DEATH OF JESUS CHRIST

ANOTHER ASPECT

BACKGROUND

The proponents of the belief about Jesus Christ being alive in heavens since more
than 2000 years and his descend on earth in latter days present the following verse
of the Holy Qur’an as a concrete evidence for their belief:

EVERY ONE FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE BOOK SHALL BECOME MUSLIM

[4:160] And there is none among the People of the Book but will continue to believe in it
before his death; and on the Day of Resurrection, he (Jesus) shall be a witness against
them.

They claim that according to this verse of the Holy Qur’an, everyone from the
people of the Book, i.e., the Jews and the Christians shall accept Jesus Christ as a
true prophet of God before ‘his’ (Jesus’) death. This pronoun ‘his’ is referred to
Jesus and not to that Jew or Christian who is expected to believe in Jesus. They
argue that as, apparently, all the Jews and the Christians have not yet accepted Jesus
Christ as a true prophet of God, therefore, he is still alive in the heavens.

In order to know the exact and correct meanings and interpretation of the above
mentioned verse of the Holy Qur’an, we need to keep in mind the principles of
interpretation, some of which mentioned below.

UNANIMOUS PRINCIPLES OF INTERPRETATION

It is widely accepted amongst the Muslim religious scholars that the Holy Qur’an
interprets itself, which means that certain verses of the Holy Qur’an can be used to
interpret certain other verses. It is also invariably accepted that there cannot be any
contradiction in the Holy Qur’an. It is also a canonized principle that Hadith cannot
state anything against the teachings of the Holy Qur’an. Let’s check the above verse
in the light of these unanimously accepted criteria.

LOGICAL PROBLEM

Before discussing this verse a logical problem needs to be resolved. When we say
that each and every one among the People of the Book shall believe in Jesus Christ
before his death, we need to know that people of what time period we are talking
about, because in the verse under consideration, an encompassing and all-inclusive
phrase, “and there is none among the People of the Book”, ‫ و ان من ا ہل الکتاب‬is
used? So we need to know whether we are talking about those ‘people of the book’
who were at the time of Jesus, those who were at the time of the Holy Prophet (s.a.)
when this verse was revealed, those who shall be present at the time of the second
coming of Jesus or all of them?
The onus of reply to this question lies on those who believe in literal interpretation
of this verse. However, ignoring this point, we focus our attention to the crux of the
matter. This verse, according to non-Ahmadi interpretations, states that all of the
People of the Book shall unanimously accept Jesus Christ as true prophet of God
before his death. Consequently, there shall be no Jew or Christian left on the face of
the earth as all of them would have been converted to Islam.

Now, let’s check the following two verses of Sura Maida, chapter 5 of the Holy
Qur’an:

CHRISTIANS SHALL EXIST ON EARTH TILL THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

[5:15] And from those also who say, 'We are Christians,' We took a covenant, but they too
have forgotten a good part of that with which they were exhorted. So We have caused
enmity and hatred among them till the Day of Resurrection. And Allah will soon let them
know what they have been doing.

JEWS SHALL EXIST ON EARTH TILL THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

[5:65] And the Jews say, 'Allah's hand is tied up.' Their own hands shall be tied up and
they shall be cursed for what they say. Nay, both His hands are wide open. He spends as
He pleases. And what has been sent down to thee from thy Lord will most surely increase
many of them in rebellion and disbelief. And We have cast among them enmity and hatred
till the Day of Resurrection. Whenever they kindle a fire for war, Allah extinguishes it.
And they strive to create disorder in the earth, and Allah love not those who create
disorder.

These two verses clearly state that different sects of the Jews and the Christians
shall remain on earth till the last day or the Day of Judgment and there shall be
enmity and hatred between them till that day.

FOLLOWERS OF JESUS EXALTED OVER DISBELIEVERS

Another verse of the Holy Qur’an also confirms the same subject:

[3:56] Remember the time when Allah said, 'O Jesus, I will cause thee to die a natural
death and will 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.'

In this verse Allah promises Jesus to exalt his followers over those who disbelieve,
till the day of resurrection. Historically, those who do not follow Jesus are the Jews,
who shall be empowered by those who follow Jesus. It also proves that the Jews
shall not be completely annihilated from the face of the earth, but exist till last day.

THE JEWS SHALL BE KILLED BY THE MUSLIMS

In addition to the two positions of the ‘people of the book’ stated in the above
mentioned verses of the Holy Qur’an, the following Hadith presents a third
scenario. It is mentioned that at the time of second coming of Jesus Christ, the
Muslims shall kill each and every Jew except those who hide behind their own tree,
called gharqad.

Abu Hurairah (r.a.) reported Allah’s Messenger (s.a.) as saying: The last hour would not
come unless the Muslims will fight against the Jews and the Muslims would kill them
until the Jews who hide themselves behind a stone or a tree and a stone or a tree would
say: Muslim, or the Servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me; come and kill him; but
the tree gharqad would not say, for it is the tree of the Jews. (Sahih Muslim, Book 41,
Number 6985).

CONCLUSION

It is concluded from the above that non-Ahmadi scholars offer three different and
contradictory scenarios about the Jews and the Christians in latter days:

1) All Jews and Christians shall accept Jesus as true prophet of God and become
Muslims;
2) Jews and Christians shall remain as they are now till the day of resurrection;

3) Jews shall be killed by the Muslims except few who seek refuge of their own
tree, gharqad. But even then they shall remain Jew.

As mentioned above, it is our cardinal belief that there can be no contradiction

whatsoever, in the verses of the Holy Qur’an and also the Hadith cannot mention
something against the Holy Qur’an. If non-Ahmadi interpretation of the verse
[4:160] is accepted, one has not only to accept contradictions in the Holy Qur’an
but also the belief of Hadith against the Holy Qur’an. Both these beliefs are
sufficient for anyone to throw him out of the pale of Islam.

Interpreting the verse [4:160] in the light of other verses of the Holy Qur’an which,
in this case are, [3:56]; [5:15, 65] shows that the pronoun ‘his’ used in the verse
[4:160] is referred to each person of “the people of the book” and not to the Jesus
Christ.