Refuting the doubt about Surah Yasin, verses 13-27, Paul

 New suspicion or slander

The two messengers and the village:

And give them an example: the companions of the village, when the messengers came to it. We sent to them two, but they denied them, so We reinforced them with a third, and they said, “Indeed, we are messengers to you.” (Verses 13, 14) (until verse 27).

They said that Jesus had sent two men to Antioch. When they drew near to the city, they saw Habib the carpenter shepherding his flocks. He asked them and they told him. He said, “Do you have a sign?” They said, “We heal the sick and cure the blind and the leper.” He had a sick son, so he anointed him and he recovered. Habib believed and the news spread, and a number of people were healed because of their conversation. Their conversation reached the king, who said to them, “Do we have a god other than our gods?” They said, “Who created you and your gods?” He said, “Wait until I look into your matter.” So he imprisoned them. Then Jesus sent Simon, who entered in disguise and mingled with the king's companions until they became comfortable with him and brought him to the king. The king became comfortable with him, and one day he said to him: I heard that you imprisoned two men. Did you hear what they said? He said: No. So he called them and Simon said: Who sent you? They said: God who created everything. So he said: Describe him and be brief. They said: He does what He wills and rules as He wishes. He said: What is your sign? They said: What the king desires. So he called for a boy with blind eyes, and they called upon God until his sight was split. They took two hazelnuts and put them in his pupils and they became eyeballs. Simon said: What do you think if I asked your god to do something like this so that you and he would have honor? He said: I have no secret from you. Our god neither hears nor sees, neither harms nor benefits. If your god is able to revive a dead person, we will believe in him. They called for a young man who had died seven days ago. He stood up and said: I have been thrown into six valleys of Hell, and I warn you of what you are in, so believe. He said: The gates of heaven were opened and I saw a handsome young man interceding for these three. The king said: Who are they? He said: Simon and these two. When Simon saw that his words affected him, he advised him and he believed in a group, and those who did not believe, Gabriel cried out at them and they perished (Al-Qurtubi in his interpretation of these two verses).

The Book of God teaches us that Christ sent his messengers two by two to preach the Gospel, and they performed amazing signs and miracles, and he informed them that they would be imprisoned, but it is not mentioned in the Gospel that two were imprisoned, and that Christ sent Simon to the king with this trick.

Tafsir Al-Kashshaf/ Al-Zamakhshari (d. 538 AH) Compiled and proofread


{ And give them an example } And give them an example, from their saying: I have such-and-such of this type, meaning: of this example, and these things are of the same type, meaning: of the same example.

The meaning is: Give them an example like the people of the village, meaning: Tell them a strange story, the story of the people of the village.

The second example is an explanation of the first. And the accusative

case is because it is a substitute for the people of the village. The village is Antioch.

And { the messengers } are the messengers of Jesus, peace be upon him, to its people. He sent them as preachers to the truth, and they were idol worshippers.

He sent two of them to them, and when they approached the city, they saw an old man tending his sheep, and he was Habib Al-Najjar, the companion of Jesus, so he asked them and they told him, so he said: Do you have a sign? They said: We heal the sick and cure the blind and the leper. He had a son who had been sick for two years, so they anointed him. He got up, and Habib believed and the news spread, and many people were healed by their hands. Their story reached the king,

who said to them: Do we have a god other than our gods?
They said: Yes, who created you and your gods ?
He said: Until I look into your matter. The people followed them and beat them. It was also said: They were imprisoned.

Then Jesus, peace be upon him, sent Simon; he entered in disguise and mingled with the king's entourage until they became familiar with him. They reported his story to the king, who became familiar with him .

One day, he said to him: I have heard that you have imprisoned two men. Did you hear what they are saying?
He said: No, anger came between me and that. He called them,
and Simon said: Who sent you? They
said: God who created everything and has no partner
. He said: Describe Him and make it brief.
They said: He does what He wills and rules what He wants.
He said: What is your sign? They said:
What does the king wish for? So he called for a boy with blind eyes. They prayed to God until his sight was split. They took two rifles and put them in his pupils, and they became two eyes with which he could see . Then
Simeon said to him: Tell me, if you ask your god to place something like this, then you and he will have honor.
He said: I have no secret from you. Our god does not see or hear, nor harm or benefit. Simeon would enter with them to the idol and pray and supplicate, and they thought that he was one of them.
Then he said: If your god is able to revive a dead person, we will believe in him. So they called for a boy who had died seven days ago. He stood up and said: I was thrown into seven valleys of Hell, and I warn you of what you are in, so believe. He said: The gates of heaven were opened, and I saw a young man with a handsome face interceding for these three.
The king said: Who are they?
Simeon said: These two. The king was amazed. When Simon saw that his words had affected him, he advised him, so he believed and a group of people believed with him. As for those who would not believe, Gabriel, peace be upon him, shouted at them, so they perished. {So We strengthened } and made them strong. It is said: Rain strengthens the earth if it covers and tightens it, and the meat of a camel is strengthened. It was read: with a lightened form of ‘izzah ya’izzuhu: if it overcomes him, meaning: So We overcame and subdued { with a third }, which is Simon. If you say: Why did he leave out mentioning the object? I say: Because the purpose is to mention the one who was strengthened, which is Simon, and the subtlety of the management in it until the truth was strengthened and falsehood was humiliated. If the speech is directed to a purpose, its context is made for it and directed to it, as if everything else is rejected and discarded.

Some have said that the third apostle is Paul, the founder of Christianity... But this is a lie because we are talking about the time of Jesus, son of Mary, peace be upon him, and Paul appeared after the ascension of the Lord Christ to heaven by the command of his Lord....
They said that Jesus lives in heaven and earth and is present at all times and places!
But they forgot that their Lord died and was full of death from the story of the crucifixion, so how could Jesus live at all times and places?

As for the village being Antioch, Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir responded in

Al-Bidayah wa Al-Nihayah with a decisive and definitive response, and his text is: It is well-known from many of the predecessors and successors that this village is Antioch. Ibn Ishaq narrated it from what he heard from Ibn Abbas, Ka’b Al-Ahbar, Wahb bin Munabbih, and it was also narrated from Buraydah bin Al-Husaib, Ikrimah, Qatadah, Al-Zuhri, and others. Ibn Ishaq said, from what he heard from Ibn Abbas, Ka’b, and Wahb, that they said that it had a king named Antiochus bin Antiochus, who worshipped idols. So God sent three messengers to him, namely Sadiq, Masadouk, and Shalom, but he denied them.
This is clear that they were messengers from God Almighty. Qatadah claimed that they were messengers from Christ. Ibn Jarir also said, from Wahb, from Ibn Sulayman, from Shu’ayb Al-Jubba’i, that the names of the first messengers were Simon and John, and the name of the third was Paul, and the village was Antioch.
This statement is very weak because when Christ sent three of the disciples to the people of Antioch, they were the first city to believe in Christ at that time, and for this reason it was one of the four cities in which he was in Taraka. The Christians, and they are Antioch, Jerusalem, Alexandria, and Rome, then after that to Constantinople, and they were not destroyed, and the people of this village mentioned in the Qur’an were destroyed as he said at the end of its story after they killed the friend of the messengers, it was only one shout, and then they were extinguished. But if the three messengers mentioned in the Qur’an were sent to the people of Antioch in the past, and they denied them and Allah destroyed them, then it was inhabited after that, and when it was in the time of the Messiah, they believed in his messengers to them, then this does not prevent it, and Allah knows best.

As for the statement that this story mentioned in the Qur’an is in the story of the companions of the Messiah, then it is weak for what was mentioned, and because the apparent context of the Qur’an requires that these messengers are from Allah.

The transmission ended, and for more, refer to Al-Bidayah wa’l-Nihayah by Al-Hafiz Ibn Kathir in the story of the people of the village, volume one

. Accordingly, the story is not about the messengers of the Messiah at all, and it has no relation to Paul or anyone else.

As for whether Paul is mentioned in the interpretations of the Muslims,

yes,

Al-Baghawi’s interpretation in the words of Allah the Almighty (And the Christians said, “The Messiah is the son of Allah”)

As for the Christians, they said: The Messiah is the son of Allah, and the reason for that was that they were on the religion of Islam for eighty-one years after Jesus, peace be upon him, was raised, praying to The Qiblah and they fasted Ramadan until a war broke out between them and the Jews. There was a brave man among the Jews called Paul who killed a group of the companions of Jesus, peace be upon him. Then he said to the Jews: If the truth is with Jesus, then we have disbelieved in him and the fire is our destination, so we are deceived. If they enter Paradise, we will enter the fire. I will scheme and mislead them until they enter the fire. He had a horse called Al-Aqab on which he fought, so he hamstrung his horse and showed remorse and put dirt on his head. The Christians said to him: Who are you? He said: Paul is your enemy. Then it was called from the sky: You have no repentance unless you become victorious. So he stood firm. So they entered him into the church.

Whoever wants more can refer to Tafsir Al-Baghawi, verse 9-30.