born again Christian seeking truth

[bornagain21]

I am a born again Christain but my fiance and I have been talking about Islam and making our prayer life richer by praying 5 times a day and prostrating and reciting the first page of the Quran.

I have been interested in Islam in the past and have gone back and forth in my interest over the years.

I was wondering, what is the Muslim belief about Jesus and his resurrection? Do you believe he was the Messiah awaited for by the Jews and written about in the Old Testament?

Also, how do you explain Jesus claiming he was God if we was not God? Was he lieing or delusional? I am not being saracastic, I am truly curious about your beliefs concerning Jesus.

I felt a profound urge to fast recently and then I found out that it was Ramadan and many people fast during this time. I thought that may be a message from God but I am not sure.

['Abd al-Baari]

Greetings & Welcome to the Forums. :)

It's nice to read of your growing interest in Islaam. I hope all your questions get answered here.

You might find this site beneficial; http://islamreligion.com

[Danah]

Welcome to the forums :)

I think you will find this site very helpful to know about Christianity from Islamic perspective: http://bibleislam.com/

this website is runned by a former Christian pastor calleh Yusef Estes -if you have heard about him-

here is short way through the site about the prophet Jesus peace be upon him:

Islam honors all the prophets who were sent to mankind. Muslims respect all prophets in general, but Jesus in particular, because he was one of the prophets who foretold the coming of Muhammad. Muslims, too, await the second coming of Jesus. They consider him one of the greatest of Allah's prophets to mankind. A Muslim does not refer to him simply as "Jesus," but normally adds the phrase "peace be upon him" as a sign of respect.

No other religion in the world respects and dignifies Jesus as Islam does. The Quran confirms his virgin birth (a chapter of the Quran is entitled "Mary"), and Mary is considered to have been one of the purest women in all creation. The Quran describes Jesus' birth as follows:

"Behold!' the Angel said, God has chosen you, and purified you, and chosen you above the women of all nations."

[Noble Quran 3:42]


"Mary, God gives you good news of a word from Him, whose name shall be the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honored in this world and in the Hereafter, and one of those brought near to God. He shall speak to the people from his cradle and in maturity, and he shall be of the righteous. She said: "My Lord! How shall I have a son when no man has touched me?' He said: "Even so; God creates what He will. When He decrees a thing, He says to it, 'Be!' and it is." [Noble Quran 3:45-47]



Muslims believe that Jesus was born immaculately, and through the same power which had brought Eve to life and Adam into being without a father or a mother.

"Truly, the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, and then said to him, 'Be!' and he was."

[Noble Quran 3:59]


During his prophetic mission, Jesus performed many miracles. The Quran tells us that he said:

"I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God's leave. And I heal the blind, and the lepers, and I raise the dead by God's leave."

[Noble Quran 3:49]



Muhammad and Jesus, as well as the other prophets, were sent to confirm the belief in one God. This is referred to in the Quran where Jesus is reported as saying that he came:

"To attest the law which was before me, and to make lawful to you part of what was forbidden you; I have come to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear God and obey me."

[Noble Quran 3:50]


Prophet Muhammad emphasized the importance of Jesus by saying: "Whoever believes there is no god but Allah, alone without partner, that Muhammad is His messenger, that Jesus is a servant and messenger of God, His word breathed into Mary and a spirit emanating from Him, and that Paradise and Hell are true, shall be received by God into Heaven.[Bukhari]

http://bibleislam.com/who_was_jesus.php

[YusufNoor]

I am a born again Christain but my fiance and I have been talking about Islam and making our prayer life richer by praying 5 times a day and prostrating and reciting the first page of the Quran.

I have been interested in Islam in the past and have gone back and forth in my interest over the years.

I was wondering, what is the Muslim belief about Jesus and his resurrection?

we do not believe that Jesus/Isa ibn Marriam, May Allah's Peace and Blessings be upon both of them, was was killed. we believe that he ascended to heaven without dying. the Qur'an says:

[4.157] And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure.

Do you believe he was the Messiah awaited for by the Jews and written about in the Old Testament?

we believe that he IS the Jewish Messiah, but we believe that the "OT" has been altered by the hand of man, as do many biblical scholars.

Also, how do you explain Jesus claiming he was God if we was not God? Was he lieing or delusional? I am not being saracastic, I am truly curious about your beliefs concerning Jesus.

we don't believe that the Gospel accounts are contemporaneous to the time of Jesus, Peace be upon him. there are anonymous books written much later. "Mark" is believed to be written around 65 -75 CE, "Matthew" and "Luke" sometime around 85 CE and "John" around 95 CE. that is the opinion of most scholars. if you look at those Gospel, you will find much many contradictions within each of them. IN FACT, you will NOT find a complete codex of "the Bible" that contains ONLY "canonical" books in the Greek language that is OLDER than the Qur'an! while you may find reference to today's "canonical" by Bishop Athanasius (crca374 CE), actually Manuscripts often contained I Clement, II Clement, the Epistle of Barnabas and/or the Shepherd of Hermas.

I felt a profound urge to fast recently and then I found out that it was Ramadan and many people fast during this time. I thought that may be a message from God but I am not sure.

as far as Jesus claiming to be god, the Qur'an says:

[4.171] O followers of the Book! do not exceed the limits in your religion, and do not speak (lies) against Allah, but (speak) the truth; the Messiah, Isa son of Marium is only an apostle of Allah and His Word which He communicated to Marium and a spirit from Him; believe therefore in Allah and His apostles, and say not, Three. Desist, it is better for you; Allah is only one God; far be It from His glory that He should have a son, whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth is His, and Allah is sufficient for a Protector.

[5.116] And when Allah will say: O Isa son of Marium! did you say to men, Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah he will say: Glory be to Thee, it did not befit me that I should say what I had no right to (say); if I had said it, Thou wouldst indeed have known it; Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I do not know what is in Thy mind, surely Thou art the great Knower of the unseen things.

after replying such, Jesus, Peace be upon him, will make du'a for his followers and ask Allah to forgive them for making him into a partner with Allah:

Muhsin Khan: "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 the Watcher over them, and You are a Witness to all things. (This is a great admonition and warning to the Christians of the whole world).
118:
Muhsin Khan: "If You punish them, they are Your slaves, and if You forgive them, verily You, only You are the All*Mighty, the All*Wise."

but, Jesus, Peace be upon him, IS recognized as a Prophet of Allah:

61.6] And when Isa son of Marium said: O children of Israel! surely I am the apostle of Allah to you, verifying that which is before me of the Taurat and giving the good news of an Apostle who will come after me, his name being Ahmad, but when he came to them with clear arguments they said: This is clear magic.

57.27] Then We made Our apostles to follow in their footsteps, and We sent Isa son of Marium afterwards, and We gave him the Injeel, and We put in the hearts of those who followed him kindness and mercy; and (as for) monkery, they innovated it-- We did not prescribe it to them-- only to seek Allah's pleasure, but they did not observe it with its due observance; so We gave to those of them who believed their reward, and most of them are transgressors.

[43.63] And when Isa came with clear arguments he said: I have come to you indeed with wisdom, and that I may make clear to you part of what you differ in; so be careful of (your duty to) Allah and obey me:

[42.13] He has made plain to you of the religion what He enjoined upon Nuh and that which We have revealed to you and that which We enjoined upon Ibrahim and Musa and Isa that keep to obedience and be not divided therein; hard to the unbelievers is that which you call them to; Allah chooses for Himself whom He pleases, and guides to Himself him who turns (to Him), frequently

[43.63] And when Isa came with clear arguments he said: I have come to you indeed with wisdom, and that I may make clear to you part of what you differ in; so be careful of (your duty to) Allah and obey me:

you may find more about the compilation of the Bible here:

http://www.bartdehrman.com/multimedia.htm

go to this video:

The Cathedral College of Washington National Cathedral.
7:30 PM. Lecture on "Misquoting Jesus" an exploration of how
scribes changed the bible and possible reasons why.

there are other resources, but it is Ramadhan i do not mean to present an argument, i am just giving you some information that may help you.

:wa:

Hey there! Looks like you're enjoying the discussion, but you're not signed up for an account.

When you create an account, you can participate in the discussions and share your thoughts. You also get notifications, here and via email, whenever new posts are made. And you can like posts and make new friends.
Sign Up

[sur]

I felt a profound urge to fast recently and then I found out that it was Ramadan and many people fast during this time. I thought that may be a message from God but I am not sure.

Once a christian shared his dreads with me.... Nightmares actually... In short he saw a CD of "christian song" being played & feld bad & tried to run away BUT couldn't escape coz of ppl around him with an invisible being stopped him. Cover (CD Holder) of that CD of christians songs showed a devil taking over world......... He had left christianity & became atheist & was trying to adopt christianity again........


So yeh, that may be a sign.... When GOD judges that certain people are good at heart, HE sends them signs pointing towards right path.

I was wondering, what is the Muslim belief about Jesus and his resurrection? Do you believe he was the Messiah awaited for by the Jews and written about in the Old Testament?

He was a human being. His soul was a "special" soul sent from GOD to virgin pious Marry(Maryam).
*He was born miracuously without a father.
*He was raised from world ALIVE, miracuously.
*He performed miracles of curing leprous etc, resurrcting dead, & giving life to a pigeon made of clay, ALL by order/will of GOD.
*He DID NOT die nor was he put on cross, in 1st comming.
*He will die natural death after his 2nd comming.
*He would fight with muslims against evil forces in 2nd comming.
*"ALL" people-of-the-book will either believe in him -or- will get killed by him.
*He will remain in world for 40 years as a "just" rular.

Also, how do you explain Jesus claiming he was God if we was not God? Was he lieing or delusional? I am not being saracastic, I am truly curious about your beliefs concerning Jesus.

Jesus NEVER claimed he was god.... It was paul & other desciples who said that about him....


2ndly, Bible calls "gods" as a methaphore to some other persons too. Also bible calls "son(s) of gods" as a methaphore to angels/to pious ppl/ to many prophets. Bible also calls "Begotten son" to other persons beside Jesus......


Now i said "metaphore", but i believe those were mis-translatiopns inserted mistakenly or intentionally.

[bornagain21]

This is what confuses me about Islam

There is substantial evidence for Jesus dieing on the cross. His trial (he was charged with blasphemy for claiming he was God, and with sorcery for performing miracles) and his death are recorded by several historians of his time who were not Christan. How do you explain that?

Also, i wouldn't say that "most" scholars believe that the NT was written much latter, in fact there are many who would say it was written rather soon after his death. It was written by men who walked with God themselves and it was written by men who were taught by the apostles themselves. These men were very close to Jesus when he was alive and knew his ministry well.

i see that Muslims claim that Jesus never said he was God, yet why then was he charged with doing exactly that? Again, this was a historian from his time who wrote about it from a Jewish point of view, not Christain.

The entire OT speaks about Jesus are predicts many things about him including his death. I says "he will hang on a tree" meaning the cross. It predicts how he will die and when he will die. Was all of that lies? And how could it be a lie if it all happened exactly as they predicted it?



Jewish sources, Talmudic writings from 70 to 200 say "on the eve of Passover Yeshu (Jesus) was hanged. He was charged with sorcery and enticed Israel with apostasy"



Flavius Josepuh (a Jewish historian) "At the time there was a wise man named Jesus...Pilate condemned him to be crucified.. his disciples did not abandon him...they say he appeared three days after the Crucifixion alive..."



and these are only two examples of resources besides the NT that say Jesus was crucified.

[bornagain21]

also it was written about Jesus from other sources other than the Bible that Jesus accpeted worship and that would lead one to believe that Jesus thought he was God.

[YusufNoor]

This is what confuses me about Islam

There is substantial evidence for Jesus dieing on the cross. His trial (he was charged with blasphemy for claiming he was God, and with sorcery for performing miracles) and his death are recorded by several historians of his time who were not Christan. How do you explain that?

there is very little evidence and we already said that the Qur'an says:
[4.157] And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure.


Also, i wouldn't say that "most" scholars believe that the NT was written much latter, in fact there are many who would say it was written rather soon after his death. It was written by men who walked with God themselves and it was written by men who were taught by the apostles themselves. These men were very close to Jesus when he was alive and knew his ministry well.

that is an assumption made by Christians. the Gospels were anonymous and were NOT attributed to their current "authors" until the 2nd Century CE.

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/index.html

i see that Muslims claim that Jesus never said he was God, yet why then was he charged with doing exactly that? Again, this was a historian from his time who wrote about it from a Jewish point of view, not Christain.

The entire OT speaks about Jesus are predicts many things about him including his death. I says "he will hang on a tree" meaning the cross. It predicts how he will die and when he will die. Was all of that lies? And how could it be a lie if it all happened exactly as they predicted it?

Christians assume MANY things about the "OT!" name 1 Jew whom was expecting that when the Messiah came he would be executed! the Jews believe that the Messiah will rule from Jerusalem. IF all those OT references actually WERE for Jesus, then why didn't his apostles jump for joy when he was arrested and executed? instead they ran away like little girls! it seems that even they weren't aware of all of this "prophecy!"

Jewish sources, Talmudic writings from 70 to 200 say "on the eve of Passover Yeshu (Jesus) was hanged. He was charged with sorcery and enticed Israel with apostasy"

but you just said he was charged with blasphemy and claiming to be god BY THE JEWS! but the Jews don't say that! and Josephus is the ONLY writings OUTSIDE of Christian writings in the 1st Century CE to even mention Jesus!

Flavius Josepuh (a Jewish historian) "At the time there was a wise man named Jesus...Pilate condemned him to be crucified.. his disciples did not abandon him...they say he appeared three days after the Crucifixion alive..."

this is from DECADES later and is NOT from a witness!

and these are only two examples of resources besides the NT that say Jesus was crucified.

also it was written about Jesus from other sources other than the Bible that Jesus accepted worship and that would lead one to believe that Jesus thought he was God.

other than the quote from Josephus, there is NO MENTION of Jesus whatsoever outside of Christian sources until Pliny the Younger wrote his letter to the Emperor Trajan some time between 111 and 113 CE!

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/pliny.html

check these dates:

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/index.html

there were simply NO writings by Christians in existence that predate Paul! YES, you can some that claim so, but those are by people with a vested interest in saying so.

i recommend these lecture courses by Bart D Ehrman:

New Testament

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursede...2.aspx?cid=656

After the New Testament: The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursede....aspx?cid=6537

History of the Bible: The Making of the New Testament Canon

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursede....aspx?cid=6299

and From Jesus to Constantine: A History of Early Christianity

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursede....aspx?cid=6577

he has another set called the Historical Jesus, but i haven't finished it yet:

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursede...2.aspx?cid=643

as well as, Lost Christianities: Christian Scriptures and the Battles over Authentication , but i haven't even begun that one yet:

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursede....aspx?cid=6593

i also recommend his books Misquoting Jesus, which i have partially read, and Jesus Interrupted which i only have on audio and haven't started.

TTC also has a fascinating course taught by Luke Timothy Johnson called the
Story of the Bible:

http://www.teach12.com/ttcx/coursede....aspx?cid=6252

it's a great dvd!

:wa:

[_ALI_]

Salam bornagain21

also it was written about Jesus from other sources other than the Bible that Jesus accpeted worship and that would lead one to believe that Jesus thought he was God.

As Muslims, we believe in the Quran and Quran clearly says that while Jesus was a messenger of God, he was not God.
005.075 مَا الْمَسِيحُ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلا رَسُولٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ وَأُمُّهُ صِدِّيقَةٌ كَانَا يَأْكُلانِ الطَّعَامَ انْظُرْ كَيْفَ نُبَيِّنُ لَهُمُ الآيَاتِ ثُمَّ انْظُرْ أَنَّى يُؤْفَكُونَ
005.075 Christ the son of Mary was no more than a messenger; many were the messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They had both to eat their (daily) food. See how Allah doth make His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are deluded away from the truth!

Now if the Bible or any other source contradicts that, it is not considered since according to us, Quran is the ultimate authentic source. But if Jesus accepted worship, does that really make him God? How do we worship? The most humble form of worship is that we prostrate ourselves and our face touches the ground. So if someone prostrated in front of Jesus, does that make him God? Read the following verse
1 Samuel 24
7 With these words David rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.
8 Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, "My lord the king!" When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground.
9 He said to Saul, "Why do you listen when men say, 'David is bent on harming you'?

Now David here is worshipping Saul, does that mean David thinks Saul is God?
A few more examples
2 Samuel 14:4
4 When the woman from Tekoa went to the king, she fell with her face to the ground to pay him honor, and she said, "Help me, O king!"

2 Samuel 14:22
22 Joab fell with his face to the ground to pay him honor, and he blessed the king. Joab said, "Today your servant knows that he has found favor in your eyes, my lord the king, because the king has granted his servant's request."

In these verses, it is evident that at that time, touching your face to the ground did not mean that the person in front of you is God (according to the Bible). It is an act of respect, not worship.
And Jesus clearly told us who should be worshipped.
" 'All this I will give you,' he (Satan) said (to Jesus), 'if you will bow down and worship me.' Jesus said to him, 'Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' (From the NIV Bible, Matthew 4:9-10)"

"They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. (From the NIV Bible, Matthew 15:9)"

"They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men. (From the NIV Bible, Mark 7:7)"

And as Jesus said so himself
“And Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. (From the NIV Bible, Mark 10:18)”

"Here, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord. (From the NIV Bible, Mark 12:29)"

"My Father (GOD) is greater than I. (From the NIV Bible, John 14:28)"

"If I testify about myself, my testimony is not valid. (From the NIV Bible, John 5:31)"

"By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but him who sent me. (From the NIV Bible, John 5:30)"

[sur]

Jewish sources, Talmudic writings from 70 to 200 say "on the eve of Passover Yeshu (Jesus) was hanged. He was charged with sorcery and enticed Israel with apostasy".......Flavius Josepuh (a Jewish historian) "At the time there was a wise man named Jesus...Pilate condemned him to be crucified

That's what jews wanted to achieve..... They wanted to give jesus death of insult i.e., "crucify him"... That's why we see them boasting & bragging about this.
Quran:4:157: "That(jews) they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Apostle of God";- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) know ledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not"

If jews were successful in doing that then it would have been their victory over GOD's will, which was to save HIS prophet from insult of cross... As jesus prayed to GOD to save him from that insult.... It's given in bible...

Jesus prayed, GOD accepted, so victory cannot be of jews , so jesus was NOT put on cross nor was he killed.

There is substantial evidence for Jesus dieing on the cross. His trial (he was charged with blasphemy for claiming he was God, and with sorcery for performing miracles) and his death are recorded by several historians of his time who were not Christan. How do you explain that?

Jews alleged jesus coz some of ppl around him claimed his divinity, because of the nature of his miracles, like giving life to dead..... Jesus himself NEVER claimed such divinity, rather he made clear that whatever miracles he was doing were from GOD..... Like GOD told Moses to throw his stick & it was made snake by GOD's order & Moses himself unaware of what was going to happen, started running scared to death......


Ppl go overboard in praising their heros... Same happened with Jesus... Some ppl revered him so much that they thought of him as god or son-of-god

Sahih Bukhari:82:817: "....Then Allah's Apostle said, 'Do not praise me excessively as Jesus, son of Marry was praised, but call me Allah's Slave and His Apostles.Then Allah's Apostle said, 'Do not praise me excessively as Jesus, son of Marry was praised, but call me Allah's Slave and His Apostles...."


Even Jesus foresaw this phemonenon & rejected his own dietification....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_Barnabas
Gospel-of-Barnabas:-
And having said this, Jesus smote his face with both his hands, and then smote the ground with his head. And having raised his head, he said: "Cursed be every one who shall insert into my sayings that I am the son of God"


Jesus answered: "And you; what say you that I am?" Peter answered: "You are Christ, son of God". Then was Jesus angry, and with anger rebuked him, saying: "Begone and depart from me, because you are the devil and seek to cause me offences"

Same happened in islamic history when Ibn-e-Saba a converted jew, proclaimed diety of Ali(r.a) & Ali rebuked & exiled him...... As did Paul & Peter said about jesus.

It was written by men who walked with God themselves and it was written by men who were taught by the apostles themselves.

Barnabas also walked with Jesus... He was also an apostle... Why don't then his gospel is given any value???


Barnabas said that he thought jesus was on cross but when he looked aside Jesus ws sitting on a nearby tree, smiling......

When all the ppl including Barnabas, were being deceived into thinking that jesus was being hung, he was actually an on-looker, smiling at their stupidity.

i see that Muslims claim that Jesus never said he was God, yet why then was he charged with doing exactly that? Again, this was a historian from his time who wrote about it from a Jewish point of view, not Christain.

Answered above, that some ppl around him believed he was divine, impressed by miracles he showed.... Jesus HIMSELF never claimed divinity.

The entire OT speaks about Jesus are predicts many things about him including his death. I says "he will hang on a tree" meaning the cross.

As Barnabas said, tree was NOT the cross, It was really a TREE. & Jesus was save & sound on that tree.

[wayseer]

[QUOTE=bornagain21;1214901]

Hi - I am a Christian exploring Islam. There are some differences between Christianity and Islam but the differences are not as significant as you might first think.

... how do you explain Jesus claiming he was God if we was not God?

In my own study of the NT it became apparent to me that Jesus never claimed to be God. The various authors of the Gospels would like you to believe their version of events but they had a vested interest in the outcome.

You also might note that the word 'trinity' never appears in the Bible.

There is substantial evidence for Jesus dieing on the cross.

Actually there is not that much evidence as you have been taught to believe. The authors of the Gospels had not known Jesus, neither had the author of Acts. Paul, a contemporary of Jesus, had not even met him.

You might like to study the life of James, the brother of Jesus. If anyone knew Jesus it would be someone of his own kin. But you have to go looking for that information as Christianity does not want you to know too much about James.

The independence of Josephus and Tactius are questionable and the both lived well after the death of Jesus and both had political reasons for writing.

I felt a profound urge to fast recently and then I found out that it was Ramadan and many people fast during this time. I thought that may be a message from God but I am not sure.

Then you need to follow that 'urging'. Do not let you intellect get in the way.

The entire OT speaks about Jesus are predicts many things about him including his death.

I know it comes something of a shock but you can extrapolate anything you want to out of the OT. You have been taught to accept the whole of the OT was about the coming of Jesus. Nothing is further from the truth. There are certainly predictions about the messiah. But the various parts used by Christians to substantiate their claims are sufficiently vague that the passages could refer to anyone.

Jewish sources, Talmudic writings from 70 to 200 say "on the eve of Passover Yeshu (Jesus) was hanged. He was charged with sorcery and enticed Israel with apostasy

This piece was written some 200 years after Jesus' death. Hardly reliable.

Personally, I think there is better evidence of Jesus death - his brother James.

You have done some research which is good. The hardest part of research is suspending you own beliefs so that the truths become apparent.

Just for the record, I do not accept the Islamic belief that Jesus did not die on the cross - that it was Simon who died in his stead. This belief is based on equally spurious evidence as is belief that Jesus claimed to be God.