood by men in logical terms) as opposed to their figurative explanations. John of Damascus highlighted the Quran's assertion that the Jews did not crucify Jesus being very different from saying that Jesus was not crucified, explaining that it is the varied Quranic exegetes in Tafsir, and not the Quran itself, that denies the crucifixion, further stating that the message in the 4:157 verse simply affirms the historicity of the event.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Ja'far ibn Mansur al-Yaman (d. 958), Abu Hatim Ahmad ibn Hamdan al-Razi (d. 935), Abu Yaqub al-Sijistani (d. 971), Mu'ayyad fi'l-Din al-Shirazi (d. 1078) and the group Ikhwan al-Safa also affirm the historicity of the Crucifixion, reporting Jesus was crucified and not substituted by another man as maintained by many other popular Quranic commentators and Tafsir. More recently, Mahmoud M. Ayoub, a professor and scholar, provided a more symbolic interpretation for Surah 4 Verse 157:


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Ayoub, instead of interpreting the passage as a denial of the death of Jesus, instead believes the passage is about God denying men the power to vanquish and destroy God's message. The words, "but they killed him not, nor crucified him." is meant to show that any power humans believe that they have against God is illusory.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Some Sunni Islamic exegesists, such as the anti-Christian polemicist Muhammad Rashid Rida, held an ambigious stance on the position that crucifixion and ascension of Jesus as being allegorical, but with extreme precaution, inorder to rebutt Christian doctrines on crucifixion and salvation. Comprehensively denouncing Christian doctrines on salvation, atonement and crucifixion as irrational and "kufr" (disbelief) in his "Tafsir al-Manar", Rida also denounced the Jews for their killings of the Prophets of God, writing:


title: Jesus in Islam

text: An early interpretation of verse 3:55 (specifically "I will cause you to die and raise you to myself"), Al-Tabari (d. 923) records an interpretation attributed to Ibn 'Abbas, who used the literal "I will cause you to die" (mumayyitu-ka) in place of the metaphorical mutawaffi-ka "Jesus died", while Wahb ibn Munabbih, an early Jewish convert, is reported to have said "God caused Jesus, son of Mary, to die for three hours during the day, then took him up to himself." Tabari further transmits from Ibn Ishaq: "God caused Jesus to die for seven hours", while at another place reported that a person called Sergius was crucified in place of Jesus. Ibn-al-Athir forwarded the report that it was Judas, the betrayer, while also mentioning the possibility it was a man named Natlianus.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: In reference to the quranic quote "We have surely killed Jesus the Christ, son of Mary, the apostle of God", Muslim scholar Mahmoud Ayoub asserts this boast not as the repeating of a historical lie or the perpetuating of a false report, but an example of human arrogance and folly with an attitude of contempt towards God and His messenger(s). Ayoub furthers what modern scholars of Islam interpret regarding the historical death of Jesus, the man, as man's inability to kill off God's Word and the Spirit of God, which the Quran testifies were embodied in Jesus Christ. Ayoub continues highlighting the denial of the killing of Jesus as God denying men such power to vanquish and destroy the divine Word. The words, "they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him" speaks to the profound events of ephemeral human history, exposing mankind's heart and conscience towards God's will. The claim of humanity to have this power against God is illusory. "They did not slay him ...but it seemed so to them" speaks to the imaginations of mankind, not the denial of the actual event of Jesus dying physically on the cross.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Another report from Ibn Kathir quotes Ishaq Ibn Bishr, on authority of Idris, on authority of Wahb ibn Munabbih, that "God caused him to die for three days, then resurrected him, then raised him."


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Ibn Kathir (d. 1373) follows traditions which suggest that a crucifixion did occur, but not with Jesus. After the event, Ibn Kathir reports the people were divided into three groups following three different narratives; The Jacobites believing "God remained with us as long as He willed and then He ascended to Heaven"; the Nestorians believing "The son of God was with us as long as he willed until God raised him to heaven"; and the Muslims believing "The servant and messenger of God, Jesus, remained with us as long as God willed until God raised him to Himself."


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Islamic reformer Muhammad Rashid Rida agrees with contemporary commentators interpreting the physical killing of Christ's apostleship as a metaphorical interpretation.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Modern Islamic scholars like Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabataba'i interpret the ascension of Jesus as spiritual, not physical. This interpretation is in accord with Muʿtazila and Shia metaphorical explanations regarding anthropomorphic references to God in the Quran. Although not popular with traditional Sunni interpretations of the depiction of crucifixion, there has been much speculation and discussion in the effort of logically reconciling this topic.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: In ascetic Shia writings, Jesus is depicted having "ascended to heaven wearing a woolen shirt, spun and sewed by Mary, his mother. As he reached the heavenly regions, he was addressed, 'O Jesus, cast away from you the adornment of the world. After his ascension, his word is believed to have been altered.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: According to Islamic tradition, having ascended to heaven and dwelled there for 2000+ years, Jesus will descend to earth shortly before Judgement Day, in the midst of wars fought against al-Masih ad-Dajjal ('The False Messiah") and his followers, to come to the aid of the Mahdi and his Muslim followers. Dressed in saffron robes with his head anointed, Jesus will descend at the point of a white minaret, in eastern Damascus, which is believed to be the Minaret of Isa in the Umayyad Mosque. He will then greet the Mahdi and (being a Muslim) pray beside him. Eventually, Jesus will slay the Dajjal at Lod.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Afterwards, he will "break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the Jizya tax", according to a well-known Sahih al-Bukhari hadith.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: "The usual interpretation" of this prophecy is that, being a Muslim, Jesus will put a stop to Christian worship of himself and in belief in his divinity, "symbolized by the cross". He will re-establish the Kosher/Halal dietary laws abandoned by Christianity; and because Jews and Christians will now all reject their former faith and accept Islam, there will be no more need for the "jizya" tax on unbelievers. (According to one hadith, Jesus will "destroy the churches and temples and kill the Christians unless they believe in him.")


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Islamic texts also allude to the reappearance of the ancient menace Gog and Magog (), which will break out of its underground confinement and cause havoc around the world. God, in response to Jesus' prayers, will kill them by sending a type of worm in the napes of their necks, and send large birds to carry and clear their corpses from the land. After the death of the Mahdi, Jesus will assume world leadership and peace and justice will be universal.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Also according to tradition, Jesus will then marry, have children, and rule the world for forty years (traditions give many different time periods) after which he will die. Muslims will then perform the funeral prayer for him and then bury him at the Green Dome in the city of Medina in a grave left vacant beside Muhammad, Abu Bakr, and Umar respectively. According to Ibn Khaldun's legend, the two caliphs will rise from the dead between the two prophets.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: While the Quran does not describe any of the above narrative of Jesus' return, many Muslims believe that two Quranic verses refer to his second coming during the end times. (1) The verse mentioned above stating he is never died on earth:


title: Jesus in Islam

text: hadiths on Jesus's return are traced back to Abu Hurairah, one of the sahaba, but might actually have been introduced later during civil wars in the early Abbasid Caliphate, when a savior was expected. While for Shias, the Mahdi will be the savior, some Sunnis tended to expect Jesus' return. During the early Abbasid Caliphate, wearing crucifixes in processions and holding pigs in public, was forbidden. Otherwise, the breaking of the cross, might reflect general disapproval of this symbol by Muslims, and slaying pigs a reference to Jesus exorcism of Legion.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Jesus is described by various means in the Quran. The most common reference to Jesus occurs in the form of "Ibn Maryam" (son of Mary), sometimes preceded with another title. Jesus is also recognized as a "nabī" (prophet) and "rasūl" (messenger) of God. The terms "`abd-Allāh" (servant of God), "wadjih" ("worthy of esteem in this world and the next") and "mubārak" ("blessed", or "a source of benefit for others") are all used in reference to him. According to Islam, Jesus never claimed to be divine.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Islam sees Jesus as human, sent as the last prophet of Israel to Jews with the Gospel scripture, affirming but modifying the Mosaic Law. Mainstream Islamic traditions have rejected any divine notions of Jesus being God, or begotten Son of God, or the Trinity. Popular theology teaches such beliefs constitute "shirk" (the "association" of partners with God) and thereby a rejection of his divine oneness ("tawhid") as the sole unpardonable sin.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: A widespread polemic directed to these doctrinal origins are ascribed to Paul the Apostle, regarded by some Muslims as a heretic, as well as an evolution across the Greco-Roman world causing pagan influences to corrupt God's revelation. The theological absence of Original Sin in Islam renders the Christian concepts of Atonement and Redemption as redundant. Jesus simply conforms to the prophetic mission of his predecessors.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Jesus is understood to have preached salvation through submission to God's will and worshipping God alone. The Quran states that Jesus will ultimately deny claiming divinity in Al-Ma'idah 5:116. Thus, he is considered to have been a "Muslim" by the religious definition of the term (i.e., one who submits to God's will), as understood in Islam regarding all other prophets that preceded him.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: A frequent title of Jesus mentioned is "", which translates to "the Messiah", as well as Christ. Although the Quran is silent on its significance, scholars disagree with the Christian concepts of the term, and lean towards a Jewish understanding. Muslim exegetes explain the use of the word "masīh" in the Quran as referring to Jesus' status as the one anointed by means of blessings and honors; or as the one who helped cure the sick, by anointing the eyes of the blind, for example.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Jesus also holds a description as both a word from God and a soul. The interpretation behind Jesus as a spirit from God, is seen as his human soul. Some Muslim scholars occasionally see the spirit as the archangel Gabriel, but majority consider the spirit to be Jesus himself.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Jesus is mentioned about 187 times in the Quran, directly and indirectly, and also referred to by many titles, the most common being al-Masih ('the Messiah'). Jesus is referred to 25 times by the name Isa, third-person 48 times, first-person 35 times and the rest as titles in the Quran.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: The Quran emphasizes the creationism of Jesus, through his similitude with Adam in regards to the absence of human origin. Muhammad often used to compare the births of Adam and Jesus.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Islamic exegesis extrapolates a logical inconsistency behind the Christian argument of divine intervention, as such implications would have ascribed divinity to Adam who is understood only as creation.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: In Islam, Jesus is believed to have been the precursor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. According to the Quran, the coming of Muhammad was predicted by Jesus in As-Saff 61:6 Through this verse, early Arab Muslims claimed legitimacy for their new faith in the existing religious traditions and the alleged predictions of Jesus. Muslims believe that Jesus was a precursor to Muhammad, and that he prophesied the latter's coming. This perspective is based on a verse of the Quran wherein Jesus speaks of a messenger to appear after him named "Ahmad". Islam associates Ahmad with Muhammad, both words deriving from the "h-m-d" triconsonantal root which refers to praiseworthiness. Muslims assert that evidence of Jesus' pronouncement is present in the New Testament, citing the mention of the Paraclete whose coming is foretold in the Gospel of John.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Muslim commentators claim that the original Greek word used was "periklutos", meaning famed, illustrious, or praiseworthy—rendered in Arabic as Ahmad; and that this was replaced by Christians with "parakletos". This idea is debated, asking if the traditional understanding is supported by the text of the Quran.


title: Jesus in Islam

text: Islamic theology claims Jesus had foretold another prophet succeeding him according to Sura 61:6, with the mention of the name "Ahmad". (Ahmad is an Arabic name from the same triconsonantal root Ḥ-M-D = [ح – م – د].) In responding to Ibn Ishaq's biography of Muhammad, the Sirat Rasul Allah, Islamic scholar Alfred Guillaume wrote:


title: Jesus in Islam

text: An alternative, more esoteric, interpretation is expounded by Messianic Muslims in the Sufi and Isma'ili traditions so as to unite Islam, Christianity and Judaism into a single religious continuum. Other Messianic Muslims hold a similar theological view regarding Jesus, without attempting to unite the religions. Making use of the New Testament's distinguishing between Jesus, Son of Man (being the physical human Jesus), and Christ, Son of God (being the Holy Spirit of God residing in the body of Jesus), the Holy Spirit, being immortal and immaterial, is not subject to crucifixion — for it can never die, nor can it be touched by the earthly nails of the crucifixion, for it is a being of pure spirit. Thus, while the spirit of Christ avoided crucifixion by ascending unto God, the body that was Jesus was sacrificed on the cross, thereby bringing the Old Testament to final fulfillment. Thus Quranic passages on the death of Jesus affirm that while the Pharisees intended to destroy Jesus completely, they, in fact, succeeded only in killing the Son of Man, being his "nasut" (material being). Meanwhile, the Son of God, being his "lahut" (spiritual being) remained alive and undying — because it is the Holy Spirit.