Here is a parable (I will summarize it) about Jesus (not by him). It is not titled, but I’ll call it the Parable of the Repentant Bird (#21 in The Muslim Jesus):
Jesus was with disciples; they see a beautiful bird. It shakes off its feathers and is a little bald thing; then it gets into the mud and becomes ugly; then washed itself and went back to its feathers, “reassumed them,” and it became beautiful again.
Here is a parable about repentance and reconciliation. Khalidi seems to think this might be an Islamic view of Jesus: he needs to purged of the Christian distortions. I happen to like the fantastic imagery of this parable.
Here’s a saying: it is a variant on the foolish man who built his house on sand. “Jesus said, ‘O Disciples, which of you can build a house upon the waves of the sea?’ They said, ‘Spirit of God, who can do that?’ He said, ‘Beware the world and do not make it your abode.’ ” This saying graphically portrays the temporary nature of reality; there is a severe asceticism inherent to the Muslim faith and therefore of Jesus.
Here’s a saying much like themes in our Gospels:
“It is of no use to come to know what you did not know, so long as you do not act in accordance with what you already know. Too much knowledge only increases pride if you do not act in accordance with it” (#43).
This saying Khalidi tells us is one of the most famous sayings of Jesus among educated Muslims today:
“Truly I say to you, to eat wheat bread, to drink pure water, and to sleep upon dunghills with the dogs more than suffices him who wishes to inherit paradise” (#42). It plays a bit on words of Jesus: Matt 6:25-34 perhaps but maybe also Matt 8:18-22. Son of Man has no place to lay his head becomes laying on a dunghill.
There are more sayings emphasizing Jesus’ humanity.
1. God tells Jesus to admonish himself before admonishes others (#25).
2. In the Temptation narrative of the Muslim gospel, Jesus does not jump from the Temple “for I do not know whether He will save me or not” (#34).
3.Whenever the Hour [of judgment] is mentioned, “Jesus used to cry out in anguish like a woman” (#38): here we are dealing with a development of the Gethsemane scene (perhaps), but it has to do with Jesus’ fear of death.
4. John Baptist tells Jesus to tone down his anger and not to pursue wealth; Jesus says about avoiding anger: “This I cannot do” (#39).
Jesus’ is Islamicized:
1. God tells Jesus that the poor love him and “accept you as their imam and leader” (#37).
2. He prays in the mosque of Khayf (#40).