The Great Apostasy (Christianity)

 

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا سيدي يا رسول الله

وعلى آلك واصحابك يا سيدي يا نور الله

فداك ابي وامي يا رسول الله

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

Allah Most High says:

وَاِذۡ قَالَ اللّٰہُ یٰعِیۡسَی ابۡنَ مَرۡیَمَ ءَاَنۡتَ قُلۡتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُوۡنِیۡ وَاُمِّیَ اِلٰہَیۡنِ مِنۡ دُوۡنِ اللّٰہِ ؕ قَالَ سُبۡحٰنَکَ مَا یَکُوۡنُ لِیۡۤ اَنۡ اَقُوۡلَ مَا لَیۡسَ لِیۡ ٭ بِحَقٍّ ؕ؃ اِنۡ کُنۡتُ قُلۡتُہٗ فَقَدۡ عَلِمۡتَہٗ ؕ تَعۡلَمُ مَا فِیۡ نَفۡسِیۡ وَلَاۤ اَعۡلَمُ مَا فِیۡ نَفۡسِکَ ؕ اِنَّکَ اَنۡتَ عَلَّامُ الۡغُیُوۡبِ

When Allah will say, “O Jesus, son of Mary, did you say to the people, ‘take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah?’”, he will answer, “Holy are You, I could never that to which I had no right. If I said it, You would surely know it. You know what is in my self and I know not what is in Your Self. It is only You Who is the Knower of all hidden things.”

مَا قُلۡتُ لَہُمۡ اِلَّا مَاۤ اَمَرۡتَنِیۡ بِہٖۤ اَنِ اعۡبُدُوا اللّٰہَ رَبِّیۡ وَرَبَّکُمۡ ۚ وَکُنۡتُ عَلَیۡہِمۡ شَہِیۡدًا مَّا دُمۡتُ فِیۡہِمۡ ۚ فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّیۡتَنِیۡ کُنۡتَ اَنۡتَ الرَّقِیۡبَ عَلَیۡہِمۡ ؕ وَاَنۡتَ عَلٰی کُلِّ شَیۡءٍ شَہِیۡدٌ

“I said nothing to them except what You commanded me with, to worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them. So when you took me You have been the Watcher over them; and You are a Witness over everything.”

(Surah 5, Ayah 116 & 117)

According to the Islamic narrative, as laid out in the two Verses quoted above, there was a Great Apostasy in the Church established by the Messiah Jesus shortly after he was taken away by Allah سبحانه وتعالى

The Quran teaches that the Hawariyyun (Disciples of Jesus) were Believers and also recipients of divine inspiration from Allah (Surah 5, Ayah 111). But Paul of Tarsus was never a disciple of Jesus, having never even met him. He merely claimed to have received a vision of Jesus on the road to Damascus. Yet Paul himself admits: “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11: 13-14)

We say that Paul of Tarsus is the one who introduced a false gospel into the Church established by Jesus, which resulted in the Great Apostasy. The Apostate Church deified Jesus and taught the false doctrine of the Trinity. It also taught that Jesus’s alleged death on the cross was part of the divine will to serve as a sacrifice that would atone for the sins of all mankind.

Apart from Islam, there are some dissident Christian Churches which also teach that there was a Great Apostasy among the followers of Jesus. Christian movements like Restorationism, Millerism and Adventism all accept the reality of the Great Apostasy. Likewise, the so-called Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Latter-Day Saints (Mormons) teach that there was a Great Apostasy in the early Church. It was ironically Paul of Tarsus who predicted an apostasy would occur in the Church: “That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away [ἀποστασία] first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” (2 Thessalonians 2: 2-4)

Here Paul, if he is indeed the true author of this epistle, says that the Antichrist shall not emerge until first there is an apostasy within the Church.