The natural death of the Prophet Issah (Jesus) according to the Holy Quran

The issue of whether Issah (Jesus) is dead or still alive in Heaven has become a hotly debated controversy in Islam, since the advent of Ahmadiyyat in 1875 in India. This article resolves that controversy in the light of the Quran, the Islamic Traditions (Hadith) and cutting edge linguistic analysis.

The Bible, the Quran and the Hadith are profuse with prophecies concerning the second advent of Christ in the latter days. In Islam he is the Promised Messiah and the Guided One (Al-Mahdi). Around 1875 in India, a Muslim by name Hadrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian claimed on the basis of divine revelation to have fulfilled his advent in much the same way as the expected Elias by the Jews was fulfilled by John the Baptist.

If so then what is the status of belief in the continued existence of Christ in the heavens from which he shall descend in the latter days? In other words, the question of whether Christ is still alive or dead assumes one of importance. Around the 1970s or earlier, the Rector of the famous Azhar University of Egypt, Shaikh Mahmoud Shaltout, set up a committee of high-profile Muslim scholars to investigate from the Quran whether Christ was alive or dead. On the basis of their findings, he issued the Fatwa (Verdict) that Jesus was dead (Fata/wa).

Recently, around 2016, a spokesman of the Vatican declared that after waiting for Christ’s return to earth for the past nearly 2,000 years, Christ was no longer coming (The Echo). This declaration by the Vatican, head of Christendom, is tantamount to declaring that Christ was dead.

In the same vein, many independent research on the Turin shroud believed to have been used in wrapping the body of Christ have concluded that Christ was not dead when taken from the cross. After that he travelled to the Eastern countries, where after delivering his message to the rest of the lost İsraeli sheep, he passed away.

All these findings go to support the earlier Quran’s declaration 1,462 years ago that the Jews never killed Christ neither did they succeed in bringing about his death on the cross. On the contrary, Allah saved him from the accursed death and raised him in spiritual rank to Himself.

Controversies in interpretation of relevant Quranic verses surround the two key words, namely Tawaffa and Rafaa. The first word means to die while the second word can mean to lift up an object or to raise somebody in rank. In more than 32 verses of the Holy Book, it uses Tawaffa in the sense of death. It is only in two verses where it is used in the sense of sleep, and that is after qualifying Tawaffa (Death) with night (lail).

Says Allah in this regard: “And He (Allah) it is who takes away (Yatawaffaakum) your souls by night (lail)” (Quran 6:61).

In Quran 39:43, death (Tawaffa) is qualified by sleep (naum) to convey the sense of temporary death during sleep. However, when Allah or the Angels are the causes of death and man or any living thing is the object whose spirit is taken away to bring about the death, then it means only one thing, namely permanent death.

For example, the statement: “Allah Tawaffa Hu” meaning “Allah caused him to die.” Here the subject is Allah (God), the verb is Tawaffa (To cause death) and the object is Hu (him) which is the personal pronoun in the accusative form.

Let us apply this analysis to the following Quranic verse about Christ: “Oh Jesus I will cause thee to die a natural death (Mutawaffika) and then raise thee to Myself (Raafiuka Ilaiyya)” (Quran 3:56). God is the cause of death of Christ. Because death has preceded the raising of Christ to God, the meaning of (Raafiuka Ilaiyya) is interpreted as raising the spiritual rank to God or exalting him, and not raising him literally.

This should be so for the fact that once dead, bodies do not raise to God, but are interred in earthly graves to decay. Secondly, the phrase “Raising you to Myself” does not support the idea of physical resurrection of a body for the fact that God is Omnipresent in heaven and on earth according to the Quran.

Since Christ was raised to Him, then can it ever be imagined that Christ is also Omnipresent? Obviously not. In support of this, let us consider the statement of Abraham in the Quran uttered by him on the occasion when he was escaping from Mesopotamia from persecution: “I am going to my Lord (Rabii). He will guide me” (Quran 37:99). Notwithstanding this declaration of going to God, it is known that he was on his way to the Promised Land (Syria) where he finally settled. Meaning that the term “Going to my Lord” does not convey the sense of travelling literally to Allah Who is located in a specific place in space or on earth.

So is the meaning of “Raising you to Myself.” In Sahih Bukhari, Hadrat Ibn Abbas interprets the word “Mutawaffiika” (Quran 3:56) to mean “Mumituka” (I will cause you to die). The root word Tawaffa is the synonym of “Maata” used exclusively to mean death.

In reference to the Quran verse 5:118 with special reference to the words: “I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them, but since thou caused Me to die, thou hast been the watcher over them.” The verse is about how Jesus will absolve himself from the blame of deification of Mary and Christ by some of his followers on the Judgement Day.

Meaning that as long as he lived among them he taught them only One God. For example, he declared in the Gospels: “Hear ye oh Israel the God your Lord is only One God.” And that it was only after his death when the deification, besides One God, began. So he was unaware of their misguidance after his death.

Interpreting the same verse, says the Holy Prophet in Sahih Bukhari: “Then the Angels of God will take away some men from my companions from here and there. At that I will say; ‘They are my companions.’ Then they will reply; ‘You do not know what they did after you.’ Then I will say just as the pious servant of Allah (Jesus) will also say; ‘I was a witness over them as long as I lived among them, but since thou didst cause me to die thou hast been the watcher over them’” (Bukhari).

Look at how the Holy Prophet has most eloquently interpreted the verse! The men being taken away by the Angels from his companions were those people who rebelled during the Khilifat of Abu Bakar leading to wars and fighting. That was at a time when the Prophet was dead and was unaware of their misdeeds.

By likening himself to the Prophet Jesus who preceded him, all that he wanted to convey by repeating the same words of Christ on the judgement day in defense is that the rebellion by some of the Muslims occurred after his death and not while he was alive in much the same way as the deification by some of Christ’s followers occurred after the death of Christ.

If therefore Muhammed died and was unaware of the misdeeds by some of his followers, then Christ was also dead and was unaware of deification by some of his followers. Assuming for the sake of argument that the self-same Christ returns back to earth, he will certainly hear and see the deification. After his death and when questioned by God during the judgement can he deny that he was unaware of his deification and that of his mother by followers? Obviously not. You can thus appreciate the fact that Christ is dead according to the verdict of Islam’s Prophet.

The above is only a tip of the iceberg concerning the numerous Quranic arguments to the effect that Christ died a natural death on this earth. According to the Holy Prophet, he lived and died at the ripe old age of 120 years (Kanzul Umal).

Conclusion
Christ is dead and shall never return to this earth in his self-same body.

BY KHALID KOFI AHMAD

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