Barnobar Injil

This gospel is claimed to have been written by Jesus' disciple Barnabas. The gospel denies Jesus' godhead at many points and predicts the advent of Muhammad. Goldsack argues that the book was written in Italy in the 16th century. The only existing copy was found in a Vatican library. There is no earlier mention of it by earlier historians and it contains anachronisms. It said that Jesus drank wine from a cask whereas the Bible states that in Judaea it was always drunk from wineskins. The writer did not know the geography of Palestine. Goldsack tries to use Qur'anic verses: the gospel of Barnabas says that Mary gave birth to Jesus without pain inside the manger whereas the Qur'an says that Mary gave birth to Jesus with pain against a palm tree. To accept the gospel of Barnabas the Muslims therefore have to repudiate the Qur'an. The true four gospels are the final word of God and the only road to salvation. This leaflet contains some clues about how far Bengali Muslims read recent issues of Urdu Islamic publications from outside Bengal, and the forms that the motif of the Gospel of Barnabas took in their oral discourses. ; Title translation and description by Dr. Dennis Walker, Monash Asia Institute, Faculty of Arts, Monash University.