Contrary to the irrational exaggerations and mythical
Divinity claims preferred by people who claim to be his followers, the
historical Jesus was a human being like any other human who lived and preached
Gospel among his people, a reformer-servant of God among the people of Israel
in historical Palestine. While much of his life is shrouded in the distance and
unknowns of history, the essence of his truthfulness as well as the shadow of
Divine Protection that helped him survive the scheming machinations and plots
of his wily opponents is preserved to the benefit of all times, including
through the Holy Qur’an which speaks about the trial of crucifixion:
“And they (the
persecutors of Jesus) planned (to crucify him) and Allah planned (to save him)
and Allah is the best of planners.” (3:55)
“They killed him not,
nor did they cause his death by crucifixion, but he was made to them to
resemble (one crucified to death. Verily, those who differ therein are
certainly in (a state of) confusion about it. They have no definite knowledge
of the matter but are only following a conjecture. They did not kill him. This
much is certain (and thus could not prove the Christ as accursed). Rather Allah
exalted him with all honour to His presence”. (4:
158-59)
While Jewish tradition viewed death on the cross as an
accursed imposter’s fate, Jesus himself predicted his escape from death on the
cross saying, “As Jonah was three days and three
nights in the whales’ belly, so shall the son of man be three days and three
nights in the heart of death”. (Matt.
12: 40) The prophecy meant that like Jonah, Jesus would also survive the
‘grave’ trial and survive the attempt on his life. In this brief exposition on
the crucifixion of Christ, Hazrat Khalifatullah (aba) marshals evidence from human
mortality, and the sign of Jonah mentioned in the Bible to dispel mythical
notions about Jesus prevailing among people in our times.
Read the Extracts from the Response Below:
‘…As the founder of Jamaat Ul Sahih Al Islam, and the
Messenger of God in this era, we believe that the crucifixion of Jesus was an
attempt made on his life- like any attempt of murder. Crucifixion was only the
weapon used in that murderous attempt. However, the attempt to crucify him failed
in inflicting death. This is tantamount to saying that ‘they failed to crucify
him’. When we say this, we express ourselves exactly as we would in any other
case of attempted murder. If an attempt is made (on) someone’s life and the
attempt fails, it cannot be said that the intended victim was murdered. For
instance, if such an attempt is made with a sword and the attempt fails, no one
can say that the intended victim was put to the sword.
So, we believe as SAHIH AL ISLAM that only an attempt
to murder Jesus (as) was made, crucifixion being the instrument of the
attempted murder. After a few hours of instant suffering upon the cross, before
death could overtake him, he was taken down from the cross in a state of deep
coma from which he was revived later on. As no state can permit the person who
is condemned to death a legal cover and protection to his life if he somehow
escapes execution so also under the Roman law, no immunity could be extended to
Jesus beyond the point of the crucifixion. That provided Jesus with enough
cause to escape from Roman territory to a land of freedom. But he also had to
perform a (Divinely-) commission(-ed duty) and had a prophecy to fulfill. There
were those ‘lost sheep of Israel’ who, after their exodus under the Babylonian and
Roman invasion scattered in many external lands, were awaiting his ministry.
This was the other very strong reason for Jesus to have emigrated from the land
of Judah to those foreign lands where the Jews had settled over a period of
many centuries. This should suffice for the time-being.
I want to make one thing clear to those who demand
from us a proof of the natural death of Jesus after he was saved from the
cross. They are shifting the burden of truth on us without justification. So,
these are natural phenomena known to men which are universally
understood.
We know that the lifespan of men on earth does not
extend beyond 150 years or so; certainly not 1000 years, or more. This is a
common experience relating to the expansion of human life on earth. If someone
thinks that something contradictory to this rule has happened, then the burden
of proof would fall on his shoulders, not on someone who believes in the rule
rather than the exception.
This should be applied to the situation enveloping the
life and death of Jesus Christ. Those who believe that he did not die must
provide the proof, but those who claim that he must have died only follow the
laws of nature and should not be required to prove it beyond that, otherwise
anyone could say that his great-great-great grandfather has not died. If such a
claimant goes around challenging everyone to prove it otherwise, what would be
their reaction? How can a poor listener meet such a challenge? Yet he can only
point out that the woes of nature operate on every human being and spare no
one.
So if someone is making claims against the law of
nature the onus of proof is on him. This is a first answer, but I will now make
another humble attempt to try to make things clearer from a different
viewpoint. Whatever his relationship with God, was it beyond Jesus Christ to
die? The Christians themselves believe that he died. If it was against his
nature to die, this could not have happened in the first place, yet we all
agree that he died at least once. The remaining part of the enquiry would be as
to when did he die? Whether on the cross, or afterwards?
So, we go to the Bible – the Sign of Jonah.
We prove from the Bible that God did not abandon him and saved him from ignoble
death upon the cross. This can be studied in the light of the facts relating to
the period before the crucifixion as well as fact of the crucifixion itself and
after it, as related by the New Testament. Long before that
incident, Jesus promised that no sign would be shown unto the people other than
the Sign of Jonah. Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the Laws said to
him:
“Teacher! We want to see a miraculous sign from
you.”
He answered: “A wicked and adulterous generation ask
for a miraculous sign? But none will be given it, except the sign of the
Prophet Jonah, for as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a
huge fish, so the Son of men will be three days and three nights in the heart
of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this
generation and condemned it: for they repented at the preaching of
Jonah and not one greater than Jonah is here.”
This you can find in the Bible - Matthew
Chapter 12 Verses 38 to 41.
So, before we determine what happened to Jesus, we
must understand what happened to Jonah, to Prophet Jonah before because Jesus
claimed that the same miracle would be repeated? What
was the sign of Jonah? Did he die in the Belly of the Fish and was he
later on revived from death? There is unanimity among all Christian, Jew and
Muslim scholars that Jonah did not die in the Belly of the Fish. He
precariously hung between life and death and was miraculously saved from that
situation while any other person in his place would have died. Yet some subtle
laws of nature under the divine commandment/ command must have conspired
together to save him from death.
Remember! We are not debating the issue of that being
possible or not! We are only pointing out that Jesus when he pointed out that
the like of what happened to Jonah would also happen to him. He could only have
made that what everybody understood to have occurred in the case of Jonah would
occur in his case. No one in the entire world of Judaism whether in the land of
Judah or anywhere else the Jews had dispersed and settled would have received a
different message from this claim of Jesus.
They all believe that Jonah miraculously or otherwise
survived for three days and nights in the Belly of the Fish and did not die in
that period for a single moment. Of course, we have own reservation regarding
this issue, of course! The story of Jonah as told to us in the Holy Quran does
not mention anywhere that it was for three days and nights that Jonah suffered
his trials in the Belly of the Fish. However we return to the case in point and
try to bring to light the actual similarities which were predicted by Jesus
Christ between Jonah and himself. Those similarities spoke clearly of spending
three days and nights in extremely precarious circumstances and a miraculous
revival from near death and not of coming back to life from death; the same
Jesus claim would happen in his case.
I thank you for your question. May God open your mind and you can understand this very clearly. Thank you very much.