Did Jesus Escape Crucifixion?

Despite the fact that all Christians believe that Christ was crucified, which is also clearly stated in the Mark 15. 21-41; Matt. 27.32-44; Luke 23. 26-43 and John 19. 17-27, Quran states that it wasn't Jesus that the Jews crucified but someone resembling him.

"And because of their saying (in boast), "We killed Messiah 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allâh," - but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of 'Iesa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that man), and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not [i.e. 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary)

But Allâh raised him ['Iesa (Jesus)] up (with his body and soul) unto Himself (and he is in the heavens). And Allâh is Ever All­Powerful, All­Wise. )" (Q.4:157-158)

The story of Christ being lifted to heaven "in body and soul" is obviously contrary to all logic and science. One wonders what kind of Heaven Muhammad was envisioning? The above verse implies that Muhammad believed heaven must be a geographic place and that God has a physical body. Because if he had thought that Heaven is a spiritual realm, then where did the body of Jesus go? You need a physical place to accommodate a physical body. In an age that science is unraveling the mysteries of the extra terrestrial space, it would be interesting to question a Muslim, where is this physical heaven that Christ has ascended and God has set up his thrown?

One wonders why Muhammad would say such thing despite the emphasis in all four Gospels. The answer lies in the group of Nestorian Christians who populated the Damascus and Northern Arabia during time of Muhammad. These Christians thought that it would be impossible to kill the Son of God and believed that god tricked the Jews and sent someone else who looked like Jesus to be crucified, thus he saved his favorite Son. This is the source of the above verses of Quran.

By reading Quran one realizes that Muhammad knew the New Testament only through second hand stories and he never read the book himself. 

There is another mistake of Muhammad that should be really embarrassing to anyone who claims that Quran is a revealed book. And that is about confusing Marry the Mother of Christ with Miriam the Sister of Aaron and Moses. These two were born about 1400 years apart from each other. See what Quran says.

At length she brought (the babe) to her people, carrying him (in her arms), They said: "O Mary! Truly a strange thing has thou brought! "O sister of Aaron, thy father was not a man of evil, nor your mother a woman unchaste!"  Q. 19:27-28

 
And Mary, the daughter of `Imran, ... -- Q. 66:12

 
In Quran one finds a lot of mistakes of this sort that shows Muhammad had very little knowledge of the reality of this world as well as of other religious books that he claimed are God's revelations. For a detailed study of the mistakes in Quran visit this site, and see for yourself if really Quran is a miracle!
http://www.answering-islam.org/Quran/Contra/