Zeki Saritoprak, Islam's Jesus.

Omar, Irfan A.

Zeki Saritoprak, Islam's Jesus. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2014. Pp. 222. $74.95, cloth; $19.95, paper.

This is an important book for two reasons. First, it deals with one of the most sensitive issues in Christian-Muslim dialogue. Jesus is central in Christianity and fairly important in Islam, so people get excited about their respective positions. Saritoprak calls for a fresh look at the sources for our understanding of Jesus' life and teachings. He wants to focus on issues that allow us to discover common ground. The second important feature of this book is its "interpretive approach" (p. 122) in studying Jesus. Saritoprak not only promises to "interpret Islamic texts in light of modem scholarship rather than read them simply on a literal level" (p. xv), but he does so in a way that offers a synthesis of these sources rather than a mere side-by-side comparison. He does this intelligently because of his intimate familiarity with Islam's foundational textual sources (the Qur'an, tafsir, hadith) which are necessary to unpack Jesus' role in Islam. Additionally, Saritoprak's experience of being in dialogue with Christians puts him at a great advantage in ensuring a more responsive reading of the subject.

Muslims believe that "the essence of the message of Muhammad" is in agreement with Jesus' "original ethical and pastoral teachings" (p. 4). This is the qur'anic challenge for an ongoing dialogue: What is the "essence" of the Islamic message? How may we disentangle the "original" teachings of Jesus from later developments? The author argues that differences in Christian and Muslim understandings of Jesus mainly stem from the way each interpret his words (p. 142). The qur'anic Jesus appears to be very close to the Christian view remembering him as "kalimat Allah (the word of God, 4:171) ... [and] ruh Allah (a spirit from God, 21:91 and 66:12)" (p. 4). And yet the Qur'an is emphatic that Jesus is not a deity (p. 8) and should not be elevated beyond his divinely appointed status as an important prophet and a messenger of God. Jesus 1, nevertheless, different in one important respect; he did not die on the cross, but he is "alive" only to return at the end of time. Mainstream Muslim theology contends that, as Jesus was about to be crucified, God "raised him to Himself' (p. 37) which implies a kind of death to this world but distinct from a "regular human death" that every soul must "taste" without exception (Q. 3:185; 21:35; 29:57). Therefore, Jesus's return is necessitated because he must experience death as do all human beings (p. 34).

Saritoprak draws on several important classical and modem theologians, but he concludes with a discussion of the views of Badiiizzaman Said Nursi (d. 1960) and Fethullah Gillen (b. 1927), which may be this book's unique contribution. Nursi was not merely a scholar but a scholar-activist who spent much of his life in exile or in prison for writing and speaking against militant atheism and secularism. Nursi's views on Jesus are a manifestation of his overall worldview; he wished that, in sharing Jesus and in invoking his name, Muslims and Christians would dedicate "themselves to justice and spiritual life" for the sake of peace (p. 120). This is one of the most fruitful and effective forms of Christian- Muslim dialogue today. Gillen remains an influential scholar and religious leader who has inspired thousands of followers in seeking to build intercultural and interreligious partnerships around the world. Islam's Jesus includes an appendix devoted to Gillen's view of Jesus as a "common ground between Muslims and Christians" (pp. 163-175). There is much in this book that will inform and delight the reader, whether Christian or Muslim, whether a student or a lay reader interested in the subject. It will be particularly useful for faith and community groups seeking to engage the "other" as well as for college courses on Islam and interreligious dialogue.

Irfan A. Omar, Marquette University, Milwaukee, WI