Quran and Jesus
“Behold! God said: ‘O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself and clear thee of the falsehoods of those who blaspheme; I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject faith, to the day of Resurrection. Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.” 1 (Quran, Chapter 3, v. 54)
Orthodox Muslims point to this Quranic verse to support their interpretation of the hadith (mentioned later) that refer to a return of Jesus Christ to establish Islam. It is important to note that all Muslims regard only the Arabic Quran as authentic, all other language versions being a translation. The above verse comes from the Yusuf Ali English translation, probably the most respected by orthodox Muslims, who believe 3:54 states that Jesus was taken up to heaven (“raise thee to Myself”) alive. It is worth noting some other orthodox Islamic translations of 3:54:
Pickthall : “O Jesus! Lo! I am gathering thee and causing thee to ascend unto Me”
Rashad Khalifa : “O Jesus! I am terminating your life, raising you to Me…”
Mohammad Sarwar : “He told Jesus, ‘I will save you from your enemies, raise you to Myself…’”
M. H. Shakir : “O Isa (Jesus)! I am going to terminate the period of your stay (on earth) and cause you to ascend unto Me”
Al-Hilali & Khan: “O Iesa (Jesus)! I will take you and raise you to Myself…”
Another Quranic reference used by Orthodox Muslims in support of their beliefs about Jesus’ ascension to heaven is chapter 4, verses 157-158:
“That they said (in boast), ‘We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah,’ but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them. And those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not. Nay, Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Exalted in Power, Wise.” (Quran, Chapter 4, vs.157-158)
Still other orthodox translations of the above verse follow the same pattern. So the generally accepted orthodox Muslim translations of the verses in question suggest that Jesus Christ was not crucified, but he was somehow taken up to heaven. The following interpretation of Chapter 4, verse 157 speaks to the Substitution Theory mentioned earlier:
“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)” (Hilali & Khan translation)
This interpretation of 4:157 is no longer universally accepted amongst orthodox Muslims. For example, Nadeem Quraishi, an orthodox Muslim who no longer accepts these translations, offers his proof that these are erroneous translations of the Arabic language:
“Behold! Allah said: ‘O Isa! I shall cause you to die and I shall exalt you towards me and I shall clear you of those who reject Faith, and I am going to make those who follow you above those who reject Faith—until the day of Awakening. Then towards Me is your return, so that I shall decide among you as to that in which you used to differ’”
Aside from the above challenge to the standard orthodox Islamic translations of the verses in question, the Ahmadiyya Movement interprets 3:54 similarly to Mr. Quraishi’s version:
“Remember the time when Allah said, ‘O Jesus, I will cause thee to die a natural death and raise thee to Myself, and will clear thee of the charges of those who disbelieve, and will exalt those who follow thee above those who disbelieve, until the Day of Resurrection; then to Me shall be your return, and I will judge between you concerning that wherein you differ.’”
To gain more insight into this new challenge to orthodox Islam occurring within its own ranks, the reader is encouraged to visit Nadeem Quraishi’s website, “Jesus (pbuh): Dead or Alive?” . If you are unfamiliar with the issue of the death of Jesus Christ in Islam, then Mr. Quraishi’s website is must reading. Nadeem Quraishi meticulously breaks down the Arabic of the Quran in his attempt to prove that the words of 3:54 generally translated by orthodox translators as “take thee” have been translated incorrectly, and that the true translation of the Arabic word, wafat, is not “take thee,” or “gather thee,” but “die” or “cause to die” or “death.” Quraishi offers the following examples in the Quran where the word wafat is used, and demonstrates that in every case where wafat was mentioned in the Quran, the translators—even the orthodox translators—translated wafat as “die” or “death” and not as “taken up.” So Quraishi asks, for what reason did the translators, when they translated 3:54, decide to depart from the standard way of translating wafat as “death,” and choose, instead, to translate it as “take thee,” i.e., physically take up to heaven? Below are 20 examples that Quraishi cites where orthodox Muslim translators translated wafat as “death” or “die” in the Quran, and not as “take thee.”
Chapter 2, v. 234
Chapter 2, v. 240
Chapter 3, v. 193
Chapter 4, v. 15
Chapter 4, v. 97
Chapter 6, v. 61
Chapter 7, v. 37
Chapter 7, v. 126
Chapter 8, v. 50
Chapter 10, v. 46
Chapter 10, v. 104
Chapter 12, v. 101
Chapter 13, v. 40
Chapter 16, v. 28
Chapter 16, v. 32
Chapter 16, v. 70
Chapter 39, v. 42
Chapter 40, v. 67
Chapter 40, v. 77
Chapter 47, v. 27
This is a clear demonstration of the tedious and heated arguments within Islam over this issue. Again, Quraishi, an orthodox Muslim himself, offers a biting criticism of the orthodox stand, claiming to stick steadfastly to the original Arabic meanings. In this case he focuses on the Arabic word, rafa, translated in the orthodox translation of 3:54 as, “raise.” And again Quraishi backs up his views by citing many other Quranic verses where the word rafa is used to mean “exalted,” or raise in status, not raise bodily, in the literal sense:
