Jesus - dead or alive?

Jesus is NOT dead and will come again

By: Khurshid Imam
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A. Introduction

Prophet Jesus is one of the messengers of Almighty God. He propagated teachings of God. Those who followed him were Muslims. His mother - Maryam - holds highest level of honor in Islam. Birth of Jesus was a miracle for people. Prophet Jesus was born without any male intervention. Like his birth - his departure also appears to be a miracle. Neither he was killed as planned by the Jews, nor did he DIE. He was raised up by almighty God.

However, some people have doubts regarding his departure. A few muslims (including very few scholars) believe that Jesus died!!! This belief is not because of any wrong intention, but because of some misunderstanding. With due respect to opinion holders of such belief - the following article will make it crystal clear that Jesus did not die and he will come again.

B. Quran clearly proves that Jesus is NOT dead.

Let's analyze those ayah which is used by people to prove that Jesus died.

1. Jesus did not die - Quran, Surah Al-Imran 3:55

إِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يعِيسَى إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَىَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ وَجَاعِلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوكَ فَوْقَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَـمَةِ ثُمَّ إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ فِيمَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ

Ith qala Allahu ya AAeesa innee mutawaffeeka warafiAAuka .......

And (remember) when Allah said: "O 'Îsa (Jesus)! I will take you and raise you to Myself and clear you of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to Me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute." Quran, Surah Al-Imran 3:55

Note: probably - none of the Quran translation (English and urdu at least) gives the complete gist of the arabic word "mutawaffeeka" due to which the chaos.

Supporter of Jesus-is-dead say - "The verse in 3:55 Allah uses a word which means death or termination of life. ... "O Jesus! I shall cause you to die and I shall exalt you towards me….. In order to fulfill the prophecy, first death will happen, second, he will be raised. Allah did not say He will raise Isa in any manner before his death. This argument is based on the key word 'wafat'. The meaning of “wafat” is death, or takes away soul. If soul is taken away from a person, it is nothing but death. The problem arises when with regards to this verse; Muslims refuse to interpret the meaning of "wafat" as death. Irony is that all scholars who translated the Holy Quran do agree "wafat" means death. They translated the word "wafat" as death in at least 20 different instances. However, in this particular verse, they interpreted the meaning as ‘take away’ and insinuate physical ascension.."

Using above argument - that arabic word "wafaat" means death - some people say that Jesus is dead as per 3:55. Now this misunderstanding is because of not grasping the complete meaning of the arabic word "wafaat".

Secret of Wafaat and maut (death) revealed

Wafaat and maut (death) - are not identical terms. Quran has maintained difference between these two words. To be short and precise - let us see what Allah has told about wafaat.

اللَّهُ يَتَوَفَّى الاٌّنفُسَ حِينَ مِوْتِـهَا وَالَّتِى لَمْ تَمُتْ فِى مَنَامِـهَا فَيُمْسِكُ الَّتِى قَضَى عَلَيْهَا الْمَوْتَ وَيُرْسِلُ الاٍّخْرَى إِلَى أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى إِنَّ فِى ذَلِكَ لاّيَـتٍ لِّقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

Allahu yatawaffa alanfusa heena mawtiha....................................

It is Allah Who takes away the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep. He keeps those (souls) for which He has ordained death and sends the rest for a term appointed. Verily, in this are signs for a people who think deeply. Quran, Surah Zumur 39:42 (Ibn Kaseer Translation)

Please concentrate on arabic words; above translation may not give you the exact content of this ayah. Re-reading the above ayah -

"It is Allah Who causes WAFAAT (or give WAFAAT) to NAFS (plural of nafs is mentioned) at the time of their MAUT (death), and those that die (MAUT) not during their sleep. He keeps those (NAFS) for which He has ordained MAUT (death) and sends the rest for a term appointed. Verily, in this are signs for a people who think deeply"

The miracle and secrets of this ayah will be revealed - but the condition is we need to think deeply - as described at the end of this ayah.

Also-give a look at this ayah:

.......وَهُوَ الَّذِى يَتَوَفَّـكُم بِالَّيْلِ Wahuwa allathee yatawaffakum biallayli....

It is He, Who causes WAFAAT by night (referring to the sleep)..... (Quran, Surah An'am 6:60)

Pondering over these two ayah -
1. At death and during sleep - a nafs (or an individual being) undergoes WAFAAT. Allah takes NAFS of a person when he dies and when he sleeps.
2. When a person dies then NAFS is held back by Allah. When a person is sleeping then nafs is returned finally.
3. So maut or death is a TYPE of wafaat. Death is always a wafaat but all wafaat need not be death.

Wafaat is super set of maut (death). For example: Every banglorean is an indian but every indian need not be a banglorean. Similarly every death (maut) is wafaat but NOT every wafaat is death. There are wafaat in which a person does not die; for ex- Sleep.

Note: Skipping the difference of words NAFS and RUH. For details wait for the article: Difference between ruh and nafs.

With the better understanding of the word wafaat let us come back to 3:55. Please note - here also Allah has used the word wafaat and NOT maut (death). If word maut was used here then supporters of Jesus-is-dead were right, but see the wisdom of Quran - Allah has used word wafaat here and NOT maut.

Re-reading 3:55 - And (remember) when Allah said: "O 'Îsa (Jesus)! I will give you wafaat and raise you to myself and clear you of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute." Quran, Surah Al-Imran 3:55

So this ayah says:
1. Allah will give wafaat to Jesus. He will not die rather undergo wafaat.
2. And Allah will raise him.
3. Jesus will be clear of all wrong allegations against him; viz: he is God or son of God. When he will come second time on earth he will make clear to christians that he did not teach trinity or he is God or he is son of God.
4. After death - all will be returned to Allah (on Qiyamah) and on the Day of Judgment Allah will judge between those who truly believed and followed Jesus and those who made wrong belief regarding him.

2. Jesus is yet to die - Quran, Surah Nisa 4:157-159

A. Quran, Surah Nisa 4:157

.......وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ

Waqawlihim inna qatalna almaseeha AAeesa ibna maryama rasoola Allahi wama qataloohu wama salaboohu walakin shubbiha lahum.......

Due to some mistranslation this ayah tries to give another distorted picture.

Supporter of Jesus-is-dead says - "Hilali and Khan: "And because of their saying (in boast) "We killed Messiah Isa (Jesus) son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allah," -but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of Isa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that man)….Please note carefully, Hilali and Khan translated the Arabic wa lakin subbiha lahum as "but the resemblance of Isa (Jesus) was put over another man". In the Arabic text given above, where are the words "of Isa" and "another man"? Surprisingly Hilali and Khan put interpolated words inside the translation suggesting that these were "revealed text". This is nothing but gross corruption. Yusuf Ali, Pichthall, Shakir, Rodwell, and many others did not commit such extreme corruption."

It is true that some muslims have believed in the fiction's story that someone resembling with Jesus was put to die on cross. wa lakin subbiha lahum does NOT mean that someone resembling with Jesus was put to death. The arabic word shubbiha implies that those Jews thought / understood that they had killed Jesus. Details of this event are beyond the scope of this article. Without going into one thing for sure is that Jesus was not killed or crucified as planned by the Jews.

B. Quran, Surah Nisa 4:158

.........بَل رَّفَعَهُ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ Bal rafaAAahu Allahu ilayhi......

he was raised by Allah

C. Quran, Surah Nisa 4:159

وَإِن مِّنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَـبِ إِلاَّ لَيُؤْمِنَنَّ بِهِ قَبْلَ مَوْتِهِ وَيَوْمَ الْقِيَـمَةِ يَكُونُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيداً

Wain min ahli alkitabi illa layuminanna bihi qabla mawtihi......

And there is none of the People of the Scripture, but surely he believes in him, before his death. And on the Day of Resurrection, he will be a witness against them

This Ayah acts as the last nail in the coffin of Jesus-is-dead theory. Reading 4:157-159 we see that Allah is talking about Jesus, his survival and he being raised up and then in 4:159 God says that "And there is none of the People of the Scripture, but must believe in him, before his death." It means that there will be no Jews / Christians left before the death of Jesus who will NOT believe in him, his real status, and his real teachings. In simple words all Christians will accept the real faith regarding Jesus i.e. real teachings of Jesus which is nothing but islam.
Here some people try to twist and say that "before his death" does not refer to death of Jesus rather death of Ahle kitab or Jews and Christians; hence Jesus is already dead. Ok! If this is true then it means every Jew and Christian - who lived during the time of Jesus (and as per you Jesus is dead) believed in Jesus!!! Is it true? No. We know that hardly a few followed him before his departure; most of them rejected him; Jews rejected him and tried to kill him. This ayah will hold true ONLY if Jesus is NOT dead and before his death there will be no ahle kitab left who will not have emaan (the real faith).

1. 4:159 makes clear that before the death of Jesus no jew/christian will be left who will be not momin. It means Jesus is yet to die.

2. Christians will believe in him and understand his real teachings; they will reject wrong faith viz: trinity, son of God and will accept real faith.

3. During that time only dajjal will appear for whom Jews have been waiting. Jews will accompany dajjal and in the subsequent fight jews and army of dajjal will be killed.

4. So we will have Christians as believers and Jews killed before the death of Jesus. This will prove "And there is none of the People of the Scripture, but must believe in him, before his death" true. This also explains that hadees of Bukhari (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 3, Book 43: Kitab-ul-`Ilm (Book of Knowledge), Hâdith Number 656:) which says that Jesus will abolish Jaziya. Jaziya will be abolished because there will be no one left for giving jazia as all will be momin.

C. Some clarifications

وَإِذْ قَالَ اللَّهُ يعِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ أَءَنتَ قُلتَ لِلنَّاسِ اتَّخِذُونِى وَأُمِّىَ إِلَـهَيْنِ مِن دُونِ اللَّهِ قَالَ سُبْحَـنَكَ مَا يَكُونُ لِى أَنْ أَقُولَ مَا لَيْسَ لِى بِحَقٍّ إِن كُنتُ قُلْتُهُ فَقَدْ عَلِمْتَهُ تَعْلَمُ مَا فِى نَفْسِى وَلاَ أَعْلَمُ مَا فِى نَفْسِكَ إِنَّكَ أَنتَ عَلَّـمُ الْغُيُوبِ - مَا قُلْتُ لَهُمْ إِلاَّ مَآ أَمَرْتَنِى بِهِ أَنِ اعْبُدُواْ اللَّهَ رَبِّى وَرَبَّكُمْ وَكُنتُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيداً مَّا دُمْتُ فِيهِمْ فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِى

And (remember) when Allah will say (on the Day of Resurrection): "O `Isa, son of Maryam! Did you say unto men: `Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allah''' He will say: "Glory be to You! It was not for me to say what I had no right (to say). Had I said such a thing, You would surely have known it. You know what is in my inner self though I do not know what is in Yours, truly, You, only You, are the Knower of all that is hidden and unseen.''. "Never did I say to them ought except what You (Allah) did command me to say: `Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.' And I was a witness over them while I dwelled amongst them, but when You took me up (when you gave me WAFAAT-look at the arabic word "tawaffaytanī"). , You were the Watcher over them, and you are a Witness to all things. Quran, Surah Maidah 5:116-117

This ayah is talking about the day of resurrection or judgement day. Supporters of Jesus-is-dead say - "If Jesus is alive today and will come before qiyamah then why:
His people will worship him (when he had recently come to earth) ?
Why he will tell that he did not command such thing, neither he know what wrong they have done?"

But supporters of Jesus-is-dead are mistaken. This ayah is referring to those Christians who worshiped him considering him God. For centuries Jesus will be worshiped by Christians and only when he will come second time that they will stop worshiping me. So this ayah is talking about those people who lived before his second coming and worshiped him. Also previously we have seen that before his death all Christians will become believer.

Please note "tawaffaytanī" at the end of ayah which is translated wrongly as "took me up". Here also - Allah did NOT mention that "when i gave you maut (death)"; rather ayah is speaking about WAFAAT. We have seen earlier that wafaat need not be maut or death. See the beauty of Quran, how carefully Allah has used each word in the Quran. This is one of the miracle fo Quran - choice of exact word!!!!!!!!

And Muhammad is no more than a messenger THE MESSENGERS HAVE ALREADY PASSED BEFOER HIM. if then he dies or is killed will you turn back upon your heels? And whoever turns back upon his heels!s, he will by no means do harm to Allah in the least and Allah will reward the grateful. Quran, Surah Al imran 3:144

Quoting this ayah some people try to prove that this ayah is referring that all messengers before Prophet Muhammad has DIED hence Jesus is also dead. But here also people are making mistake. Look at the Arabic word "khalat"; it means "passed away".It does not signify "messengers are already DEAD". Allah has not used word MAUT or death. Of course even Jesus has passed away or left, but not died.

D. Last - but not least

We know that most of life of Jesus is unknown to the world. We know about his birth, childhood and then as youth before his departure. Clear account of most of his life is unknown. Some historians have tried to prove that Jesus did come to india; especially kashmir. Bhawishya puran has very clear reference of prophet Jesus in himalaya region. All this might be correct. These information do not contradict with anything that i mentioned above. He may or may not have come to india - but one thing is for sure i.e. he did not die.

I strictly believe that no one is prophet after Prophet Muhammad - so all others are bound to err. A few muslim; who hold the belief that Jesus is dead - may have good intention - but they are mistaken because Quran speaks against the theory of Jesus-is-dead.
He will come again before the qiyamah. However, his second coming will not look like mythological story or a plain magic. His second coming will be accepted by the people as a genuine possibility. I - Khurshid imam - say with the full conviction that science will advance to such level that time that it will be within the range of possibility that time that human body could be converted into energy and then brought back into human body after long time. I - khurshid imam - say that it will be possible in future to stop time for a human being under certain conditions and Jesus today may or may not be in that condition. Remember - second coming of Jesus will be before the end of time so science would have reached to its highest level by that time.

Coming of Jesus here and going of Jesus from here - both are miracles for people.

"Soon will we show them our Signs in the (furthest) regions (of the earth), and in their own souls (plural of NAFS), until it becomes manifest to them that this is the Truth. Is it not enough that thy Lord doth witness all things?" Quran, Surah Fusilat, 41:53

For more on the topic - Jesus: dead or alive - kindly read http://khurshidimam.blogspot.in/2012/06/jesus-is-not-dead-and-will-come-again.html

E. Conclusion

1. Prophet Jesus is one of the messenger of Allah. We love him like we love Prophet Muhammad.

2. Jesus was not killed nor he died, rather he was raised up by Almighty god.

3. He will come again before the end of world and then he will die.

4. Quran makes it ample clear that Jesus has undergone wafaat and NOT death.

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