Nazarene or Christian ?

Nazarene or Christian ?

Extracted from Material on the Authenticity of the Qur'an: Proofs that it is a Revelation from Almighty God by Abdur-Raheem Greene

The Qur'an refers to the early followers of Jesus as "Nazarenes". This is historically accurate. The word "Christian" was actually a nick name used by the Romans sometime after Jesus - Acts 11:26 "The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch."

Note

A Christian member of our discussion forum objected to the Qur'an referring to Christians as Nazarenes, claiming this was historically incorrect, since Christians were not only from Nazareth. However, the Encyclopaedia Britannica confirms that the term Nazarene referred to Christians:

Nazarene

in the New Testament, a title applied to Jesus and, later, to those who followed his teachings (Acts 24:5). In the Greek text there appear two forms of the word: the simple form, Nazarenos, meaning "of Nazareth," and the peculiar form, Nazoraios. Before its association with the locality, this latter term may have referred to a Jewish sect of "observants," or "devotees," and was later transferred to the Christians.

The full entry in Encyclopaedia Britannica is available here.