Author: Harris Abdullah
Surah 4: 157 That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”;- but they 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 (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not:-
As we saw in the previous study concerning the matter of Isa’s crucifixion, it is wrong to interpret the word of Allah according to the teaching of the early Christian sects because of the danger of deifying Christ as well as blaspheming Allah, making Him a liar.
On the second phase of this study, I would propose that we read the context of Surah 4:157 from Surah 4:153 and ask some important basic questions:
i) Who was the subject being addressed from Surah 4:153 to 4:157?
ii) Did the subject being addressed here crucify/kill Jesus the Messiah?
iii) If they didn’t, would other party able/allowed to crucify/kill the Messiah?
The context of the passage from Surah 4: 153 to 4: 157 is all talking about the Jews. Upon studying Surah 4:153, the context of which is about an early account of Allah’s dealing with His chosen people, the Jews, highlighting the account of breaking the covenant with Allah and with Allah’s Prophet Moses; they rejected faith even after witnessing all the miracles that had happened. Yet, again in later history, the Jews once more rejected faith at the miracles of the birth of Al-Masih Isa and accused Mary of committing serious sin out of wedlock. The Jews at that time could not accept and reject the miracles of Allah to such extent that they plotted to kill Al-Masih Isa with their own hands, kind of repeating the same sentiment that happened in Surah 4:155, recounting the history, “….they slew the Messengers in defiance of right” – shows that they just couldn’t accept the messages these messengers of Allah delivered to them. Not only they couldn’t accept the messages, they couldn’t obey, they just didn’t want to listen anymore to the point of wanting to kill these messengers. Therefore, throughout the history they had succeeded to kill these messengers with their own hands.
Upon examination of the Quran, we can see a total of 8 occurrences that talked about slaying of the prophets/messengers of Allah (Surah 2: 87; 2: 91; 33: 26; 4: 155; 2: 61; 3: 21; 3:112; 5:70). Surah 4: 155 about the slaying of the messengers came right before Surah 4: 157 concerning Isa’s crucifixion. Thus, killing the prophets and messengers was not something that the Jews had not done before. With this background in mind, it reflects the same sentiment towards Al-Masih Isa on that day; they seriously wanted to slay him with their own hands. But no matter how great was their desire to kill Isa, they just couldn’t do it because they were bound by the Roman authorities and laws; basically they didn’t have the power to do it. Hence, the one who was able and with the power to put Isa Al Masih to death were the Romans. The power of execution on the cross had always been in the hands of the Romans. Hopefully, you could see the deep sentiment and emotions of the Jews to the point that they thought they had put Isa to death. So deep were the emotions till they became an illusion of their own desires, such that the Quran stated the illusion of boasting ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah’. The Jews were successful in instigating the Romans to crucify Isa; crucifixion did take place because the Jews boasted that they killed Isa. The issue at hand is whether Isa Al-Masih was truly crucified.
Jesus was ‘made to appear’ as crucified to them. From the previous study, we saw that ‘appearance’ can take the meaning of ‘resemblance’ though it may not mean the same. Why is it just a resemblance or likeness of death? Surah 4: 158 provided the explanation that Allah raised up Isa. We have heard of people who had been certified dead clinically but woke up suddenly few moments later and in some cases, a few days later. Can you say that they were dead? No, because they woke up later. They only went through an experience of death; they experienced a likeness of death, an apparent death. Likewise in the case of Isa, his death was only apparent, he only seemed to have died, his death was temporary because Allah raised him up to Himself.
The idea of resurrection is not something new in the Quran. In Surah 2: 259, it was mentioned “… but Allah caused him to die for a hundred years, then raised him up (again).” Obviously, the person was resurrected by Allah. In Surah 30: 56, it talked about the Day of Resurrection. Other verse like Surah 22: 7 says “And verily the Hour will come: there can be no doubt about it, or about (the fact) that Allah will raise up (ie. resurrect) all who are in the graves.” As for the case of Isa, there is no doubt that he was raised or resurrected from death by Allah to Himself. By resurrecting or raising up Isa to Himself, Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise (Surah 4: 158). Here, there is no element of fraud as opposed to those who insisted that Isa was substituted by someone else at the cross. This poses a question that only requires common sense to answer: Is Allah exalted in power and declared wise when He resurrected Isa from death or by simply substituting someone else for Isa at the cross (like a magic show) and Isa ascended to Allah in the physical body?
If someone wanted to insist that Isa ascended to Allah in the physical body, he will have to explain how a physical person can survive in the spiritual realm where all the spiritual beings like angels reside. Physical body in the spiritual realm is unheard of. If Isa in the physical body is able to reside in heaven, then his body must be a very special body. Will this not exalt Isa to an even higher level?
It is important to note that crucifixion was a capital punishment reserved for the worst kind of criminals. Isa was regarded as the worst kind of criminals and was crucified among them. There is nothing glorious about death by crucifixion, moreover, when it involves a prophet/messenger. In this case, what is the real significance and purpose of what Allah wanted to reveal in Surah 4:157 to all alamin?
Conclusion :
i) From the above, we are able to see that the subject being addressed from Surah 4:153 onwards was the Jews. Even with such miracles happened at the time of Prophet Moses, they rejected the signs or miracles of Allah, they later did not honor the covenant. The messengers were sent to warn them but instead of listening to them, they slew the messengers.
ii) From history we begin to see that it was not the first time they slew the messengers with their own hands. Allah sent Al-Masih Isa as a sign even from his birth but the Jews rejected him by accusing and slandering Mary for being unchaste. Later, they refused to listen to Al-Masih Isa sent to them. They, being rebellious wanted so much to kill Al-Masih Isa but this time without any power or authority to execute it. The Jews were denied the satisfaction of doing it. They could only instigate the Romans to crucify Isa. During that time, it was the Romans who had the power and authority to put any person to the cross. The cross was basically the Romans’ way to punish criminals of the worst kind.
iii) From the background of Surah 4:157, it is meant to say that even though the Jews so desired but could not put Al-Masih Isa to death by their own hands, it did not mean that there were no other powers or authority that could not execute him. The Romans could and that was precisely what they did; they crucified Al-Masih Isa. So deep was the Jewish sentiment of wanting to do it themselves, it became an illusion as though they did put Isa to death. Hence, the statement “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”,- is basically stating the fact that it was an illusion of their own desire because they just did not have the authority to execute it themselves.
To be continued in Phase 3…..
__________________________________________________________________
Note: All Al-Quran verses are sourced from English Translation of Al-Quran by Abdullah Yusuf Ali, with thanks.