Did Jesus (Eisa Ibn Mariam) عليه السلام Raise the Dead Back to Life?

In a previous entry of my blog (See here: http://islamsalvationfromhell.blogspot.ca/2016/04/can-dead-return-to-this-world-part-1.html)

I shared with the respected reader the essential and basic proofs from the Suhuf-i-Mutahharah (Holy Qur’an) where it is proven that it is impossible for the dead to return to this world, and that is the divine ordinance of Allah Himself. Once He grips a person’s soul and the decision of death is made for it, then it is withheld from returning to this world (Surah 39:42)

However, those people, blind followers of the Mullas and storytellers, object to this by claiming that the Promised Messiah Jesus son of Mary (peace be upon him) was bestowed with many miracles, one of which was raising the dead back to life. In this context two passages of the Holy Qur’an should be carefully analyzed:

وَأُحْيِي الْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِ اللَّـهِ

“And I (Jesus) give life to the dead, by Allah’s permission.” (Surah 3:49)

وَإِذْ تُخْرِجُ الْمَوْتَىٰ بِإِذْنِي

“And when you (Jesus) bring forth the dead by My permission.” (Surah 5:110)

At the outset, let the respected reader be made aware that the correct method of interpretating (Tafsir and Ta’wil) of the Holy Qur’an requires that its Verses be interpreted and understood in light of the other Verses, since the Holy Qur’an is a holistic text and it would be absurd to interpret a Verse in isolation of the broader context and teachings of the Holy Qur’an.

The Christians believe that Jesus son of Mary raised the dead back to life by his own power and authority. Allah Most High belies such a false and idolatrous belief in the two verses I have quoted where it is clearly mentioned that when Jesus brought forth the dead he did so only by Allah’s Name, Permission, Power and Authority.

Therefore we already see a major discrepency between Islam and so called Christianity with regard to the reality of the Messianic miracles.

According to the Christian Bible, Jesus raised Lazarus back to life and made him come out of his tomb. In the eleventh chapter of the Gospel according to John the story is mentioned in detail that Jesus reached the tomb of Lazarus four days after he had been buried (John 11:14). If this is true it would mean that Jesus literally raised a dead person back to life who had been dead for four days, meaning the Angel of Death had already taken his soul away completely and God had decreed an irreversible death for him. Such a story, at least with these details, clearly contradicts the teachings of the Holy Qur’an that once the ordinance of death is proclaimed for any human being it is impossible that he or she ever return to this world:

فَيُمْسِكُ الَّتِي قَضَىٰ عَلَيْهَا الْمَوْتَ

 (Surah 39:42)

Furthermore, neither the Holy Qur’an makes any specific mention of this Lazarus story nor is there any Hadith reported from the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) which mentions anything about Lazarus or about Jesus (peace be upon him) raising someone to life who had already been buried in a grave for several days.

*Note: although Christians claim that Jesus raised Lazarus and other dead people back to life on his own personal authority supposedly proving that he is divine and God in the flesh, the eleventh chapter of the Gospel of John clearly mentions that Jesus raised Lazarus back to life by praying to God “the Father” Who heard his supplication: “Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 11:41-42 KJV) So we see from the words of Jesus himself, as quoted in the Gospel of John, that Jesus performed this miracle of raising Lazarus to life in order to prove that he was sent by God, and before performing the miracle he prayed to God who heard and thus answered his supplication – thus negating the Christian belief that Jesus raising the dead to life is a proof of his own divinity and that he raised the dead to life on his own personal authority and power.

Then it is mentioned in the Gospel of Matthew that after the soul of Jesus was taken up while he was on the cross (which does not necessitate death but the correct meaning is that he fainted and lost conciousness):

“And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” (Matthew 27:52-53)

Again, the Holy Qur’an makes no mention of such a story. Neither is such an apparently wonderous event reported in any extra-Biblical historical source (for example Josephus or any other historian of the Antiquity), despite the fact that the Gospel of Matthew claims that these ancient dead people came out of their tombs and appeared to multitudes of people in the holy city of Jerusalem. That obviously qualifies for a very extraordinary event which at the very least should have been reported by at least one other historical source.

Returning to the discussion of the two verses quoted from the Holy Qur’an which reference this miracle of the Messiah raising the dead to life (3:49 and 5:110), I invite the reader to consider the very powerful interpretation of these verses that satisfied the heart and mind offered by the Mujaddid of the 14^th century of Hijrah, Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadiyan. He says:

“Once I saw in a dream that my fourth son Mubarak Ahmad had died. Within a few days, he had a high fever and lost conciousness eight times. The last time it appeared as if his life had come to an end. I began my supplication on his behalf and while I was so occupied I heard everyone say: ‘Mubarak Ahmad has died.’ I placed my hand on him and there was no pulse or breathing and his eyes seemed petrified like those of a corpse. But my supplication brought an extraordinary change and by my putting my hand on him he began to revive and the signs of life returned. Then I announced in a loud voice to those present: If Jesus son of Mary brought any dead person back to life, it would have been nothing more than this. That is, he would have revived someone near to death like this and not one whose soul might have reached the heavens and conveyed by the Angel of Death to its last resting place.”

Reference: Ruhani Khaza’in, v.18, p.598; Nuzul-ul-Masih, p.220

The interpretation and explanation of Hadrat Mirza sahib matches perfectly with the two quoted verses of the Holy Qur’an (3:49 and 5:110) and harmonizes them with the rest of the verses of the Holy Qur’an which make it explicitly clear that the dead upon whom the ordinance of death has been passed and whose souls have fully and completely departed from their bodies are unable to ever return to this temporal world. Thus the meaning of the word الموتى needs to be re-examined in the context of it being used in 3:49 and 5:110.

The Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) has used the word الموتى with respect to those technically living and breathing people who are in the throes of death but not as of yet medically pronounced as dead. Hence the meaning of الموتى is also قریب المرگ (close to death). For example, the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said:

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ، قَالَ : قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ : " لَقِّنُوا مَوْتَاكُمْ لا إِلَهَ إِلا اللَّهُ ، فَإِنَّهُ مَنْ كَانَ آخِرُ كَلِمَتِهِ لا إِلَهَ إِلا اللَّهُ عِنْدَ الْمَوْتِ ، دَخَلَ الْجَنَّةَ يَوْمًا مِنَ الدَّهْرِ ، وَإِنْ أَصَابَهُ قَبْلَ ذَلِكَ مَا أَصَابَهُ

Translation: Abi Hurairah (Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) said: “Encourage your Dead to say La Elaha illa Allah, for whoever’s last word is La Elaha illa Allah at the time of death he shall enter Jannah…”

In another Hadith, the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) is reported to have said:

عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ، عَنِ النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ ، أَنَّهُ قَالَ : " إِنَّ الْمَيِّتَ تَحْضُرُهُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ ، فَإِذَا كَانَ الرَّجُلُ الصَّالِحُ ، قَالُوا : اخْرُجِي أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الطَّيِّبَةُ كَانَتْ فِي الْجَسَدِ الطَّيِّبِ

Translation: Verily, the Angels are present before the dead, so if he was a pious man, they say: “Come forth, O pure soul that was in a pure body…”

These and other Ahadith prove that the Prophet (Sallallahu ‘alayhi wasallam) applied to the words Mawtaa and Mayyit which linguistically means “dead” to people who were not technically or from a medical point of view dead, but rather, close to dead, upon their death bed, and in the grip of death.

In this way, Hadrat Mirza sahib has clarified the reality of Jesus’s miracle of raising the dead to life so as to remain in harmony with the general principle laid down in the Holy Qur’an that it is impossible for those upon whom the Ordinance of Death has been passed that their souls should ever return to this mundane existence (Dunya).