Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus In the Quran and the Bible
Ordinary
Muslim brothers believe that the Prophet Jesus did not die on the cross, but
Allah made another man as His look-alike and crucified him and instead raised
up Jesus alive nearest to Himself.
This
belief is based on The Quran’s al-Nisa" (4:157,158) "... That they (Jews) said,
"We (Jews) killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of
Allah";- but they (Jews) killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was
made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with
no knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they (Jews) killed
him not. But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah was ever Mighty,
Wise.”
The
Muslim ulema (Scholars) have made all kinds of interpretations of this verse. However,
these verses do not deny the sacrifice of Jesus, but only dismiss the claim of the
Jews, that they crucified Jesus and killed him. This is true because the Jews had
authority to kill by stoning (Leviticus 20:27; 24:16) but only the Roman
government had the authority to crucify. (John 18:31) We know that Jesus was tried
in the open court by the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate who found him not guilty
but under the pressure of an unbridled mob of Jews, washed His hands and
ordered Jesus to be crucified. (Matt. 27:23-25; John 18:15)
Nine
o'clock in the morning (Mark 15:25), while a lamb was being sacrificed in the
Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem, Jesus was put on the cross outside the city wall
(Matthew 27:38) and following six hours of horrible suffering, at three o'clock
in the afternoon, at the hour of the second sacrifice., He died. At that moment
the veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place in the Temple, tore
from top to bottom and the way was opened for all people to directly approach God
(Matt. 27: 51; Luke 24:44). We are no longer required to offer animal sacrifice
for our salvation nor the services of a priest for worship and prayer. The
blood of the Lamb has made us royal priests (1Peter 2:9). We also do not require a brick and mortar
temple as now our bodies have become the temples of the living God (Acts
7:8,49; 1Peter 2:5; 2Corinth. 6:16). Even in his dying moments he practiced
what he preached. He demonstrated his loving nature by praying for His enemies,
“Forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:37); his
authority in heaven by rescuing a
repentant thief on the cross, “Today you shall be in Paradise with me”,
(Luke 23:43) and his prophetic calling when he declared, “It is finished and
gave up his Spirit.” (Matthew 27:50; John 19:30)
His
death was reported to the Roman Governor who ordered soldiers to be deployed at
His grave (Matthew 27:65) so that no one could steal His corpse. But on the
third day, early in the morning His grave was found to be empty and till today remains
empty. (Matthew 28:5-9) Thus the death and resurrection of Jesus was not a
secret affair but witnessed by thousands of people who had come from “every
nation under the sun” to celebrate the Passover Feast, Hence the question
of changing His face and putting a look-alike on the cross has no basis. (Acts
1:1-11; 2:5:14)
We
must also remember that this rescue plan for the redemption of the broken world
was designed by Jesus himself from the foundation of the earth, “The reason the Father loves Me is that I lay down My life in order to
take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own
accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again…the Book of Life belonging
to the Lamb that was slain from the foundation of the world.” (John 10:17, 18; Rev. 13:8)
After
His resurrection on the third day, He remained on the earth for 40 days, (Matt.
28:18-20;) instructed His disciples to be His witnesses to the ends of the
earth (Acts 1:8) and make His disciples from all nations. When Thomas, a disciple
doubted His resurrection, Jesus appeared to him (John 20:27-29) and showed him the
wounds on His hands caused by the nails and the wound on His chest caused by the
spear that was thrust into His Heart from which blood and water (serum) had
poured out. On the 40th and the last day on earth, during His
ascension into Heaven, more than 500 eyewitnesses had gathered on the Mount of Olives
near Jerusalem. (Acts 1:8,9) Then, two angels appeared and told people that
just as He has gone up into Heaven in the clouds, He will come back again. Looking
at the violent, wicked and the volatile situation in the world today, it seems
that His day of return is not too far. (John 20:24-29; 1 Corinthians 15:6, 7;
Matthew 28:18-20)
This
verse further raises a serious question of whether the Sovereign God, maker and
ruler of all creation, will stoop down to deceiving people by crucifying an
unknown person as His look alike? This act of misleading eye-witnesses does not
resonate with His Righteous and Holy image. And if God's purpose was to send
Christ to be the full and final sacrifice for the salvation of all those who
repose their faith on Him, which is a fundamental tenet of Christianity, then
why on earth He would do such a thing? Scripture says, “God is not a man, that he
should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and
then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Hebrew
10:10; 1 Corinthians 15:12-14; Revelation 13:8; Numbers 29:13)
Hazrat Mohammad spent five years as a business partner and then 15 years as husband, that is altogether about 20 years with Khadijah, who was a Hanifi, a follower of monotheistic religion of Abraham. Her cousin, Waraqa-bin-Naufal was the leader of the Christian community in Makkah and a trusted and revered member of the family. So, H. Mohammad must have had a good idea about the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. That is why he wrote against the claims of the Jews that they had crucified and killed Jesus but defended the faith of Christians about his death, resurrection and His ascension nearest to God.
The
Quran confirms these claims in many verses: For instance, in Quran 19:33, as
soon as Jesus was born, he said, “Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die (ub’asuin
meaning death in Arabic), and the day I shall be raised alive! The same words are used for
John, by his father Zakariah in Quran 19:15, “And peace be upon him the day
he was born and the day he dies (ub’asu) and the day he is raised
alive.”
These verses clearly confirm the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus. (Luke
1:59,60; Matthew 14:10-12)
Again in Q. 5:75, “The
Messiah, son of Mary, was but a messenger; other messengers have passed on
before him.” Again, in similar word Quran 3:144 says, “Muhammad is but a
messenger, messengers (the like of whom) have passed away before him.”
These verses clarify that like others, Jesus also died.
Here are some more verses
that prove the death of Jesus - Quran 5:17 says "Then who could prevent
Allah if He had intended to destroy Christ, the son of Mary, or his mother or
everyone on the earth?" Further Q. Al Maida 5:116-118 where Jesus
says, “I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but when Thou
didst cause me to die (tawaffyaataani meaning death), Thou wert the watcher
over them, and Thou art witness of all things.” This verse proves that God
was a witness to the death of Jesus.
The Arabic word “tawaffaya”, 23 times out of
25 in the Quran is translated as “death” but when it comes to Jesus, it is
intentionally distorted by some translators and mistranslated as “raised up”.
For instance, in Q. 3:55, "O Jesus! I will take thee and “raise up”
(tawaaffik) thee to Myself and clear thee of the falsehoods of those who
blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject
faith, to the Day of Resurrection: Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will
judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.
All the books in the New
Testament were written by eye-witnesses whereas Hadis (Traditions) were written
centuries after the death of Mohammad. On the basis of these unauthenticated
Hadis, many Muslims believe that when Jesus will descend the next time on the
white mosque in Damascus, he will break
all the crosses, kill all the pigs, take revenge by killing thousands of Jews
and then compel all Christians to become Muslims; he will marry, produce
children, rule for forty years and then die and be buried next to Mohammad in
Medina. How can all these be possible
when the last time, the grave could not keep him for more than three days and
three nights and then he was raised up alive to heaven and has been alive and
well nearest to God the Father for the last 2000 years? He is coming to judge
the living and the dead. The dead shall hear his voice and come out of their
graves alive. You have to be very naïve to believe that one who is coming to
raise the dead, will himself die? (Luke 23:69,70; John 5:28,29)
During the Bakr-Eid-festival,
Muslims sacrifice millions of goats to commemorate Abraham’s sacrifice of his
son. Some of the flesh they eat while share out the rest with others. Is this halaal
(legal according to sharia) because Abraham and Isaac did not eat the flesh of
the sacrificed animal but burnt the whole thing into ashes. (Genesis 22:13)
There are four types of sacrifices
mentioned in the Scriptures:
1.
Animal sacrifice for the redemption of their sins. Exodus 29:42;
2Chroncles 7:5,12
2.
Full and final sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our redemption, thus
ending the animal sacrifice. Hebrew 10:10
3. Offering our own bodies as
living sacrifice which is our spiritual service of
worship.
Romans 12:1,2
4.
Offering sanctified Gentiles as our priestly service. Romans 15:16
Offering sacrifice is a
foundational doctrine of Christianity. The only differences are that in the
First Covenant of Moses, they offered four-legged dead animals while in the
Second Covenant of Jesus we offer two-legged broken and contrite hearts as
living sacrifice. The second difference is that while they could offer their
sacrifices only in the Temple in Jerusalem through the services of hereditary
priests but now there is priesthood of all believers and we can offer repentant
souls as living sacrifice anytime and anywhere. (Revelation 1:6; 1 Peter 2:9;
Psalm 51:17; Malachi 1:11)
A very special prophecy has been made for Muslims in the Holy Scriptures, “Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah, and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and frankincense and proclaiming the praises of the LORD. All the flocks of Kedar will be gathered to you; the rams of Nabaioth will serve you and go up on My altar with acceptance; I will adorn My glorious house.” Nabaioth and Kedar are the eldest of the 12 sons of Ishmael, the progenitors of Arabs. (Isaiah 60: 6,7; Gen. 25:12-18) Today thousands of Muslims are seeing dreams and visions of Jesus in hardcore Islamic countries and hearing the good news of Nejat (salvation) in their own languages through, radio, television and social media and other ways like personal witnessing and coming in to the Kingdom in numbers unprecedented. This is just the beginning, millions fleeing the brutality of Islam in their own nations, are finding joy, justice and Jesus in the countries of their adoption.
It is our earnest request to
our Muslim brothers that it is wisdom to earnestly study these verses and try
to understand that God’s real purpose for sending Jesus was, as revealed to Prophet
Yahya (John) the Baptist, “Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins
of the world.” (John 1:29) He was sent to be offered as full and final
sacrifice to cover our sins. (Galatians 1:4; Romans 5:8; Hebrews 10:5,10; 9:22)
After his resurrection on
the third day from the grave, Jesus fellowshipped with his disciples for 40
days. (Luke 24:36-44) He gave final instructions on the future course of action
to go global, from Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria and to the ends of the earth
as his witnesses and to make disciples of all nations (Acts 1:8; Matt.
28:18-20). On
the last and the 40th day, after his resurrection, over 500 disciples
gathered on the mount of Olives near Jerusalem, to witness his ascension into
heaven as he disappeared in the clouds.
Just then two heavenly angels appeared and told the people that just as
he has gone up, he will come again the same way. (1Corinth. 15:3-6; Acts
1:9-12) Muslims brothers please note that he is not coming to the white mosque
in Damascus but to the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.
For the last 2000 years,
Lord Jesus has been interceding for us. (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25) Next time
when he comes, he will come as righteous judge and those whose names are
written in the Book of Life will enter Paradise while others will go to Hell.
(Matt. 25:31-46; Rev. 20:12,15) This proves that he has all power both in
heaven and on earth and the Father has passed on all judgment into his hands.
(Matt. 28:18; John 5:22, 27-29). Please try and understand this warning from
the Scriptures, “For the message of the
cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved
it is the power of God.”
(1Cor. 1:18)
Because this is a matter of
your eternal life, please give up baseless arguments like that the Holy
Scriptures have been abrogated or changed, or that Jesus did not die on the
cross etc. but give attention to your
own holy book Quran 10: 94, “ But if you (Mohamad) are in doubt as to what
We have revealed to you, ask those who read the Book before you; certainly the
truth has come to you from your Lord, therefore you should not be of the disputers.”
In fact, you should read the Holy Bible without any fear because Quran 2:285
says, “All of them have believed in Allah and His angels and His books
(Torah, Psalms, Gospels) and His messengers, "We make no distinction
between any of His messengers."
Thus, Muslims are
free to read all the previously revealed Holy Scriptures and make friends with
Christians and discuss important issues of life and find the one true straight path
of Salvation and eternal life. After all, every devout Muslim prays everyday from
the opening chapter of the Quran al Fatihah 1: 6,7, “Guide us to the
straight path; The path of those (Jews and Christians) upon whom You have
bestowed favor…” – Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life, no
one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)
After over 400 years of
slavery, on the last night of the departure of Israel from Egypt to Canaan,
every household sacrificed a lamb, roasted its flesh and ate it and brushed its
blood on their door-posts. The result was that that night the spirit of death
came and killed all the firstborn, both of men and animals of Egyptians but passed-over
the houses of Israel. They were saved by the blood on their door-posts. (Exodus
12:7) Jews celebrate this day as the Passover Feast in memory of that night in
Egypt while we Christians, celebrate this as the Day of Qurban (Eid-e-Qurban)
(Good Friday) because on this day Jesus was sacrificed on the cross and by his
blood we are saved.
Although it is a sad day
that Jesus had to die a very brutal death to pay the price for our sins, we
rejoice because we no longer must suffer eternal death because of our sins. We
also rejoice because on the third day He arose again, never to die
again and therefore
became the First Fruits among those who win victory over death. Christians
celebrate this as Resurrection Day (Eid-e-Qyamat). The blood of Jesus is the
only thing that can wash our sins. There is no other way. (1 Cor. 15:20-23; Hebrew
9:22; Rev. 1:5)
Dear Muslim brothers and
sisters, we wish you a very happy Eid-e-Qurban and Eid-e-Qyamat-al-Masih.
Wa’Sallam
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