While discussing the Bible and the Koran, I also challenged David on the divine authority of Jesus. He responded to my points, but he also challenged me to contrast my arguments with a case for the authority of Muhammad. It was then that I realised my standards for criticising the origins of Christianity would raze the foundations of Islam if I applied them consistently.
Though I doubted the reliability of the Gospels, written in the lifetime of Jesus’ disciples, the entire edifice of the Sirah (various traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad) rested on accounts from 150-250 years after his death. The earliest account of Muhammad’s life is only known to us because one devout Muslim preserved it, and he uses no uncertain words to say that what he received contained fabrications and false reports (Ibn Hisham, who edited Ibn Ishaq’s Sirah Rasul Allah).
By contrast, the case for Jesus’ death, deity and resurrection was very strong, built on early records that were most coherently explained by orthodox Christian positions. It was through this contrast that matters became clear.
YOUNG MEN WHO ZEALOUSLY CHAMPION ISLAM REMIND ME OF MY YOUNGER SELF
THE CASE FOR CRUCIFIXION
While still contemplating these issues as a Muslim, I attended a debate between a Christian called Michael Licona and a Muslim called Shabir Ally on the topic of Jesus’ resurrection. A trend in Ally’s thinking emerged through the course of the debate, and what I saw shook me.
Multiple ancient sources report Jesus’ death by crucifixion, including Jewish, Gentile, and Christian records. These reports are so numerous and the surrounding circumstances so clear that even atheist and agnostic scholars say Jesus’ crucifixion is among the surest facts of history. But with excessive scepticism, one can deny anything. Ally advanced the koranic view of Jesus: that, despite all the reports, Jesus did not die by crucifixion.
But what reason is there to stand by the koranic claims about Jesus when all the other records disagree? The Koran was written 600 years after Jesus and 600 miles away. The only reason to believe the Koran is an a priori faith in Islam. That is why only Muslim scholars deny Jesus’ death by crucifixion. Ally was very sceptical with the Christian case but not nearly as critical of the Islamic perspective. No contrast, just one-sided criticism.
Explanation:
