iamrefreshed:
I was hoping for some more Muslim comments to this thread. I know Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet but do they teach anything about the Apostles? Are they at all recognized?
If one were looking for evidence of the divinity of Jesus I think this a most compelling argument. Can it be refuted in Islam?
The apostles are counted as righteous helpers of Isa.
However muslims will argue, that they do not know who these righteous helpers are, and may go so far as to say, that they are not the 12 we know.
They will also argue, that they do not know how these 12 died.
Anything that is not explicitly mentioned in the Quran is rejected.
However if one reads the Quran, one realises that very little is expliciltly mentioned in it.
Take the story of Moses and God.
At one point, Moses having run away from egypt for killing a man, goes to a burning bush, where he encounters God.
There is no mention of Aaron, till this point, Moses asks God, to allow Aaron to help him, suddenly Aaron is present, where before only Moses and God are present
Either way, I suppose a muslim can argue that God miraculously made Aaron appear.
To me however it is this sort of ambiguity that makes the Quran so flexible and easy to defend.
More interesting is the story of zul-qarnian.
The 2 horned one, thought to be alexander the great, by muslim scholars for ages and ages.
Zul-Qarnian is considered to be a rigtheous king, who went west and east, and he was most just and a submitter to the will of God.
However we know today, and muslims squirm and do a double take, that Alexander was an idolator , who called himself God!!!
How then does the Quran say that he is righteous?
Muslims today, are turning around on their own scholars, they say that they do not know who zul-qarnian is!
This is typical of muslims being evasive, and the quran being flexible.
However the people of the time were familiar with zul-qarnian.
The only king that was ever called the two-horned was and is Alexander.
Indeed what is even more interesting is that, that particular passage in the Quran says that Alexander found the sun setting in a pool of muddy water
You guys decide
They will question thee concerning Dhool Karnain. Say: ‘I will recite to you a mention of him.’ We established him in the land, and We gave him a way to everything and he followed a way until, when he reached** the setting of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring,** and he found nearby a people." (Q. 18:83-86, Arberry)
In “The Christian Legend Concerning Alexander”, we find that Alexander said in one of his prayers, “O God … Thou hast made me horns upon my heads”.[13] And the translator adds in a footnote that in the Ethiopic version of this legend “Alexander is always referred to as ‘the two horned’”[14] It was from this Ethiopic version or a similar one that the People of the Book knew the title Zul-Qarnain. THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK DID NOT INVENT THE TITLE ZUL-QARNAIN.
The title “the two horned” i.e. Zul-Qarnain was a legendary title first. It was passed to the People of the Book from the legends second. It was put into a question to Mohammad third. And it was mentioned in Mohammad’s answer fourth. What the Qur’an meant by Zul-Qarnain, is what the People of the Book meant by Zul-Qarnain when posing their question.
