I've always been curious about what Muslims believe regarding the role that Jesus plays?
We believe that Jesus (peace be upon him) was one of the mightiest messengers of God, who preached the same essential message that all the other messengers sent by God preached. We believe that :
he was the messiah.
he was born miraculously of the noble virgin Mary (peace on her) without any male intervention.
he gave life to the dead with God's permission.
he healed those born blind and lepers with God's permission.
We do not believe that he was killed, crucified, nor died for anyones' sins. God took him from this earth miraculously.
We also do not believe that Jesus (peace be upon him) ever claimed divinity, or that he was God, son of God, part of a trinity, or that he said "Worship me".
We believe that he'll return to earth near the end of time.
We do not reject him (as Jews do), nor do we at the other end of the scale deify him (as Christians do).
Muslims love and respect Jesus (peace be upon him) and believe in him as he was; one of the noblest and purest of humanity to ever walk the earth, and one of the greatest messengers of Allah, sent to the Children of Israel. Neither he, nor any other messenger, ever claimed divinity, or to be God's son. The message didn't suddenly change when it came to Jesus (peace on him), nor did he rebel against God and claim divinity for himself instead of or alongside God. He told people to worship Allah, "My Lord and your Lord":
And [beware the Day] when Allah will say, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you say to the people, 'Take me and my mother as deities besides Allah?'" He will say, "Exalted are You! It was not for me to say that to which I have no right. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen. I said not to them except what You commanded me - to worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me up, You were the Observer over them, and You are, over all things, Witness." (Qur'an 5:116-117)
It is not for a human [prophet] that Allah should give him the Scripture and authority and prophethood and then he would say to the people, "Be worshippers of me rather than/apart from Allah," but [instead, he would say], "Be pious scholars of the Lord because of what you have taught of the Scripture and because of what you have studied." Nor could he order you to take the angels and prophets as lords. Would he order you to disbelief after you had been Muslims? (Qur'an 3:79-80)