Jesus (as) Did Not Die

[Guest]

Jesus (as) Did Not Die<p>An examination of the verses about Jesus (as) in the Qur'an indicates that Jesus (as) neither died nor was killed, but he was raised to the presence of Allah: As mentioned earlier, in Surat an-Nisa, it is related that Jesus (as) was not killed but raised to the presence of Allah. The related verse follows: <br>And (on account of) their saying, "We killed the Messiah, ‘Isa son of Maryam, Messenger of Allah." They did not kill him and they did not crucify him but it was made to seem so to them. Those who argue about him are in doubt about it. They have no real knowledge of it, just conjecture. But they certainly did not kill him. Allah raised him up to Himself. Allah is Almighty, All-Wise. (Surat an-Nisa: 157-158)<p>In some English translations, we see that some other verses are translated to give the sense that the Prophet Jesus (as) died before he was raised to the Allah’s presence. These verses are as follows: <br>God said: "O ‘Isa (as)! Verily, I shall cause you to die (tawaffa), and shall exalt you unto Me…" (Surah Al ‘Imran: 55)<p>In the 117th verse of Surat al-Ma’idah, the event narrated in the Prophet Jesus' (as)’ words is also translated so as to suggest that he died: <br>"Nothing did I tell them beyond what You did bid me to say: ‘Worship God, who is my Sustainer as well as your Sustainer’ And I bore witness to what they did as long as I dwelt in their midst: but since You have caused me to die (tawaffa), You alone have been their keeper: for You are witness unto everything. (Surat al-Ma’idah: 117) <p>However, the Arabic meanings of the verses above show that the Prophet Jesus (as) did not die in the sense we know. In Arabic the word which is translated in these verses as "to die" is "tawaffa" and comes from the root "wafa – to fulfil". Tawaffa does not actually mean "death" but the act of "taking the self back" either in sleep or in death. From the Qur'an again, we understand that "taking the self back" does not necessarily mean death. For instance in a verse in which the word "tawaffa" is used, it is not the death of a human being that is meant but "taking back his self in his sleep": <br>It is He Who takes you back to Himself (yatawaffakum) at night, while knowing the things you perpetrate by day, and then wakes you up again, so that a specified term may be fulfilled. Then you will return to Him. Then He will inform you about what you did. (Surat al-An’am: 60) <p>The word used for "take back" in this verse is the same as the one used in Surah Al ‘Imran 55. In other words, in both verses, the word "tawaffa" is used and it is obvious that one does not die in one’s sleep. Therefore, what is meant here is, again, "taking the self back."The same is also true for the following verse: <br>Allah takes back people’s selves (tawaffa) when their death arrives and those who have not yet died, while they are asleep. He keeps hold of those whose death has been decreed and sends the others back for a specified term. There are certainly Signs in that for people who reflect. (Surat az-Zumar: 42) <p>As these verses suggest, Allah takes back the self of the one who is asleep, yet He sends the selves of those whose deaths have yet not been decreed. In this context, in one's sleep one does not die, in the sense in which we perceive death. Only for a temporary period, the self leaves the body and remains in another dimension. When we wake up, the self returns to the body.1Imam al-Qurtubi makes clear that there are three meanings to the term ‘wafat’: the wafat of death, the wafat of sleep, and last, the wafat of being raised up to Allah, as in the case of Sayyiduna ‘Isa (as).To conclude, we can say that Jesus (as) may have been in a special state, raised up to the presence of Allah. What he actually experienced was not death in the sense with which we are familiar, but merely a departure from this dimension. Surely, Allah knows best.