Ashab al-Qarya

According to the Qur'an, two prophets were sent to this people, and then another. When the prophets said that they were sent by Allah, the villagers accused them of lying and began to threaten them with stoning them. At that moment, a man came from the outskirts of the village and began to call on the people to believe in Allah and listen to His messengers. In response, the inhabitants attacked this man and killed him, and Allah delighted him with the news that he had become an inhabitant of paradise ^[1] . Some theologians consider him a martyr ^[2] . After this, the messengers of Allah were forced to leave there and Allah destroyed the people with a trumpet voice ^{[1] [3]} .

Interpreters of the Qur'an identify the "settlement" with Antioch . The Islamic theologians who identified with Antioch were divided on when these events occurred. One group believed that the event described in the Qur'an occurred after the prophet Isa (Jesus) and explained that the word “messenger” used in the Qur'an in this context does not refer to the three prophets, but to the three disciples of Isa. According to them, the victim was called Khabib the carpenter, also known as Believer Yasin. ^[4] . Other commentators believed that this narrative happened much earlier and the “messengers” mentioned in the Qur'an were called Saduk, Masduk and Shalum.

Some commentators, including Ibn Qasir, rejected identification with Antioch, explaining that there is no historical evidence of the destruction of this city ^[2] . They also said that the term “messengers” in the Qur'an almost always refers to the prophets, but not to their disciples. Some theologians linked the Koranic story to the preaching of Paul and Barnabas described in the Acts of the Apostles ^[5] .

• Ali-zade A. A. Askhab al-Qarya // Islamic Encyclopedic Dictionary . - M .: Ansar , 2007 .-- 400 p. - (The Golden Fund of Islamic Thought). - ISBN 5-98443-025-8 .