It has long been said that the Quran teaches that Jesus did not die, but that is not true. In fact if one can read the Arabic it is quite clear that Jesus did die:
[3:54] They plotted and schemed, but so did GOD, and GOD is the best schemer.
[3:55] Thus, GOD said, "O Jesus, I am terminating your life, raising you to Me, and ridding you of the disbelievers. I will exalt those who follow you above those who disbelieve, till the Day of Resurrection. Then to Me is the ultimate destiny of all of you, then I will judge among you regarding your disputes.
[3:56] "As for those who disbelieve, I will commit them to painful retribution in this world, and in the Hereafter. They will have no helpers."
[3:57] As for those who believe and lead a righteous life, He will fully recompense them. GOD does not love the unjust.
[3:58] These are the revelations that we recite to you, providing a message full of wisdom.
That is, of course, not from a Muslim translation of the meaning, but the word in 3:55 cannot be interpreted in any other way. I am not going to go into the grammar here because it would not be very helpful for those who don't know Arabic.
It has been a great week here, meeting with other people in this line of work and hearing about new methods being used in various parts of the world. I think it will really increase the fruitfulness of my ministry and I have a lot of new tools in my tool box. Also great has been being around other people who can engage in penetrating analysis of Arabic grammar, which is not something your average Arab can do.
Also, I am finally getting to the place where I can engage the Arabic text of the Quran, which is not small feat.
3 comments:
This is a great point. Many of the interpretations skirt this. One that doesn't (surprisingly) is Maulvi Sher Ali, which puts 3:55 this way:
"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."
And indeed, the verb tawaffa normally does imply a natural death, so good for Maulvi Sher Ali for his good translation.
And if you're interested in the rest of this translation/interpretation, you can download it from here.
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