بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
As I’ve proven repeatedly on my blog, the Holy Qur’an explicitly and
unequivocally teaches that Prophet and Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth عليه السلام is dead. Those who oppose this
idea have nothing explicit and unambiguous from the Qur’an or even the Sunna
that states that Jesus did not die but is still alive. Instead, they bring some
Verses of the Holy Qur’an through which they claim there is implicit and
suggestive evidence for the idea that Jesus did not die but is still alive. In
this entry I will examine some of those Verses. In the previous entry I
discussed the two Verses regarded the Rafa or ascension of Jesus of
Nazareth, and argued they are referring to a spiritual ascension and not a
bodily raising to the Heavens. Those who insist, however, that the Verses of
Rafa (3:55; 4:158) prove that Jesus was raised to the Heavens alive in his
earthly body conveniently ignore the fact that those Verses omit any mention of
“heavens” or “sky”, instead they say that Allah raised Jesus up to Himself.
Apart from the Salafis/Atharis, the majority of traditionalist Sunnis, such as
the Asharis and Maturidis, believe that Allah exists without a place, and would
otherwise find it reprehensible to believe that a human being could be
physically raised in his body up to where God Himself is. This would likewise
be the feeling of the Shi’ites. Yet all of these Muslims consider the Verses of
Rafa (3:55; 4:158) as evidence that Jesus was physically and bodily raised into
Heaven, again, despite the fact that the Verses omit any mention of the word السماء (“sky”).
In fact, the Holy Qur’an alludes to the fact that it is not possible for a Bashar
(mortal human being) to ascend into Heaven, at least in his physical body:
أَوْ يَكُونَ لَكَ بَيْتٌ
مِّن زُخْرُفٍ أَوْ تَرْقَىٰ فِي السَّمَاءِ وَلَن نُّؤْمِنَ لِرُقِيِّكَ حَتَّىٰ تُنَزِّلَ
عَلَيْنَا كِتَابًا نَّقْرَؤُهُ ۗ قُلْ سُبْحَانَ رَبِّي هَلْ كُنتُ إِلَّا بَشَرًا
رَّسُولًا
“Or you have a house of gold or you
ascend into the sky. And [even then], we will not believe in your ascension
until you bring down to us a book we may read.” Say, “Exalted is my Lord! Was I
ever but a human messenger?”
(Sura 17:93)
This Verse is in the context of several challenges put forward by the
disbelieving polytheists to our beloved Prophet ﷺ. The last challenge that is quoted in this Verse is that if the
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is
truthful, he should ascend into Heaven and bring down with him a book that the
people can read. In answer to this and other challenges, Allah Most High
instructs His beloved Prophet ﷺ
to say: “Holy is my Lord! Am I not but a human messenger?” meaning that the
challenge put forward to our Prophet to ascend into Heaven is impossible for a Bashar.
This is like the fact that it is impossible for a Bashar, including a
Prophet, to live forever, or to live without nourishment and sustainance.
Similarly, the Holy Qur’an is teaching in this Verse that it is impossible for
a Bashar to ascend physically and bodily into the Heavens.
Now let us come to a Verse quoted by those who believe that Jesus is alive,
and is unique in this respect in comparison to the rest of the Prophets who
have died:
وَإِن مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ
إِلَّا لَيُؤْمِنَنَّ بِهِ قَبْلَ مَوْتِهِ ۖ وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ يَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ
شَهِيدًا
And there is none from the People of
the Scripture but that he will surely believe in Jesus before his death. And on
the Day of Resurrection he will be against them a witness.
(Sura 4:159)
Now I have quoted the translation of Saheeh International, but in fact this
translation is somewhat problematic, because Jesus’s name is omitted in the
actual text of the Verse. Instead there are two pronouns “There is none from
the People of the Book except he believes in him/it (به) before his death (موته).” The reader should be aware
that there is a difference of interpretation among the classical exegetes
concerning to whom these pronouns are referring back to. Those who regard this
Verse (4:159) as a strong evidence that Jesus is alive quote the interpretation
of Abu Huraira رضى الله عنه who cited this Verse when narrating the Hadith regarding the
descent of Jesus, implying it is a proof for him being alive. (Sahih al-Bukhari).
According to this interpretation, Allah is saying that the Jews and
Christians (People of the Book) will all believe in Jesus before Jesus dies.
Hence, when Jesus comes down before Judgment Day, the Jews and Christians will
all believe in him as he is meant to be believed in, and then Jesus will die
thereafter. Since at present, the Jews and Christians do not believe in Jesus,
as least in the way they are supposed to believe in him, as a true, human
Prophet of God, it means that Jesus has not yet died; because all the Jews and
Christians will believe in Jesus before his death.
Although apparently this is the personal interpretation of Abu HurairaRA,
nevertheless, there are some obvious problems with it:
The Verse says there is none from the People of the Book except that he
will believe in Jesus. In other words, every single Kitabi (Jew and Christian)
will believe in Jesus before Jesus dies. Firstly, there have been millions if
not billions of Jews and Christians who have already died without believing in
Jesus. Secondly, the Hadith prophecies themselves state that when Jesus comes
down he will be faught against by the Jewish followers of the Dajjal. Instead
of those Jews repenting and believing in Jesus, the Hadith states that they
will be exterminated:
قَالَ عِيسَى عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ افْتَحُوا الْبَابَ . فَيُفْتَحُ
وَوَرَاءَهُ الدَّجَّالُ مَعَهُ سَبْعُونَ أَلْفِ يَهُودِيٍّ كُلُّهُمْ ذُو سَيْفٍ
مُحَلًّى وَسَاجٍ فَإِذَا نَظَرَ إِلَيْهِ الدَّجَّالُ ذَابَ كَمَا يَذُوبُ الْمِلْحُ
فِي الْمَاءِ وَيَنْطَلِقُ هَارِبًا وَيَقُولُ عِيسَى عَلَيْهِ السَّلاَمُ إِنَّ لِي
فِيكَ ضَرْبَةً لَنْ تَسْبِقَنِي بِهَا . فَيُدْرِكُهُ عِنْدَ بَابِ اللُّدِّ الشَّرْقِيِّ
فَيَقْتُلُهُ فَيَهْزِمُ اللَّهُ الْيَهُودَ فَلاَ يَبْقَى شَىْءٌ مِمَّا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ
يَتَوَارَى بِهِ يَهُودِيٌّ إِلاَّ أَنْطَقَ اللَّهُ ذَلِكَ الشَّىْءَ لاَ حَجَرَ وَلاَ
شَجَرَ وَلاَ حَائِطَ وَلاَ دَابَّةَ - إِلاَّ الْغَرْقَدَةَ فَإِنَّهَا مِنْ شَجَرِهِمْ
لاَ تَنْطِقُ - إِلاَّ قَالَ يَا عَبْدَ اللَّهِ الْمُسْلِمَ هَذَا يَهُودِيٌّ فَتَعَالَ
اقْتُلْهُ
'Eisa (as), will say: "Open the gate." So they will open it and
behind it will be Dajjal with seventy thousand Jews, each of them carrying an
adorned sword and wearing a greenish cloak. When Dajjal looks at him, he will
start to melt as salt melts in water. He will run away, and 'Eisa (as), will
say: "I have only one blow for you, which you will not be able to
escape!" He will catch up with him at the eastern gate of Ludd, and will
kill him. Then Allah will defeat the Jews, and there will be nothing left that
Allah has created which the Jews will be able to hide behind, except that Allah
will cause it to speak - no stone, no tree, no wall, no animal - except for Al-Gharqad
(the box-thorn), for it is one of their trees, and will not speak - except that
it will say: "O Muslim slave of Allah, here is a Jews, come and kill
him!"
So what then is the correct interpretation of this Verse (4:159)? Based on
what many exegetes have said, I believe the Verse is saying:
“There is none from the People of the Book (Jews and Christians) except
that he will believe in Jesus, right before he (Jew or Christian) dies.”
In other words, when the Jew or Christian is about to die, it will be
disclosed to him through a sort of Kashaf that Jesus is a true Prophet
of God, or that he was neither killed nor crucified, but that Allah raised him
to Himself (as stated in the two preceeding Verses – 4:157-158). This
interpretation has been narrated from Ibn Abbas, Mujahid, ‘Ikrima, al-Dahhak, al-Hasan
al-Basri, and Muhammad b. Sirin رضى الله عنهم among others.
Reference: Tafsir Ibn Jarir; v.7, p.667-671
Some from the Salaf even had an alternative reading of the Verse “before
his death” as قبل موتهم “before their death”, with the pronoun being pluralised clearly
indicating the correct interpretation that none from the people of the Book
will die before having believed in Jesus.
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