Samaria:

In Surah 20:85-88, 95 we read about the story of the Prophet Moses and the Israelite rebellion in their worship of the golden calf. The interesting thing within this passage, is that a SAMARITAN was accused of leading the people of Allah astray.

The story of Moses and the golden calf is dated to have occurred around 1400 BC. Yet the Samaritans did NOT exist until 530 years AFTER Moses. Samaria was founded by King Omri during the year 870 BC. The Samaritans did not exist until after the exile of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the resettlement of the area under King Sargon II in 722 B.C.

So the question arises: How could a Samaritan lead the people of Moses astray when Samaritans did not exist during the time of Moses?

Crucifixion:

According to Surah 12:41, the Quran writes that during the time of Joseph (in the Old Testament), death by crucifixion was actually something that existed and was being performed. Not only that, but the Quran writes in Surah 7:124, 26:49 and 20:71 that Pharaoh threatened the magicians who believed in Moses with crucifixion.

The major problem with these statements from the Qur’an is that there is no archeological or historical evidence that the Egyptians used crucifixion as a form of punishment in the time of Joseph, or in the time of Moses. Crucifixion only becomes a punishment much later in history.

Alexander the great:

In surah 18:83-98 we read about a man named Dhul-Qarnayn. Now, it is VERY rare to find a scholar of the Islamic religion which will not state that this points to Alexander the great. Here are just some of those people: Baydawi, p. 399, al-Jalalan, p. 251, al-Tabari, p. 339, al-Zamakhshari, part 2 of al-Kash-shaf, p. 743.

The problem, however, is that the Quran describes Alexander as being a “righteous and God fearing man”. That Allah is the one whom guided him and that he lead people into the fold of the Islamic faith.

However, when we even do a little research on the true and historical Alexander, we see that he was an idolater, claiming to be the son of the Egyptian God Amun. Very few would even consider him to be even remotely close to a righteous human being.

Mary, the Quranic confusion:

In many places, the Qur’an mentions Mary as the sister of Moses and Aaron and the daughter of Imran. The Qur’an has confused Jesus’ mother with Aaron’s sister because both of them carry the same name, though there are several centuries between them.

The Qur’an indicates that Mary (Christ’s mother) had a brother whose name was Aaron (chapter 19:28) and a father whose name is Imran (chapter 66:12). Their mother was called “the wife of Imran” (chapter 3:35) which eliminates any doubt that it confuses Mary, mother of Jesus, with Mary, sister of Aaron.

The gospel of Jesus Christ:

In surah 4:157, the Quran unashamedly tells us that Christ was never killed nor crucified. But that it was made to appear so. Rather, Allah raised Christ unto himself. The traditional interpretation of this verse is that Allah replaced Jesus with Judas on the cross, hence ANY historical substantiation of this event would fall short on disproving the Islamic position, for they do not doubt that the crucifixion took place, but that it was Judas who took on Christ’s form.

Yet when we look to the historical record, we see that it too, also successfully dismantles this elucidation, because 10 out of the 12 apostles were martyred for believing in the MURDER and RESSURECTION of Jesus. History shows that that they firmly believed that it was Jesus himself who was murdered raised from the dead.

In The Historical Jesus: Lecture Transcript and Course Guidebook, 2000, Ehrman says:

“ONE OF THE MOST CERTAIN FACTS OF HISTORY IS THAT JESUS WAS CRUCIFIED ON ORDERS OF THE ROMAN PREFECT OF JUDEA, PONTIUS PILATE”. (P. 162)

Atheist Professor of Early Christianity and the University of Gottinggen Gerd Ludemann says:

“JESUS’ DEATH AS A CONSEQUENCE OF CRUCIFIXION IS INDISPUTABLE”. IN THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST: A HISTORICAL INQUIRY, 2004, P 50

We have at least 11 sources for the crucifixion of Jesus: Pre-Mark Passion Narrative, Q, John, Paul, Hebrews, 1 Peter 2:24, Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Martyr, Josephus Flavius, & Cornelius Tacitus. Pre-Mark and Q are very early dating to within years of the actual crucifixion.

Other less valuable sources such as Lucian, Mesa Bar Serapion (depends on dating), Thallus and the Talmud all affirm a constant tradition of Jesus’ crucifixion.

If this was really Judas on the cross, then surely they would have been aware. SURELY they would not have been willing to die for something they knew was false. So again, if we take the above mentioned interpretation into account, Islam is left with the following 2 problems:

If it was really Judas on the cross, then Islam is immediately contradicted by the historical sources that tell us Jesus was crucified and all those who knew him believed and died for the belief that he was crucified.
If Allah transformed Judas into Jesus, then the corruption of Islam, which eventually gave birth to Christianity, is Allah’s fault. For he is responsible for deceiving the masses, only to amend it hundreds of years later.

Now there does exist other interpretations such as “Christ did not die, but he merely fainted”. Yet all still manage to fail when brought under scrutiny of what history has to say concerning the crucifixion of Jesus.