Death Of Jesus

DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST SOME POINTS TO BE REMEMBERED

There are innumerable evidences, scriptural, historical, and scientific, regarding death of Jesus Christ. A great and increasing number of scholars believe that he has died and shall never come back. This increasing number of scholars believing in the death of Jesus Christ proves the fulfillment of the prophecy of the Promised Messiah (a.s.) as he stated: O mankind! hearken, this is the prophecy of God Who made the Heavens and the Earth. He will spread this Movement in all the countries and will give it supremacy over all through reason and arguments. Remember, no one will descend from heaven. All our opponents who are living at present will die and not one of them will see Jesus, son of Mary, descend from the sky and then their children who survive them will also pass away and none of them will see Jesus, son of Mary, coming down from the heaven. Generations of their posterity will also perish and they too will not see the son of Mary descending from heaven. Then God will create restlessness in their hearts; that the day of the glory of the Cross had passed away and the world had taken another turn but Jesus, son of Mary, had still not come down from the sky. Then all the wise people will discard this belief and the third century from today will not have completed when all those who had been waiting for Jesus, both Muslims and Christians will despair of his coming and entertaining misgivings shall give up their belief and there will be only one Faith in the world and one preceptor. I came only to sow the seed. That seed has been sown by my hands. It will now grow and blossom forth and none dare retard its growth. (The Promised Messiah in Tazkira–tushShahadatain – R.K. vol-20, p-67)

The following are some quotes from the Holy Qur’an, Hadith and the Bible that confirm the notion that Jesus died a natural death:

PROMISE MADE

[3:56] Remember the time when Allah said, 'O Jesus, I will cause thee to die a natural death and will raise thee to Myself, and will clear thee of the charges of those who disbelieve, and will exalt those who follow thee above those who disbelieve, until the Day of Resurrection; then to Me shall be your return, and I will judge between you concerning that wherein you differ.' PROMISE FULFILLED

[5 118] `I said nothing to them except that which Thou didst command me - Worship ALLAH, my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them, but since Thou didst cause me to die, Thou, hast been the Watcher over them, and Thou art Witness over all things; I USED TO WATCHOVER THEM

11. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one, as we are. 12. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. (John 17:11, 12 - King James Version) ALL PROPHETS BEFORE MUHAMMAD (s.a.) HAVE PASSED AWAY

[3:145] And Muhammad is but a messenger. Verily all Messengers have passed away before him.

ALL PROPHETS BEFORE JESUS (a.s.) HAVE PASSED AWAY

[5:76] The Messiah, son of Mary, was only a Messenger; surely Messengers like unto him had passed away before him. RAISING JESUS “TOWARDS” GOD?

In the following verse it is stated that all of us, upon our death, return “towards” Him. Does it mean that we are raised physically? [2:157] Who, when a misfortune overtakes them, say, 'Surely, to Allah we belong and to Him shall we return.'

In the following verse Hadhrat Ibrahim (a.s.) has been quoted as saying that he is “going” towards his Lord. Does it imply that he was also raised towards God? [37:100] And he said, 'I am going to my Lord. He will, surely, guide me.'

Allah is every where, as stated by the following verse. Where then Jesus was raised? [6:4] And He is Allah, the God, both in the heavens and in the earth. [2:116] To Allah belongs the East and the West; so whithersoever you turn, there will be the face of Allah. Surely, Allah is Bountiful, AllKnowing.

NO HUMAN CAN ASCEND PHYSICALLY TO HEAVENS

In the following verse Allah has categorically expressed this principle that the Holy Prophet (s.a.) cannot physically ascend to the heavens, because he is a human being, though a prophet.

[17:94] 'Or, thou have a house of gold or thou ascend up into heaven; and we will not believe in thy ascension until thou send down to us a Book that we can read.' Say, 'Holy is my Lord! I am but a mortal sent as a Messenger.'

In the light of the above, if anyone believes that Jesus Christ physically ascended to heavens, he has to believe that Jesus was not a human being. In the following verse of the Bible, Jesus has mentioned that ascending to or descending from heavens is nothing but metaphorical. “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.” (JOHN 3:13)

DEATH OF JESUS VERIFIED BY THE HOLY PROPHET

Ibn-e-Abbas narrated that the holy Prophet (s.a.) delivered a sermon and said....... "On judgment day some people of my Ummah shall be brought and taken towards hell. I'll submit that O Allah these are from my Ummah. I'll be told that you don't know that they have made innovations in the law. Then I'll say the same sentence what the righteous servant of Allah Isa said that when You caused me to die, You were Watcher over them. I'll be told that they turned away from the religion"

(Bukhari, Kitab-ul-Tafseer, Vol-2, P-889)

THE FIRST CONSENSUS OF THE COMPANIONS (r.a.) OF THE HOLY PROPHET (s.a.)

Based on the account of Ibn-e-Abbas (r.a.), we know that upon hearing these words from Abu Bakr (r.a.), the gathering succumbed to the realization of the Holy Prophet’s (s.a.) death, including Umar (r.a.). Indeed Umar (r.a.) relates that when he heard these words, he felt his legs give away beneath him and he fell to the ground in grief and shock (Bukhari Kitab –ul-Maghazi, Vol-2, P811). If the Muslims at the time of the Holy Prophet (s.a.) possessed the belief that Jesus was alive and had not died a natural death, not only would have at least one of them raised this point, but Umar (r.a.) would not have been so unequivocally convinced. Indeed, Umar (r.a.) or another member of the congregation would have cited Jesus as an example of how the Holy Prophet (s.a.) could have escaped death and was merely physically raised to heaven, but they did not. Therefore, according to the understanding of the Muslims of the time, they must have understood the meaning of the above verse. Otherwise, the effect those words had on the gathering could not have been possible. IBN-E-KATHIR ACKNOWLEDGES DEATH OF JESUS

Hafiz Ibn-e-Kathir, a famous commentator of the Holy Qur’an has mentioned that there are certain Hadiths of the holy Prophet (s.a.) which shows that Jesus Christ has died and is not a living person any more. “In some Hadiths it is mentioned that had Moses and Jesus lived today they wouldn’t have any option but to follow me.” (Tafseer Ibn-eKathir vol-1, p-449)