Islam Watch

Christian Legends in the Qur’an

When “Revelation” Plagiarizes from Apocrypha

If Part 1 cracked the Qur’an’s illusion of divine originality by exposing its dependence on Gnostic myths, Part 2 hits even harder.

This time, we’re not talking obscure mysticism. We’re talking about Christian legends—apocryphal gospels, folk stories, and heretical writings—that the Qur’an copies, modifies, and repackages as if they were dropped straight from heaven.

Let’s be blunt:
The Qur’an doesn’t correct Christianity.
It plagiarizes its most untrustworthy fringe materials.

And the evidence is stacked.

📜 A Divine Book Borrowing Human Legends?

Muslims claim the Qur’an is the final, perfect word of God.
A flawless book with no human fingerprints.
But then we find whole episodes—narratives, details, and scenes—lifted not from the Bible, but from Christian legends and pseudepigrapha that were already floating around in Arabia and the Byzantine Empire centuries earlier.

This isn’t revelation.
This is a cut-and-paste job from religious fanfiction.

🔪 Cain and Abel: Direct from Syriac Sermons

The Qur’an retells the Cain and Abel story in Qur’an 5:27–30, where one brother refuses to retaliate, and the murderer becomes one of the “lost ones.” But where’s this from?

Not the Bible.

It’s pulled from Syriac Christian sources, including:

The Syriac Life of Abel
Isaac of Antioch’s Homily on Cain and Abel
Ephraem Graecus’ Homily on Cain

All of them predate the Qur’an by 100–200 years.

The Qur’anic version even mimics the pious, pacifist tone used in these Syriac versions—absent in Genesis. Coincidence? Hardly.

😴 The Seven Sleepers: From Church Legend to Qur’anic “Revelation”

In Qur’an 18:19–25, we get a mysterious tale of boys sleeping for centuries in a cave, waking up confused, and then disappearing into legend.

Muslims may think this is a uniquely Islamic miracle story.

It’s not.

The tale of the Seven Sleepers of Ephesus was widely known across the Christian world and recounted by:

Gregory of Tours
Jacob of Serugh
Theodore of Tarsus (7th century)

The Qur’an even copies the same internal debates:
“Were there three, five, or seven?”—a hallmark of oral legend, not divine precision.

👶 Mary and Zechariah: Straight from the Protoevangelium of James

The Qur’an includes a bizarre detail: Mary living in the temple under the care of Zechariah and receiving miraculous food (Qur’an 3:35–44).

That’s not from the Bible.

It’s from the Protoevangelium of James, a 2nd-century apocryphal gospel rejected by the Church for its made-up claims. This text also contains:

The miraculous feeding of Mary by angels
The casting of lots to decide who will take care of Mary
Her dedication to the temple at birth

The Qur’an lifts all three details.

Divine inspiration?
Or a 7th-century remix of banned Christian fanfiction?

🙏 Mary as a Goddess? Meet the Collyridians

Qur’an 5:116 makes the bizarre claim that Christians worship Mary and Jesus as gods. This would confuse any Christian today—and for good reason.

Where did this idea come from?

Meet the Collyridians, a fringe Arab sect that worshipped Mary as a divine female figure. They existed in the 4th–7th century in Arabia, with female priestesses offering sacrifices to her.

The Qur’an didn’t expose a real Christian doctrine.
It misrepresented Christianity based on a heretical Arabian cult.

🌴 Mary and the Palm Tree: Plucked from the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew

In Qur’an 19:22–26, a pregnant Mary, abandoned and in labor, rests under a palm tree. A voice tells her to shake the tree for dates and a stream miraculously appears.

Not in the Bible.

But it’s in the Gospel of Pseudo-Matthew, an apocryphal Latin text from the 7th century. That story describes:

Mary resting under a palm
The tree bending to offer fruit
Water springing up at Jesus’ command

The Qur’an rewrites it with a more Islamic tone, but the plotline is unmistakably copied.

👶 Jesus Speaks from the Cradle: Pulled from the Arabic Infancy Gospel

In Qur’an 19:29–30, Mary points to her infant son, and baby Jesus miraculously declares:

“I am a servant of Allah, and He has made me a prophet.”

This is a direct copy of The Arabic Infancy Gospel, where Jesus speaks from the cradle, claiming divine mission and identity.

Again:
Not found in the Gospels.
Found in unauthorized apocryphal literature, long rejected by the Church.

🐦 Jesus Creates Birds from Clay: Plagiarized from the Infancy Gospel of Thomas

The Qur’an says Jesus fashioned birds from clay and brought them to life (Qur’an 3:49, 5:110).

That story is not in the Bible.

But it is found in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, another rejected text where the boy Jesus:

Forms 12 clay sparrows on the Sabbath
Claps his hands, and they fly away

The Qur’an takes the story wholesale but inserts the line “by Allah’s permission” to preserve its theology.

A divine correction?
Or a theological rebranding of a fictional tale?

❌ Crucifixion Denial: Once Again, Gnostic Myths Return

And of course, in Qur’an 4:157, the claim is made that Jesus was not crucified, and that someone else was made to look like him.

Where is that from?

It’s from Basilides and other Gnostic sects, not any Christian or historical source. They claimed:

“Simon of Cyrene was crucified in Jesus’ place. Jesus laughed at their ignorance.”

The Qur’an takes this heretical, rejected narrative and calls it divine revelation.

🧨 Muslim Apologists’ Weak Defense: “The Bible is Corrupt”

When confronted with this overwhelming evidence of copying, Muslim apologists default to the tired excuse:

“The Bible is corrupted. The Qur’an is restoring the truth.”

But this fails on multiple levels:

These stories never were part of the Bible. They came from non-canonical, apocryphal sources.
Many of these stories were already condemned as false by Christians before Muhammad was born.
If Allah is correcting corrupted scripture, why is he using legends and heresies that Christians themselves rejected?

That’s not restoration. That’s religious recycling.

🔥 Conclusion: The Qur’an is a Compilation, Not a Revelation

The Qur’an presents itself as the ultimate, final, flawless message from the Creator.

But the evidence paints a very different picture.

It copies rejected stories.
It repeats discredited legends.
It borrows freely from the fringe, not the canon.

This is not divine authorship. It’s doctrinal patchwork.

So let’s say it plainly:
The Qur’an isn’t original, inspired, or divine.
It’s a book built on religious leftovers, myths, and borrowed material that predated it by centuries.

And when you steal from fables and call it revelation—
You don’t prove God.
You expose the fraud.