19 Bible & Quran - The Qur'anic Account of Jesus' Ascent to God's Presence

GOD'S PROMISE:
PROPHET JESUS (Pbuh)
WILL RETURN
The lives of God's chosen Messengers contain manymessages and lessons
for all people, especially when we study their encounters, their
troubles, and their great struggles. The Qur'an cites Jesus as an
example for people to follow, because of how he conducted his life and
hisstruggle, and because of his great virtue.
Jesus' birth, life, and ascension to God's presence are all miracles
that the Qur'an reveals in some detail. Although God reveals the
narratives of many Prophets, Jesus, whom God supported with superior
wisdom, is set apart from the others in several aspects, among them
that he spoke even in the cradle, and that hewas the vehicle for
countless miracles while he was in this world. That his status is
different also can be deduced from the fact that he was raised to
God's presence and that the Qur'an indicates strongly his second
coming.
The Qur'an reveals that the unbelievers devised aplot to take Jesus'
life. According to some sources, a group of bigoted Jewish scribes and
priests bribed Judas Iscariot, one of the disciples, to betray him,
after which they would arrest Jesus and hand him over to the Romans.
According to the same sources, the priests did not have the power to
sentence someone to death and so had to make another plan to agitate
the Roman regime. Thus, they portrayed Jesus as being hostile to the
Roman leadership, for the Romans were highly sensitive and ruthless
when confronted with dissidents. But these priests failed, for the
Qur'an relates:
They [unbelievers] planned and God planned. But God is the best of
planners. (Surah Al 'Imran, 3:54)
As the verses reveal, they plotted and moved to killJesus. However,
their plotfailed and they ended upkilling a look-alike. During this
event, God raised Jesus up to His presence:
And [on account of] theirsaying: "We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of
Mary, Messenger of God." They did not kill him and they did not
crucify him, but it was made to seem so to them. Those who argue about
him are in doubt about it. They have no real knowledge of it,
justconjecture. But they certainly did not kill him.God raised him to
Himself. God is Almighty, All-Wise. (Surat An-Nisa', 4:157-158)
Many people believe in the widespread assumption that the Romans
crucified Jesus. The Roman soldiers and Jewish priests who arrested
Jesus are said to have killed him on the cross. Although some
historical Christian sects such as Docetism have denied this, today,
the world of Christianity completely believes it, as well as that he
was resurrected three days later and, after several brief meetings
with his disciples and others, ascended into the heavens.
The Qur'an, however, says otherwise. The reality revealed in the
verses is clear. The Romans, abetted by someJews' agitation, attempted
to kill Jesus but did not succeed. The expression "but it was made to
seem so to them" reveals this fact. God showed them a look-alike and
raised Jesus up to His presence. Our Lord also reveals thatthose who
made that claim had no knowledge of the truth.
In the early years of Christianity, several viewson Jesus' fate
emerged. In the subsequent centuries and until the articles of faith
were fullyformulated at the Councilof Nicea (325), these ideological
differences continued to persist, and movements that claimed that
Jesus had not been crucified were accused ofheresy and its members
were persecuted.
The Qur'anic Account of Jesus' Ascent to God's Presence
Examining the words used in the narratives relating how the Prophets
died and the verses dealing with Jesus'ascent to God's presence
reveals an important fact:Jesus did not die like the other prophets
did, nor was he murdered by the unbelievers. Rather, our Lord took him
up to His presence. In this chapter, we will examine the Arabic words
used to express how the Prophets died and how Jesus was raised up to
God's presence, and investigate how the Qur'an uses them.
As we will see in greater detail later on, the Qur'anusesqataloohu(to
kill),maata(to die),halaka(to perish),salaboohu(they crucified him),
or some other special expressions to describe the death or murder of
the Prophets. In the case of Jesus, the Qur'an clearly states that he
was not killed in any of those ways, for:"They did not kill him[wa ma
qataloohu]and did not crucify him [wa ma salaboohu]."God reveals that
people were shown a look-alike and that Jesus was raised up to
Hispresence, as follows:
When God said: "Jesus, I will take you back [mutawaffeeka]and raiseyou
up [wa raafi`uka] to Me and purify you of those who are unbelievers.
And I will place the people who follow you above those who are
unbelievers until the Day of Rising..." (Surah Al 'Imran, 3: 55)
The following are the ways in which the words referring to death in
the Qur'an and the word waffaa in Surah Al `Imranare used:
(1)
Waffaa: To Cause To Die, To Take in One's Sleep, or To Take Back
The word used in Surah Al `Imran 3 and translated as "taking back"
here and "causing to die" in some Qur'an translations, has various
connotations. Examining the Arabic verses clearly reveals that these
connotations of the wordshould be considered while applying it to
Jesus' situation. The Qur'an describes his being taken back to God in
the words that Jesus will say on the Day of Judgment:
[Jesus said], "I said to them nothing but what You ordered me to say:
'Worship God, my Lord and your Lord.' I was a witness against them as
long as I remained among them, but when You took me back to
You[tawaffaytanee], You were the One watching over them. You are the
Witness of all things." (Surat al-Ma'ida, 5:117)
In Arabic the word that istranslated in some translations of this
verse as "You have caused me to die" comes from the rootwaffaa– to
fulfil. It does not actually mean"death" but the act of"taking the
self back." In fact, in Arabic commentaries it is not used in the
sense of death. The commentary of Imam al-Qurtubi is oneexample of
this; he used the expression "the taking away of the selves" for the
word in question. From the Qur'an again, we understand that "taking
the self back" does not necessarily mean death. For instance, it can
mean"taking back the self while one is asleep," as indicated in the
following verse:
It is He Who takes you back to Himself[yatawaffaakum] at night, while
knowing the things you perpetrate by day, and then wakes you up again,
so that a specifiedterm may be fulfilled. (Surat al-An'am, 6:60)
The word used for "take back" in this verse is the same as the one
used in Surah Al 'Imran 55. In other words, in the verse above, the
wordwaffaais used and it is obvious that one does not die in one's
sleep. Therefore, what is meant here is, again, "taking the self
back." In the following verse, the same word is used like this:
God takes back people's selves[yatawaffaa]whentheir death [mawtihaa]
arrives and those who have not yet died, while they are asleep[lam
tamut]. He keeps hold ofthose whose death [mawt] has been decreedand
sends the others back for a specified term. (Surat Az-Zumar, 39:42)
As this verse clarifies, Godtakes back the self of the one who is
asleep, yet Hesends back the selves of those whose deaths haveyet not
been decreed. In this context, in one's sleep one does not die, inthe
sense in which we perceive death. Only for atemporary period, the self
leaves the body and remains in another dimension. When we wake up, the
self returns to the body. 1
Another instance in which sleep is regarded as a kind of death, but
which does not refer to biological death, is the following du'a, which
the Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and grant him peace) often
used to recite when he woke up: "All praise is forGod, Who has made us
alive after He made us die [sleep].(Al-hamdu li Allah illadhi ahyana
ba'da maa amatana; wa ilayhi al-nushoo)" (Narrated by Abu Hudhayfa;
Sahih Bukhari). 2No doubt, he used these wise words not to refer to
biological death when one is asleep, but rather to a sleeping person's
soul being "taken." Ibn Kathir,the famous Islamic scholar and
commentator, used this hadith, along with many other proofs in his
commentary on Surah Al 'Imran, to explain thatwaffaarefers to sleep.
In addition, he indicated the word's meaning in other verses where it
appears. He then gave hisopinion using a hadith handed down by Ibn Abi
Hatim:Ibn Abi Hatim says that:"My father told us … from Hassan that
the meaning of the verse 'I will take you back...' is this: Here
itmeans that 'I shall kill you with the death of sleep; in other
words, I shall cause you to sleep.' So God raised Jesus (pbuh) to the
heavens while he was asleep … As an incontrovertible truth,God caused
Jesus (pbuh) to die the death of sleep and then raised him to the sky,
rescuing him from the Jews, who wereinflicting suffering upon him at
the time." 3
(2)
Qatala: To Kill
The Qur'an uses qatala to mean "to kill," as in the following verse:
Pharaoh said: "Let me kill [aqtulu] Moses and let him call upon his
Lord! I am afraid that he may change your religion and bring
aboutcorruption in the land." (Surah Ghafir, 40:26)
In Arabic, "let me kill Moses" isaqtulu Musa, a phrase that is derived
from the verbqatala.In another verse, the same word is used in the
following way:
... [That was because they] killed [yaqtuloona]the Prophets without
any right to do so. (Suratal-Baqara, 2:61)
The expressionyaqtuloona(they killed) is also derived from qatala. The
translation is clearly "to kill."
The verses below speak of the deaths of the Prophets, and the usage of
the verbqatalais marked. All words in brackets are derivatives of this
verb.
We will write down what they said and their killing [wa qatlahum]
ofthe Prophets without any right to do so. (Surah Al 'Imran, 3:181)
Say: "Why, then, if you are believers, did you previously
kill[taqtuloona]the Prophets of God?" (Suratal-Baqara, 2:91)
As for those who reject God's Signs, and kill[yaqtuloona]the Prophets
without any right to do so, and kill[yaqtuloona]those who command
justice... (Surah Al 'Imran, 3:21)
"Kill [uqtuloo] Joseph orexpel him to some land."(Surah Yusuf, 12:9)
..."Moses, the Council is conspiring to kill you[li yaqtulooka]."
(Surat al-Qasas, 28:20)
The only answer of his [Abraham's] people was to say: "Kill[uqtuloohu]
him or burn him!" (Suratal-'Ankabut, 29:24)
(3)
Halaka: To Perish
Another word used to denote the act of killing is halaka. It also is
used to mean "to perish, to be destroyed, or to die," as in the verse
given below:
... when he [Joseph] died[halaka], you said: "God will never send
another Messenger after him."(Surah Ghafir, 40:34)
The phraseidha halakais translated as "when he died." meaning "to die."
(4)
Mawt: Death
Another word used to relate a Prophet's death ismawt,a noun derived
from the verbmaata(to die), as follows:
Then when We decreed that he [Prophet Solomon] should die [mawt],
nothing divulged his death [mawtihi] to them except the worm that ate
his staff. (Surah Saba', 34:14)
In the following verse, another form of the verb is used:
Peace be upon him [Prophet John] the day he was born, the day he dies
[yamootu], and the day he is raised up againalive. (Surah Maryam,
19:15)
The wordyamootuis translated here as "they day he dies," and the same
word is used (in theform of a noun) to relate Jacob's death:
Or were you present when death [mawt] came to Jacob? (Surat al-Baqara, 2:133)
In another verse, the verbsqatala(in the passive form qutila)
andmaataare used together:
Mohammed is only a Messenger, and he has been preceded by other
Messengers. If he were to die [maata] or be killed [qutila], would you
turn on your heels? (Surah Al 'Imran, 3:144)
Other forms of the verb are used in other verses to denote the death
of Prophets:
She exclaimed: "Oh if only I had died [mittu] before this time and
wassomething discarded and forgotten!" (Surah Maryam, 19:23)
We did not give any human being before youimmortality [khuld]. Andif
you die [mitta], will they then be immortal? (Surat al-Anbiya', 21:
34)
"He Who will cause my death [yumeetunee], then give me life."
(Suratash-Shu'ara', 26: 81)
(5)
Khalid: Immortal
The word khalid means immortality, permanence, and continued
existence, as in the following verse:
We did not give them bodies that did not eat food, nor were they
immortal[khalideena].(Surat al-Anbiya', 21:8)
(6)
Salaba: To Crucify
Another word used in theQur'an to relate death issalaba(to crucify).
This verb has various meanings (e.g., to hang, to crucify, to execute)
and is used in the following ways:
They did not kill him andthey did not crucify him [maa salaboohu].
(Surat An-Nisa', 4:157)
[Joseph said:] "One of you will serve his lord with wine, the other of
you will be crucified [yuslabu]." (Surah Yusuf, 12:41)
They should be killed or crucified [yusallaboo]. (Surat al-Ma'ida, 5:33)
[Pharaoh said:] "I will cut off your alternate hands and feet, and
thenI will crucify [la usallibannakum]every one of you." (Surat
al-A'raf, 7:124)
As the verses show, the words used to express Jesus' situation are
altogether different to those used to describe the deaths of the other
Prophets. God states that Jesus was neither killed nor crucified, that
a look-alike was killed in his place, and that he was taken back (in
other words that his soul was taken) and raised up to His presence.
When talking of Jesus', the Qur'an useswaffaa(to take the soul)
whereas when talking of the other Prophets, it uses qataloohu or maata
(and its derivatives) to mean"death" in the conventional sense. This
information shows us yetagain that Jesus' situation was extraordinary.
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1. Yuce Kuran'in Cagdas Tefsiri (The Contemporary Tafsir of the Holy
Qur'an) by Professor Suleyman Ates, Head of Department of Basic
Islamic Sciences at Istanbul University's Faculty of Divinity, Vol. 2,
49-50.
2. Narrated by Abu Hudhayfa; Sahih Bukhari;;Being the Tradition of
Saying and Doings of the Prophet Muhammad as Narrated by His
Companions, New Delhi, Islamic Book Service, 2002, hadith no. 6324,
239; Tafsir Ibn Kathir, abridged by Sheikh Muhammad Nasibar-Rafa'i,
London, Al-Firdous Ltd., 1999, 176
3.Ibn Kathir,Tafsir al-Qur'an al-'Azim, 1:573-576, Cairo, 1996