Author: Harris Abdullah
Surah 4: 157-158 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:- Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise;-
Does Al-Quran contradict the Injil in the matter of crucifixion of Christ or death of Christ? It is truly sad to see that this passage has been much misunderstood by different religious groups that made up their own conclusions and more often than not to suit their own agendas. However, for those who desire to be faithful to the truth ought to find out for themselves whether it was truly Christ himself who had been crucified and the whys and the wherefores of resurrecting Isa before the Day of Judgment. Those who are committed to the truth of Allah S.W.T and seek the truth will surely be given insight into this important matter that could have positive impact to your lives and experiences.
The mainstream traditional interpretation has always been saying that Isa Al-Masih was not crucified on the cross and instead someone else substituted Isa in the crucifixion and this had been much covered on previous phase of study. The main purpose of this interpretation is basically to nullify the idea of atonement that is held strongly by Christian doctrines. Whether one believes or not in the doctrine of atonement is a separate matter, ironically some Christians do not believe it either. The question that we should ask is: does Surah 4:157 even mentioned about atonement at all? If you look closely at the context of Surah 4:157 – Does it mention anything about atonement? You might assume that it does, but wrong assumption is the greatest pitfall and fallacy of all deductions. It is very clear that it didn’t mention anything about atonement, these are two separate matters after all, but more so is that even the idea of atonement does not seem to be relevant in this context as though it has been put aside.
In the previous phase we saw that the power of execution on the cross had always been in the hands of the Romans. Having such strong sentiment to put Christ to the cross, it became an illusion of the Jews’ desire 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 carry out the crucifixion; crucifixion did take place because the Jews boasted that they killed Isa. However, we need to leave no stone unturned by further investigate if it was Christ himself being crucified. Thus, it is very important to study in detail the word شُبِّهَ shubbiha translated as ‘made to appear’ because many people have tried to read a lot of meanings into this word causing much confusion than bringing enlightenment.
Thus, I would propose to do a word study on the word شُبِّهَ translated as ‘made to appear’ because it is the most concrete way to find the answer. We can ask the following questions:
i) Could شُبِّهَ be understood only as substitution, an illusion?
ii) What is the greatness of Allah S.W.T/Yahweh that is being shown in Surah 4:157-158?
iii) What is the purpose of Allah S.W.T demonstrating His greatness as shown in these surah?
How many times does this word شُبِّهَ appear in the Quran? The triliteral root shīn bā hā
ش ب ه) ) occurs 12 times in the Quran in four derived forms:
- Once as the form II verb shubbiha (شُبِّهَ) – translated as ‘made to appear’ (Surah 4: 157).
- Four times as the form VI verb tashābaha (تَشَٰبَهَ) – translated as ‘became alike/seemed alike/look alike’ (Surah 2: 118, 13: 16, 2: 70) and once as ‘allegory’ (Surah 3: 7).
- Six times as the form VI active participle mutashābih (مُتَشَٰبِه) – mostly translated as ‘resembling/similar/in resemblance’ in noun form (Surah 2:25, 6:99, 6:141, 39:23) and once translated as ‘allegorical’ in adjective form (Surah 3: 7).
- Once as the form VIII active participle mush’tabih (مُشْتَبِه) – translated as ‘resembling’ (Surah 6: 99).
**(Kindly note that the meanings of the words with triliteral root shīn bā hā are derived from the original meaning from Arabic text and not from English translation of the Quran)
From here we could see that the word such as ‘made to appear’ as a verb (form II) only appeared once in the Quran in Surah 4: 157 but the verb (form VI) was used more often and was translated as ‘became/seemed/look alike’. It is closer to the noun (form VI) as ‘resemblance/resembling/similar’. The word could be rightly understood as ‘resemblance/similitude’ in noun form or in verb form to mean ‘look alike’ or ‘seem alike’ but not of the ‘same’. Since shubbiha (شُبِّهَ) only appeared once in the Quran, we can only obtain its meaning from the words with the same root word. Besides, we will get the contextual meaning from the verse and the passage where the word appeared. From all the words with the same triliteral root shīn bā hā, it gives us the idea that the word shubbiha (شُبِّهَ) can have the meaning of ‘made to look alike/resemble/similar ‘. In order to confirm our finding, we take a look at the “A Dictionary and Glossary of the Quran” by John Penrice. The word shubbiha (شُبِّهَ) is defined as ‘to be made like’. Other related words like shibbun ( شِبْهٌ ) is defined as ‘a likeness’ and shabbaha (شَبَّهَ) is defined as ‘to liken’. Therefore, the word shubbiha can mean ‘to be made like’/’to be made alike’ based on the meanings gathered from all other words with the same triliteral root and the dictionary.
The right question we need to ask is: what exactly was ‘to be made like’ or ‘to be made alike’? This means we have to look at the context of the verse and passage to get the answer. Is it made like a person or made like something else in the context? Upon careful examination, the context is about the messengers of Allah S.W.T that were slain or killed by the messengers’ own people, whether directly or through instigation it doesn’t really matter. The matter is that these messengers of Allah were slain/killed. Hence, what was ‘made like’/’made alike’? In the same verse in 4: 157, apart from talking about killing Isa, it was also about crucifying Isa. So, if we are faithful to the context of the text, the contextual meaning of that part of the verse should be read as “….so it was made like/made alike Christ was crucified and killed to them”. It looks as though they had successfully put him to death. This further confirms what he had studied previously that Isa’s crucifixion had nothing to do with substitution (which obviously had been read into the passage).
Let us look at another verse on how the word with triliteral root shīn bā hā (ش ب ه) was used in another verse:
Surah 13: 16 Say: “Who is the Lord and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth?” Say: “(It is) Allah.” Say: “Do ye then take (for worship) protectors other than Him, such as have no power either for good or for harm to themselves?” Say: “Are the blind equal with those who see? Or the depths of darkness equal with light?” Or do they assign to Allah partners who have created (anything) as He has created, so that the creation seemed to them similar? Say: “Allah is the Creator of all things: He is the One, the Supreme and Irresistible.”
The other creation purportedly created by the partners of Allah and Allah’s creation are seemed similar/alike. It is another creation that looks like Allah’s creation and not an illusion.
Jesus was ‘made to appear’ as crucified to them. From the study above, we see that ‘appearance’ can take the meaning of ‘resemblance’ or ‘similitude’ though it may not mean the same. Why is it just a resemblance or likeness of crucifixion? Or (شُبِّهَ) is actually pointing towards the resemblance of death rather than wood and nails? Surah 4: 158 provided the explanation that Allah S.W.T raised up Isa. People who are truly dead are said to be permanently dead. The amazing difference is that the death of Isa Al Masih is unlike the deaths of others which are permanent; his death was only temporary. It is precisely his death was temporary that it could only be said that he seemed/looked like to have been killed, he only experienced a likeness of death. This would now make more sense of Al-Masih Isa’s own words in Surah 19: 33.
وَالسَّلاَمُ عَلَيَّ يَوْمَ وُلِدتُّ وَيَوْمَ أَمُوتُ وَيَوْمَ أُبْعَثُ حَيًّا
“So peace is on me the day I was born, the day that I die, and the day that I shall be raised up to life (again)”!
This statement echoes the same words that were mentioned of John the Baptizer (prophet Yahya) in Surah 19:15.
وَسَلاَمٌ عَلَيْهِ يَوْمَ وُلِدَ وَيَوْمَ يَمُوتُ وَيَوْمَ يُبْعَثُ حَيًّا
So Peace on him the day he was born, the day that he dies, and the day
that he will be raised up to life (again)!
This is a parallel passage used for John the Baptizer because he was indeed slain by his own people and died. It is like a double confirmation of Isa’s death but the only difference is that his death is not in a permanent sense. Isn’t that great news! You have a lot of messengers/prophets talked about resurrection but who had actually experienced it? And who had truly experienced triumph over death himself? Isn’t this truly remarkable of what Allah S.W.T can do? When we look at the whole life journey of Isa Al-Masih from the time of his birth to the point of his death and resurrection from death, it is filled with clear signs of Allah to the whole alamin (Surah 2: 87, 2: 253, 3: 49, 23: 50, 61: 6) . All these signs are meant to point to Allah Himself who is the Great and Almighty and through the life of Isa Al-Masih, Allah S.W.T wanted to do something wonderful for His people which we will find out more in future studies.
Conclusion:
i) شُبِّهَ has nothing to do with illusion nor substitution but has everything to do with resemblance or likeness because ‘it is made like’/made alike’ in Surah 4: 157. It is a likeness of crucifixion but more specifically points to the likeness of ‘death’, that it resembles death but not the same as in permanent sense.
ii) The greatness of Allah S.W.T/Yahweh that is shown in the above verses is that for those who obey and submit totally to Allah’s will, no matter what the circumstance is, Allah S.W.T promises to deliver them from the clutches of death or eternal condemnation. Such as the example shown here, that all the prophets who submit to the will of Allah S.W.T/Yahweh despite facing persecutions and death threats, Allah S.W.T/Yahweh will surely raise them up to Himself in the Last Day. So death is only temporary for the likes of the prophets.
iii) From here, it is very clear and simple. Al-Quran is written to show Allah’s greatness and He is the God of the Hebrews, the Christians and the Muslims. Allah S.W.T/Yahweh will only reveal the insight into the Quran to those who seek the truth. If you already have pre-conceived ideas and assumptions, then you will hinder the truth from speaking to you which means you will suffer great loss. My dear friends, let us with the openness of heart let Allah S.W.T/Yahweh guide you into the truth. It is very exciting to know that Allah S.W.T/Yahweh can save us from death through resurrection. Allah S.W.T/Yahweh has actually demonstrated that in the life of Isa Al-Masih. No wonder the name of Isa in Hebrew ‘Yeshua’ means Yahweh Saves.
iv) If the dead are resurrected on the Day of Judgment, why would Allah S.W.T allow Isa Al-Masih to be resurrected and raised to Himself even before the day of reckoning? What would Allah S.W.T wish to achieve by doing this? The exciting answers are for those who seek deeper life experiences instead of being religiously bound.
My dear brothers and sisters, could you truly say very confidently in your heart that on the day when you die, you will be resurrected to life? Is life to you just like a gamble? Could I do more good to outweigh the bad? How do you know you have done more good than bad? It seems that you are in the position of not knowing it at all, in that case you are on the losing end and you will not know at all when you are stuck in your own religious cycle. Is this the kind of life that Allah S.W.T wants us to have?
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* Main References, Online and Research Software Tools:
1. Arabic-English Lexicon, by Edward William Lane, (London: Willams & Norgate 1863)
3. The Al-Quran – Translation by Yusuf Ali
4. A Concordance of the Quran – Hanna A Kassis
5. The Taurat – The Hebrew Lexicons (http://www.tyndalearchive.com//TABS/Gesenius/index.htm; http://www.tyndalearchive.com/tabs/Gesenius/)
6. The Gospels & the Epistles – The Greek Lexicons
7. A Dictionary and Glossary of the Quran – by John Penrice
8. Bibleworks Software