Editing Gospel of Barnabas (section)

== Perspectives==

=== Christian ===
The Gospel of Barnabas was not accepted by Christians,<ref name="true" /> who consider it inferior to the four canonical gospels and a forgery.<ref name="de" /><ref name="answer" />{{rp|307}} According to Togardo Siburian of the {{ill|lt=Bandung Theological Seminary|Sekolah Tinggi Teologi Bandung|id}}, it is often used "by [Muslim] propagandists in a guerrilla manner to prey on Christians with weak theological commitments. This is what is said to be the efficacy of the book, as new material for the stealth 'Islamization' or ‘Judaisation’ of Christian churches today."<ref name="profile">{{Cite journal |url=http://sttb.ac.id/download/stulos/stulos-v19-no02/09-Profil-Kritis-Buku-Injil-Barnabas.pdf |title=Profil Kritis Buku yang Disebut 'Injil Barnabas' |last=Siburian |first=Togardo |date=July 2021 |journal=Stulos |pages=248–272 |issn=1858-4683 |language=id |trans-title=A Critical Profile of a Book Known as the 'Gospel of Barnabas' |volume=19 |issue=2 |access-date=2022-05-24 |archive-date=2022-05-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527120942/http://sttb.ac.id/download/stulos/stulos-v19-no02/09-Profil-Kritis-Buku-Injil-Barnabas.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Jan Joosten (biblical scholar)|Jan Joosten]] called it a "[[Hotchpot|hotchpotch]] of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim materials".<ref name="date" /> J. N. J. Kritzinger wrote for ''Religion in Southern Africa'' that the gospel is an obstacle to Christian–Muslim [[interfaith dialogue]], and neither side should use it to discredit the other's religion.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24763798 |title=A Critical Study of the Gospel of Barnabas |date=January 1980 |issue=1 |volume=1 |last=Kritzinger |first=J. N. J. |jstor=24763798 |journal=Religion in South Africa |pages=49–65 }}</ref> Christian theologian [[Norman Geisler]] criticised Muslims who use it to validate their arguments:

<blockquote>It is not surprising that Muslim apologists appeal to the Gospel of Barnabas in that it supports a central Islamist teaching in contrast to the New Testament. It claims that Jesus did not die on the cross&nbsp;[...] Rather, it argues that Judas Iscariot died in Jesus' stead&nbsp;[...] having been substituted for him at the last minute. This view has been adopted by many Muslims, since the vast majority of them believe that someone else was substituted on the cross for Jesus.<ref name="answer" />{{rp|296}}</blockquote>

Jan Slomp wrote that it was difficult to understand the absence of mentions of the gospel in early Islamic writings if it had existed since antiquity,<ref name="Sox" />{{rp|19}} a view shared by A. H. Mathias Zahniser in his ''The Mission and Death of Jesus in Islam and Christianity'' (2017).<ref name="Wipf" />{{rp|93–94}} Slomp called it a "conscious attempt at imitating a ''[[Diatessaron]]''".<ref name="Sox" /><sup>:35</sup> Egyptian [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] philosopher {{ill|lt=Georges Chehata Anawati|جورج قنواتى|arz}} wrote for the 1971 ''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'', "The appearance of a forgery entitled the Gospel of Barnabas put into the hands of the Muslim polemicists&nbsp;[...] a new weapon whose effects on the ordinary public, and even on some insufficiently informed members of universities are felt even today."<ref name="Sox" />{{rp|32}} A critical book, William F. Campbell's ''The Gospel of Barnabas: Its True Value'', was published in 1989.<ref name="value" />

=== Islamic ===
==== Acceptance ====
Some have identified it as the [[Gospel in Islam|Injil]], one of four [[Islamic holy books]] sent by God.<ref name="issues">{{Cite journal |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/43251232 |title=Theological Issues in Christian–Muslim Dialogue |date=May 2008 |issue=1021 |volume=89 |pages=311–323 |last=Hewer |first=Chris |doi=10.1111/j.1741-2005.2008.00223.x |journal=[[New Blackfriars]] |jstor=43251232 }}</ref>{{efn|Nothing is known about the characteristics of the Injil.<ref name="issues" /> While Muslim scholars in general consider it referring to the four canonical gospels,<ref name="value" />{{rp|1–2}} some think that it should be a single gospel revealed by God to Jesus—not written by human authors—and fragments of it survive in these canonical gospels.<ref name="answer" />{{rp|215–216}} Cases have been made by several Muslim scholars, including [[Ahmed Deedat]], for connecting the Injil with the Gospel of Barnabas.<ref name="issues" />}} About the gospel's generally-positive reception in the Muslim world, Scottish orientalist [[W. Montgomery Watt]] said that it is not uncommon for Muslims to be persuaded to believe in it without question; some are unaware of the scholarly consensus that it is a forgery.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Muslim–Christian Encounters: Perceptions and Misperceptions |date=1991 |last=Watt |first=W. Montgomery |author-link=W. Montgomery Watt |publisher=[[Routledge]] |url=https://archive.org/details/muslimchristiane0000watt |url-access=registration |isbn=0-415-05410-9 }}</ref>{{rp|117–118}} According to German scholar [[Christine Schirrmacher]], Muslim positivity about the gospel is based on its claim of being written by an eyewitness and disagreement (favoured by Islam) with mainstream Christian doctrines.<ref name="true">{{Cite web |url=https://www.islaminstitut.de/english/publications/Gospel_of_barnabas.htm |title=The 'Gospel of Barnabas' – Has the True Gospel of Jesus Been Found? |last=Schirrmacher |first=Christine |author-link=Christine Schirrmacher |website=IslamInstitut.de |access-date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304192247/http://www.islaminstitut.de/english/publications/Gospel_of_barnabas.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Among Muslims, the gospel was first cited by Indian scholar [[Rahmatullah Kairanawi]] in his {{transliteration|ar|Ijaz-i Isawi}} (1853).<ref name="influence" /> It became more popular after the 1908 publication of [[Rashid Rida]]'s Arabic translation.<ref name="Rida" />{{rp|214}} According to Pakistani scholar [[Abul A'la Maududi]], the Gospel of Barnabas is "more genuine than the four canonical gospels".<ref name="de" /> Rida agreed that it was "superior" to the canonical gospels in its "divine knowledge, glorification of the Creator, and knowledge of ethics, manners and values".<ref name="Rida" />{{rp|235}} During a 1940 course at [[Al-Azhar University]], Egyptian intellectual [[Muhammad Abu Zahra]] challenged Christians to study and refute the gospel: "The most significant service to the religions and to humanity would be that the church take the trouble to study the gospel according to Barnabas and refute it and to bring us the proofs on which this refutation is based."<ref name="value" />{{rp|2}}

At a 1976 Christian–Muslim dialogue in Libya, each Muslim delegate first received copies of the Gospel of Barnabas and the Quran; the gospel was withdrawn after a protest by the Vatican.<ref name="Sox" />{{rp|11}}<ref name="sura" />{{rp|100}} Rahim published ''Jesus: A Prophet of Islam'', defending the gospel, in 1979.<ref name="Sox" />{{rp|12}} M. A. Yusseff wrote in ''The Dead Sea Scrolls, The Gospel of Barnabas, and the New Testament'' (1985) that no other gospels can equal its authenticity.<ref name="answer">{{Cite book |title=Answering Islam: The Crescent in Light of the Cross |last1=Geisler |first1=Norman |author-link1=Norman Geisler |last2=Saleeb |first2=Abdul |date=1993 |isbn=0-8010-3859-6 |publisher=[[Baker Books]] }}</ref>{{rp|295}} A 2007 Iranian film, ''[[The Messiah (2007 film)|The Messiah]]'', was apparently based on the gospel and was the first film to depict Jesus from Christian and Islamic perspectives.<ref name="mixed" /> It had a mixed critical response, praised for "generating interfaith dialogue"<ref name="mixed">{{Cite news |url=https://www.christianpost.com/news/muslim-s-cross-less-jesus-film-draws-mixed-reactions.html |title=Muslim's Cross-Less Jesus Film Draws Mixed Reactions |last=Vu |first=Michelle A. |date=21 March 2008 |work=[[The Christian Post]] |access-date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=27 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220527121052/https://www.christianpost.com/news/muslim-s-cross-less-jesus-film-draws-mixed-reactions.html |url-status=live }}</ref> but criticised for its controversial account of the crucifixion.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/08/lebanon-iranian-director-calls-controversy-over-jesus-serial-political.html |title=Lebanon: Iranian director's Jesus film pulled |last1=Gallagher |first1=Patrick |last2=Lutz |first2=Meris |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=27 May 2022 |date=16 August 2010 |archive-date=6 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506134714/https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/08/lebanon-iranian-director-calls-controversy-over-jesus-serial-political.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Director [[Nader Talebzadeh]] said, "I pray for Christians. They've been misled. They will realize one day the true story."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-apr-29-fg-jesus29-story.html |title=Jesus through the lens of Islam |date=29 April 2008 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |last=Fleishman |first=Jeffrey |access-date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=21 July 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721105954/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-apr-29-fg-jesus29-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

==== Rejection ====
The Gospel of Barnabas is criticized by Muslim scholars,<ref name="answer" />{{rp|298}} who reject it partially<ref name="sura">{{Cite book |title=The Qur'an and the Cross—A Study of Al-Nisa (4):157: 'and They Did Not Kill Him and Did Not Crucify Him, But It Was Made to Appear So to Them' |date=2020 |publisher=[[LIT Verlag]] |last=O'Brien |first=Jack |isbn=978-36-43910-82-0 }}</ref>{{rp|101}} or completely.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://religiondispatches.org/muslim-gospel-revealing-the-christian-truth-excites-the-da-vinci-code-set/ |title='Muslim Gospel' Revealing the 'Christian Truth' Excites The Da Vinci Code Set |date=22 May 2014 |work=[[Religion Dispatches]] |last=Reed |first=Annette Yoshiko |access-date=27 May 2022 |archive-date=31 October 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201031104258/https://religiondispatches.org/muslim-gospel-revealing-the-christian-truth-excites-the-da-vinci-code-set/ |url-status=live }}</ref> According to American scholar [[Amina Inloes]], the many differences between the gospel and the Quran dilute its importance.<ref name="forgery" /> In the January 1977 issue of the ''Islamic World League'' journal, Syrian writer Yahya al-Hashimi called it a polemic by a Jew to generate hostility between Christians and Muslims.<ref name="Sox" />{{rp|115}}<ref name="de" /> Al-Hashimi said that there was no need to use apocryphal gospels to prove that Muhammad was a prophet, because he believed Muhammad had been foretold by Jesus as the [[Paraclete#Islam|Paraclete]] in the [[Gospel of John]].<ref name="de" /> Egyptian literary critic [[Abbas Mahmoud al-Aqqad]] cited several reasons to reject the gospel, including the use of [[Andalusi Arabic]] phrases and teachings which conflict with the Quran.<ref name="value" />{{rp|34}}<ref name="de" />