Does The Quran Say Jesus Died?

The sole verse in the Quran that addresses this is in 4:157

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 [another] was made to resemble him to them. 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.

Muslims believe someone else was crucified in the place of Jesus while Jesus escaped and was raised to heaven.

No Muslim can tell us precisely the identity of that unfortunate substitute because the Quran misses out on this important detail.  It also fails to tell us when the “switch” allegedly took place. Did it happen when he was arrested? Or at his trial? Or when he was whipped? Or at the cross?  This is unknown.

If Allah planned to rescue Jesus from his tormentors, why the need for a substitute? Why not simply raise him up? What was the point of even having someone on the cross?

What we do know from 4:157 is that this deceptive miracle of Allah successfully fooled the Jews into thinking the Messiah was killed.

Even Jesus’ disciples were deceived. They went everywhere till the end of their lives preaching, teaching, and writing about the crucifixion of Jesus.  This is the message we find recorded in the Bible to this day.

In Sura 61:14:
O you who have believed, be supporters of Allah, as when Jesus, the son of Mary, said to the disciples, “Who are my supporters for Allah ?” The disciples said, “We are supporters of Allah .”

If the disciples were supporters of Allah as claimed in this verse, why were they deceived by Allah? As a result, billions accepted the message of the disciples establishing the largest religion in the world to this day.

Was it Allah’s intention to create Christianity this way? Why did Allah wait 600 years, long after all the disciples were dead, before saying anything about the crucifixion after the great deception? 

Now let’s take a deeper look into the Quran and see if we can find out what else it says about this.

In Sura 19:33, Jesus says: “Peace on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!”

The sequence is clear. Birth==>Death==>Resurrection
Muslims deny the clear reading of this verse and engineer this interpretation instead:
Birth==>Raised to heaven==>Return to earth ==>Death==>Resurrection

The following verse was spoken about John the Baptist.
“Peace on him the day he was born, and the day he dieth and the day he shall be raised alive!” (Sura 19:15)

Do you see a difference? The chronological sequence is exactly the same in both verses! The chronological sequence for Jesus is forcefully distorted but they won’t do the same for John the Baptist. In fact, there is no verse in the Quran that teaches Jesus will return to earth and die!

Dr. Mahmud Shaltut, the former Rector of Al-Azhar University, explains the meaning of Surah 19:33:
“Consequently, it is misleading to claim that the death of Jesus must occur after his triumphant return to Earth. It would be illogical. This verse deals with the relationship between Jesus and the people of his time and not with those of the time of his return.”

Let’s look at another verse. Sura 3:55
“Allah said: O ‘Isa! Verily I shall make thee [mutawaffika] and am lifting thee to myself….”

What does “mutawaffika” mean? This Arabic word is a verb in the future tense that means “to cause to die.”
Whenever this verb is used with Allah, it means Allah carries out the action of causing to die.

This is clearly shown in Surah 39:42
“It is Allah that takes (mutawaffika) the souls of men at death; and those that die not He takes during their sleep, those on whom He has passed the decree of death..” (Yusuf Ali)

Google Translate gives me this.

muta
The literal translation of Sura 3:55:
God said: “You Jesus, I am making you die (mutawaffika) and raising you to Me. (Muhammad Ahmed/ Samira – Literal Translation)

Let’s look at one final verse. In Sura 5:117, Jesus is speaking to Allah after his ascension.

I only said to them what Thou didst command me: “Serve God, my Lord and your Lord.” And I was a witness over them, while I remained among them; but when Thou didst [tawaffaytani] me to Thyself, Thou wast Thyself the watcher over them; Thou Thyself art witness of everything.

What does “tawaffaytani” mean? It is the Arabic verb form in the past tense meaning “to pass away, to die”.  Jesus states in the presence of Allah that since Allah had caused him to pass away, to die, Allah alone now watches over his disciples.

wafa

Does the Quran say Jesus died?
You have seen what the verses say. You decide.

And Muhammad is no more than a messenger; THE MESSENGERS HAVE ALREADY PASSED AWAY BEFORE 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. Sura 3:144

[Adapted from: The Quran Validates The Death Of Jesus by AslamSherIqbal]

 

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