Introduction to the Verse:
To warn the Meccans, the text introduces a historical parable about an unnamed city to which God sent three successive messengers, only for the town to reject them and face annihilation.
The Quran Verse
Surah 36:13–14:
And present to them an example: the companions of the city, when the messengers came to it—When We sent to them two but they denied them, so We strengthened them with a third, and they said, 'Indeed, we are messengers to you.'
While the town is unnamed in the text, classical Islamic commentators (such as Ibn Kathir, Al-Qurtubi, and Zamakhshari) universally identify this city as Antioch and the messengers as the disciples of Jesus (traditionally identified as John, Paul, and Peter).
The New Testament Contradiction:
The Quran states that the city completely rejected the messengers and was subsequently wiped out by a single divine blast (36:29). However, the New Testament (Acts 11:26) and secular Roman history record the exact opposite: Antioch became the primary cradle of early Gentile Christianity, the place where believers were first called "Christians," and it flourished as a massive center of the Church for centuries without experiencing a sudden catastrophic destruction.
The author of the Quran appears to have absorbed an inaccurate, highly distorted oral legend about the missionary journeys to Antioch, canonizing a historical falsehood that directly contradicts both biblical and secular history.