Was Jesus Resurrected?

بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

It is often claimed that Islam denies the uniquely Christian doctrine of the resurrection of Jesus. The common Muslim belief is that Jesus was never placed on the cross but was physically raised to Heaven. There are some other minority positions held by various Muslims, such as the so-called swoon theory apparently accepted and taught by Ahmed Deedat, and the Batini Isma’ili idea that Jesus did indeed die on the cross. But with regard to the Christian belief that Jesus was resurrected from the dead, I have not found anything in the Holy Quran or the Sunnah which explicitly denies it. In fact, it could be argued that the following Ayah confirms that Jesus was to be resurrected from the dead:

وَالسَّلٰمُ عَلَیَّ یَوۡمَ وُلِدۡتُّ وَیَوۡمَ اَمُوۡتُ وَیَوۡمَ اُبۡعَثُ حَیًّا

(Jesus said): “And peace upon me the day of my birth, and the day I die and the day I am raised alive”

(19:33)

All standard commentary on this Ayah explains that “the day I am raised alive” refers to the Resurrection on Judgment Day, and there is a similar passage in the Quran with respect to Prophet Yahya—John the Baptist:

وَسَلٰمٌ عَلَیۡہِ یَوۡمَ وُلِدَ وَیَوۡمَ یَمُوۡتُ وَیَوۡمَ یُبۡعَثُ حَیًّا

ِAnd peace upon him the day he was born, and the day he dies and the day he is raised alive

(19:15)

Obviously, in the case of John the Baptist “the day he is raised alive” can only refer to the general Resurrection on Judgment Day.

But with regard to Jesus already being raised back to life after having died, this notion, held by the Christians, appears to be accepted by some early Muslims too, particularly Wahb bin Munabbih:

وَقَالَ إِسْحَاقُ بْنُ بِشْرٍ عَنْ إِدْرِيسَ عَنْ وَهْبٍ ‌أَمَاتَهُ ‌اللَّهُ ‌ثَلَاثَةَ ‌أَيَّامٍ ثُمَّ بَعَثَهُ ثُمَّ رفعه

Ishaq bin Bishr narrated from Idris from Wahb: “Allah caused him (Jesus) to die for three days, then resurrected him then raised him.” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, v.2, p.47)

In my humble opinion, Muslims should avoid debating Christians on the topic of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. These matters are not spelled out clearly in the Quran or Hadith, there is room for difference of interpretation within Islam. Concerning the matter of the crucifixion of Jesus, Allah says that the details of this matter that various groups have opined about are not definite knowledge but mere speculation:

مَا لَہُمۡ بِہٖ مِنۡ عِلۡمٍ اِلَّا اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ

They have no knowledge thereof except the following of conjecture

(4:157)

According to the Holy Quran, all we can be certain of is that the Jews did not kill Jesus. Whether this means Jesus was not killed at all, or that the Romans killed him, or that it only seemed as though he was killed on the cross but in reality Allah took his soul directly, or that he swooned on the cross but was wrongly taken for dead, etc., all these are conjectural theories.

Unlike in Christianity, whether Jesus was actually resurrected from the dead is not central to our Faith. If he was, it is not something astonishing for us, for the Quran speaks of other intances of the dead being raised back to life as miracles and signs, including the miracles of Jesus himself:

وَاُحۡیِ الۡمَوۡتٰی بِاِذۡنِ اللّٰہِ

I give life to the dead by the authority of Allah

(3:49)

For Christians to argue that Jesus is God because of his miracle of raising the dead to life, or his own resurrection after having been dead for three days is foolishness. Other Prophets also raised the dead to life, like Elijah (1 Kings 17:22) and Elisha (2 Kings 4:34-35). Within this Ummah there have appeared some saints, notably Shaikh Abd-ul-Qadir al-Jilani, who also performed miracles like raising the dead to life, by the power and authority of Allah. Thus if Jesus died and was resurrected three days later, for us Muslims its significance is to demonstrate the power of God and serve as a sign of the truthfulness of Jesus. Unlike Christians, we do not believe he suffered and died for the purpose of atoning for the sins of humanity.