How is the Arabic Infancy Gospel related to the Quran?

The Arabic Infancy Gospel is an apocryphal New Testament text detailing the early life of Jesus and drawing upon various older infancy gospels and oral traditions. Surviving manuscripts of this work, copied in northern Iraq, exhibit specific influences from the Quran. Additionally, it shares roots or common source material with older Syriac texts that depict Jesus performing miraculous deeds in his infancy.

What we know

• The Arabic Infancy Gospel is an apocryphal New Testament writing concerning the early life of Jesus that may have been compiled as early as the sixth century. [1, 2]
• The text was partly based on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of James, and the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, while drawing heavily on oral tradition. [2, 3, 4]
• The only two surviving manuscripts of the Arabic Infancy Gospel date from 1299 AD and the 15th or 16th century, and were copied in the region of northern Iraq. [2]
• The surviving manuscripts of the Arabic Infancy Gospel show direct influence from the Quran. [2]

Where to go next

• compared withWhat is the History of the Virgin?
• how it workedWhat sources inspired the Arabic Infancy Gospel?
• the bigger pictureWhat are New Testament apocrypha?
• a case in pointInfancy Gospel of Thomas
• how we knowHow do surviving manuscripts of the Arabic Infancy Gospel look?
• an unexpected connectionHow do apocryphal infancy texts connect to northern Iraq?The only two surviving manuscripts of the Arabic Infancy Gospel, which show Quranic influence, were copied centuries later in northern Iraq.

Sources

• [1]Syriac Infancy Gospel (Wikidata Q624348) · CC0 1.0
• [2]Arabic Infancy Gospel · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [3]Infancy Gospel of Thomas · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [4]Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew · CC BY-SA 4.0
• [5]Versions of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas · CC BY-SA 4.0