Oh boy, that's a loaded question if ever I saw one.

According to Islam, the Qur'an contains the revelations shown to Muhammad by God through the Angel Gabriel. The Qur'an is the literal word of God. Islam consciously and explicitly sees itself as part of the Abrahamic tradition of Judaism and Christianity. (1) Jesus was, according to the Qur'an, a prophet that received revelations but whose followers had since lost their way. (2) Muhammad was not the only prophet for Islam, but he was the final and definitive one - Prophet with a capital 'p.' That the Qur'an echoes earlier Christian and Jewish scripture, even repeating some of the stories, is entirely in line with the internal logic of the religion. Any repetition or similarity is natural since it’s the same God at the core of the lessons.

So that's the Islamic line. As with a lot of religious topics, applying historical nuance to these things can be tricky. It's obviously a sensitive topic but here we go.

Is it a copy of Jesus' teachings by being so similar? Not necessarily. This is less a scholarly opinion and more a personal one, but a lot of the teachings of the Qur'an, Bible, and most other religious texts are pretty innate to human nature: no murder, don't lie, be kind to the poor. You can call it human nature or divine hard-wiring, but whatever it is, these ideas seem to carry across cultures well enough for us to think there's something fundamental to them in the human psyche.

With that out of the way, let's go back to the more historical perspective. It'll help to discuss when the Qur'an itself emerged. Islamic tradition is clear that Muhammad himself did not write the Qur'an. He received the revelations and repeated them to his followers, but he is not the writer of the text. (3) Some of the indivudal suras appear to have been written down during his life, and soon after his death it appears his companions might have compiled individual collections, but in 632 (the year of Muhammad's death) there certainly was not a canonical text recognised as the Qur'an. (4) The generally agreed upon origin of the Qur'an in the standard version created under the third caliph 'Uthman (AD 644-656/ AH 24-35). The 'Uthmanic version was the first we know of to appear in multiple copies, to be distributed across the caliphate, and have the caliph's endorsement. It is, more or less, the same version we have today. It appears to have been made in council through agreement between leading scholars and companions of the Prophet. (5) They seem to have pooled together their own oral and written versions of Muhammad's revelations and created a 'best fit' that most could agree on. As for why he did it, it was apparently to eliminate divergent recitations of the Qur’an among his troops. (6) That he disseminated it through major centres like Damascus and Jerusalem also suggests that it was probably a wider project of doctrinal and cultural unity as well, to ensure a common text and touchstone for the new caliphate.

To go back to the meat of the question. It's unlikely that the Qur'an was 'copied' from Jesus' teachings for a few reasons. Firstly, there is that innate human nature thing I mentioned earlier. More important, however, is that Islam, as an Abrahamic religion, draws on the entire Judeo-Christian tradition that preceded it.

There’s a particularly interesting sign of this noted by Sinai. (7) She notes that Sura 19, which recounts the nativity story, bears some key resemblances to a particular version only known from the church of Kathisma, between Jericho and Jerusalem. Interestingly, the church seems to have been popular among later caliphs and, some argue, was the architectural inspiration for the Dome of the Rock. The implication would be that the Qur’anic version was inspired by this version, but the problem with that is that Palestine wasn’t conquered until the late 630s, after Muhammad’s death, therefore making sura 19 sourced from something other than Muhammad, and calling into question the whole historical story of the Qur’an. To be honest, as a historian, the answer seems quite simple. It was likely a simple case of cultural and theological absorption and assimilation. The Muslims liked that version of the story better so decided to keep it.

It seems fair to say that the Qur’an, like all texts in human history, absorbed some of the things around it. Islam was already styling itself in the Abrahamic tradition so it’s not surprising that it would look to its fellow Abrahamic religions for inspiration. But to go back to the question: is it copying Jesus? No, rather it’s drawing from the wider Biblical tradition.

It’s actually more likely, though still far from certain, that the Qur'an and Islam stemmed specifically from Judaism, not Christianity. We have to remember that Judaism is the oldest of the three main Abrahamic religions and both Christianity and Islam owe it a massive literary and theological debt. Just as the Qur'an contains mention of Jesus, it also mentions Noah, Moses, and other figures that originate in the Jewish tradition.

As for why there’s such a strong link between early Islam and Judaism, we can look at some of our historical texts. One of the first non-Muslim sources we have that comments on Islam is the Armenian History attributed to Sebeos. This passage from his work is a good starting point, describing the fleeing of Jews from Edessa in the 620s:

"Then the twelve tribes of all the clans of the Jews went and gathered at the city of Edessa… They did not allow the army of the Roman empire to enter among them. Then the Greek king Heraclius ordered it to be besieged. When they realized that they were unable to resist him in battle, they parleyed for peace with him. Opening the gates of the city, they went and stood before him. Then he ordered them to go and remain in each one’s habitation, and they departed. Taking desert roads, they went to Tachkastan, to the sons of Ismael [the Muslims], summoned them to their aid and informed them of their blood relationship through the testament of scripture. The Jews called the Arabs to their aid and familiarized them with the relationship they had through the books of the Old Testament. Although the Arabs were convinced of their close relationship, they were unable to get a consensus from their multitude, for they were divided from each other by religion. In that period a certain one of them, a man of the sons of Ishmael named Mahmed, became prominent. A sermon about the Way of Truth, supposedly at God’s command, was revealed to them, and Mahmed taught them to recognize the God of Abraham, especially since he was informed and knowledgeable about Mosaic history. Because the command had come from on High, he ordered them all to assemble together and to unite in faith. Abandoning the reverence of vain things, they turned toward the living God, who had appeared to their father–Abraham." (8)

The key points of this passage is that, according to Sebeos, Islam and Muhammad emerged in close partnership with Judaism. The historicity of the events is debated, but these early links with Judaism are remarkably frequent in Islam. Take for example the fact that, originally, the qibla where all Muslims turned to pray was in Jerusalem, not Mecca. Jerusalem achieved a religious potency for Islam through Muhammad's Night Journey, but even the Islamic tradition claims Jerusalem was the qibla for a time during Muhammad’s life. (9)

From these examples, it’s clear that Islam drew from the Judeo-Christian tradition that preceded it. The amount of references to Judeo-Christian faith in the Qur’an seems to imply an expected familiarity with the ideas among its audience. They come from the same religious tradition and formed a new faith from the same principles, and so similarity is to be expected. To call it copying is to miss the point, I think. Islam is undeniably a distinct thing. The Qur’an is unquestionably a very different text to the Bible. Whatever similarities they have can be explained from a shared Abrahamic origin that both faiths make no secret of.

To me, a non-Muslim observer, the answer to the origin of the Qur’an and Islam looks something like this. Muhammad lived in Mecca and found his way to some Judeo-Christian tradition one way or another. He formed his own perspectives and began preaching a renewed version of what he’d already known. Familiar figures and ideas like Jesus and monotheistic worship, blended with more specific focus on charity or the anti-idolatry, both of which were relevant to his experience in Mecca. As Islam’s early reputation spread, its links with Judeo-Christian tradition became more clear to others, explaining cooperation and conversion as well as the comments from sources like Sebeos. Like every other idea in human history, there was some absorption of other faiths and ideas as it grew, such as in sura 19, and ‘Uthman’s codification came at a time when unity was deemed a necessary and achievable goal as Islam’s identity crystallised.

Of course, for many Muslims, it's enough to say that Muhammad was receiving God's word and that, since it was the same God passing on similar lessons to previous prophets like Jesus, that any similarities are easily accommodated. That may well be true. However, as a non-Muslim, I'm obligated to try and see it from a more secular and sceptical perspective.

I’m conscious that this has slipped into being more a discussion of whether Islam as a whole copied from the Christian faith, but given how central the texts are to the faiths then I sort of forgive myself. Basically, they came from the same religious tradition and to call the Qur’an a copy is to miss the point. They share key principles but Islam is a distinct entity just as Christianity is distinct from Judaism.