The crucifixion of Jesus (Nabi Isa alaihissalām)

بسم الله، والصلاة والسلام على رسـول الله

Sūrah an-Nisa’ 4:157

وَّقَوْلِهِمْ اِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيْحَ عِيْسَي ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ ۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوْهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوْهُ وَلٰكِنْ شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ ؕ وَاِنَّ الَّذِيْنَ اخْتَلَفُوْا فِيْهِ لَفِيْ شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ ؕ مَا لَهُمْ بِهٖ مِنْ عِلْمٍ اِلَّا اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ ۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوْهُ يَقِيْنًۢا ۙ

And [for] their saying, “Indeed, we have killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.” And they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; but it was made to appear as such. And indeed, those who differ over it are in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain.

This āyah of the Qur’ān is quite clear on what happened. The āyah first disposes of their (those who rejected Jesus) claim that they killed the Messiah, Jesus the son of Mary ‘alaihimussalām and says ‘they did not succeed in killing him’

Secondly, the āyah continues and says ‘they didn’t crucify him either’ and this is where many Muslims get off the track! So in order to understand this part of the āyah, first We have to understand what the word ‘crucify’ means.

Crucify – ‘To be put to death while on a cross’

(if the person didn’t die on the cross then the use of the term ‘crucifixion’ is not applicable because crucifixion is a complete process till the person dies on the cross not an incomplete one!)

So Allāh is informing us that they didn’t succeed in crucifying him i.e., killing him while he was on the cross. Well if they didn’t succeed in killing and crucifying him then what actually happened? Allāh continues and says, 'It was made to appear as such!'

It was made to appear to them that they were successful in killing him while he was on the cross and that they were successful in crucifying him.

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Sūrah Aal-e-Imran 3:55

اِذْ قَالَ اللّٰهُ يٰعِيْسٰۤي اِنِّيْ مُتَوَفِّيْكَ وَرَافِعُكَ اِلَيَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا وَجَاعِلُ الَّذِيْنَ اتَّبَعُوْكَ فَوْقَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْۤا اِلٰي يَوْمِ الْقِيٰمَةِ ۚ ثُمَّ اِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَاَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ فِيْمَا كُنْتُمْ فِيْهِ تَخْتَلِفُوْنَ

When Allah said, “O Jesus, indeed I will take your soul and raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieve and make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. Then to Me is your return, and I will judge between you concerning that in which you used to differ.

This āyah of the Qur’ān delivers to us the complete picture of what happened to Nabī ‘īsa ‘alaihissalām if he wasn’t crucified. The āyah starts with a conversation that Allāh and Nabī ‘Īsā ‘alaihissalām had, most probably while he was on the cross and Allāh is consoling him by informing him that He will give him ‘Wafāt’ and raise him unto Himself and Purify him.

• What does wafāt mean?

Sūrah az-Zumar 39:42

اَللّٰهُ يَتَوَفَّي الْاَنْفُسَ حِيْنَ مَوْتِهَا وَالَّتِيْ لَمْ تَمُتْ فِيْ مَنَامِهَا ۚ فَيُمْسِكُ الَّتِيْ قَضٰي عَلَيْهَا الْمَوْتَ وَيُرْسِلُ الْاُخْرٰۤي اِلٰۤي اَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّي ؕ اِنَّ فِيْ ذٰلِكَ لَاٰيٰتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَّتَفَكَّرُوْنَ

Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that do not die [He takes] during their sleep. Then He keeps those for which He has decreed death and releases the others for a specified term. Indeed in that are signs for a people who give thought.

So wafāt is taking of the soul and the initial stage of al Maut i.e., death, but doesn’t necessarily mean ‘death’ because Allāh says He gives wafāt to a sleeping person as well. So if Allāh gave wafāt and didn’t return the soul to the body then the person dies ‘maut’ and if Allāh returns the soul then the person is to be considered as in a state of sleep.

Hence the āyah is very clear that Allāh is taking Nabī ‘Īsa ‘alaihissalām’s soul but there’s no mention of his Maut in this āyah.

Allāh says that He will raise Nabī ‘īsā unto Himself!

• Well, if Allāh has already said that He took Jesus's soul then why does He again say that He will raise him or take him unto Himself? It’s obvious now that Allāh here is speaking about two different intances/scenes. Hence the understanding of this āyah should be that “Allāh Took Jesus's Soul (wafāt), He Then Returned It (i.e., soul) To His Body (after a while) and Rose Him Unto Himself (took Jesus unto Himself with his soul and body together)”

Now we have been given a task, a homework to do and ask ourselves why did Allāh take his soul at the first instance and why does He inform us that He took Jesus unto Himself in the latter instance?

The answer lies in the āyah quoted at the beginning ‘Sūrah an-Nisa 157’,

Allāh saying 'وَمَا' صَلَبُوْهُ' is the first instance where Allāh is rejecting their claim that they were successful in crucifying him because what actually happened there was, Allāh gave Jesus wafāt i.e., took Jesus’s soul while he was on the cross and Allāh giving him wafāt resulted in no movement of his body so they thought he had died!

And because they thought that Jesus died (never knowing that Allāh just took his soul would return it later) they thought they were successful in crucifying him. All of this is conveyed to us with the conclusion that Allāh ‘شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ’ made it appear to them that 'what they wanted had come true i.e., killing/crucifying Jesus on the cross'

Now coming to the latter instance, after they brought Jesus’s body down, Allāh returned his soul (we don’t know when but the sources say on the third day) and then raised him unto Himself. Sources say that after his disciples took him down from the cross they placed his body in a cave and when they visited the cave on the third day they didn’t find his body where it was placed and this is when وَرَافِعُكَ اِلَيَّ (raising Jesus unto Himself) happened. We don’t know on what day his soul was returned back to his body (whether the same day that he was taken down from the cross or the second day or the third) and on what day he was raised to Allāh Himself.

The conclusion of these āyahs of the Qur’ān are pretty clear and the Qur’ān itself rejects any other theory that’s being put forth apart from this Qur’ānic explanation of that particular event.

And Allāh knows best