The claim
Islam simply borrowed the idea of resurrection from earlier religions, so it isn’t a real revelation.
The kernel of concern
It is true that belief in an afterlife is not unique to Islam — it is shared with Judaism, Christianity, and other traditions, and predates the Qurʾān. Acknowledging that shared ground is fair and important.
What the verse actually says
The Qurʾān never presents the Resurrection as an idea it invented. Surah An-Naba calls it “the great news” the people already disputed (78:1–3), and elsewhere the Qurʾān explicitly affirms that it confirms the revelation given to earlier prophets (e.g. 2:285, 5:48). On the Qurʾān’s own terms, shared content is expected — the same message renewed, not copied.
The honest position
Shared belief in resurrection is consistent with the Qurʾān’s claim to confirm earlier revelation, not evidence against it. The relevant question is not whether the idea existed before, but whether the Qurʾān’s case for it — the argument from creation it builds across this sūrah — is sound. “Borrowing” is the wrong frame for a message that presents itself as the same truth, restored.
Strongest counter-arguments
A skeptic may respond that “confirming earlier revelation” is just a convenient way to absorb existing ideas. The Qurʾān’s reply is argumentative rather than merely assertive: across An-Naba it reasons from observable order in creation to the power and purpose behind it, inviting the reader to weigh the case on its merits rather than on its novelty.