Jesus: Man, Messenger, Messiah · 5. The Crucifixion
Not inspired or foretold — but eyewitness testimony?
In short
- 1.The Gospels are anonymous; the traditional attributions come from the late second century (Irenaeus, c. 180 CE).
- 2.They are written in Greek by educated authors, whereas the disciples were Aramaic-speaking Galilean fishermen described as unlettered [Acts 4:13].
- 3.Mark, the earliest, dates to around 70 CE — some forty years after the events.
- 4.'Then all the disciples deserted him and fled' [Matthew 26:56] — by the Gospels' own account no disciple witnessed the arrest through to the end.
- 5.The women watched 'from a distance' [Mark 15:40].
The claim being examined
If the Gospels are not divinely inspired, Christians argue they are at least eyewitness reports of the crucifixion.
The Islamic position
Islam notes that the Gospels are anonymous, late and not by eyewitnesses, and that the Gospels themselves say the disciples fled.
Analysis
The claim that the Gospels are eyewitness accounts runs into a chain of problems: they are anonymous, they are in Greek rather than the Aramaic Jesus (PBUH) spoke, they are late, and the Gospels themselves say the disciples fled. Even on an early dating, the first account stands a generation from the events and depends on what was passed on by word of mouth in between. That does not prove the crucifixion did not happen — most historians hold that it did — but it does show the sources are not the kind of first-hand, on-the-spot testimony that could settle a disputed detail beyond question.
From the Qur'an
وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا ٱلْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخْتَلَفُوا۟ فِيهِ لَفِى شَكٍّۢ مِّنْهُ ۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّ ۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًۢا
waqawlihim innā qatalnā l-masīḥa ʿīsā ib'na maryama rasūla l-lahi wamā qatalūhu wamā ṣalabūhu walākin shubbiha lahum wa-inna alladhīna ikh'talafū fīhi lafī shakkin min'hu mā lahum bihi min ʿil'min illā ittibāʿa l-ẓani wamā qatalūhu yaqīnan
They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption.
From the Bible
τότε οἱ μαθηταὶ πάντες ἀφέντες αὐτὸν ἔφυγον
Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
Read it in their Bibleἦσαν δὲ καὶ γυναῖκες ἀπὸ μακρόθεν θεωροῦσαι
There were also women watching from a distance.
Read it in their BibleSources
The spoken script for this entry is inside the app.
Members get the word-for-word delivery guide — how to open, what to say, the likely replies and how to close warmly — plus notes, a dawah journal and the study assistant.
Open the app