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The Claim
In all their desperation Christian missionaries have now started to claim
that according to the Quran Paul was a prophet of God. Their conclusions
are based on conjectures and the misrepresentation of the text of the
Quran. Simply put, there is not a single place in the Quran which even
mentions the name “Paul” let alone mentioning him to be a prophet of God.
To make such claims the Christian missionaries run to Tafsir Ibn Kathir. They read out the
tafsir by Ibn Kathir regarding the 14th ayah (Verse) of the 36th Surah (Chapter) of the Quran.
Verse under Question:
36:14
َسلُون
َ ْث َفقَالُوا ِإنّا ِإَليْكُم مّر
ٍ ِِإذْ أَ ْرسَ ْلنَا إَِل ْيهِ ُم ا ْث َنيْنِ َف َك ّذبُو ُهمَا َفعَزّ ْزنَا ِبثَال
When We (first) sent to them two apostles, they rejected them: But We strengthened
them with a third: they said, “Truly, we have been sent on a mission to you.” –
[Translation: Abdullah Yusuf Ali]
Christian missionaries say that Ibn Kathir says in his Tafsir of the Quran that this verse refers
toPaul of Tarsus and thus Paul (Bulus) is one of the Messengers of God according to Islam.
Let’s see whether Ibn Kathir makes such a claim.
Ibn Kathir writes:
“The names of the first two Messengers were Sham`un and Yuhanna, and the name of the third
was Bulus, and the city was Antioch (Antakiyah).”
But the question is this Ibn Kathir’s view?
No. This saying is attributed to: Shu`ayb Al-Jaba’i
Ibn Kathir is quoting Shu`ayb Al-Jaba’i. Ibn Kathir has also quoted interpretations of different
people as well. He says that according to Ibn Ishaq the names of these three are:
(i) Sadiq
(ii) Saduq
(iii) Shalum
Note: No Bulus (i.e. Paul) mentioned here.
Later on Ibn Kathir in his tafsir refutes this and says that according to the proceeding Quranic
verses the people were destroyed. Historically there is no evidence that the city of Antioch
faced such destruction and thus this cannot even be about the city of Antioch.
Further Evidence
For more evidence we have to read Surah 36 verse 16:
They said: “Our Lord doth know that we have been sent on a mission to you: - [Quran
36:16]
This is a significant verse. These three supposed rasul of God go to a city and there they do not
say ‘Our Lord sent us on a mission’ but rather say ‘Our Lord knows that we have been sent.’
Clearly when a Rasul of Allah (swt) (i.e. Jesus in this case) sends a messenger (i.e. Paul,
Shamoun, Yuhanna or any of the other names mentioned by scholars in this case) to another
city, God knows that they have been sent. It does not mean that God actually chose them to be
rasul and sent them.