Editing Gospel of Barnabas (section)

==== Crucifixion of Jesus ====
{{further|Islamic views on Jesus' death}}
In the Gospel of Barnabas, Jesus was not crucified. Judas Iscariot (whose face was made to resemble his) replaced him on the cross, and Jesus was raised into heaven by God.<ref name="value" />{{rp|2}}<ref name="Raggs" />{{rp|xxvii}} This agrees with the mainstream interpretations of [[An-Nisa]] 157–158, affirming that Jesus was not crucified but instead his lookalike was:

<blockquote>and for boasting, “We killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.” But they neither killed nor crucified him—it was only made to appear so. Even those who argue for this ˹crucifixion˺ are in doubt. They have no knowledge whatsoever—only making assumptions. They certainly did not kill him. Rather, Allah raised him up to Himself. And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Qur'an |pages=103}}</ref>
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— Qur'ān 4:157-158</blockquote>

In its narrative of Jesus' crucifixion, the gospel is thought to be influenced by (or adopt) [[docetism]]: a [[Heterodoxy|heterodox]] doctrine that Jesus' human form was an illusion.<ref name="Sox" />{{rp|98}}<ref name="Raggs" />{{rp|xlvii}} David Sox wrote that the Gospel of Barnabas' portrayal of Judas Iscariot is more sympathetic than that in the canonical gospels, where he is cast as a villainous betrayer; in Christian tradition, his name is synonymous with one who deceives under the guise of friendship.<ref name="Sox" />{{rp|94–95}} The Raggs said that since the alleged substitution in the Quran is unnamed and unexplained, the author of the gospel attempted to fill this void.<ref name="Raggs" />{{rp|xxvii}}

Ghulam Murtaza Azad described the gospel as a medieval forgery in ''Islamic Studies'', but found its narrative more reasonable than that of the canonical gospels: "A man who is not religious minded can hardly believe that a person who wrought such great miracles could not save himself from humiliation and cross. The Christians say that he was crucified in order to save mankind from their sins. This explanation of crucifixion is strange and difficult to understand. And stranger than that is that the traitor was saved and the master was hanged." Although it would appear that the canonical gospels do not portray Judas as being saved. <ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20847219 |title=An Introduction to the Gospel of Barnabas |date=Winter 1982 |last=Azad |first=Ghulam Murtaza |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=21 |issue=4 |pages=71–96 |jstor=20847219 }}</ref> In his ''Understand My Muslim People'' (2004), Abraham Sarker wrote that the narrative is popular in Quranic [[exegesis]].<ref>{{Cite book |title=Understand My Muslim People |date=2004 |last=Sarker |first=Abraham |publisher=Barclay Press |isbn=978-15-94980-02-2 }}</ref>{{rp|129–130}}