Is Paul=Bolus=Saul the apostle a Prophet According to Quran?

𝐈𝐬 𝐏𝐚𝐮𝐥=𝐁𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐬=𝐒𝐚𝐮𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐚 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐡𝐞𝐭 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐐𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧?

Mohamad Mostafa Nassar
Twitter:@NassarMohamadMR

NO Prophets or Messengers Between Prophet Jesus son of Mary=Issa ibn Maryam and Prophet Muhammed peace be upon all of them

The Christian 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 Qur’an (36:14).

Verse under Question Qur’an (36:14)

إِذْ أَرْسَلْنَا إِلَيْهِمُ اثْنَيْنِ فَكَذَّبُوهُمَا فَعَزَّزْنَا بِثَالِثٍ فَقَالُوا إِنَّا إِلَيْكُم مُّرْسَلُونَ

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 to Paul of Tarsus and thus Paul (Bulus) is one of the Messengers of God according to Islam.

Response

Christians are so desperately trying to find ANY validation from Islam to justify thier corrupted beliefs. For a start The Glorious Holy Quran was revealed to RECTIFY the Corruption occured to the Bible over the past twenty centuries by the various Ecumenical councils

The core message of the Glorious holy Qura’n RECJECTS Fully and Completely any Divinity of Pophet Jesus son of Mary, which of course goes against the FAKE Jewish apostle Paul=Bulus=Saul AND Emphatically deny that Qur’an (36:14) refers to the Paul the fake apostle in any way shape of form.

The Glorious Holy Quran verses are CRYSTAL CLEAR

“Indeed they have already disbelieved, the ones who have said, “Surely Allah, He is the Masih son of Maryam.” (The Missiah) And the Masih said, “O Seeds of worship Allah, my Lord, and your Lord, surely whoever associates with Allah (anything), Allah has already prohibited him (entrance to) the Garden, and his abode will be the Fire; and in no way will the unjust have any vindicators.

Indeed they have already disbelieved, the ones who have said, “Surely Allah is the third of three.” And in no way is there any god except One God. And in case they do not refrain from what they say, indeed there will definitely touch the ones of them that have disbelieved a painful torment.

Will they not then repent to Allah and ask His forgiveness? And Allah is Ever Forgiving, Ever-Merciful. In no way is the Masih son Maryam (The Messiah son of Mary) (anything) except a Messenger. The Messengers before him already passed away, and his mother was constantly sincere; they both used to eat food. Look how evident We make the signs to them; (then) thereafter look (again) however they are diverged (into falsehood).

Say, “Do you worship, apart from Allah, that which possesses for you neither harm nor profit, and Allah, Ever He, is The Ever-Hearing, The Ever-Knowing?

Say, “O Population of the Book, (Or: Family of the Book, i.e., the Jews and Christians) do not go beyond the bounds in your religion, (following) other than the truth, and do not (ever) follow the prejudices of a people who have already erred earlier and led many into error, and erred away from the level way.”

Glorious Qur’an Surah Al-Ma’idah=Chapter the Table Spread (5:72-77)

Also Surah Al-Ikhlas=Chapter The Sincerity Qur’an (112) Denies fully and completely the corrupted message of Fake apostle Paul that Allah Exalted he is Jesus or is a triune OR Jesus is son of God- let us Read

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.

Ibn Kathir Just documnted the Lie that Christians have been trying to twist Quran (36:14) to make Paul a Prophet , Ibn Kaither quoted this to warn Muslims that Christians during his time tried to twsit the tafsir of this verse and try to make it Yohanna, Peter and Paul

Evidence that Ibnk Kaither was just documenting a Rumor and Lie to Warn Muslims against that Christian lie

The above Screenshot is from This active Direct link as a Crystal Clear Concrete Evidence

Analyzing Some Tafsirs

Now let’s check Qurtubi whom these missionaries have labeled to be “The Number 1 Muslim Imam”.

Tafsir Qurtubi:

“Tabari mentions: Sadiq Saduq Shalum

Someone else: Shamoun Yuhanna

Al Naqash said: Saman and Yahya – Did not mention Sadiq and Saduq.

According to Qurtubi Jesus sent the first two as messengers to the king of Antioch. To him they said, “We are disciples of Jesus”. The king jailed them and whipped them. This news reached Jesus and he sent a third messenger ‘Shamoun Al-Safa’.”

Note: Qurtubi does not mention any Paul (Bulus) either. We will now check another tafsir

Tafsir Ibn Abbas:

(When We sent unto them twain) two apostles: Simon the Canaanite and Thomas, (and they denied them both, so We reinforced them with a third) We strengthened them with Simon Peter who confirmed the message conveyed by the other two apostles, (and they said; Lo! we have been sent unto you.

Note: No Paul mentioned over there either.

What we have done here is basically refuted the idea that the Tafsirs unanimously agree that one of the three people sent as messengers was Paul. There is a difference of opinion among the scholars of tafsir which is evidence that neither the Quran mentions the name of Paul as one of the messengers nor did Prophet Muhammad (saw) ever mention his name with regards to this verse.

Does The Verse Really Talk About Messengers (Prophets)?

Now we will go on to refute the idea that the verse is talking of a (Rasul) messenger or a prophet of Allah.

The Arabic text of the Quran clearly shows the word used for these three to be “Mursaloon”. Mursaloon which is the plural of mursal means “sent one”. This word has been highlighted in the concerned verse above.

Rasul (pl. rusul) in Islam has a specific definition.

Generally, the word means: ambassador, messenger, envoy, emissary, forerunner, apostle, and courier.

Mursal (pl. Mursaloon) means sent one

This word, in the Quran can or cannot refer to a prophet of Allah. For example, in the Quran we see the following verse:

وَإِنِّي مُرْسِلَةٌ إِلَيْهِم بِهَدِيَّةٍ فَنَاظِرَةٌ بِمَ يَرْجِعُ الْمُرْسَلُونَ

But indeed, I will send to them a gift and see with what [reply] the messengers will return. – [Quran 27:35]

The same word “mursaloon” has been used. So, does this mean that the messengers that Bilqis sent were RUSUL?

Another verse of the Quran:

فَلَمَّا جَاء آلَ لُوطٍ الْمُرْسَلُونَ

At length when the messengers arrived among the adherents of Lut – [Quran 15:61]

Again, the same word “mursaloon” is used. Does this mean that the angels who came to Lut were RUSUL?

Of course, the answer to both the questions is “No”. None of them was a rasul but they were only ‘sent ones. This word “mursaloon” simply means a messenger and not necessarily Rasul Allah

Further Deception by Christian Missionaries

The deceiving nature of these certain Christian missionaries is laughable. To support their claim, they try to quote another verse from the Quran.

The translation of that verse is given below:

Muhammad is no more than a Messenger – [Quran 3:144]

And they say that look Muhammad was also only a messenger like the other three. But if we read the verse of the Quran, we see that the word used here is “Rasul” and not the general term “Mursaloon”. A general term for messenger was used for the three people in 36:14 but for Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him the special word “Rasul” has been used in this verse.

Further the verse continues:

Many Were the messengers that passed away before him. – [Quran 3:144]

This part of the verse talks about the previous Rusul of Allah (swt). And in the Arabic text, for them, again the word “Rasul” is used and not the common word Mursaloon.

Hence clearly the three that the Quran is talking about in Surah Yasin (36) verse 14 were not “Rasul” but messengers (the sent ones) sent by Jesus on the directive of Allah Exalted he

Let us give an example to make things clearer.

If Allah Exalted, he informs Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him to send Omar (ra) to Persia for Da’wah does that not mean that Omar (ra) is a messenger (mursaloon)?

Of course, he is a messenger! But it can never mean that he is a Rasul! Similarly, these three were not Rasul but were only messengers sent by Jesus (as) on the directives of Allah (swt).

Further Evidence

For more evidence we must read Qur’an Surah (36:14)

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 chose them to be Rasul and sent them.

The Last Blow

It has clearly been refuted that according to the Quran or the Tafsir Paul was a Rasul of Allah (swt). For the final blow to the deception which the Christian missionaries try to create let us look at a hadith of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.

There is a clear hadith from the mouth of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him:

Narrated Abu Huraira: Allah’s Messenger peace be upon him said, “Both in this world and in the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all the people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one.”

Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari 3443 In-book reference : Book 60, Hadith 113 USC-MSA web (English) reference : Vol. 4, Book 55, Hadith 652 (deprecated numbering scheme)

This hadith has also been recorded in Sahih Muslim and Abu Dawud.

Conclusion

The whole idea of Paul being a Rasul of God has been defeated in this article.

The verse 36:14 does not talk about a Rasul but only about Mursaloon.

Whether the verse in question refers to Paul or not is a matter of interpretation and clearly there are many scholars who don’t even mention Paul’s name in their tafsir of this verse.

Ibn Kathir himself refutes the claim of the city being Antioch.

According to Sahih Hadith it is Crystal clear that between Jesus (as) and Prophet Muhammad (saw) there has been no prophet and hence Paul could have never been a prophet.

Even if, for argument’s sake, we would say that according to Ibn Kathir Paul is a Rasul of God, no tafsir can supersede the authentic hadith. This would be Ibn Kathir’s interpretation and Ibn Kathir was a man and not a Rasul of God hence his word can never be taken over the word of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him

Allah knows Best.