Arabic Infancy Gospel

The Syriac Infancy Gospel (also known as the Arabic Infancy Gospel) is one of the texts among the New Testament apocryphal writings concerning the infancy of Jesus. It may have been compiled as early as the sixth century, and was partly based on the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and Protevangelium of James.

It consists of three parts:

It contains a number of embellishments on the earlier text, however, including a diaper (of Jesus) that heals people, sweat (of Jesus) that turns into balm, curing leprosy, and dyeing cloth varied colours using only indigo dye. It also claims earlier encounters for Jesus with Judas Iscariot, and with the thieves with whom he is later crucified, as well as being one of the earliest documents.

Although this Gospel is thought to have originated from Syriac sources dating back to the fifth or sixth century, it has become known to European readers by way of an Arabic version published by Henry Sike in 1697 together with a Latin translation. The earliest known mention of the Gospel was by Isho'dad of Merv, a ninth-century Syrian church father, in his biblical commentary concerning the Gospel of Matthew. The narrative of the Arabic Infancy Gospel, particularly the second part concerning the miracles in Egypt, can also be found in the Qur'an. Some critical scholarship claim its presence in the Qu'ran may be due to the influence the Gospel had among the Arabs. It is not known for certain that the Gospel was present in the Hejaz, but it can be seen as likely. However, according to Islamic scholars the Gospel was translated into Arabic in the post-Islamic period due the difficulty that 16th century Europeans would have in translating early Arabic's defective script into Latin as well as the extreme rarity of written texts in Pre-Islamic Arabia.

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