This revised edition ofJesus, Prophet of Islam was first published some eighteen years after the first edition was originally published - and seventeen years after its principal co-author, Muhammad Ata'ur- Rahim, died in London, after travelling halfway around the world solely in order to be able to complete the book on Jesusعليه السلام that he had always longed to write.
Although the first edition has never been out of print, the book's other co-author, Ahmad Thomson, became increasingly aware that there was room for improvement in a revised edition, especially as regards integrating new material into the text which was not so readily available when the two authors first commenced work on the book together twenty years earlier. Although some of the original material has been restructured, very little of it has been removed.
The main additions in this revised edition centre around:Firstly , the historical study of how the split between the original Semitic Unitarian followers of Jesus and the European Trinitarian followers of Paul steadily developed until it became irreversible;Secondly , a closer study of the authenticity, accuracy and reliability of the texts on which current editions of the Bible are based, including a careful scrutiny of the arguments for and against the current editions of the Gospel of Barnabas; andThirdly , the expansion of the last two chapters which explore what the Hadith and the Qur'an have to say about Jesus, not only as regards his original mission, but also with reference to his second coming - which many people believe to be imminent, although of course only God knows when it will actually occur.
It is hoped that the revised edition ofJesus, Prophet of Islam will be not only more fascinating but also more accessible than the first edition-and that in presenting virtually all the various perspectives from which Jesus has been regarded during the last two millennia - including those of the Atheists, the Jews, the Unitarian Christians, the Trinitarian Christians, and the Muslims the reader will be better able to judge which perspective is nearest the truth.