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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