Infancy Gospel of Thomas
c. c. 150 – c. 200
Place: syria · coming soon
No coordinates. This node is on the timeline only.
The clay-birds parallel is one of the clearest attested text parallels. The route by which it reached Arabia is a hypothesis.
A collection of childhood miracle stories about Jesus, including one where he shapes birds from clay and brings them to life. The Qur'an twice has Jesus make clay birds that fly 'by God's permission' (Q 3:49, 5:110). Syriac, Ethiopic and later Arabic versions show how widely the stories spread in the East.
People named here
- Jesus (child)
Where scholars disagree
For
- Gabriel Said Reynolds — The Qur'an and the Bible (2018): commentary on 3:49
- Sidney H. Griffith — The Bible in Arabic (2013): Christian apocrypha circulated orally in Arabic
Against
No names on this side.
Links
Text and wording
Out
Qur'an, Sura 3 (Al 'Imran): Mary's family and Jesus
Jesus makes birds from clay that come alive (IGT 2; Q 3:49).
text_parallel
attestedOut
Qur'an, Sura 5 (al-Ma'ida): the Table and 'me and my mother as two gods'
Clay birds again in Q 5:110.
text_parallel
attested
Influence
Out
Syriac/Arabic Infancy Gospel (Jesus speaks in the cradle)
IGT stories were absorbed into Syriac and later Arabic infancy compilations.
transmitted_via
attested
Sources
- Infancy Gospel of Thomas (ANF trans., PD)
Early Christian Writings. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Qur'an, Surat Al Imran (3), Arabic with translations
Quran.com. Accessed 2026-11-11.
- Wikipedia: Infancy Gospel of Thomas
Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0). Accessed 2026-11-11.