ISLAM’S NEMESIS: THE HERESY OF SURAH 4:157
1). INTRODUCTION
We don’t have to look very far to find the raison d’etre for Islam. Surah 4:157-8 is actually the sole reason for Islam’s existence, it is Satan’s crude and unsubtle way of denying his defeat at Calvary. Although judging by the way it has succeeded in blinding 1.2 billion people to the truth, it might seem like a masterstroke, we don’t have to scratch the surface very far to see, it is also the main reason why Islam self destructs.
This Post is going to do an in depth expose of these two, the most controversial verses of the Quran, that attempt to challenge and rewrite what up to that time, had been 6 centuries of Gospel narrative based upon eyewitness testimony from 4 corroborating accounts, two of them authored by the Apostles of Jesus, Matthew and John, one Mark who was the scribe for a third Apostle Peter, and Luke, a physician with an eye for precise detail who also wrote Acts and became the Apostle Paul’s travelling companion. Then we have the remaining 23 books of the New Testament, all of them written within 60 years of the Ascension, upon the foundation of the same Gospel, not to mention dozens of writings of the Antenicean Church fathers, through all of which the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Chrust are established facts, at the heart of and the cornerstone for the Gospel. Arising from which the Church of Jesus Christ became the fastest growing and largest faith in the world, started in a place which was thoroughly hostile to it from the outset. And all of this had the ring of truth because of the severe persecution which followed in its wake. Not to mention because of often hostile historical sources which corroborate the central facts about the crucifixion, which are beyond the scope of one Post.
But here comes the Quran leftfield out the blue Arabian pagan skies more than half a millennium later, dismissing the entire narrative and sequence of events in just two sentences. Yes you read that right. Two sentences is supposed to do justice to defeat and overturn the entire weight of centuries of settled Middle Eastern history. Does that sound plausible? Is it reasonable? Is it in the least bit credible? Well the fact is that’s how Islam dismisses and brushes aside the foundation of the Christian faith and culmination of centuries of Old Testament prophecy which preceded and forshadowed it.
The paucity, the chaff of the Quran’s bland dismissal tells us something even before we start to examine what it says. The lack of substance, the absence of evidence is damning. Absence of evidence confirmed by absence of witness testimony, a narrator or explanation. No details. No names, nothing verifiable. A load of speculative conjecture. A dozen questions begged. Total lack of fit with the historical facts.
But it is what it is. Its not the critics fault that the Quran is so lacking in substance or credibility. Since that’s how feeble and flimsy and threadbare the Islamic case is we shall have to deal with it accordingly.
2). WHAT THE QURAN SAYS HAPPENED (OR DIDN’T HAPPEN)
Here to remind us are what it says. I am using the Shakir translation because its honest enough to admit that it’s speaking about ‘Isa’, the mistaken name the Quran gives the Messiah, who for the record is NOT the historical Jesus of the Bible, but a figure of gnosticism and myth. (No English translation of the Quran should EVER adopt and abuse the name of Jesus, but that is what the other main English translations, Khalifa, Pickthall, Sherali and Yusuf Ali do, they all insert Jesus name here, to their shame).
“And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure” (4:157 Shakir).
“Nay! Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is Mighty, Wise” (4:158 Shakir).
3). SOME QUESTIONS ARISING
Here are just a few questions begged by this fictional alternative narration:
1. Islam doesn’t believe in substitutional sacrifice … yet it appears that Allah substituted someone else for Isa in that verse.
2. Allah claimed “they were in doubt” is factually false, its a strawman fallacy. For more than two thousand years, both before and after the Quranic version of events, Christians, Jews and Romans have been in agreement over the issue of Jesus Christ being crucified. It was never, and has never been in doubt. There is not a shred of historical evidence for an uncrucified Messiah, not from Scripture or any other source outside of gnostic heresy. The facts are overwhelming, there is sure knowledge and there is no conjecture. On all counts those words in Surah 4:157 “those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture,” are palpably wrong. Purely from the historical point of view, that descriptive is unrecognisable. At first glance it appears nothing more than a deceitful twisting and rewriting of history.
3. It is the case that its Muslims who are actually the ones in doubt of what happened. The only “doubts” are what the Quran seeks to spread. Who was substituted? For what purpose? Since when has Allah EVER intervened to save anyone from death? There was no moral imperative or precedent for his going to such lengths to rescue “his messenger”. Subsequent events also give the lie to this fabrication. Why would Allah have rescued the Messiah and not repeated the same trick with his last and greatest Messenger Muhammad? His failure to enable Muhammad to identify that a Jewish woman had served him a plate of poisoned food from which he died a lingering false prophet’s death by poison, destroys his and his “last” messenger’s credibility.
4. Who actually was used as Isa’s substitute? Some claim Judas Iscariot, (in spite of him having hung himself before the crucifixion), some say Simon of Cyrene, (in a twisting of Mark’s account and/or adopting the gnostic writings of the 2nd Century sect founder Basilides), some say ‘Jesus’ Barabbas. But look for any consensus amongst Muslims as to who it was and you will never find it.
5. Let’s skip over who it was and why it was necessary and assume for sake of argument that a substitute whether Judas or Simon of Cyrene, Barabbas or some other anonymous poor wretch, was made to resemble Jesus and crucified in His place. But none of these alternatives can account for the facts of the empty tomb and post mortem appearances. The substitution theory is not only implausible, it falls flat at the first hurdle and simply fails to explain or account for what happened.
6. Where does the claimed boast “we killed the Messiah, Isa son of Mariam” even come from? Who is on record of making this statement? This sentence is a vague paraphrasing at best, a factual error at worst. The Jews never acknowledged Jesus as their Messiah in the first place so it’s an expression the Jews would never have used.
7. “THEY did not kill him nor did THEY crucify him” is question begging. Notice what is left unsaid. It does not say that the Messiah did not die, it merely says that they (the Jews) were not responsible for killing or crucifying Him.
On a strict and narrow reading, this statement alone might appear consistent with the Gospel narrative for it was the Roman jurisdiction that bore direct responsibility for crucifying Jesus. Roman soldiers were the ones who crucified him – not the Jews. But note from the historical account in Acts, the accusation of the disciples to the Jewish leaders that:
“The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you handed over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. [14] But you denied the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you. [15] YOU KILLED THE SOURCE OF LIFE, WHOM GOD RAISED FROM THE DEAD; WE ARE WITNESSES OF THIS.” (Acts 3:13‭-‬15 HCSB)
Acts 3:15 alone destroys the Islamic claim. Here Peter states the facts; he has no qualms about accusing the Jews, because Pilate had been willing to release Him, so the Jews by preferring to have the criminal Barabbas released and condemning Jesus, made them culpable for His death. Surah 4:157 is thus a lie on all counts, firstly because there was a crucifixion, it was Jesus who was crucified and the Jews were primarily responsible. Moreover, everyone who ever lived is an accessory to murder, because our sins helped nail Jesus to the cross. Nobody is innocent of His shed blood and we are all accountable and will be held to account.
But above all this, we have the sovereign will of God. Nothing that happened was apart from God’s will. As we shall see, all the events were in perfect alignment with, and fulfilment of, what had been decreed in prophesy from centuries before.
Even the Quran has an echo of this. Again by noting that Surah 4:157 does not deny Jesus’ crucifixion, but simply denies that it was the Jews who were responsible for the crucifixion, the question remains hanging who was responsible for Jesus death? Elsewhere, the Quran gives an answer, as the following passage demonstrates:
“Ye (Muslims) slew them not, but Allah slew them. And thou (Muhammad) threwest not when thou didst throw, but Allah threw, that He might test the believers by a fair test from Him. Lo! Allah is Hearer, Knower.” (Surah 8:17 Pickthall)
Now we are getting closer to reality. So Allah slew Jesus? If so how, when and where? The very next verse 4:158 ambiguously says “Allah took him up to himself” it doesn’t say whether dead or alive – again that’s consistent with Allah being responsible for his death, or it might mean that Allah raised him alive! More confusion, ambiguity, lack of clarity, detail or explanation, leaving only unanswered questions, as always that’s what the Quran does best.
Nevertheless, pressing on, if it wasn’t the Jews who crucified Christ, but God’s set purpose which allowed Christ to be crucified, then this is precisely what the Bible teaches:
“Though He was delivered up according to GOD’S DETERMINED PLAN AND FOREKNOWLEDGE, you used lawless people to nail Him to a cross and kill Him. [24] God raised Him up, ending the pains of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held by it. [25] For David says of Him: I saw the Lord ever before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. [26] Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced. Moreover, my flesh will rest in hope, [27] BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT LEAVE ME IN HADES OR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO SEE DECAY.” (Acts 2:23‭-‬27 HCSB)
“BUT WHAT GOD PREDICTED THROUGH THE MOUTH OF ALL THE PROPHETS — that His Messiah would suffer — He has fulfilled in this way.” (Acts 3:18 HCSB)
“For, in fact, in this city both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, [28] TO DO WHATEVER YOUR HAND AND YOUR PLAN HAD PREDESTINED TO TAKE PLACE.” (Acts 4:27‭-‬28 HCSB)
“but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. [20] HE WAS CHOSEN BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD but was revealed at the end of the times for you [21] who through Him are believers in GOD, WHO RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.” (1 Peter 1:19‭-‬21 HCSB)
“All those who live on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name was not written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered.” (Revelation 13:8 HCSB)
4). OTHER ISLAMIC COMMENTARY
Since the Quran leaves so many questions unanswered let’s turn to the Tafsir to see what commentary we can find that might shed some light on the Islamic version of events. From Ibn-kathir:
“The Jews also said, (“We killed Al-Masih, `Isa, son of Maryam, the Messenger of Allah,”) meaning, we killed the person who claimed to be the Messenger of Allah. The Jews only uttered these words in jest and mockery, just as the polytheists said, (O you to whom the Dhikr (the Qur’an) has been sent down! Verily, you are a mad man!) When Allah sent `Isa with proofs and guidance, the Jews, may Allah’s curses, anger, torment and punishment be upon them, envied him because of his prophethood and obvious miracles; curing the blind and leprous and bringing the dead back to life, by Allah’s leave. He also used to make the shape of a bird from clay and blow in it, and it became a bird by Allah’s leave and flew. `Isa performed other miracles that Allah honored him with, yet the Jews defied and belied him and tried their best to harm him. Allah’s Prophet `Isa could not live in any one city for long and he had to travel often with his mother, peace be upon them. Even so, the Jews were not satisfied, and they went to the king of Damascus at that time, a Greek polytheist who worshipped the stars. [Anyone heard of such a king in Damascus at that time, and why no mention of a name?] They told him that there was a man in Bayt Al-Maqdis [Jerusalem] misguiding and dividing the people in Jerusalem and stirring unrest among the king’s subjects. The king became angry and wrote to his deputy in Jerusalem to arrest the rebel leader, stop him from causing unrest, crucify him and make him wear a crown of thorns. When the king’s deputy in Jerusalem received these orders, he went with some Jews to the house that `Isa was residing in, and he was then with twelve, thirteen or seventeen of his companions. [If it’s already sounding like a bad alibi that’s because it is].That day was a Friday, in the evening. They surrounded `Isa in the house, and when he felt that they would soon enter the house or that he would sooner or later have to leave it, he said to his companions, “Who volunteers to be made to look like me, for which he will be my companion in Paradise” A young man volunteered, but `Isa thought that he was too young. He asked the question a second and third time, each time the young man volunteering, prompting `Isa to say, “Well then, you will be that man.” Allah made the young man look exactly like `Isa, while a hole opened in the roof of the house, and `Isa was made to sleep and ascended to heaven while asleep. Allah said, (And (remember) when Allah said: “O `Isa! I will take you and raise you to Myself.”) When `Isa ascended, those who were in the house came out. When those surrounding the house saw the man who looked like `Isa, they thought that he was `Isa. So they took him at night, crucified him and placed a crown of thorns on his head. The Jews then boasted that they killed `Isa and some Christians accepted their false claim, due to their ignorance and lack of reason. As for those who were in the house with `Isa, they witnessed his ascension to heaven, while the rest thought that the Jews killed `Isa by crucifixion. They even said that Maryam sat under the corpse of the crucified man and cried, and they say that the dead man spoke to her. All this was a test from Allah for His servants out of His wisdom. Allah explained this matter in the Glorious Qur’an which He sent to His honorable Messenger, whom He supported with miracles and clear, unequivocal evidence. Allah is the Most Truthful, and He is the Lord of the worlds Who knows the secrets, what the hearts conceal, the hidden matters in heaven and earth, what has occurred, what will occur, and what would occur if it was decreed. He said, (but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but it appeared as that to them,) referring to the person whom the Jews thought was `Isa. This is why Allah said afterwards, (and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture.) referring to the Jews who claimed to kill `Isa and the ignorant Christians who believed them. Indeed they are all in confusion, misguidance and bewilderment. This is why Allah said, (For surely; they killed him not.) meaning they are not sure that `Isa was the one whom they killed. Rather, they are in doubt and confusion over this matter (But Allah raised him up unto Himself. And Allah is Ever All-Powerful,) meaning, He is the Almighty, and He is never weak, nor will those who seek refuge in Him ever be subjected to disgrace, (All-Wise.) in all that He decides and ordains for His creatures. Indeed, Allah’s is the clearest wisdom, unequivocal proof and the most glorious authority.”
Source: www.recitequran.com/tafsir/en.ibn-kathir/4:157
“Clear unequivocal evidence”? An unnamed Greek polytheist King of Damascus? Like where and who? It’s a fable long story lacking a narrator, with no named witnesses and with total absence of historically verifiable details that does nothing but add to the confusion. I have only included it to demonstrate the elaborate lengths that Islam has to go to in trying to explain their version of events. It is neither plausible nor credible and has no ring of truth to it whatsoever.
Even amongst the Muslims who believe that someone else was killed in Jesus’ place, not all unanimously agree that it was Judas, or indeed which Judas:
1. A Jew named Judas (not to be confused with Judas Iscariot) entered a house where Christ was, with the purpose of arresting Him, but did not find Him. God caused the likeness of Christ to be on him, and when he came out of the house people thought he was Jesus, and took him and crucified him.
2. The Jews, when they arrested Jesus, set over Him a watchman, but Jesus was taken up to God by a miracle and God caused Jesus’ likeness to rest on the watchman, whom they took and crucified, while he cried out “I am not Jesus.”
3. One of Jesus’ friends was promised Paradise, and volunteered to die instead of Him. God caused him to resemble Jesus and he was taken and crucified but Jesus was taken up to heaven.
4. One of Jesus’ followers betrayed Him, (that is, Judas), and came to the Jews to guide them to Him, and went with them to take Him. God caused him to appear like Jesus and he was taken and crucified. (Adapted from Iskander Jadeed’s The Cross in the Gospel and the Koran [The Good Way, P.O. Box 66 CH-8486 Rikon, Switzerland], pp. 12-13; online edition)
5. Titawus, a Jew, entered the house where Jesus was, trying to arrest Him. He could not find Him. Instead, God changed his likeness and made him resemble Jesus. Upon coming out, the Jews had him arrested and crucified, thinking that he was Jesus. (Jadeed, Victory Of The Truth [Good Way], p. 113)
6. Some Muslims try to twist Mark’s narrative to suggest that it was Simon of Cyrene who was crucified based on a faulty interpretation of Mark 15:21-24, where they make “him” refer to Simon rather than Jesus in verse 22.
Al-Tabari in his commentary lists more conflicting views:
• Some Muslims have stated that “When the Jews surrounded Jesus and His friends, all took on the likeness of Jesus. The Jews were confused and so killed one of the others.” (On the authority of Salma)
• “Jesus came with seventeen disciples. The Jews surrounded them. God made the disciples in the likeness of Jesus. The Jews said to the disciples, `You have bewitched us. You’d better tell us which one of you is Jesus, or we will kill you all.’ Then Jesus said to the disciples, `Who is willing to give his life today for paradise? One of the disciples volunteered and went outside saying to the Jews, `I am Jesus.’ They took him and crucified him.”
• “The Children of Israel surrounded Jesus and nineteen of His disciples in a house. Jesus said to the disciples, `Who is willing to take my image, die, and go to Paradise?’ One disciple offered himself, and was taken outside and crucified, while Jesus ascended up to heaven.”
• Finally, “David the King of Israel sent a man to kill Jesus. That man took men with him. Jesus was with thirteen of His disciples. When He knew they had arrived He made one of the disciples to look exactly like Him. When the Jews saw that disciple, they took him outside and crucified him.” (Adapted from Jadeed’s Victory Of The Truth, pp. 114-115).
So far no consensus and no answers. Let’s leave that blind alley and look at the next verse.
5) WHAT OF SURAH 4:158? DOES IT EXPLAIN WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED TO ISA?
Turning to the next verse 4:158, we get no more clarity as to what is meant, even when we try to compare it with other related verses such as these:
“Behold! God said: `O Jesus! I will take thee (Arabic- inni mutawaffeeka) And raise thee to Myself And clear thee (of the falsehoods) Of those who blaspheme…” (Surah 3:55 Yusuf Ali)
“Never said did I to them Aught except what Thou Didst command me To say, to wit, `Worship God, my Lord and your Lord’; And I was a witness over them whilst I dwelt Amongst them; when thou Didst take me up (Arabic- tawaffaytani) Thou wast the Watcher Over them, and Thou art a witness to all things.” (Surah 5:117 Yusuf Ali)
The phrase “I will take thee” and “when Thou didst take me” are forms of the Arabic word ‘tawaffa’. The term is nearly always used in the Quran to imply one who is taken at death.
Some commentators say that Jesus died and remained dead for three hours; others say seven, and so on. But the word is used here to really show that the Jewish plans to cause Jesus’ death on the cross would be frustrated and that he would afterwards die a natural death … Pickthall’s translation is, “O Jesus, I am gathering thee”, and this is the Biblical idiom for causing to die. Yusuf Ali, in his first edition, translated the words as meaning I will cause thee to die, but in the second edition he changed it to I will take thee.” (Ali, Holy Quran, p.147, f. 436).
According to Tabari, Muslims such as Hasan al-Basri and Matar al-Warraq argued that Jesus did not die. In fact, according to Basri Muhammad had told the Jews, “Jesus did not die, and he will return to you before the Day of Resurrection.”
According to a tradition attributed to Ka’b al-Ahbar as reported by Mu’awiyah b. Salih, “God would not cause Jesus son of Mary to die.” Instead God told Jesus that he would send him “against the one-eyed deceiver (al-Dajjal), and you will slay him. You will then live for twenty-four years, after which I will cause you to die the death of the living.” (Ayoub, p. 170) Yet, according to Tabari, other Muslims asserted “that God received Jesus by causing him to die.”
Ayoub notes:
“This view (that God caused Jesus to die) is reported on the authority of Ibn Abbas and Wahb b. Munabbih who said, `God caused Jesus to die for three hours of the day, during which He raised him up to Him.’ Ibn Ishaq mistakenly reports that `Christians claim that God caused Jesus to die for seven hours, after which He brought him back to life.'” (Ibid.)
[Note the erroneous reporting of the Christian view in the last mentioned commentary – no Christian claims “God caused Jesus to die for seven hours”].
5). OTHER THEORIES
An alternative view is that Jesus was crucified but did not die. He swooned and on the third day was resuscitated by some of his disciples, namely Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. From there he went to India and died at an old age.
Muslims who adhere to this view include the Ahmadiyyas and the Nation of Islam (NOI). Orthodox Sunni Muslims consider these sects to be heretical.
Amazingly, the most famous swoon theory proponent is neither an Ahmadi or a member of the NOI. Rather it is South African Muslim Apologist Ahmad Deedat, considered by many to be Islam’s greatest defender.
In his writings and debates, Deedat attempted to prove that Jesus did not die on the cross but simply swooned. He also attempted to prove that Jesus did not rise from the dead. Jesus simply recovered and appeared alive to his followers, proving that he had not died on the cross.
This theory will also not work since it contradicts the Quranic witness that Jesus was neither crucified nor killed. And it also contradicts Muhammad’s statement that Jesus did not die.
6). CONCLUSIONS
Going full circle back to the problematic verse Surah 4:157:
“Surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure” … in the light of all the possible explanations, the only people these words describe accurately are those peddling Islamic heresy, those who cannot agree what happened or who was involved. As it does so often we find the Quran ends up describing what Islam itself and Muslims are guilty of.
Questions still unanswered:
□ Was Isa killed and by whom? Nobody can tell us, certainly the Quran doesn’t.
□ Who was substituted for Isa? Nobody knows and the Quran doesn’t tell us.
□ For what possible motive would anyone have taken Isa’s place? It certainly wasn’t fulfilling any prophecy, Biblical or Quranic. Indeed the Quran records this prophetic word of Isa’s death:
“And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life.” (Surah 19:33 Shakir)
□ Why would Allah act completely out of character just to thwart one death? Especially, since the Quran admits that all prophets were killed and Allah never lifted a finger to rescue any of them before or since? If Allah intervened on Isa’s behalf to save Him from a horrible death by crucifixion, then He acted contrary to his own nature of detached indifference. By contrast, he did nothing to warn, avert, prevent or rescue Muhammad from a lingering false prophet’s death by poison. Again we have only questions but no answers.
□ How does any Quranic explanation account for the facts of the empty tomb, the post mortem appearances, the transformation of the Apostles, the explosive rise of the early church, even in the face of vicious persecution, and above all the lack of any contemporary source to refute anything reported by the Gospels? It utterly fails to address a single one of these burning questions.
The tomb where the apparent body of Judas (looking like Jesus) was laid, was a short walk from the Temple where the disciples were proclaiming loudly to the crowds that the Messiah had risen from the dead. It should have been easy for the Jewish leaders to discredit their resurrection message simply by showing the body (looking like Jesus) in the tomb.
It is a fact that the message of the resurrection (which could easily have been disproven with a body still in the tomb) began near the tomb itself, where the evidence could be seen by everyone. Since the Jewish leaders did not refute their message by showing a body, we can only conclude that there was no body to show. The message of the empty tomb was irrefutable.
■ Thousands believed the resurrection message in Jerusalem
Thousands at one time were being converted to believe in the physical resurrection of Jesus in Jerusalem at this time. If you had been one of those in the crowds listening to Peter, wondering if his message was true, would you not have at least taken a lunch break to go to the tomb and take a look for yourself to see if there was still a body there? If the body of Judas (resembling the Messiah) was still in the tomb no one would have believed the message of the Apostles.
But history records that they gained thousands of followers starting in Jerusalem. These are indisputable facts. That would have been impossible with a body that looked like that of the prophet still around in Jerusalem. Judas’ body remaining in the tomb leads to absurdities. It does not make sense. In any event there is the far more credible account of what actually happened to Judas. He was the one who committed suicide.
■ Judas as a substitute theory cannot explain the empty tomb.
The problem with this theory of Judas being transformed to look like Jesus and then being crucified and buried in his place, is that it fails to explain the facts. It presents us with a dead end and an occupied tomb (pun intended). But the empty tomb is the only explanation for the disciples being able to start, just weeks later at Pentecost, a movement based on the resurrection in the same city as the execution witnessed by hundreds of believers – which incidentally destroys another desperation theory of sceptics – the hallucination theory.
There were only two options, one with Judas’ body looking like the Messiah remaining in the tomb, and His resurrection with an empty tomb. Since the body remaining in the tomb leads to absurdities, then the only explanation which fits all the facts, is that the witness testimony compiled in 4 separate Gospel accounts, testimony which was sealed and written in the Apostles own blood, confirms that Jesus must have died at the hands of the Romans and risen from the tomb as clearly stated and recorded in the completed Canon of Scripture by the close of the 1st Century. This is centuries before the Quran or Islam existed.
There is only one credible viable explanation which fits all the facts. Those who saw and witnessed the events leading up to during and after the crucifixion, who were with Christ before and after His death, who were persecuted and died for their testimony, but could never be challenged, disproved, shamed or discredited with counter evidence, these must have been telling the truth.
All of which makes Surah 4:157 a fabrication and a lie from the pit of hell.