Apostle of Doom

Journal

Paul of Tarsus drawn as a horned figure in a robe, holding a sword and a scroll, in limestone duotone

ΟΙ ΜΑΡΤΥΡΕΣ

The Witnesses

The brother who led the disciples, the Jewish followers who refused Paul, the revelation they read, the Muslim scholars who named him, critics from his own side who reached the same verdict, and a letter from one who once defended him.

  1. The brother

    James, the brother of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam

    The man with the strongest claim to speak for ʿĪsā ibn Maryam: his brother, head of the disciples, judge at the council, author of the epistle Luther called straw, stoned in 62.

  2. The early church

    The first witnesses against Paul

    The first to reject Paul were followers of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam who kept his law. Their own opponents in the church recorded their testimony.

  3. The revelation

    The Qurʾān as witness

    The revelation the Muslim scholars were reading: the verses on the crucifixion, the divinity of al-Masīḥ, lords taken besides God, and the altering of scripture, in Arabic and English.

    Part 1 of 2

  4. The revelation

    The Injīl and the letters

    The Qurʾān confirms the Injīl given to ʿĪsā ibn Maryam, and Paul's letters are no part of it. The dilemma answered, and the disciples' victory.

    Part 2 of 2

  5. The Islamic tradition

    No prophet between me and ʿĪsā ibn Maryam

    Muslim scholars named Paul as the corrupter of the religion of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam a thousand years before Western criticism reached the same place.

    Part 1 of 6

  6. The Islamic tradition

    Paul’s own titles, and the tafsīr of Yā Sīn

    No prophet between me and ʿĪsā, continued: the titles Paul gave himself, and the exegetes on the messengers sent to the city in Yā Sīn.

    Part 2 of 6

  7. The Islamic tradition

    The early Islamic record

    Sayf ibn ʿUmar, al-Qummī, Wahb ibn Munabbih, and the prison in Hell called Būlus: the earliest Islamic record, with the Arabic texts.

    Part 3 of 6

  8. The Islamic tradition

    From Khushaysh ibn Aṣram to al-Shahrastānī

    The early Islamic record, continued: the witnesses on Paul from Khushaysh ibn Aṣram to the heresiographer al-Shahrastānī.

    Part 4 of 6

  9. The Islamic tradition

    Ibn Ḥazm and al-Thaʿlabī

    Ibn Ḥazm of Córdoba and the exegete al-Thaʿlabī: the classical Islamic verdict on Paul, quoted at length.

    Part 5 of 6

  10. The Islamic tradition

    Modern voices, from al-Kairanawī to Shabbir Akhtar

    The modern Muslim critique of Paul, from the debates at Agra and Rashīd Riḍā's commentary in Cairo to Reza Aslan and Shabbir Akhtar.

    Part 6 of 6

  11. The dissenters

    The hostile witnesses

    Critics from the Christian and Jewish world Paul's religion shaped, who owed nothing to Islam and reached the same verdict: a statesman, a lawyer, a philosopher, scholars and a playwright.

  12. Testimony

    An epistle to the churches of Paul

    A letter in Paul's own form, written by one who once defended him, to those who still do.