Death of Jesus – According to the Holy Quran

One verse of the Holy Qur’an which relates about Jesus being put on the cross is as follows:

And for their saying, ‘We did slay the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah;’ whereas they slew him not, nor crucify him, but he was made to appear to them like one crucified; and those who differ therein are certainly in a state of doubt about it; they have no definite knowledge thereof, but only pursue a conjecture; and they did not convert this conjecture into certainty.
Holy Qur’an, Chapter 4, verse 158

This verse talks about the saying of the Jews, that they ‘did slay the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary!’ Allah Almighty answers them that ‘wa ma Qatalu-hu’ they slew him not! Then the verse states ‘Wa ma Salabu-hu’ nor did they crucify him! Here it is stating that Jesus was not crucified on the Cross; he did not die on it, but it does not deny that he could have been put on the Cross, only that he did not die on the Cross! The verse then states ‘Wa lakin Shubbiha La-hum’ but he was made to appear to them like one crucified! or the matter of the death of Jesus became obscure or dubious to them! The verse then finishes by stating that the Jews differed about what happened and no one knew for sure, instead they just made guesses, without knowing what the real truth was.

The Jews tried to kill Jesus on the Cross to prove that he was false – as the Holy Bible states:

He that is hanged on the tree is accursed of God
Deuteronomy 21:23

By his death on the Cross, the Jews wanted to prove that he was indeed a false Prophet and that his claim to be the ‘son of God’ was also false. To this day, the Jews still regard Jesus Christ as a false Prophet! The Christians on the other hand, proclaimed that Jesus had to become ‘accursed of God’ and go into Hell as this was his whole purpose in life – ‘to die to take the sins of Man upon him’!

Both these views portrayed Jesus as false, a sinner and a person who went to Hell!
Allah replies to these false accusations by stating:

On the contrary. Allah exalted him to Himself. And Allah is Mighty, Wise
Holy Qur’an, Chapter 4, verse 159

Allah exalts Jesus spiritually and removes these false accusations of him dying on the Cross, and not being a true Prophet of God. The preceding verse clears Jesus name that he was killed by the Jews and that he was crucified. By denying both these false charges, Allah proves that he really was a Prophet of God and was not killed by his enemies. Then Allah goes further to state that in His eyes, He is well pleased with Jesus, thus He has exalted him to Himself – He has honoured Jesus in His presence. It cannot mean that He physically raised Jesus to Himself as Allah has no fixed abode – Allah is everywhere!

A lot of misunderstanding surrounds these verses. When the Muslims came into contact with Christians and started hearing their claim that Jesus went physically to heaven, the idea started taking shape that this is what is meant in these verses. This was not the view of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, or his companions, as we will prove later. This concept came into being later on.

The Muslims claim that in order to save Jesus from the Jews, Allah made someone else (possibly Judas) to appear like Jesusand go on the cross and then die. Whilst this was happening, Allah raised Jesus to Himself and kept him alive in heaven until theLatter Days when Jesus will descend!

Again this belief goes against the Holy Qur’an!  Allah has stated in the Holy Quran that there is no person who can return physically from Heaven:

…And behind them is a barrier (Barzakh) until the Day when they shall be raised again
Holy Qur’an, Chapter 23, verse 101

…Or thou [Muhammad] ascend up into heaven, and we will not believe in thy ascension until thou send down to us a Book that we can read. Say, “Holy is my Lord! I am but a man sent as a Messenger?”
Holy Qur’an, Chapter 17, verse 94

We have to be very careful what we attribute to Allah. There is no point attributing wrong things about Allah just to justify our own understanding. Muslims need to understand what they are trying to assert. In a quest to try to show that Jesus went physically to heaven, they are implying that Allah could be deceitful (deceiving the Jews into believing they really killed Jesus), unjust (putting a man innocent of the so-called crimes of Jesus on the cross instead of Jesus) and contradicting His own Book (a physical being can return from Heaven). There is no way Allah can be any of these things, but sadly, this is what Muslims are foolishly making Allah appear to be, when they make such claims. Instead of thinking about what they are claiming, they come out with the answer “But Allah can do anything that He wishes!” Yes, of course Allah can do anything, but surely whatever He does will be Just and Fair and will not contradict His own Laws!

Another verse of the Holy Qur’an which relates about Jesus not ascending to heaven is:

And when Allah will say, “O Jesus, son of Mary, didst thou say to men, ‘Take me and my mother for two gods besides Allah?’ ” he will answer, “Holy art Thou, I could never say that to which I had no right. If I had said it, Thou wouldst have surely known it. Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Thy mind. It is Thou alone Who art the Knower of all hidden things”
Holy Qur’an, Chapter 5, verse 117

In the preceding verse, Allah asks Jesus that ‘did he ask men to take him and his mother as two gods?’ Jesus replies that he could never have said such a thing! He then goes on to say:

“I said nothing to them except that which Thou didst command me – ‘Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’ And I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them, but since Thou didst cause me to die, Thou hast been the Watcher over them, and Thou art Witness over all things.”
Holy Qur’an, Chapter 5, verse 118

Jesus states that whilst he was alive, he was a witness over them and this concept was not there! He had kept a careful watch over his followers and saw that they did not deviate from the right path ‘But since Thou didst cause me to die’ that is when this belief started to take hold. When Jesus was already dead, then he did not know how they behaved and what false doctrines they held after his death.

The fact that his followers have gone astray, proves that Jesus is dead, for as it is pointed out that it was after his death that he was to be worshipped as God! Furthermore, the fact that this verse speaks of Jesus as expressing ignorance that his followers took him and his mother for two gods after he had left them proves that he is not to come back to this world! For, if he were to come back and see with his own eyes that his followers had become corrupt and had made him a god, he could not plead ignorance of them making him to be a god. If he did so, his answer pleading his ignorance of him being made a god would amount to a lie!

Thus this verse positively proves that Jesus is dead and that he will never come back to this world.

  Next Topic