Person
A companion of Paul in Acts; a late “Gospel of Barnabas” in which Muhammad is foretold is not an early text.
What it means
Barnabas was a Levite from Cyprus and an early Christian leader (Acts 4:36). The Gospel of Barnabas that some Muslims cite survives in Italian and Spanish manuscripts of the sixteenth century and is thought by most scholars to be a medieval work, with Islamic material in it.
What the sources say
Many Muslim scholars and writers do not rely on it. The Muslim account of Jesus comes from the Quran and the Prophet’s sayings, and does not depend on a medieval document.