Al-Masih. The Messiah. The Anointed One.
This title appears in the Qur’an eleven times. Every single time it refers to one person: Issa, the son of Maryam.
No other prophet in the Qur’an is ever called the Messiah. Not once.
إِذْ قَالَتِ الْمَلَائِكَةُ يَا مَرْيَمُ إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُبَشِّرُكِ بِكَلِمَةٍ مِّنْهُ اسْمُهُ الْمَسِيحُ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ وَجِيهًا فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ وَمِنَ الْمُقَرَّبِينَ
“Behold! The angels said: O Maryam! Allah gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him whose name is Messiah Issa, son of Maryam, high exalted in this world and the hereafter, and one of those brought near to Allah.”
Surah Al-Imran 3:45 | quran.com/3/45
What does the word Messiah mean?
The word comes from the Arabic masaha and the Hebrew mashiach: to anoint. The Messiah is the Anointed One. In the tradition of the prophets, anointing marked a person as chosen, commissioned, and set apart by Allah for a specific mission.
But the Messiah is not just any anointed one. The title refers to the one whose coming was promised from the earliest prophets. The one the Tawrat and Zabur described across hundreds of years. The one all the signs were pointing toward.
What does the Qur’an say about how Issa was anointed?
وَلَقَدْ آتَيْنَا مُوسَى الْكِتَابَ وَقَفَّيْنَا مِن بَعْدِهِ بِالرُّسُلِ وَآتَيْنَا عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ الْبَيِّنَاتِ وَأَيَّدْنَاهُ بِرُوحِ الْقُدُسِ
“We gave Issa the son of Maryam clear proofs and supported him with the Holy Spirit.”
Surah Al-Baqarah 2:87 | quran.com/2/87
Supported by the Holy Spirit. Not oil poured by human hands. The Spirit of Allah resting on him, strengthening him, guiding him in every moment of his mission.
What does the Qur’an say about his position?
Surah 3:45 says he is high exalted in this world and the hereafter, and one of those brought near to Allah. No other prophet in the Qur’an is described as brought near to Allah. Only Issa. Only the Messiah.
From the Injil
“And when Issa was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him.”
Injil, Matthew 3:16 | bible.com/bible/111/MAT.3.16
The Spirit of Allah descending. The anointing that the word Messiah points to, made visible. The Qur’an and the Injil both record it: Issa was strengthened by the Holy Spirit in a way no other prophet was.
A Parable
A craftsman made ten thousand vessels in his lifetime. On each one he pressed his crescent seal into the clay before firing. Every vessel bore his mark.
But one vessel he worked for forty days. When it was finished he did not press the crescent seal. He pressed his full name, the name that meant this came not from his workshop but from him personally.
Merchants who came to his shop understood immediately. The crescent vessels were fine work. But the vessel with the full name was something the crescent vessels were never meant to be.
They asked: why did you mark this one differently?
He said: Because the crescent marks what I made. This one I had to mark with who I am.
Al-Masih. Eleven times in the Qur’an. Always Issa. Never anyone else.
What does it mean to you that Allah chose to give this title, and only this title, to Issa al-Masih?
Sit with that. Take it to your prayer.