In this second part to my small rebuttal series to some of Dr. Zakir Naik’s “Common Questions,” I will be dealing with his statement that “The ‘crucifiction’ that was preached by Paul in I Corinthians has been proved false by the arguments and proofs from the Bible itself,” and proving that statement to be the opposite ( Naik, Zakir, “Common Questions” pg.198).
First, Dr. Naik states, “As Muslims we accept the Qur’aan as the final Revelation and authority on the crucifixion” and he continues with quoting what the Qur’an preaches about the status of Jesus’ crucifixion in Surah 4: 157-158, “That they (Jews) said (in boast): We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the apostle of Allah”; – but they killed him not, but so it was made to appear to them, and those that differ therein are full of doubts; with no certain knowledge but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not. Nay!” As one can see, it is obvious that that the Qur’an preaches against Jesus’ crucifixion, but to what extent he made the journey to the cross, Muslims do not know (as I’ve heard at least three theories from Muslims on how Jesus escaped death on the cross).
After Dr. Naik makes his case with the Qur’an, he moves on to show how the Bible proves the crucifixion false; and to do this he first quotes the section in at least the Gospel of Matthew 26:56 where it says, “the disciples deserted him and fled.” He uses this reasoning, If ‘all the disciples had fled’ how is it that these very same disciples who had fled ran away…and were not eyewitnesses could still record what happened” (Naik, Zakir, “Common Questions,” pg.152). What Dr. Naik fails to understand is that this was in the garden that they abandoned him; Peter still follows Jesus at a distance as Jesus is led to the Sanhedrin (Matt. 26:58), we have the women followers of Jesus watching from a distance (Matt. 27:56), and we have John 19:26 recording that they came up to the cross and the disciple Jesus loved was told to care for Jesus’ mother. So in all four Gospels we have the women followers of Jesus and perhaps at least one disciple of Jesus located in watching distance of the crucifixion. So Dr. Naik has nothing to stand on because at least some of Jesus’ followers were present at the location of the crucifixion.
Dr. Zakir Naik’s second claim of proof against the crucifixion was the sign Jesus gave to the Pharisees about Jonah. Beginning with Matthew 12:40, Jesus gives the sign of Jonah, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Here is how Dr. Naik applies this sign to Jesus’ death on the cross, “Jonah was thrown into the sea, a fish swallowed him and he was thrown out ALIVE from the belly of the fish after 3 days and 3 nights.” Dr. Naik continues and asks this question, “Was Jesus (pbuh) alive or dead? Jesus had said: ‘as Jonah was?’ Jonah was alive! So Jesus must have been alive! If the Church says he was dead then the first sign was not fulfilled” (Naik, Zakir, “Common Questions,” pg.153)! I’m not exactly sure where Dr. Naik has studied Christianity, but the Church position is that Jesus came out of the earth alive, thus Dr. Naik’s argument crumbles before it takes off. He makes one last attempt by stating this, “If the Church says that it was the time feature in the sign, meanin that it was 3 days and 3 nights: then here again the sign is not fulfilled. According to the Bible, Jesus (pbuh) was put on the cross156 on Friday and before the sun rose on Sunday he was out of the Sepulture” (Naik, Zakir, “Common Questions,” pg.153). This is a good attempt to cast doubt on the sign, but the Jews considered any part of the day used part of the full day. In other words, Jesus going into the tomb Friday night is day one, day two is Saturday, and day three is Sunday morning. I’d like to ask Dr. Naik if he believes Jesus spent three days and three nights in the tomb alive, because if he doesn’t (as many Muslims don’t) he ignores the “sign” of a prophet.
The last statement I shall counter of Dr. Naik is this one, “The soldiers did not break his legs. The only logical explanation for this is that they saw that he was still alive, and that is why they only pieced his side” (Naik, Zakir, “Common Questions,” pg.155). This argument fails because if Jesus was alive, they would have broken his legs. The Roman soldiers broke legs of the people who were alive so they couldn’t push up and breath; thus they’d suffocate faster. They pierced Jesus’ side because he appeared dead, and they wanted to make sure. When one goes into shock and dies, water goes to the vital organs; so piercing into the sack that surrounds the main organs, water would rush out with blood. Thus his logic is backwards, false, and besides that, this former medical doctor should have known how shock works…
To close, Dr. Zakir Naik’s argument to prove the crucifixion false from the Bible fails epically. If you read the rest of his section, you’ll notice he never quotes the areas of the Gospels that mention how he was dead and placed into a tomb. Also, the majority of scholarship outside of Islam believes Jesus was killed on the cross. If readers would like to read more about this, I have written a series of entries on the death and resurrection of Jesus located “here.”
In Christ,
Brooks
