What does the Quran say about Christians and Jews?

Christians and Jews appear throughout the Quran. Moses (peace be upon him) is named in it more often than any other prophet, Mary is the only woman it names, and a whole surah carries her name. So when people ask what the Quran says about Christians and Jews, the first answer is that it speaks of them as family. It calls them the People of the Book (ahl al-kitāb, أهل الكتاب), honors the Torah and the Gospel as revelation from Allah, promises reward to the faithful among them, and asks Muslims to meet them with justice, kindness, and the best of manners.

Who are the People of the Book in the Quran?

The People of the Book are the communities who received scripture before the Quran: the Jews, whom the Quran calls the Children of Israel (Banū Isrāʾīl) and “those who are Jewish” (alladhīna hādū), and the Christians (al-naṣārā). The Quran describes itself as confirming the scripture that came before it (Quran 5:48), and it tells Muslims to say: “We believe in what was sent down to us and what was sent down to you; our God and your God is one” (29:46). The full meaning of that verse is set out in Do Muslims and Christians worship the same God?

What does the Quran promise Christians and Jews?

The Quran’s best-known verse on other faiths gives Jews and Christians the same promise as the believers:

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ وَٱلَّذِينَ هَادُواْ وَٱلنَّصَٰرَىٰ وَٱلصَّـٰبِـِٔينَ مَنۡ ءَامَنَ بِٱللَّهِ وَٱلۡيَوۡمِ ٱلۡأٓخِرِ وَعَمِلَ صَٰلِحٗا فَلَهُمۡ أَجۡرُهُمۡ عِندَ رَبِّهِمۡ وَلَا خَوۡفٌ عَلَيۡهِمۡ وَلَا هُمۡ يَحۡزَنُونَ

“The believers, the Jews, the Christians and the Sabians: whoever believes in Allah and the Last Day and does good will have their reward with their Lord. No fear will come upon them, and they will not grieve.”

Quran 2:62

The promise is repeated in Sūrat al-Māʾida (5:69). Sūrat Āl ʿImrān then describes the devotion it has seen among them:

۞لَيۡسُواْ سَوَآءٗۗ مِّنۡ أَهۡلِ ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ أُمَّةٞ قَآئِمَةٞ يَتۡلُونَ ءَايَٰتِ ٱللَّهِ ءَانَآءَ ٱلَّيۡلِ وَهُمۡ يَسۡجُدُونَ

“They are not all alike. Among the People of the Book is an upright community who recite the verses of Allah through the hours of the night and bow down in prayer.”

Quran 3:113

The next verses say that they believe in Allah and the Last Day, command what is right, hasten to do good, “and they are among the righteous,” and that none of the good they do will be denied them (3:114–115). The Quran also says that among the people of Moses is a community “who guide by the truth and act justly by it” (7:159), and that Christians are “the nearest in affection” to the believers, because among them are priests and monks who are free of arrogance (5:82). Whether Jews and Christians are saved is discussed at length in Do non-Muslims go to hell?

How does the Quran ask Muslims to treat Christians and Jews?

The Quran builds a shared life with the People of the Book into the law itself. It declares their food lawful for Muslims and Muslim food lawful for them, and it permits marriage with them (5:5), so a Christian or Jewish wife and mother can be the heart of a Muslim home (Can a Muslim man marry a Christian?). It commands Muslims to argue with them only “in the finest way” (29:46), and it invites them to “a word common between us and you,” that we worship none but Allah (3:64). In 2007, 138 Muslim scholars took that verse as the title of an open letter to Christian leaders, A Common Word Between Us and You.

The Quran also names their houses of worship among the places Allah Himself defends. In the passage that first permitted the believers to defend themselves, it gives the reason:

وَلَوۡلَا دَفۡعُ ٱللَّهِ ٱلنَّاسَ بَعۡضَهُم بِبَعۡضٖ لَّهُدِّمَتۡ صَوَٰمِعُ وَبِيَعٞ وَصَلَوَٰتٞ وَمَسَٰجِدُ يُذۡكَرُ فِيهَا ٱسۡمُ ٱللَّهِ كَثِيرٗا

“Had Allah not repelled some people by means of others, monasteries, churches, synagogues and mosques, in which the name of Allah is remembered often, would have been torn down.”

Quran 22:40

Churches and synagogues stand in the list before mosques.

Why does the Quran allow more than one religion?

The Quran treats the plurality of faiths as part of Allah’s design:

لِكُلّٖ جَعَلۡنَا مِنكُمۡ شِرۡعَةٗ وَمِنۡهَاجٗاۚ وَلَوۡ شَآءَ ٱللَّهُ لَجَعَلَكُمۡ أُمَّةٗ وَٰحِدَةٗ وَلَٰكِن لِّيَبۡلُوَكُمۡ فِي مَآ ءَاتَىٰكُمۡۖ فَٱسۡتَبِقُواْ ٱلۡخَيۡرَٰتِۚ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ مَرۡجِعُكُمۡ جَمِيعٗا فَيُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمۡ فِيهِ تَخۡتَلِفُونَ

“To each of you We have given a law and a way. Had Allah willed, He would have made you a single community, but He wished to test you in what He has given you. So race one another in good deeds. To Allah you will all return, and He will tell you about the things in which you differed.”

Quran 5:48

Does the Quran criticize Christians and Jews?

It does, and a fair reading names those passages. The Quran disputes the doctrine of the Trinity and the divinity of Jesus (peace be upon him) (4:171, 9:30), and it rebukes particular groups for particular wrongs: some who broke covenants, some scholars and monks who consumed people’s wealth (9:34), and one town by the sea whose people broke the Sabbath by trickery and were told “be apes” (2:65, 7:163–166). Each of these passages is specific, and the Quran itself guards against turning them into a verdict on whole peoples with its refrain that the People of the Book “are not all alike” (3:113).

Verse 5:51, which tells the believers not to take Jews and Christians as awliyāʾ, was revealed in wartime Medina about military and political alliances with hostile parties. The same Quran commands kindness and justice toward everyone who does not make war on the believers (60:8). Both verses are discussed in Can Muslims be friends with non-Muslims?

How did the Prophet ﷺ live with Christians and Jews?

The Charter of Medina, preserved in Ibn Isḥāq’s biography of the Prophet ﷺ, declares that the Jews of Banū ʿAwf are “a community with the believers,” adding, “the Jews have their religion and the Muslims have theirs.” When a funeral passed by and the Prophet ﷺ stood up, he was told it was the funeral of a Jew. He answered, “Was it not a soul?” (Sahih al-Bukhari 1312). He received a Christian delegation from Najran in his mosque (Can Muslims go to church?), and he warned that he himself would stand as the adversary on the Day of Judgment of anyone who wrongs a person under the protection of a covenant, burdens them beyond their means, or takes their property without consent (Sunan Abi Dawud 3052, graded sahih by al-Albani).

The monks of St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai keep a charter of protection, the Ashtiname, which they attribute to the Prophet ﷺ. Its authenticity is debated among historians, and the scholar John Andrew Morrow has argued for it; its promises match what the sound texts already teach. For the Quran’s portrait of Judaism in particular, see What does Islam say about Jews?

A closing duʿāʾ

The believers in Sūrat al-Baqara affirm every messenger Allah has sent, and then they pray:

لَا نُفَرِّقُ بَيۡنَ أَحَدٖ مِّن رُّسُلِهِۦۚ وَقَالُواْ سَمِعۡنَا وَأَطَعۡنَاۖ غُفۡرَانَكَ رَبَّنَا وَإِلَيۡكَ ٱلۡمَصِيرُ

“We make no distinction between any of His messengers. And they say: We hear and we obey. Grant us Your forgiveness, our Lord; to You we all return.”

Quran 2:285

May Allah make the children of Abraham neighbors in this world and companions in the next, racing one another in good.