The Bible Led Me to Islam: Abdul Malik Leblanc's Testimony

The Bible Led Me to Islam

Abdul Malik LeBlanc tells how he discovered Islam within the pages
of Bible

Source: International Edition Voice of Islam - November 1998, Page
25

During my Christian days there were many verses in the Bible that
made me question the religion I was following (Christianity) . There
was one particular verse, 1 Thessalonians 5:17 which says; "pray
without ceasing," that lingered heavily in my mind. I often wondered
how a person (Christian) was supposed to pray (be in a state of
worship) without ceasing? Without any biblical or divine guidance,
the only way I thought this to be possible was to always do good
deeds and keep the remembrance of God on my tongue and in my heart.

However, I found this to be impossible to do as a human being. But
when I was introduced to Islam in 1987, and began to read and learn
more about this way of life, I found that Islam provided divine
guidance both from God (Allah) and Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by which a
person could pray (be in a state of worship) without ceasing, if it
was the Will of God.

Whether waking up, eating, sleeping, putting on clothes, being in
the presence of a woman, looking at a woman, going shopping, going
to the bathroom, looking in the mirror, traveling, visiting the
sick, sitting in a non-religious meeting, taking a bath, having
sexual intercourse with one's wife, yawning, cutting you nails,
sneezing, greeting people, talking, hosting guests at home, walking,
exercising, fighting, entering one's house, praying and many other
acts, Islam and the guidance therein of the Quran, and the acts and
sayings of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), provided ways in which I could
observe 1 Thessalonians 5:17. In addition, it allowed me to be at
peace with myself and in submission to the one True God - Allah
(SWT).

This divine guidance of Islam taught me greatly about my duties,
responsibilities and birthright to my Creator (Allah), and more
about the religion of Christianity as a Muslim, I [By the Will of
Allah (SWT)] felt it necessary to share with you how the Bible led
me to Islam.

Christianity

Given the fact that there has never been in the history of the Torah
(Old Testament) the religion of God to be named after a Prophet
(i.e. Adaminity, Abrahamity, Mosanity, etc.), I hope to explain that
Jesus did not preach the religion of Christianity, but a religion
that gives all Praise and Worship to The One God.

One of the questions I asked myself as I took an objective (second)
look at Christianity was; where did the word Christianity come from
and was the word ever mentioned to Jesus? Well, I did not find the
word Christianity in the Bible, not even in a Bible dictionary.
Specifically, I did not find in the Bible where Jesus called himself
a Christian.

The word Christian was first mentioned by a pagan to describe those
who followed Jesus. It is mentioned one of three times in the New
Testament by a pagan and Jew in Antioch about 43 AD, (Acts 11:26,
Acts 26:28 and 1 Peter 4:16) long after Jesus left this earth. To
accept the words of pagans as having any value or association with
divinity, Jesus or God is contrary to the teachings of all
Prophets.

Jesus prophesied that people would worship him uselessly and believe
in doctrines made by men (Matthew 15:9).

"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the
commandments of men." This verse, Matthew 15:9, is further supported
by these words of the Quran:

"And (remember) when Allah will say (on the Day of Resurrection) : "O
Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say unto men: "Worship me and my mother
as two gods besides Allah?" He will say: "Glory be to You! It was
not for me to say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a
thing, You would surely have known it. You know what is in my inner-
self though I do not know what is in Yours, truly, You, only You,
are the All-Knower o fall that is hidden and unseen.

Never did I say to them aught except what You (Allah) did command me
to say: `Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.' And I was a witness
over them while I dwelt amongst them, but when You took me up, You
were a Witness to all things. (This is a great admonition and
warning to the Christians of the whole world)." (Al-Ma'idah 5:116-
117)

I found that Biblical verses like John 5:30, John 12:49, John 14:28,
Isaiah 42:8 and Acts 2:22 support the above mentioned verses of the
Quran.

Before leaving the subject of Christianity, I should mention one
small point of observation. If Christians are Christ-like, why are
they not greeting each other with the words; Peace be with you
(Salamu Alaikum), as Jesus did in Luke 24:36. As you may be aware,
the greeting from one Muslim to another Muslim is Assalamu Alaikum;
a Christ-like saying.

Various Holy Bibles
It is worth mentioning that the Bible references cited might not be
exactly as the Bible you are using. There are MANY Bibles on the
market that are used by different Christian sects and all of these
sects say that their book, though different, is the word of God.
Such Bibles are: The Revised Standard Version 1952 & 1971, New
American Standard Bible, The Holy Bible; New International Version,
the Living Bible, New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures used
by Jehovah Witnesses, Roman Catholic Version and the King James
Version. A special note: I have not found in any of these Bibles
where the "New Testament" calls itself the "New Testament," and
nowhere does the "Old Testament" call itself the "Old? Testament."
Also, the word "Bible" is unknown within the pages of the Bible.

In addition to the many different Christian sects and Bibles, I have
learned that there are also different men, not Prophets, who founded
these sects and are using various interpretations of the Bible
and/or man-made doctrines as their creed.

I would like to share with you some thoughts that you may not have
read or known about the Bible being the word of God. Briefly, let me
mention that on September 8, 1957, the Jehovah's witnesses in
their "Awake" magazine carried this startling headline - 50,000
Errors in the Bible. If you ask a Jehovah's witness about this
headline, it may be said that today most of those errors have been
eliminated. How many have been eliminated, 5,000? Even if 50 remain,
would one attribute those errors to God?

Let me pose another question: if a "Holy" book contained conflicting
verses would you still consider it to be Holy? Most likely you will
say of course not. Let me share with you some conflicting verses
both in the Old and New Testaments:

II Samuel 8:4 (vs)
II Samuel 8:9-10
II Kings 8:26

II Samuel 6:23
Genesis 6:3
John 5:37

John 5:31
I Chronicles 18:4
I Chronicles 18:9-10

II Chronicles 22:2
II Samuel 21:8
Genesis 9:29

John 14:9
John 8:14



Only two contradictions of the New Testament have been mentioned,
but others will be referenced when the Trinity, Divinity of Jesus
Christ, Divine Sonship of Jesus, Original Sin and Atonement are
reviewed.

How could the "inspired words" of God get the genealogy of Jesus
incorrect (See Matthew 1:6-16 where it states 26 forefathers up to
Prophet David, and Luke 3:23-31 says 41 in number). Or for that
matter, give a genealogy to Jesus who had NO father? See II Kings
19:1-37, now read Isaiah 37:1-38. Why is it that the words of these
verse are identical? Yet they have been attributed to two different
authors, one unknown and the other is Isaiah, who are centuries
apart; and yet, the Christians have claimed these books to be
inspired by God.

I looked up the word Easter in the Nelson Bible dictionary and
learned that the word "Easter" (as mentioned in Acts 12:4) is a
mistranslation of "pascha," the ordinary Greek word for "Passover."
As, you know Passover is a Jewish celebration not a Christian
holiday. I think human hands, all to human, had played havoc with
the Bible.

From the brief points mentioned above, and the fact that Biblical
scholars themselves have recognized the human nature and human
composition of the Bible (Curt Kuhl, The Old Testament: Its Origin
and Composition, PP 47, 51, 52), there should exist in the
Christian's mind some acceptance to the fact that maybe every word
of the Bible is not God's word.

As a side note to this subject, let me mention that some Christians
believe that the Bible was dictated to Prophet Muhammad (SAW) by a
Christian monk, and that is why some of the biblical accounts are in
the Quran. After some research, I found that this could not have
happened because there were no Arabic Bible in existence in the 6th
century of the Christian era when Muhammad (SAW) lived and preached.
Therefore, no Arab, not even Prophet Muhammad (SAW) who was
absolutely unlettered and unlearned, would have had the opportunity
to examine the written text of the Bible in his own language.

The Gospels

If you read Luke 1:2-3, you will learn, as I did, that Luke (who was
not one of the 12 disciples and never met Jesus) said that he
himself was not an eyewitness, and the knowledge he gathered was
from eyewitnesses, and not as words inspired by God. Incidentally,
why does every "Gospel" begin with the introduction According to.
Why "according to?" the reason for this is because not a single one
of the gospels carries its original author's autograph! Even the
internal evidence of Matthew 9:9 proves that Matthew was not the
author of the first Gospel which bears his name:

"And as Jesus passed forth thence, He (Jesus) saw a man, named
Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and He (Jesus) saith unto
Him (Matthew), follow me (Jesus). And he (Matthew) arose, and
followed Him (Jesus)."

Without any stretch of the imagination, one can see that the He's
and the Him's of the above narration do not refer to Jesus or
Matthew as its author, but a third person writing what he saw or
heard - a hearsay account and not words inspired by God.

It is worth noting, and well known throughout the religious world,
that the choice of the present four "gospels" of the New Testament
(Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) were imposed in the Council of Nicea
325 CE for political purposes under the auspices of the pagan
Emperor Constantine, and not by Jesus. Constantine' s mind had not
been enlightened either by study or by inspiration. He was a pagan,
a tyrant and criminal who murdered his son, his wife and thousands
of innocent individuals because of his lust for political power.
Constantine ratified other decisions in the Nicene Creed such as the
decision to call Christ "the Son of God, only begotten of the
father."

Literally, hundreds of gospels and religious writings were hidden
from the people. Some of those writings were written by Jesus'
disciples, and many of them were eyewitness accounts of Jesus'
actions. The Nicea Council decided to destroy all gospels written in
Hebrew, which resulted in the burning of nearly three hundred
accounts. If these writings were not more authentic than the four
present gospels, they were of equal authenticity. Some of them are
still available such as the Gospel of Barnabas and the Shepherd of
Hermas which agree with the Quran. The Gospel of Barnabas, until
now, is the only eyewitness account of the life and mission of
Jesus. Even today, the whole of the Protestant word, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Seventh Day Adventists and other sects and denominations
condemn the Roman Catholic version of the Bible because it contains
seven "extra" books. The Protestant have bravely expunged seven
whole books from their word of God. A few of the outcasts are the
Books of Judith, Tobnias, Baruch and Esther.

Concerning Jesus' teachings of the Gospel (Injeel), the Gospel
writers frequently mentioned Jesus preaching the Gospel: Matthew
9:35, Mark 8:35, and Luke 20:1. The word "gospel" is recurrently
used in the Bible. However, in the New Testament Greek edition the
word Evangeline is used in place of the word gospel, which is
translated to mean good news. My question was: what Gospel did Jesus
preach? Of the 27 books of the New Testament, only a small fraction
can be accepted as the words of Jesus, and only of the 27 books are
known to be attributed as the Gospel of Jesus. The remaining 23 were
supposedly written by Paul. Muslims do believe that Jesus was given
God's "Good News." However, they do not recognized the present four
Gospels as the utterances of Jesus.

The earliest Gospel is that of Mark's which was written about 60-75
AD. Mark was the son of Barnabas's sister. Matthew was a tax
collector, a minor official who did not travel around with Jesus.
Luke's Gospel was written much later, and in fact, drawn from the
same sources as Mark's and Matthew's. Luke was Paul's physician, and
like Paul, never met Jesus. By the way, did you know that the names
Marks and Luke were not included in the 12 appointed disciples of
Jesus as mentioned in Matthew 10:2-4?

Now the names of the twelve apostles are these; the first, Simon,
who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of
Zebedee, and John his brother; Philip, and Bartholomew; Thomas, and
Matthew the publican; James the son of Alphaeus, and Lebbaeus, whose
surname was Thaddaeus; Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who
also betrayed him.

John's Gospel is from a different source, and was written in about
100 AD. He (John) should not be confused with John, the disciple,
who was beheaded by Agrippa I in the year 44 CE long before this
gospel was written. It should be accepted as a reliable account of
the life of Jesus, and whether it should be included in the
scriptures.

Christians, as I once did, boast about the Gospels according to
Matthew, according to Mark, according to Luke and according to John.
However, if we think about it, there is not a single Gospel
according to Jesus himself. According to the preface of the KJV
(King James Version) new open Bible study edition, the word "Gospel"
was added (see below) to the original titles, "According to John,
according to Matthew, according to Luke and according to Mark."

The permission to call "According to" writings the Gospel was not
given by Jesus nor by any other divine guidance. These writings;
Matthew, Luke, Mark and John, were never originally to be the
Gospel. Therefore, Mark 1:1 can not be a true statement that his
writing is the gospel of Jesus.

It should be mentioned that Muslims must believe in all Divine
scriptures in their original form, their Prophets and making no
distinction between them: The Suhuf (Abraham); Torah (Moses); Psalms
(David); Gospel - or the Injeel (Jesus); and the Quran (Muhammad).
It is clearly stated in the Quran 3:3 that Allah sent down the Torah
and the Gospel. However, none of these scriptures remains in its
original form now, except the Quran, which was sent for all mankind
everywhere and for all times.

In addition to other reasons why the Quran was sent to mankind, as
mentioned in 18:4-5 it was sent to warn the Christians of a terrible
punishment from God if they cease not in saying: "Allah has begotten
a son."

Muslims sincerely believe that everything Jesus (May the peace and
blessing of Allah be upon him) preached was from God; the Gospel
(Injeel): The "good news" and the guidance of God for the Children
of Israel. There is no place mentioned in the present four Gospels
that Jesus wrote a single word of his Gospel, nor is it mentioned
that Jesus instructed anyone to do so. What passes off, as
the "Gospels" today are the works of third party human hands. The
Quran 2:79 says:
"And woe to those who write the book with their own hands and they
say: "This is from Allah (God)." To traffic with it for a miserable
price! So woe to them for what their hands do write, and woe to them
for what they earn thereby!"

Jesus As the Son of God
Is Jesus the Son of God? Matthew 3:17 could be used by some
Christians to support the divine Sonship of Jesus. If Matthew
3:17, "And Lo a voice for heaven, saying, this is my beloved son in
whom I am well pleased," is used to support divine Sonship, then
there should be no other verse that contradicts or gives equal
divine Sonship to another person or persons in the Old or New
Testament. However, many references were found in the Old and New
Testaments that mentioned someone other than Jesus as having a
divine Sonship to God. See Exodus 4:22:

"Israel is my son, even my firstborn." II Samuel 7:14 and I
Chronicles 22:10: "...and he shall be my son (Solomon)." Jeremiah
31:9: "...and Ephraim is my firstborn." Also, Psalm 2:7.

The word "Son" must not be accepted literally because God addresses
many of his chosen servants as son and sons. The Jews have also
claimed Ezra to be the Son of God. The New Testament Greek words
used for "son" (pias and paida, which mean servant or son in the
sense of servant) are translated as son in reference to Jesus and as
servant in reference to others in some translations of the Bible.

Further, the term "Father" as used by Jesus corresponds more closely
to the term Rabb, i.e. One who nourishes and sustains, so that in
Jesus' doctrine, God is "Father" – Nourisher and Sustainer – of all
men. The New Testament also interprets "son of God" to be
mystical: "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the
sons of God." (Romans 8:14). This mystical suggestion is further
supported with Jesus being called the only begotten Son of God.

In Psalm 2:7, the Lord said to David:

"...Thou art my son: this day have I begotten thee."

Does this mean that God had two sons? Jesus also said that God is
not only his Father but also your Father (Matthew 5:45, 48). Luke
3:38 says:

"...Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the Son of God."

Who is mentioned in Hebrews 7:3 as like unto the Son of God? It is
Melchisedec, King of Salem, as mentioned in Hebrews 7:1. He
(Melchisedec) is more unique than Jesus or Adam. Why is he not
preferred to be the Son of God? Moreover, Adam did not have a mother
or father, but was the first human being created by God and in the
likeness of God to exist in the Garden of Eden and on earth.
Wouldn't this give more rights to Adam to be called the Son of God
in its truest meaning?

I would like to share with you an obvious contradiction between John
3:16, Luke 10:25-28 and Matthew 19:16-17. John 3:16 reads:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten, Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life."

Now let's read Luke 10:25-28:

And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying,
Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him,
what is written in the law? How readest Thou? And he answering said,
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all
thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy
neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right:
this do, and Thou shalt live.

These verses tell us that the inheritance of eternal life is for
anyone who believes and worships no other God, but the One True God.
Luke 10:25-28 agrees with Matthew 19:16-17 which says;

"And behold, one came and said to him (Jesus), Good teacher, what
good things shall I do that I may have eternal life? So he (Jesus)
said to him, `Why do you call me good? – No one is good but One that
is, God. But if you want to enter into eternal life, keep the
commandments. "

There is no commandment that says to worship Jesus, but there that
tells us to worship God alone.

In Luke 4:41, Jesus refused to be called the Son of God by demons.
Do you think that Jesus would rebuke the demons, or anyone else for
that matter, for telling the truth? Unquestionably, no! Jesus
rebuked the demons because they were saying something false by
calling him the Son of God. Also, if the demons knew that Jesus was
the Christ, for Jesus to shut them up because they called him the
Christ is a contradiction to Jesus' mission.

In Luke 9:20 & 21, Jesus said unto his disciples:

"But who say ye that I am? Peter answered saying, "The Christ of
God, and Jesus straightly charged them and commanded them to tell no
man that thing."

Furthermore, verses like John 3:2, John 6:14, John 7:40, Matthew
21:11, Luke 7:16 and 24:19 confirm that Jesus accepted the title of
teacher, Prophet and called himself the son of man in Matthew 8:20,
12:40, 17:9 & 12, 26:24, Luke 9:26, 22:48, 22:69, and 24:7. The most
conclusive verse that says Jesus is the son (servant) of man is Mark
14:26 where Jesus is mentioning the Day of Reckoning. Jesus
specifically said we would see the son of man, not the Son of God,
sitting in the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of
heaven.

The act of begetting is a physical act and such act is against God's
nature. The Qur'an 19:35 says:


"It is not befitting to (the majesty of) Allah that He should beget
a son. Glory be to Him! When He determines a matter He only says to
it "Be," and it is." (Maryam 19:35)

The teachings of Jesus as the Son of God were not preached by Jesus
nor accepted by Jesus, but were taught by Paul as supported in Acts
9:20:

"And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is
the Son of God."

Did Jesus ever claim to be God or say, "Here am I, your God, worship
me"? The answer is no. For there is no single, unequivocal statement
in the Bible whereby Jesus himself declares, "I am God, therefore
worship me." Virtually all of the more than two thousand verses of
the epistles of Paul are his own fabrications to include Romans 9:5
that says, depending upon which Bible you read:

"...Christ came, who is overall, the eternally blessed God."

Christians should know that Paul himself mentions his own gospel,
not Jesus, in his epistle to the Romans when he says in Romans
2:16:

"In the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ,
according to my gospel."

In face, the Pauline epistle to the Romans serves as the foundation
of today's Christianity. Thus, it is the Christians whose efforts
will be wasted in this life as they think they were acquiring good
by their works when they attribute partners to God, as stated in
Chapter 18:103-106 of the Qur'an:


"Say: Shall we tell you of those who lost most in respect of their
deeds? Those whose efforts have been wasted in this life, while they
thought that they were acquiring good by their works?" they are
those who deny the Signs of their Lord and the fact of their having
to meet Him (in the Hereafter): vain will be their works, nor shall
We, on the Day of judgment, give them any weight. That is their
reward, Hell; because they rejected Faith, and took My Signs and My
Messengers by way of jest.
(Al-Kahf 18:103-106)

Indeed, it is so strange and ironic, knowing that none of Paul's
epistle to the Romans, more than 430 verses, were ever formulated by
Jesus. Paul should have made direct reference to the pristine
teachings of Jesus, if only the former claim for apostleship by
divine inspiration was indeed true. Instead, large parts of his
epistles' Biblical quotations (notably those in the Epistle to the
Romans) were taken from the Old Testament – Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Deuteronomy, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, Psalms, Proverbs, Isaiah,
Ezekiel and Hosea. His epistles were, indeed a product of tedious
efforts, but that does not make Paul far better than any of the
other men who authored the Bible, nor does it make him a Prophet.

Other practices that were adopted under Paul included the following:
the Roman sun-day as the Christian Sabbath; the traditional birthday
of the Sun-god as the birthday of Jesus; the emblem of the sun-god
(the cross of light) to be the emblem of Christians; and, the
incorporation of all the ceremonies which were performed at the Sun-
god's birthday celebrations.

As I come to a close concerning the position of Christ, I would like
to ask my Christian reader bow down and pray earnestly to God and
ask Him to invoke His curse on you, your wife, your sons, and your
daughters if what you believe about Christ (Christ is God, Son of
God or part of a trinity of God) are false. Likewise, I have learned
that if you asked a Muslim to earnestly pray to God to invoke His
curse on him, his wife, his sons, and his daughters if what he is
saying about Christ (Prophet, Messenger of God, A Word from God) are
false, the Muslims are firm in their faith knowing that Christ is
not God, nor the Son of God and nor part of a trinity of God. This
exercise of asking God to invoke His curse on you and your family
may sound a bit cruel, but it would prove two points: (1) you would
know that you are on the wrong path; and, (2) it would put you on
the right path.

The Crucifixion and Atonement
A very significant event in the Christian doctrine is the
Crucifixion of Jesus. Before talking about the many controversies
surrounding the Crucifixion, it should be mentioned that it was a
gospel of Paul's which professed the Crucifixion/ Resurrection of
Jesus (II Timothy 2:8):

"Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the
dead according to my gospel."

In addition, the gospel of the resurrection in Mark 16:9-20 was
already removed from the text by gospel writers in the 1952 edition
of the Revised Standard Version and then, for some reasons, restored
in the 1971 edition. In many Bibles, if not removed, it is printed
in small print or between two brackets and with commentary (See the
Revised Standard Version, New American Bible and New World
Translation of the Holy Scriptures).

The traditional biblical account of Jesus' Crucifixion is that he
was arrested and crucified by the orders and plans of the chief
priest and Jewish elders. This account was denied in the 1960's by
the highest Catholic Christian authority, the Pope. He issued a
statement in which he said the Jews had nothing to do with Jesus'
Crucifixion.

Did any one of the disciples or the writers of the Gospel see the
Crucifixion or the Resurrection? No! In Mark 14:50, it says the
disciples forsook Jesus and fled. Even Peter forsook Jesus after the
cock crowed three times as Jesus foretold:

(Matthew 26:75) And Peter remembered the word of Jesus, which said
unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he
went out, and wept bitterly.

The most likely persons whom may have witnessed this moment in
Jesus' life were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses,
the mother of Zebedee's children and other women (Matthew 27:55-56).
However, there is no statement or account in the Gospels from those
women as to what they saw or heard.

The disciple(s) found the sepulchre where Jesus was laid down,
empty, and made the conclusion that he was resurrected because the
disciples and other witnesses saw him alive after the alleged
Crucifixion. Nobody saw the moment he was resurrected. Jesus himself
stated that he did not die on the cross in Luke 24:36-41, as
explained in the following paragraphs.

Early Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene went to the sepulchre, which
was empty. She saw somebody standing who looked like a gardener. She
recognized him after a conversation to be Jesus and wanted to touch
him. Jesus said (John 20:17):

"Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father..."

Now read Luke 24:36-41:

"And as they (disciples) thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the
midst of them and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. But they were
terrified and frightened, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
And he said unto them, Why are you troubled? And why so thoughts
arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I
myself: handle me end see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as
ye see me have. And when he had thus spoken, he showed them his
hands and his feet. And while they yet believed not for joy, and
wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? And they gave
him a piece of boiled fish and of a honeycomb. And he took it, and
did eat before them."

Does a spiritual or dead body have a need to eat food? Jesus eating
of food was to prove to the disciples that he was not a spirit, but
rather, he was still alive and not dead.

Jesus being alive and not dead is further supported in his own
prophecy (Matthew 12:40):

"For as Jonah 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."

Did Jesus fulfill this miracle? Christians would say "yes," because
Jesus died and rose three days later according to Luke 24:36 and
Matthew 20:19, to name a few verses. However, in line with the
miracle of Jonah and according to the Bible, Jesus only spent one
day and two nights in the sepulchre, and not three days and three
nights as he prophesied.

Jesus was put in the sepulchre just before sunset on Friday (Good
Friday) and was found missing before sunrise on Sunday (Easter). If
we were to s-t-r-e-t-c- h the time frame a bit, one may say that
Jesus spent three days in the earth, but there is no way and I
repeat, no way, that Jesus spent three nights in the earth. We must
not forget that the Gospels are explicit in telling us that it
was "before sunrise" on Sunday morning that Mary Magdalene went to
the tomb of Jesus and found it empty.

Consequently, there are some inconsistencies as to whether Jesus
fulfilled his own prophecy. Whether he was actually crucified, or if
the day (Good Friday) of his alleged Crucifixion is wrong. Another
significant point to mention is that Jonah was alive in the belly of
the whale. The Christians says, Jesus was dead in the belly of the
earth/tomb, and this contradicts Jesus' own prophecy. Jesus said
(Luke 11:30):

"As Jonah was...so shall the Son of man be."

If Jonah was alive, so was Jesus.

One critical event that took place before the alleged Crucifixion
was the prayer of Jesus to God for help. Luke 22:42:

"Saying Father if thou be willing, remove this cup (of death) from
me: nevertheless not my will, but thine be done."

Jesus' prayer not to die on the cross was accepted by God according
to Luke 22:43 and Hebrews 5:7. Therefore, if all of Jesus' prayer
were accepted by God, including not to die on the cross, how could
he have died on the cross?

In Matthew 27:46, it states that while Jesus was on the cross, he
said:

"Eli, Eli, lama sabachtani (My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me?).

If Jesus said these words, it represents a blatant declaration of
disbelief according to all theological authorities. This is a great
insult as such words could only come from an unbeliever in God.
Further, it is incredible that such words should come from a Prophet
of God, because God never breaks His promise and His Prophets never
complained against His promise, especially when the Prophet's
mission is understood. It could be said that whoever relates that
this statement was said by a Prophet (Jesus), is a disbeliever.

Muslims believe, as the Qur'an states, Jesus was not crucified. It
was the intention of his enemies to put him to death on the cross,
but Allah saved him from their plot. Qur'an 4:157:

"That they (Jews) said boasting, "We killed Christ Jesus, the son of
Mary, the Messenger of Allah, but they (Jews) killed him not, nor
crucified him..."

(An Nisa 4:157)

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