Jesus(pbuh): Dead or Alive?
By: Nadeem Quraishi
The author of this page is NOT a Qadiani
This is not a Qadiani propaganda
 

Natural Death of Jesus(pbuh) | What Happened to Jesus(pbuh) After The Incidence of Crucifixion? | Is Jesus(pbuh) Alive? | Proof of Death of Jesus(pbuh) | Yet Another Proof | Did Allah Say Jesus(pbuh) Will Come Down? | Are You Contradicting? | The Great Dilemma |Conflicting Hadith | Interpretation of Verse 4:159|

The accepted  faith of most of the  Muslims is that  Jesus(pbuh) is alive in the Heaven.  According to them  Jews wanted to kill him on the cross and Allah raised him alive in the Heaven.

If you are one of the Muslims who believe in the faith mentioned  above, you need to read along the rest of the discussion.

May I ask you: 'do you have evidence from the Quran to support your conviction that Jesus(pbuh) is alive and that he was raised alive?'  Most probably you don’t have evidence.  You simply relied on an accepted opinion of the majority Muslims.  Quite a few of you will come up with evidence(s) and that makes the entire discussion so much interesting.

I am trying to show you plenty of  evidences from the Quran to prove that Jesus(pbuh) is not alive --  he is dead and that he was not raised alive in the Heaven.  Unfortunately this may sound so much like a Qadiani propaganda.  However, it is not a Qadiani propaganda and the author of this text is not a Qadiani.  It is true that it was the Qadianis who for the first time proclaimed that Jesus(pbuh) is not alive in the Heaven, rather  he died a natural death.   Because originally it was a Qadiani thought,  believing in this judgment seems like you are believing everything that the Qadianis proclaim.  Then you fall prey to the curse that you are no more a true Muslim!   So you play safe and reject any and all opinions propounded by the Qadianis.

Since the content of this discussion is vast, I recommend you save the file in a disk, or have a copy printed at this time. A hard copy will be more convenient in analyzing the issues and establishing your points for and against the debate.

I will show you how it is possible for traditional Muslims like you and I to believe in his death yet not be a Qadiani or Ahmadiya.   I urge the readers to have an open mind and read through the critique. 

For ease of argument, before I unfold my points, I want to declare the following:
That I believe there is no God but Allah, and Muhammad(pbuh) is His Rasul.
That I believe Muhammad(pbuh) is the Last and the Final Nabi. No Nabi can come after him.  Period.

In reaching my conclusion I laid down few cardinal rules to follow.  Let me see if you can follow the same rules with me:

I believe in Total Quran –  its entire message and teaching.
I believe no verse in the Quran contradicts each other and there is no abrogation of verse(s). My understanding of the Quran will not attempt to contradict its message and teaching.
I will not twist the meaning of verse(s) to reach a conclusion.  Wherever possible, I will analyze and critique both  schools of thoughts and show various possibilities of the subject.

 
We Muslims believe various matter mentioned in the Bible.  We came to know of Adam, Jesus, Noah, Joseph, Moses and so many other prophets from the Bible. We believe in them because we find their reference in the Holy Quran.   Believing in any of these prophets do not necessarily make us Christians.  We came to know about creation of Adam from the Bible. We believe in it because we find similar reference in the Holy Quran also. Believing in creation of Adam did not make us Christian.  Similarly, it may appear that only Qadianis believe that Jesus(pbuh) is dead. If we find proof of his death from the Holy Quran, we must believe it.  Believing in Jesus’(pbuh) death would not make us Qadiani just as believing in creation of Adam did not make us Christian.

Another argument for not believing in death of Jesus(pbuh) is that most Muslims all over the world believe that he is alive in Heaven. Can they be wrong? Just because an opinion is widely accepted by the mass does not validate its authenticity.  Billions of Christians believe Jesus is Son of God, so the concept must be correct, right? Wrong. Billions of Hindus and Buddhist believe in their respective religion to be correct, that does not make their religion correct or perfect.  Again we know Hindus and Buddhist are wrong. Thus if a notion is upheld by popular opinion, such notion need not become absolute truth.

 

 
Natural Death of Jesus(pbuh)

Muslims all over the world uphold the Christian faith that Jesus(pbuh) is alive.  The whole foundation of the Christian faith is rested on this concept and most Muslims overtly support their viewpoint.  Somehow the Christian concept has infiltrated in Muslim faith long ago and now it seems it is part and parcel of Islamic concept.

Muslims take the help of two sites from the  Holy Quran to obtain support for their viewpoint. The verses are 3:54 from Surah Al-e Imran  and 4:157-158 from Surah An-Nisa’. We will give you correct translation of the verses, word for word,  so that you can get the point.  It is a sad that many Muslims  blame the correct translation to be false and cite incorrect translations as authentic.  We will show you several examples of correct and incorrect translations so that  any sensible person can find out the true picture.
 
Analysis of the verse 3:54 from Surah Ale Imran
In the verse  3:54 Allah says:
 
3:54 Behold! Allah Said: "O Isa! I shall cause you to die  and I shall exalt you towards me and I shall  clear you of those who reject Faith, and I am going to make  those who follow you above those who reject Faith - until the day of Awakening. Then towards Me is your return, so that I shall decide among you as to in which you used to differ.

They key words here are :  Ya Isa, inni mutawaffika wa rafi’uka  ilaiya
Meaning:  "O Isa! I shall cause you to die and I shall exalt you towards me….."

 

 Interpretation of the word ‘wafat’:

The key word here is "wafat" . The most correct meaning of "wafat" is death, or take away soul.  If soul is taken away from a person, it is nothing but death.  The problem arises with regards to  this verse, when Muslims refuse to interpret the meaning of "wafat" as death.  Irony is that  all scholars  who translated the Holy Quran do agree "wafat" means death.   Each and every scholar translated the word "wafat" as  death in at least 20 different instances in their translations.  However,  in this particular verse, they interpreted the meaning as ‘take away’ and insinuate physical ascension.   These translators  did not hesitate to twist the actual meaning of the word of Allah to support  Christian faith and to some extent weak Hadith narrated by Wahab bin Munnabba,  Kab Akbar and one isolated Hadith by Abu Hurairaa.

While the Quran is the word of Allah, Hadith is word of a person. Hadith is not the words of Allah.   A person can err, Allah can not err.  That is why we often refer to some Hadith as  Sahih Hadith - i.e. True Hadith. Because some Hadith may not be true.  We don’t say the same thing about the Quran that some of its verses are Sahih verse and some are doubtful!  This fact itself indicates that a few Hadith are not absolutely correct.  Hadith is the sayings of prophet Muhammad(pbuh), but the prophet himself did not write down the Hadith.  Several generation after the death of the prophet,  Hadith was compiled by scholars.  In this process hundreds of Hadith were rejected as they appeared to be false. In the end when the scholars agreed that a particular Hadith is correct, it was compiled into a book.

In spite of this we consider some Hadith to be true and some as weak. Some Muslims even say that for one correct Hadith there are thousands of false Hadith.  This boils down to the fact that there are few Hadith that are not true.  Fact remains that Hadith is a collection of words of a person, by persons. Please don't misunderstand, I am not saying reject all Hadith.

My contention is that the position of the Quran is superior to Hadith.  Whenever a Hadith comes to contradict a Quranic verse, the Quran must prevail, not the Hadith.  But to most Muslims, the argument is Hadith has to be correct no matter what, because so many scholars unanimously certified that those are Sahih or True!!! So to ratify a Hadith, let the Quran become wrong or let one verse of the Quran contradict another verse, who cares?  Let Allah’s word be confusing and contradictory, a Muslim is happy because to him Hadith is absolute!!!  What a shame!

In the verse 3:54, two conditions are stipulated about Jesus(pbuh):

first,

Allah will cause his Death,

second,

he will be raised.

The second condition can not take place till the first condition is met.  In other words, before Jesus(pbuh) can be raised, first, he must die.  Let us see various translations of the same verse.

Correct translation : "O Isa! I shall cause you to die and I shall exalt you towards me…"

Yusuf Ali : "O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself…"
Pickthall : "O Jesus! Lo! I am gathering thee and causing thee to ascend unto Me..."
Rashad Khalifa : "O Jesus! I am terminating your life,  raising you to Me….."
Mohammad Sarwar : He told Jesus,  "I will save you from your enemies, raise you to Myself..."
M. H. Shakir : "O Isa! I am going to terminate the period of your stay (on earth) and cause you to ascend unto Me"
Al-Hilali & M. Khan "O 'Iesa (Jesus)!  I will take you and raise you to Myself…."
Farooq-i-Azam Malik: "O Isa (Jesus)! I am going to recall you (from your mission) and raise you up to Myself...."
Ahmed Ali: "O Jesus! I will take you to Myself and exalt you….."


Critique: (****Most Correct, *** Fairly Correct.  **Incorrect,  *Grossly incorrect)
 
Yusuf Ali: "take thee" is not the appropriate meaning of "wafat".  ‘Take thee’ may mean death in a literal sense, but looks like Yusuf Ali avoided the debate whether it was death or physical rising. Thus he left the issue with plenty of conjecture.  Elsewhere, wherever the word "wafat" was used in the Holy Quran, Yusuf Ali translated the word as "take soul"  "die" or "death". But in this case he is in utter confusion.  Rating ***

Pickthall: "Lo!"  is an extra word interpolated in the Quran.  "I am gathering" is way off the closest meaning of "wafat".    Allah uses a future verb here, use of "I am" is grossly incorrect. Similarly, "causing" is a present verb and is wrong.  By using "ascend" Pickthall is insinuating a physical rising rather than  exalt in honor. Rating **

Rashad Khalifa: Use of present verb  "I am" is wrong. Similarly, "terminating" and  "rising" are present verbs and  are  wrong, however, use of terminating as meaning of death is more accurate than 'collect' or 'recall'. Rating ***

Mohammad Sarwar: He left out  the word "O Jesus" in the translation. Here Allah addressed Jesus(pbuh) by name. To translate the word as Allah told Jesus is inappropriate.  "Save you from the enemies"  is extra word interpolated in the Quran!  Sarwar totally omitted  the word "warafiuka" in his translation, instead interpolated his own thoughts in the translation. Rating * or worse.

M.H. Shakir: "terminate the period of your stay (on earth)" is verbose.  This could very well mean death, but when he added ‘on earth’ in parenthesis, his intention is obvious.  He is not referring to death. Rather, Shakir  is clearly referring to Jesus’(pbuh) tenure on the earth is over and now he is spending the rest of his life in the outside of the earth. Rating **

Al-Hilali & M. Khan: Translation is identical to that of Yusuf Ali.  "take you" is not the appropriate meaning of "wafat".  ‘Take you’ may mean death in a literary sense, but looks like Hilali & Khan  avoided the debate whether it was death or physical rising. Thus he left the issue with plenty of conjecture. Elsewhere, wherever the word "wafat" was used in the Holy Quran, they translated the word as "die" or "death".  Rating ***

Farooq Malik: Strong denial to use 'death' as the meaning - instead there is obvious suggestion that Jesus's mission is temporarily stopped, to be resumed in future! Far too many unwarranted words to justify his conditioned faith learned during childhood or in heresy. Use of 'recall from your mission' is nothing but clear suggestion that death did not occur. Rating *

Ahmed Ali: Utter confusion and awkward denial to use the word 'death'. Ali admits that Jesus will be exalted in status, but confused about what happened prior to exaltation. First Jesus will be taken to Allah and then exalted. Ali failed miserably in translating the sentence as presented by Allah. Rating *

From this analysis we  can see how these scholars have changed the words of Allah according to their own will and to support what they learned during their childhood and now they are conditioned to think that way. Some have mistaken the correct use of verbs(Pickthall, Khalifa).  Some have omitted key words  and interpolated fabricated  words (Pickthall, Sarwar, Malik)   and passed it over as Allah’s word! To derive a remote synonym for a word is one thing (Yusuf Ali, Shakir, Al-Hilali & M. Khan. Malik) but to fabricate additional words and omit key words are gross act of negligence and corruption.

The most correct meaning of the word "wafat"  is death.  Wherever in the Holy Quran the word "wafat" is used, all these translators derived the meaning as death, except in this verse 3:54, where  they don’t see "wafat"  as death!!!!  What is the problem here? Why are they contradicting the meaning of 'wafat'? What stops them from translating the words of Allah in its true context?  They are seeing imaginary words only to support heresy they learned during their childhood.

Here are some of the verses in the Holy Quran where Allah used the word "wafat".  The verses are 2:234, 2:240, 3:193, 4:15, 4:97, 6:61, 7:37, 7:126, 8:50, 10:46, 10:104, 12:101, 13:40, 16:28, 16:32, 16:70, 39:42, 40:67, 40:77, 47:27 etc.  In  each of the instances, all these scholars translated the word "wafat" as death, or a word very close to death but none of them used a word to mean take away in alive condition.  Let us examine some of the verses and see how these translators derived the meaning of "wafat"  in these instances.

Verse 3:193
Yusuf Ali: "…and take to Thyself our souls in the company of the righteous"
Pickthall: "…and make us die the death of the righteous."
Khalifa: "…..let us die as righteous believers"
Sarwar: "…let us die with the righteous ones."
Shakir: "….and make us die with the righteous."
Hilali & Khan: "……and make us die in the state of righteousness…."
Farooq Malik: "…And make us die with the righteous."
Ahmed Ali: "…And grant us (the glory of) death with the just."

Verse 4:15
Yusuf Ali: "…until death to claim them…."
Pickthall: "…until death take them…."
Khalifa: "…until they die,…"
Sarwar: "…until they die…"
Shakir: "….until death takes them away…"
Hilali & Khan: "…until death comes to them…"
Farooq Malik: "…until they die..."
Ahmed Ali: "…until death ..."

Verse 7:126
Yusuf Ali: "…and take our soul unto thee as Muslims!"
Pickthall: "…and make us die as men who have surrendered."
Khalifa: "…And let us die as submitters."
Sarwar: "…let us die Muslims (submitted to God)."
Shakir: "…and cause us to die in submission."
Hilali & Khan: "…And cause us to die as Muslims."
Farooq Malik: "…And cause us to die as Muslims."
Ahmed Ali: "….that we may die submitting (to You)."

Verse 10:46
Yusuf Ali: "…or We take thy soul…"
Pickthall: "…cause thee to die,…"
Khalifa: "…or terminate your life…."
Sarwar: "…or you die…"
Shakir: "….or cause you to die…."
Hilali & Khan: "…. - or We cause you to die,- ….
Farooq Malik: "…Or cause you to die…."
Ahmed Ali: "…or take you to Ourself,..."

Verse 12:101
 Yusuf Ali: "…take Thou my soul (at death) as one submitting…"
Pickthall: "… Make me to die muslim (unto Thee), …"
Khalifa: "…Let me die as submitter…"
Sarwar: "…cause me to die as a Muslim…"
Shakir: "…make me die a Muslim…."
Hilali & Khan: "…cause me to die as a Muslim…"
Farooq Malik: "… make me die as a Muslim …"
Ahmed Ali: "…let me die submitting to You."

You many go ahead and verify the translations of all other verses. If you do so, you will start discovering an emerging corruption (pardon me) by all the scholars. They misguided you by not translating a word correctly.  Given all these facts, may we conclude that Jesus(pbuh) must die first before he can be raised?

Some Muslims say that ‘wafat’ here means death of Jesus(pbuh) after his descent from the Heavens in the later years. Good thing is that these Muslims do agree that 'wafat' means death!   Please note, the verse here clearly denotes his relationship  with his own people and not with any other people of the later days.  The people  of the later days would admittedly be followers of Muhammad(pbuh) and not of Jesus(pbuh). [Also see: Did Allah Say Jesus(pbuh) will Come Down?]

 
Interpretation of the word "rafa" – to raise/to exalt:

In the same verse 3:54 use of two words "wafat" and "rafa" may have led you to a double jeopardy. On top of that you are under constant influence of Christian doctrine.  As a result you simply believe that Jesus(pbuh) did not die and instead was raised alive in heaven.  In doing so, you are actually believing the Christian faith and failing to see the true teaching of the Quran.  Not only that, now you are making one verse of the Quran contradict another.

The meaning of the word is  ‘to raise’, ‘to exalt’.  In  order to validate the Christian faith,  first, you refuse to  see ‘wafat’ as death, and then  interpret ‘rafa’ as physical ascension.  When these two incorrect interpretations are combined, you find that Jesus(pbuh) was raised to the heaven.

Let us examine the use of the word ‘rafa’ in the Quran. The word ‘rafa’ occurred many times in the Quran conveying a meaning of spiritual honor and exaltation.  Please note carefully what Allah says in the verse. He is saying that Jesus(pbuh) will be raised towards Him  and not towards Heaven.  So the question of  Jesus(pbuh) being alive in the Heaven can not arise, because he was not raised in the Heaven.   In the literal context even if we think that he was raised bodily  near Allah,  question comes, where is Allah? Is He ensconced  somewhere in the sky, in Heaven or in a throne like a king?  Didn’t Allah say that He is omnipresent – in other words, He is present everywhere? Would you say that Allah is confined in a  physical body towards which He raised Jesus(pbuh)?  Please answer, how can Jesus(pbuh) be raised to sky or Heaven when Allah said he will be raised towards Him.  And that Allah is present everywhere (2:115); Allah is nearer to man than his heart (8:24); Allah is nearer to man than his jugular vein (50:16).

If that be true, then Jesus(pbuh) could not have been raised physically and bodily in to the sky.  If really he was needed to be raised bodily towards Allah, then he could very well stay in Jerusalem, yet be near Allah - because Allah is present everywhere and in Jerusalem too.

This drives home the true meaning of the word ‘rafa’ – exalt in honor and/or exalt in spiritual dignity.  This verse tells us that while the Jews were planning to kill him, (he will not be killed, rather) Allah will cause him to die a natural death  and sanctify him against the charges of the enemies.  Once again, please notice the sentence: Ya Isa, inni mutawaffika WA rafi’uka  ilaiya… that is ‘rafa’ will take place only after the ‘wafat’.   ‘Rafa’ after death can not mean physical ascension, but only exaltation in rank.  This is more implied when the words ‘I shall clear you of those who reject Faith’ are present with it.  This shows that while Jews plotted heinous crime against him, and brought him utter disgrace and condemned him as a cheat and planned to put him to a shameful death on the cross etc. Allah will instead save him and exalt him in honor and dignity.

Since the use of the word 'rafa' raised Jesus(pbuh) alive, the use of the same word in case of other prophets must do the same thing!  Ask yourself,  if you know of any other prophet who was raised alive in the Heaven?  None? What about Prophet Idris(pbuh)?  Regarding Idris(pbuh) Allah says in Surah Maryam  19:57 as: And We raised him to an elevated state. (WA rafa’naa hu…).  The use of ‘rafa’ here should  prompt you to declare that Allah raised Idris(pbuh) in alive condition in the Heaven or at least to a place hanging high above. If we apply the same logic, in case of Jesus(pbuh), use of the word 'rafa' kept him alive for 2000 years; therefore the same use of the word 'rafa' in case of Idris(pbuh) must keep him alive for 2000 years or so.  The problem now is about these two alive people in the Heaven – Jesus(pbuh) and Idris(pbuh).   The Muslims already made stories and speculations that Jesus(pbuh) will descend from the Heaven in the later days, but what about Idris(pbuh)?  Has Idris(pbuh) come down already or when is he going to descend or is he going to stay there perpetually?

The word ‘rafa’ was used in different places in the Quran to mean spiritual honor and exaltation. Let us see some of the examples:

Great Prophets like Muhammad(pbuh) are exalted.
43:32     …And We have raised some of them above others in rank. (…WA rafa’ na…)
94:4     And We have exalted for you your mention   (…WA rafa’ NA…)

Prophet Ibrahim(pbuh) has been exalted by Allah.
6:84     ….We exalt in degrees whom We please   (…narfa’u darazaa…)

Prophet Idris(pbuh) has been exalted by Allah.
19:57     And We raised him to an elevated state.   (WA rafa’naa hu…)

Righteous servants of Allah are raised in degrees.
6:166    …and He raises some of you above the others in degrees….  (…WA rafa’ aa
            ba’dakum…)
7:176    And had We wished We would invariably exalted him; …. (…rafa’naa hu….)
56:3     It will abase it will exalt     (…rafi’aah…)

All good deeds are raised towards Allah.
35:10     …all pure speech and all good deed, --He exalts it….  (…yarfa’uhu. …)

House of pious Muslims are raised high by Allah.
24:36     in (certain) houses which Allah has permitted to be raised up… (…an turfa’a WA yuzkara…)
 
From this discussion we see that no where the use of ‘rafa’ meant physical ascension.  However, in 3:54 verse,  you would interpret physical ascension just to validate the Christian faith.  Whereas,  if we honestly translate the word 'wafat' as death, then 'rafa' after death cannot mean physical ascension, rather exaltation in honor.

The  tendency of Muslims is to destroy the teaching of the Quran only to  validate the Christian dogma.  Believe it or not, many Muslims  approach the Quran like hypocrites –  believe part of it and reject part of it.  Muslims don’t want to believe in  the total Quran.    When this is pointed out to you, your defensive answers are:

I faced similar dilemma when I was approaching the truth.  Eventually I was able to reconcile  the verses of the Quran and not make one verse contradict another.  I was able to come out of the influence of Christian faith in Islam and find out the true meanings.  At this time I don’t care what Qadianis say.  My identity is Muslim, my religion is Islam and I believe what Allah and Rasul say.

My aim is not to blame you for believing in certain way.  My aim is to show you that you have been kept in darkness, away from the truth. Unlike others, I am not jumping into conclusions by force,  rather I am trying to show you the true picture, and leaving the decision to yourself.  With this let us revisit two verses from Surah Ale Imran, 3:53-54.

3:53 And they made plots  and Allah made His plans. And Allah is the most Excellent of the plan-makers.
3:54 Behold! Allah said: ‘O Isa! I shall cause you to die and I shall exalt you towards me and I shall clear you of those who reject Faith, and I am going to make those who follow you above those who reject Faith - until the day of  Awakening. Then towards me is your return so that I shall decide among you as to that in which you used to differ.

In case of each prophets, Allah made  plans against plots made by oppressors.  This is the practice of Allah to protect His messengers at the time of aggression of enemies.  Allah protected Musa, Ibrahim, Yusuf, Lut, Muhammad (pbu them) to name a few.  In case of Jesus(pbuh) snatching him away from the enemies and lifting him alive in the Heaven can not be called a subtle and better plan of Allah when neither was it in the power of Jews  nor in the power of anybody to counter it.  In fact a better and subtle plan can be  designed against another plan when it is contrived in a parallel manner.
 
 
Analysis of the verses 4:157-158 from Surah An-Nisa’

Verse 4:157-158 from Surah An-Nisa' are the other two verses often analyzed to prove that Jesus(pbuh) did not die.  Let us examine to see if the contention is valid one or a corrupt analysis.
In the verse 4:157-158, Allah says:
 
4:157 And (because of) their saying: "Surely we have killed the Masih, - ‘Isa, son of Mar-yam" the Rasul of Allah, and they could not murder him, nor could they kill him by crucifixion, but he was made to resemble to them. And verily those who differ regarding him are certainly in a doubt about him. They have no knowledge about it but are merely following a guess; and they could not kill him for certain;
4:158 On the contrary, Allah exalted him towards Himself.  And Allah is Exalted in Power, most Wise.

 …WA ma qataluhu yaqinan (157). Bal rafa’ahu-llahu ilaihi …..(158)
 
The Jews always claimed that they killed the Masih,  the son of Maryam.  Allah is telling Muhammad(pbuh) that although they claimed that they killed the Masih, in reality they could not murder him nor could they kill him by crucifixion.   Then again, in the very same verse, Allah is telling that they could not kill him for certain.

Two types of death are being discussed here (a) a general murder  (b) killing by crucifixion.  The Jews wanted to cause either of the two types of death to Jesus(pbuh).  Allah assures us that they failed to cause either type of death to him.  The traditional Muslim faith is that since Jesus(pbuh) was not murdered or killed by crucifixion, only possibility is that he is alive somewhere!!!  Muslims  totally ignore the fact that Jesus(pbuh) could have died a natural death later on! If Jesus(pbuh) died a natural death, it is still valid that the Jews could not (a) murder him or (b) kill him by crucifixion.

 

Crucify vs. Kill by Crucifixion:

Your strongest argument is that this verse clearly tells "…. They could not murder him nor could they crucify him….". I have checked the translation of the word "swalabu" by Yusuf Ali, Pickthall, Hilali & Khan, Rodwell, Sarwar, Khalifa and Shakir. They all translated the word as "crucify" and not "kill by crucifixion." I would not say they are wrong. To understand the word 'crucify' you will have to apply your analytical mind.

The very intent of putting a person on the cross was to kill him as an evil or a wretched person. On few occasion if a person did not die on the cross, the Jews used to break his legs and hands and leave him to die. Jews would make sure that if a person was doomed for cross that person must die. Jews would not put a person on the cross and later let him walk away. So the meaning of crucifixion has an inherent sense of causing death thereby. Webster dictionary defines the word "crucify" as "to put to death by nailing or binding the hands and feet in a cross." In case of Jesus(pbuh) if the scholars translate the word as "crucify" they are not wrong. But if we interpret the meaning that he was never ever hanged on the cross,  then we are missing the entire message. If we further say that Jehova or someone else was hanged in his place, then we are really messing up everything and failing  to see the true message of the Quran.

Please look carefully at the verse. The question of "killing" is the issue. In response to the claim by the Jews that they killed Jesus(pbuh), Allah's reply is that (1) he was not killed or murdered in the normal fashion (2) he was not killed by crucifixion. This negates the possibility of Jews killing Jesus(pbuh) in any manner whatsoever, supported by the very last sentence of the same verse: "they could not kill him for certain."

Invention of a story:  
Although every attempt was done to prove that Jesus(pbuh) evaded death and was raised alive, because of verse 3:54, the Muslims could not prove conclusively that Jesus(pbuh) was raised alive.  So they took the refuge of verses 4:157-158 to justify the belief. In order to substantiate the belief, now they invented a rambling story that has no support from the Quran.  However, let us analyze the story.

According to the story,  on the eve of actual crucifixion, a different person's features became exactly like Jesus(pbuh). The Jews mistook the other person (Jehova?) as actual Jesus(pbuh)  and hanged the wrong person on the cross.  We don’t want to go into the debate of how absurd it is for person's features to get changed.  Let us give the benefit of doubt by saying that the other person's features did not change but to the Jews it appeared so. They mistook the other person to be actual Jesus(pbuh).

Regardless of whether this story is true or false, regardless of whether Jesus(pbuh) was hanged on cross or not,  fact remains that  he could not have been raised before his DEATH, as testified by verse 3:54.    If he was raised alive, then the verses 4:157-158 and 3:54 are in contradiction. The Muslim scholars will never want you find out that their preaching are contradictory and that they cannot conclusively reconcile these and several other verses.

Let me show you an extreme case of corruption.  This translation is of verse 4:157, done by Hilali & Khan and published by the Saudi Government. They have placed Arabic text by the side of the English translation. Any naïve reader would think that the translation is representing the actual Arabic wordings. A naïve reader may further think that the combination of Hilali &Khan and Saudi Government must have produced correct teaching.  On the contrary, it is incorrect and corrupt. You will be surprised to see the extent of manipulation.   Let us examine:

 
4:157 Hilali & Khan :"And because of their saying (in boast) "We killed Messiah Isa (Jesus) son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allah," -but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of Isa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that man)….

Please note carefully, Hilali & Khan translated the Arabic WA lakin subbiha lahum as "but the resemblance of Isa (Jesus) was put over another man".  In the actual Arabic where are the words "of Isa" and "another man"?  How dare Hilali & Khan put interpolated words inside the translation and surreptitiously suggest that these were "revealed text"?  Did Allah reveal  these words secretly to them,  because apparently He forgot to reveal to Muhammad(pbuh) (nauzubillah!!!!). Or do they mean that they know better than Allah?  Please note, Yusuf Ali, Pickthall, Shakir, Rodwell, and many others did not go this extreme.

Only adamant and utterly corrupt people, including Hilali & Khan may keep arguing that the translation is OK. Do I have to dig out the their eyes to show that "of Isa" and "another man" is not in there in the actual Arabic. They say this theory is based on some Hadith or Islamic consensus or something!  Well, then put those interpolated and false words inside parenthesis, will you?   Put all the babble and fraudulent stories as commentary in the footnote and not as translation. Don’t fool the Muslims with this notion that all the junk and  fabricated words are "revealed text". Suffice it say at this time that Hilali & Khan's this translation is corrupt, false and adulterated. This is just one example of how they are cheating Muslims, and naïve Muslims are digesting the falsehood.

 

If we leave aside the stories and concentrate on understanding the verse we will see a different perspective.  In the verse 4:157 please notice carefully,  WA lakin subbiha lahum   means "He was made to resemble to them" or "it was made to resemble to them" or "a likeness of that was made for them"  or "a similitude was made for them"  -- not "someone was made to resemble him".  In the sentences, "it"  or "that"  refers to the incident and not a person.  So Jehova resembling Jesus(pbuh) can not arise. It was Jesus(pbuh) who was made to "resemble" to them. Resemble to the very issue in question here: likeness or similitude of death. The issue is not Jesus(pbuh) resembling a different person or a different person resembling Jesus(pbuh). Jesus(pbuh) was set up on the cross and he was made (by Allah) to resemble to them (as if he really died) by sending him to a comatose or fainted state.

The Jews took a fainted or comatose Jesus(pbuh) as dead. "Verily those who differ regarding him are certainly in a doubt about him." The word "differ" here refers to the those people who, at that time and later on refuse the clarification given by Allah that "…. They could not murder him nor could they crucify him….". It is also possible that they would differ with their original contention that "Surely we have killed the Masih - 'Isa son of Maryam". Question remains, why should there be confusion if they really, positively and absolutely killed Jesus(pbuh) by crucifixion? Remains of his body should have been somewhere in Jerusalem to prove their contention. However, based on the clarification given by Allah, based on the fact that he lived till he had gray hairs (3:45, 5:40 - discussed next), based on various happenings after the incidence of crucifixion and in absence of any proof of his tomb in Jerusalem, they were in doubt whether these people really killed Jesus(pbuh) or not. This confusion among "those" people came up because after the incidence of crucifixion, they may have heard about Jesus(pbuh) talking, walking and mixing with his disciples (openly or secretly).

If they really killed Jehova taking him to be Jesus(pbuh), then his mortal remains or tomb should have been somewhere in Jerusalem. This tomb should have come to be recognized as the tomb of Jesus(pbuh). In reality there is no tomb in Jerusalem that was ever identified or can be identified (correctly or otherwise) as the tomb of Jesus(pbuh).

In Summary: The confusion arises because Allah said "…they did not crucify him.."  What is important to understand is  the word  means ‘to kill by crucifixion’.   The reason  Jews  put a person on the cross is  to kill him according to their custom.  They would not put a person on the cross and later  let him go away. So, the word  "crucify" has an inherent meaning of  killing by crucifixion.  Killing by crucifixion was their intent, and with this intent  they did put him on the cross,  however, they failed to kill him.

Please read an interesting site about substitution theory: Was Jesus Substituted on the Cross?

 

Many Muslims say verse 4:159 indicates Jesus(pbuh) will come back. If you think so, please read an interpretation of the verse 4:159: Interpretation of Verse 4:159.

 

What Happened to Jesus(pbuh) After
The Incidence of Crucifixion?

Evidences from the Bible and other authentic history tells us that Jesus(pbuh) was tried on the cross  when he was 32 years old. For the sake of debate, if Allah did not raise him alive and if he did not die on the cross, what happened to him thereafter?  Are there any evidence from the Quran?  Trust me, there are evidences.

In Surah Ale Imran, Allah says:
3:45 And he will speak to the people in the cradle and then of gray-haired age and (he will be) one of the righteous
5:110 ... you speak to the people in the cradle and in old age.....
23:50 ... We sheltered them in a plateau having meadows and springs.
 

 
Various commentators of the Quran do agree about the use of words 'gray-haired age' and 'old age'.  However, they contend that old age refers to the time when he will descend from the sky.  As we  can see from this discussion,  Jesus(pbuh) was not raised alive in the Heaven and he is dead.  This gray hair age must have happened while he was still living during his time, some 2000 years ago.  Then Allah also tells us that Jesus(pbuh) was later on sheltered in a place full of meadows and springs. These verses supports other verses and  we can further ascertain that Jesus(pbuh) survived the incidence of crucifixion and lived up to old age.

 

Is Jesus(pbuh) Alive?

All traditional Muslims join the Christians and declare that Jesus(pbuh) is alive in Heaven. Muslims say that Allah raised Jesus alive and placed him beside Himself.  If that is true, then today, his age is nearly 2,000 years!!! How is it possible for a man to live that long ? A Muslim will say, why not, if Allah wishes, He can do anything. No doubt about it, yes, Allah is the Almighty, and He has the capability to do anything.  But the question is will Allah do this? Will Allah break the rule of nature?  Will Allah break the same rule that He has set forth? Let us  investigate this issue here:

67:3 Who has created the seven  heavens in harmony. You can not see in the creation of the Rahman any inconsistency. Then turn again the gaze. Do you see any crack?
67:4 And then turn again the search once more, the eyesight will return to you  defeated, while it is fatigued.

There are several other verses where Allah says there is no change in the course of Allah, that there is uniformity in the law of nature.
 
17:77 … And you will not find any change in Our course.
30:30 … there is no altering in the creation of Allah
33:62 … and you will not find any alteration in the course of Allah.
35:43 … But you will never find any change in the course of Allah and you will never find any shifting in the course of Allah.
48:23  the law of Allah which has been in operation  from before, and you will never find any change in the course of Allah.

Which law of Allah has been in operation since before? Is it just the law of earth moving around the sun and movement of the planets and nothing more? What would you say about the law of birth, senescence and death?  Don’t you agree that even birth and death are laws of Allah? That flower bloom, wind blows, day and night happen, sunrise and sunset—everything is in accordance to the law of Allah.  Then Allah testifies you will never find any change in the course of Allah.  Had there been a change, don’t you think Allah would have specifically told us so?

If Jesus(pbuh) is alive in the Heaven, his age today is more than 2000 years!! How can he live that long defying rules and laws set forth by Allah?  Are we not making words of  Allah contradict when we say in case of Jesus(pbuh) Allah changed his law and made him live that long?  This brings us to the next question:  can a person live that long? Let us see what Allah has to say about it.
 
16:70 And Allah creates you, then He causes you to die; and among you someone is caused to return to the worst of the age, resulting in his not knowing anything after knowledge. Allah is truly all Knowing, most Capable.
22:5 … And of you is one who is caused to die, and among you is one who is turned back to the worst part of  life  until he does not know anything after having
known...
36:68 And  whomsoever We lengthen  life, We reverse him in constitution

These verses tell us that whoever lives too long, Allah returns them as crippled and not knowing anything after knowledge. This is more like a cycle of life. Birth --> Infancy --> Childhood --> Adulthood --> Old age. At very old age, a person reverts to a state much like infancy, depending on assistance for almost every daily routine: eating, bath, walking, toilet etc. As if Allah reverts the person in constitution (36:68) and makes him another infant.  Like an infant, at this time he does not remember things and has no knowledge of events around him.

In this context,  if Jesus(pbuh) is  allowed to live that long, by now he is so crippled and in the worst part of life that there is no use of him to come back and do anything for Islam.  In fact he cannot do anything worthwhile at that age.

 
 
Did Allah Say Jesus(pbuh) Will Come Down?
Based on two different verses you believe Jesus(pbuh) was raised bodily in Heaven. If that is so, he has to come down one day. At least you believe he will come down one day.  Please show me just one verse where Allah said He will send him back. The verse should be at least as clear and precise as the those where Allah said Jesus(pbuh) will be raised. If you find one, please e-mail me back. If you think verse 4:159 is THE verse about his Second Coming, please read the following site by the same author: Interpretation of Verse 4:159 .

There is absolutely no verse in the entire Quran where directly or indirectly Allah said anything about Jesus(pbuh) coming back later days. Since Allah did not say anything about Jesus(pbuh) coming back, where and how did you come up with the story?

Your contention is that Allah specifically said Jesus(pbuh) was raised alive in the Heaven! My argument is in that case Allah must specifically tell us when and where Jesus(pbuh) will come down. Allah can not just leave the matter unanswered. It is a serious matter. Allah can not leave such an important and serious matter to be answered outside of the Quran by a Hadith or Christian commentary or an Islamic Fatwa.

Brothers of Islam, please note here that in the Quran Allah has spent plenty of time and space to narrate about Jesus(pbuh), his birth, his mother Maryam, his childhood, his bringing up, his death and so on. In case of few other prophets Allah has given so much details. And then do you think Allah just forgot to mention about his coming back, especially keeping him alive for more than 2000 years?
 

 

 Are you Contradicting?

Briefly speaking, let us find out who is contradicting. If you say Jesus(pbuh) did not die, then you must admit the Quran is full of contradiction. Whereas Allah clearly told us there is no discrepancy between different verses:

Facts from the Quran  
If you believe Jesus(pbuh) is alive, then  
All Rasuls before Muhammad(pbuh) passed away (3:143) This is a serious contradiction
Meaning of the word ‘wafat’ is death in  more than 20 different verses in the Quran Use of the word ‘wafat’ in 3:54 and 5:117  are serious exceptions and contradictory.
Christians would regard Jesus(pbuh) and his mother as God ONLY after his death (wafat) (5:116) The verse is contradictory since the Christians have been considering Jesus(pbuh) and his mother as god for a long time.
Laws of Allah has been in operation from before (48:23) He has defied the law and put the verse in contradiction
You will not find any alteration in the course of Allah (33:62) This is a serious alteration in the course of Allah. A man is alive for over 2000 years. The verse is contradictory.
Several verses say there is no inconsistency in the law of nature and law of Allah (67:3-4; 17:77; 30:30; 33:62; 35:43;  48:23) All these verses are in serious contradiction - for no man can live that long!!
Allah will first cause Jesus'(pbuh) death and then raise him (3:54) How did he get raised before his death? This is a serious contradiction. 
Whomsoever Allah grants long life - He reverts them to worst age and the person forgets all the knowledge (16:70) By now Jesus(pbuh) has no knowledge of anything at all. How can he come back and do any good for Islam?
All Rasuls before Muhammad(pbuh) are no more abiding - or alive (21:8) This verse is in serious contradiction.
Mortal bodies of all Rasuls sustained on food (21:8). Somebody must tell who is providing food for Jesus(pbuh)
Whomsoever Allah grants long life, He reverts them in constitution (36:68) Jesus(pbuh) must have been reverted in constitution - he is fragile, crippled - dependent on others like an infant.
There is no inconsistency in the creation of Allah. The more we search for inconsistency, the more the eye will come back fatigued, but we won't find any inconsistency (67:3-4) This itself is the biggest inconsistency in the creation of Allah. A man is living for 2000 years!! The eyes are not fatigued yet, but we seem to have found utter incoherence in Allah's words!!!
 
It is up to you to summarily reject the arguments because it appears like a Qadiani or Ahmadiya debate. Once again I am reminding you, you don’t have to become a Qadiani or Ahmadiya to believe in the total Quran. In order to reject the Qadianis or Ahmadiyas, you are trying to burn your own house. For one brief moment, can you leave the Qadianis alone and think over the whole message.  How come the way you understand the Quran cannot justify two verses, how come they way you understand the Quran is full of contradiction, how come the Quran is full of so many mismatch?

Once again, I will request you, go back to the content of the table above, and first justify each of the verse.
 
 

The Great Dilemma

I know in spite of all the discussion, it is extremely difficult for you  to come out and accept the truth.  Deep inside something is prohibiting you from accepting the logical discussion.  Many of you will say  all these are wrong interpretation.  Your mind will prompt you to say these are falsification of the teaching of the Quran. Please read again and tell me which part is false, where did I misguide you, where is the forgery. There is no forgery.

That is why I requested you to have a hard copy of the page handy so that you can go back again and again to check each analysis. There are other sites mentioned at the bottom of the screen, please read those topics too.

Please think about it:  If you do not believe that Jesus(pbuh) is dead, then you must come up with concrete evidences from the Quran and only from the Quran.  You must conclusively reconcile all the verses that I mentioned in my discussion.   Please don’t say such and such scholar told that he is alive!!!! Please don’t say such and such book  clearly tells that he is alive!!!!  Please don’t say such and such Fatwa testifies that Jesus(pbuh) is alive!!!!  To validate the words of these scholars, are you going to shatter the words of Allah?   Please don’t give greater value to a man-made book over that of divine scripture.

Please have courage to accept the truth.  It has nothing to do with Qadianism.  You are not converting in to Qadiani faith.  This is not a Qadiani propaganda.

Last of all,  what about the prophecy that Jesus(pbuh) will come back to the earth in the later days and revive Islam?  After the above discussion, we can conclude that a dead person can not come back no matter what. This is against the principle of Islam. The Original Jesus(pbuh) - the prophet can not and will not come back in the later days. Period. However, in fulfillment of various prophecies, it is possible for another person to come Jesus's spirit and do something for Islam.  This is outside the scope of current debate.

Conflicting Hadith:
Many readers responded back with several Hadith narrating Jesus(pbuh) will come back and do something.  The readers are unable to discard those Hadith or justify their validity.
If we take the literal meaning then these Hadith  fails to satisfy the common sense.  However, most of these Hadith may be interpreted in allegorical sense and not in their literal sense.

A few absurdities are: Jesus will fight with a sword (in 21st century or later! Come on, give me a break.); Jesus will land on the Minaret (why not on the ground);  Jesus will kill  a swine and break a cross (what purpose will it serve, or does it mean one swine and one cross is standing in the way of Islam? Or will he kill all the swine in the world and break all the crosses, a formidable job indeed.); Jesus will end the jijya (where is jijya practiced today, is it in Syria? Then why not stop it before his advent, so that his mission will be easier. Does it mean he will confine his mission only to Syria? What about the fiscal policies of the rest of the countries, will he interfere with them?).
 
 The Dajjal is viewed by many as an individual.  Jesus is supposed to kill the Dajjal.  The attributes of Dajjal-the individual fail to satisfy any reasoning.  Quran is not very clear about Dajjal (Gog and Magog).  Dajjal will be faster than cloud, he will command barren land to grow vegetables, on his command milch animals will produce abundant milk,  he will occupy most peoples house,  he will command the sky and rain would fall, his followers will live in abundance etc. statements are probably NOT referring to an individual, rather a government, a superpower or may be a system.  It could very well be America.   Please recollect all the attributes of Dajjal  and see if you can find likeness with what is happening in America and what the government practices there.  Many scholars indicated similar notion. They think Dajjal would not be a singular individual, rather a superpower government or country.   I leave this debate up to you.

The purpose of the website is not to discuss the Dajjal rather drive home this point that Jesus(pbuh) is dead.
 

Jazakumullahu Khayran

We encourage you to read several other interesting sites:

Interpretaion of Verse 4:159
Birth of Jesus: An Islamic Interpretation
25 Discrepancies in the Quran?
Was Jesus substituted on the cross?
Scholars say death of Jesus "reasonable and valid"

Was Miraj (Ascension of Muhammad{pbuh}) Physical or Spiritual?
Did Ibrahim break the idols and lie about it?
www.muslim.org/islam/intro.htm
www.uskam.com/ilm/jesus.htm
www.beconvinced.com/RELIGION/JESUS.htm
 
 

All comments to nadeem_quraishi@hotmail.com

First hosted: May 22, 1999
 Last Modified: June 5, 2000

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