Death of Jesus (Sura 3:55)

بســم اللــه الرحمــن الرحيــم

والصلاــة والسلاــم علــى نبيــه الكريــم

وعلــى اهــل بيتــه الطيبيــن الطاهريــن المظلوميــن

والعاقبة للمتقين

The fact that the promised Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth (peace be upon him), is deceased has been proven repeatedly from the text of the Qur’an al-Hakim. In this entry, I shall cite one such Verse which quite explicitly proves that he is dead:

إِذْ قَالَ اللَّـهُ يَا عِيسَىٰ إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ

When Allah said: “O Jesus, verily I shall cause you to die and raise you to Myself”

(Sura 3:55)

The noun Mutawaffi which Allah refers to Himself with means “Completer of life” (Arabic-English Dictionary of Qur’anic Usage, p.1038), it is derived from the root w-f-y which primarily conveys the meaning of “death” (ibid, p.1036). Ali bin Abi Talha narrates that the Prophet’s eminent companion and exegete of the Qur’an, Ibn Abbas (radi Allahu anhuma), interpreted the words Inni Mutawwafika to mean:

 

إِنِّي مُمِيتُكَ

 

Inni Mumituka “verily I shall give you death” (Tafsir Ibn Mundhir p.221; Tafsir Ibn Jarir v.5 p.450):

 

 

Those who argue that Jesus son of Mary physically ascended to Heaven alive in his body claim that the correct translation of this Verse is: “verily I shall take you in full (body and soul) and cause you to ascend unto Me”. However, the truth is that when a human being, or any living being with a soul for that matter, is the object of the verb tawaffa the meaning is either death or sleep. In fact, Allah Most High declares:

 

اللَّـهُ يَتَوَفَّى الْأَنفُسَ حِينَ مَوْتِهَا وَالَّتِي لَمْ تَمُتْ فِي مَنَامِهَا

 

Allah takes the souls at the time of its death and that which dies not during its sleep

 

(Sura 39:42)

 

There is no third scenario in which Allah “takes” the soul, certainly He does not “take” it with its corporal body. Whenever Allah “takes” the human soul, He takes it either in death or in its sleep as this Verse explains. Some of those Ulama who believe that Jesus did not die claim that Allah took him in a state of sleep. However, it will then have to be admitted that Jesus was not raised to Heaven in his physical body, as it is quite evident that during sleep only the soul is taken while the body remains behind. Never has it been witnessed that the human body is raised up into Heaven when it is caused to fall asleep. These Ulama who believe that Jesus was taken up to Allah in a state of sleep will have to confess that while the soul of Jesus was taken up, his body is still somewhere in the Earth, fast asleep for the past two millenia!

 

As for the words Wa Rafi’uka Ilayya meaning “and raise you to Myself”, given that we have established that Allah only takes the soul of the human, either at the time of death or sleep, it is the soul only which is meant here. In other words, Allah caused Jesus son of Mary to die and raised him up to Himself in his soul only, while his corpse was left behind in this Earth. It should be pointed out that there is no mention of “heaven” or “sky” in this Verse, but rather, Allah says He raised Jesus up to “Himself”. Those who believe Jesus son of Mary was raised in his body should therefore consider the fact that they essentially believe Allah raised a physical, earthen body up to Himself.  Hence it is quite clear that the raising up of Jesus to Allah Himself is a reference to the ascension of his soul only which happens at the time of death. Allah cites another example of this in referring to the ancient Prophet Idris (Enoch):

وَرَفَعْنَاهُ مَكَانًا عَلِيًّا۝

And We raised him to a high place

(Sura 19:57)

The fact that at the time of death the soul is taken out of the body and made to ascend up to Heaven, indeed, up to Allah Himself, was stated by the Prophet Muhammad (sall Allahu alayhi wasallam) in the following authentic Hadith:

الْمَيِّتُ تَحْضُرُهُ الْمَلاَئِكَةُ فَإِذَا كَانَ الرَّجُلُ صَالِحًا قَالُوا ‏:‏ اخْرُجِي أَيَّتُهَا النَّفْسُ الطَّيِّبَةُ كَانَتْ فِي الْجَسَدِ الطَّيِّبِ اخْرُجِي حَمِيدَةً وَأَبْشِرِي بِرَوْحٍ وَرَيْحَانٍ وَرَبٍّ غَيْرِ غَضْبَانَ فَلاَ يَزَالُ يُقَالُ لَهَا ذَلِكَ حَتَّى تَخْرُجَ ثُمَّ يُعْرَجُ بِهَا إِلَى السَّمَاءِ فَيُفْتَحُ لَهَا فَيُقَالُ ‏:‏ مَنْ هَذَا فَيَقُولُونَ ‏:‏ فُلاَنٌ ‏.‏ فَيُقَالُ ‏:‏ مَرْحَبًا بِالنَّفْسِ الطَّيِّبَةِ، كَانَتْ فِي الْجَسَدِ الطَّيِّبِ ادْخُلِي حَمِيدَةً، وَأَبْشِرِي بِرَوْحٍ وَرَيْحَانٍ وَرَبٍّ غَيْرِ غَضْبَانَ ‏.‏ فَلاَ يَزَالُ يُقَالُ لَهَا ذَلِكَ حَتَّى يُنْتَهَى بِهَا إِلَى السَّمَاءِ الَّتِي فِيهَا اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ

Angels come to the dying person, and if the man was righteous, they say: ‘Come out, O good soul that was in a good body, come out praiseworthy and receive glad tidings of mercy and fragrance and a Lord Who is not angry.’ And this is repeated until it comes out, then it is taken up to heaven, and it is opened for it, and it is asked: ‘Who is this?’ They say: ‘So-and-so.’ It is said: ‘Welcome to the good soul that was in a good body. Enter praiseworthy and receive the glad tidings of mercy and fragrance and a Lord Who is not angry.’ And this is repeated until it is brought to the heaven above which is Allah. (Sunan Ibn Maja #4262)