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SECTION FIVE: UNDERSTANDING MUSLIM OBJECTIONS TO THE GOSPEL
CHAPTER THIRTEEN: MUSLIM OBJECTIONS TO CHRISTIANITY
13.4. Objections about Christ's crucifixion and resurrectionHaving discussed three common objections, let us now look at another commonly held Islamic belief, namely that while there was indeed a crucifixion, it was not Jesus on the cross but rather someone who only looked like Him. There is in fact only one verse in the Qur’an about the crucifixion, and this verse is ambiguous in the original Arabic. The literal translation of the verse says: “And their saying: ‘We have killed the Messiah, Jesus, Mary’s son, God’s messenger’, and they have not killed him, and they have not crucified him, and but (it) resembled to them, and that those who disagreed in him in doubt from him, They have no knowledge in him, except following the speculation, and they have not killed him surely.” (Qur’an 4:157)
The words here translated as “resembled to them” (shubbiha lahum) have variously been translated as:
Thus you can see that there is no clear consensus on the actual meaning. These words have been translated over twenty different ways, anything from “it appeared to them” to “Their wishful thinking has created so much confusion in account of the lack of [historical] proof for their saying”. This confusion is reflected in Qur’anic commentaries; some tell us that another person took Christ’s place, others say that this person was Judas Iscariot, and still others say that it was Jesus but he didn’t die. Qur’an commentator al-Razi in his commentary to this verse asked very good questions about this idea of another person taking on the appearance of Jesus.
Razi tried to address his own question with extremely ridiculous answers, like saying: “if Jibreel saved Jesus, that would have made Jesus’s miracle so great that it would reach the level of compelling people to believe, which is not lawful.” In the end he actually admits why he refused the logical conclusion of all his questions: the Qur’an says otherwise. The crucifixion of Jesus is a historical fact which not even atheist scholars today deny. Bart Ehrman (who is not known for his commitment to Christ), for example, says the crucifixion of Jesus on the orders of Pontius Pilate is the most certain element about him (A Brief Introduction to the New Testament). It is simply an indisputable fact. Are we supposed to refuse or doubt it because someone came along six hundred years later and said two words that his own followers do not really understand but who think those two words could mean that it wasn’t Jesus on the cross but someone else who looked like him? Really! Would Muslims even entertain such an absurd idea if it was applied to Mohammed? The Qur’an and Islamic history say Mohammed was hiding in a cave with Abu Baker when he was escaping from Mecca to Madinah (Qur’an 9:40). What if we say that when they came out of the cave it wasn’t Mohammed but someone who just looked to Abu Baker like Mohammed? After all, the verses of the Qur’an written by this person after coming out of the cave are very different indeed to those written in Mecca beforehand. We see a distinct change in character as Mohammed was more violent after this cave incident. He changed his goals; he had now become a warrior and within a year from coming out of that Cave he started invading other tribes while he never attacked anyone before. Would Muslims think such an idea should be taken seriously? Of course not! That is how Christians feel when we hear “it appeared to them”. The rest of that verse says “those who disagreed in him in doubt from him, They have no knowledge in him, except following the speculation” but as we have seen, it is Muslims who are in doubt and follow speculation, Christians on the other hand throughout history have agreed on this fact: “that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)
This creed dates back to the late 30s / early 40s AD, which makes it between 5-7 years from the crucifixion. Outside the Bible, we also have the Apostle’s Creed, which states that Jesus: “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead. On the third day he rose again.”
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