Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 465
Laying to Rest Some Doubts 465 there should not be a lapse of time between the two. However, accord- ing to your statement there is a long span between the time of the kill- ing and the time of the ascent. If the Holy Quran had instead said ما قتلوہ یقینا بل خلّصہ الل ّٰ من ایدیھم حیًّا ثُم ّ رفعہ إلیہ [‘They certainly did not kill him but Allah rescued him from their hands alive and then raised him towards Himself ’], then only would it bear this connotation. My Answer— This doubt arose in your mind because you only gave cursory thought to the matter. Otherwise, had you kept the entire sce- nario in mind, such doubt would never have arisen. The fact is that the Jews believed that, according to the Torah, if a claimant of propheth- ood is killed it proves that he is an impostor and not a true Prophet; and that if someone is crucified, he becomes accursed and is not exalted towards God. And since the Jews believed that Hadrat ‘ I s a , may peace be upon him, was both killed and crucified—some believing that he was first killed and then hung upon the cross, while others claiming that he was first hung on the cross and then killed—therefore, to this day, they deny that he was spiritually exalted. They say that he was killed and crucified; hence, he was not exalted towards God Almighty as the believers are. The Jews believe that disbelievers are not exalted towards God, but the believers are exalted towards Him once they die. And since in their eyes Jesus became accursed as a result of crucifixion—God forbid— therefore, he was not exalted towards God. This was the matter that the Holy Quran had to adjudicate upon, and it did so in the verse that I have quoted. Hence, the verse: 1 َو اَم ُهْوُلَتَق اًۢنْيِقَي ْلَب ُهَعَفَّر ُهّٰللا ِهْيَلِا 1. And they certainly did not kill him; on the contrary Allah exalted him to Himself ( S u rah an-Nis a ’, 4:158–159). [Publisher]