Sam Shamoun brings to light another historical error in the Quran

The Qur'an makes several claims. It claims, the real disciples/helpers of Jesus were Muslims. It claims that these true followers of Jesus will be superior and prevail until the day of resurrection. It also claims Jesus was not killed, nor was he crucified and therefore he wasn't resurrected. The Qur'an also teaches dominion over creation belongs to God alone and no other creature. Of course a serious problem is that the Quran falsifies itself due to the fact that rather it is the Pauline followers that supposedly contradicted the real message and original followers of Jesus that has prevailed to this date.

But in all irony it is now known that it is not merely the Christian tradition that asserts the early Christian beliefs were Christian orientated, it is the very best critical New Testament Scholarship that Muslims themselves appeal to that assert the earliest followers of Jesus believed in the death, burial, resurrection and universal lordship of Jesus. It is the very best of critical scholarship and historical analysis that leads even the most critical scholars to believe the earliest followers of Jesus believed in Jesus as some kind exalted divine ruler, completely opposing the Muslim assertion that Jesus was merely a slave and prophet of God whom had no divine status in which he no shared rulership with God as exalted divine Lord.

I highly recommend these three articles(here, here, here) where my friend Sam Shamoun has documented the scholarly perspective on what the earliest followers of Jesus believed. Now the Scholars might not outright describe  the earliest believers as "Trinitarians", but nor would they use the word "Muslim". What is apparent is that the closet position seemed to be being described is that of Arianism or a type of  Biunitarianism.

In any case I highly agree with Shamouns conclussion, Paul Williams must become agnostic in order to be consistent and therefore give up writing for MDI and join my blog here at AnsweringAbraham in exposing these sorts of inconsistencies.

Here is Shamoun's argument in his own concluding words:

Islamic theology itself agrees that God alone reigns over all creation and that no creature is allowed to share in God’s unique rule over all things:

Indeed, the truth deny they who say, "Behold, God is the Christ, son of Mary." Say: "And who could have prevailed with God in any way had it been His will to destroy the Christ, son of Mary, and his mother, and everyone who is on earth - all of them? For, God's is the dominion over the heavens and the earth and all that is between them; He creates what He wills: and God has the power to will anything!" And [both] the Jews and the Christians say, "We are God's children, and His beloved ones." Say: "Why, then, does He cause you to suffer for your sins? Nay, you are but human beings of His creating. He forgives whom He wills, and He causes to suffer whom He wills: for God's is the dominion over the heavens and the earth and all that is between them, and with Him is all journeys' end." S. 5:17-18 Muhammad Asad

And say, 'Praise belongs to God, who has not taken to Himself a son, and has not had a partner in His kingdom, nor had a patron against (such) abasement.' And magnify Him greatly! S. 17:111 Y. Ali

This is known as tauhid al-rububiyyah.

Moreover, to say that Allah has taken a creature to be his partner in ruling over all things, or in running the affairs of creation, is to commit the unpardonable sin of association, otherwise known as shirk:

VERILY, God does not forgive the ascribing of divinity to aught beside Him, although He forgives any lesser sin unto whomever He wills: for he who ascribes divinity to aught beside God has indeed contrived an awesome sin. S. 4:48 Asad – cf. 4:16; 2:22

Williams’ Dilemma

Williams is now faced with a major problem since the Quran asserts that Jesus’ disciples were all Muslims:

Then when 'Iesa (Jesus) came to know of their disbelief, he said: "Who will be my helpers in Allah's Cause?" Al-Hawariun (the disciples) said: "We are the helpers of Allah; we believe in Allah, and bear witness that we are Muslims (i.e. we submit to Allah)." S. 3:52 Hilali-Khan

And when I (Allah) put in the hearts of Al-Hawarieen (the disciples) [of 'Iesa (Jesus)] to believe in Me and My Messenger, they said: "We believe. And bear witness that we are Muslims." S. 5:111 Hilali-Khan

If this were true then that means that none of the disciples would have ever gone around proclaiming that Christ ascended into heaven after his resurrection to rule the entire creation from God’s very own throne since this would be a clear violation of tauhid al-rububiyyah (assuming, of course, that Jesus is nothing more than a mere creature).

However, according to the very scholars which Williams is constantly parroting around such as Dunn, all the evidence conclusively proves that this is exactly what Jesus’ disciples preached!

According to scholars like Dunn, the first Christians believed that Jesus died on the cross to make atonement for sins, that he had been raised from the dead, that he ascended to heaven to sit on God’s own throne in order to reign over all creation as Lord, and that they would all call on his name in their prayers and worship. None of these beliefs agree with the teachings of the Quran or the traditions of Muhammad. 

How the Apostle Paul managed to trump Allah by overcoming his will!

But it gets worse for Williams. Williams seems to not realize that by saying that Paul really invented Christianity he is pretty much condemning the Quran which says that Allah promised Jesus that his followers would be victorious and become dominant from the moment of Christ’s ascension into heaven until the day of resurrection:

Lo! God said: "O Jesus! Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee unto Me, and cleanse thee of [the presence of] those who are bent on denying the truth; and I shall place those who follow thee [far] ABOVE those who are bent on denying the truth, UNTO THE DAY OF RESURRECTION. In the end, unto Me you all must return, and I shall judge between you with regard to all on which you were wont to differ.” S. 3:55 Asad

Here is how another version renders this text:

Behold! God said: "O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee SUPERIOR to those who reject faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.” Yusuf Ali

The Islamic scripture claims that Allah kept his promise since he made sure that the followers of Christ prevailed over the disbelievers:

O YOU who have attained to faith! Be helpers [in the cause of God - even as Jesus, the son of Mary, said unto the white-garbed ones, "Who will be my helpers in God's cause?" - whereupon the white-garbed [disciples] replied, "We shall be [thy] helpers [in the cause] of God!" And so [it happened that] some of the children of Israel came to believe [in the apostleship of Jesus], whereas others denied the truth. But [now] We have given strength against their foes unto those who have [truly] attained to faith: AND THEY HAVE BECOME THE ONES THAT SHALL PREVAIL. S. 61:14 Asad

This either means that Allah lied since he had no intention in keeping his promise to Jesus, which is why he allowed Paul to come in and sabotage Christ’s message by having “Pauline Christianity” prevail over the teachings of the disciples. Or Allah is impotent since a finite creature was able to thwart Allah’s will for Jesus and his followers!

Or Williams must accept the fact that Paul was a true Apostle whom God used to spread Jesus’ message all over the then known world. In fact, this was the position of some of Islam’s earliest and greatest scholars and historians:

“Yazid b. Abu Habib al-Misri told me that he found a document in which was a memorandum (T. the names) of those the apostle sent to the countries and kings of the Arabs and non-Arabs and what he said to his companions when he sent them. I sent it to Muhammad b. Shihab al-Zuhri (T. with a trusty countryman of his) and he recognized it. It contained the statement that the apostle went out to his companions and said: ‘God has sent me (Muhammad) to all men, so take a message from me, God have mercy on you. Do not hang back from me as the disciples hung back from Jesus son of Mary. They asked how they hung back and he said, ‘He called them to a task similar to that which I have called you. Those who had to go a short journey were pleased and accepted. Those who had a long journey before them were displeased and refused to go, and Jesus complained of them to God. (T. From that very night) every one of them was able to speak the language of the people to whom he was sent.' (T. Jesus said, ‘This is a thing that God has determined that you should do, so go.’

“Those whom Jesus son of Mary sent, both disciples and those who came after them, in the land were: Peter the disciple AND PAUL WITH HIM, (PAUL BELONGED TO THE FOLLOWERS AND WAS NOT A DISCIPLE) to Rome. Andrew and Matthew to the land of the cannibals; Thomas to the land of Babel, which is in the land of the east; Philip to Carthage and Africa; John to Ephesus the city of the young men of the cave; James to Jerusalem which is Aelia the city of the sanctuary; Bartholomew to Arabia which is the land of Hijaz; Simon to the land of Berbers; Judah who was not one of the disciples was put in place of Judas" (The Life of Muhammad: A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, with introduction and notes by Alfred Guillaume [Oxford University Press, Karachi, Tenth impression 1995], p. 653)

This same tradition is cited by al-Qurtubi in his commentary on Q. 61:14:

It was said that THIS VERSE was revealed about the apostles of Jesus, may peace and blessing be upon him. Ibn Ishaq stated that of the apostles and disciples that Jesus sent (to preach) there were Peter AND PAUL who went to Rome; Andrew and Matthew who went to the land of the cannibals; Thomas who went to Babel in the eastern lands; Philip who went to Africa… Allah supported them (the apostles) with evidence so that they prevailed (thahirin) meaning they became the party with the upper hand. Just as it is said, “An object appeared on the wall” meaning it is clearly visible (alu-wat) on the wall. Allah, who is glorified and exalted, knows the truth better and to Him is the return and retreat. (Translated by Dimitrius; bold and capital emphasis ours)

It is also quoted by al-Tabari with approval:

“Among the apostles, and the followers who came after them were the Apostle Peter and Paul who was a follower and not an apostle; they went to Rome. Andrew and Matthew were sent to the country whose people are man-eaters, a land of blacks, we think; Thomas was sent to Babylonia in the east, Philip to Qayrawan (and) Carthage, that is, North Africa. John went to Ephesus, the city of the youths of the cave, and James to Jerusalem, that is, Aelia. Bartholomew was sent to Arabia, namely, the Hijaz; Simeon to the land of the Berbers in Africa. Judas was not then an apostle, so his place was taken by Ariobus. He filled in for Judas Iscariot after the latter had perpetrated his deed.” (The History of Al-Tabari: The Ancient Kingdoms, translated by Moshe Perlmann [State University of New York Press (SUNY), Albany 1987], Volume IV, p. 123; bold emphasis ours)

The translator explains what al-Tabari meant that Paul was not an apostle:

317. In Islamic terms the messengers or apostles pave the new path. Their work is continued by the tabi'un, the followers, members of the next generations, who lead the Faithful. (Ibid)

Al-Tabari even lists Paul as one of those martyred for the faith!

“Abu Ja'far says: They assert that after Tiberius, Palestine and other parts of Syria were ruled by Gaius, son of Tiberius, for four years. He was succeeded by another son, Claudius, for fourteen years, following which Nero ruled for fourteen years. He slew Peter and crucified Paul head down. For four months Botlaius [Vittelius] ruled thereafter. Then Vespasian, father of Titus whom he sent to Jerusalem, ruled for ten years. Three years after his rise to power, forty years after the ascension of Jesus, Vespasian sent Titus to Jerusalem. Titus destroyed it and slew numerous Israelites in his wrath over the fate of Christ…” (Ibid, p. 126)

Yet even this position creates problems for Williams. Paul (as well as the first disciples of Christ) taught that Jesus is the risen Lord who died for our sins and rose from the dead to reign over all creation from God’s own throne, which means that Muhammad is a false prophet since he denied all these truths.

Hence, all of the evidence points in one direction: Islam is a false religion, the Islamic deity is a false god, and Muhammad was one of the antichrists which the first Christians warned would come into the world to mislead people away from the truth of Christ:

“Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.” 1 John 2:22-23

In light of the foregoing, the only options left for Williams is to either accept the conclusions of his own scholars, and therefore accept Jesus as his risen Lord and Savior, or become an agnostic. Remaining a Muslim is NOT an option since this would only expose Williams’ inconsistencies and dishonesty.

After all, to continue believing Islam would not only show that Williams doesn’t even believe what his own scholars have to say concerning early Christian beliefs and practices, it would also demonstrate that he doesn’t bother to apply the same criticisms and objections to the Quran or the traditions attributed to Muhammad.