1. Direct Historical Contradiction:
The Quran records that the city rejected the three messengers and was immediately destroyed by a divine blast (Surah 36:29). However, historical records and the New Testament (Acts 11:26) document that Antioch enthusiastically embraced Christianity, becoming a thriving hub for early believers without experiencing catastrophic ruin.
2. Canonization of Distorted Oral Legend:
Classical commentators (such as Ibn Kathir and Al-Qurtubi) unanimously identify this city as Antioch and the messengers as Jesus's disciples. The narrative absorbs and canonizes an inaccurate Near Eastern legend, conflating the historical growth of early Christianity with an apocalyptic destruction tale.
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.