Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 505
Reply to the doubts raised by rashĪd a H mad gangohĪ 505 themselves do not believe with certainty that they have killed ‘ I s a ; and where killing is not confirmed, natural death is established, which is inevitable for every human being. In this case, the matter that the Jews considered as barrier to Jesus’s ّٰ رَفع اِلی الل [exaltation to Allah]—his mur- der and crucifixion—stands refuted, and God, in keeping with His promise, exalted him towards Himself. Here it is futile to insist that the meaning of توفّی [ tawaff i ] is not ‘to cause to die’,1 ٭ since all the scholars of the Arabic lexicon are agreed that when the word توفّی [ tawaff i ] is used for a proper noun—i. e. it is used with reference to someone after identifying him—for instance if it is said that تَوَفَّی الل ُّٰ ز َیْدًا , it can mean only that ‘God caused Zaid to die. ’ This is why in such instances linguists provide no meaning other than ‘to cause to die’. And so, in keeping with my argument, it is writ- ten in Lis a nul-‘Arab: ن تَوَفَّاہ ُ الل ُّٰ إذا قبض نفسہ وفی الصّحاح إذا قبض روحہ. ل ی َ ف ِّ تُوُف Meaning that when it is said that ن ل توفی ف or ُّٰ تَوَفَّاہ ُ الل , it will mean only that so and so died and that God caused him to die. In this context, it is written in T a jal-‘Ar u s: ن ٌ اِذَا مَات ل ی َ فُ ِّ تُوُف meaning: ‘ ٌ ن ل ی َ فُ ِّ تُوُف [ tuwuffiya ful a nun ] is said in regard to a person when he dies. ’ Another statement written in T a jal-‘Ar u s is تَوَفَّاہ ُ الل ُّٰ عَز َّ وَجَلَّ: اِذَا قَبَض َ نَفْسَہ , i. e. The expression َّ تَوَفَّاہ ُ الل ُّٰ عَز َّ وَجَل is spoken at the time when God takes 1. ٭ In Sa hih Bukh ari, which is known as the most authentic book after the Book of God, the meaning of توفّی [ tawaff i ] is given as ‘causing to die’ too, because a tradition has been attributed to Hadrat Ibn-e-‘Abb a s regarding the verse ىٰۤسْيِعٰي ْيِّنِا َكْيِّفَوَتُم [ S u rah A l-e-‘Imr a n, 3:56] wherein he says [that this verse means]: اِنّی مُمِیْتُك. [‘I will cause you to die’]. Im a m Bukh ari has expressed this same belief, for he has brought forth another hadith in its support, the gist of which is that the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, said, ‘Just as ‘ I s a will say on the Day of Judgment that the people of his ummah who went astray did so after he had died, so shall I say that the people of my Ummah who went astray did so after my death. ’ Hence, when God is the f a ‘il [doer of the action] of tawaff i and a person is its maf ‘ u l bihi [object of the verb], it necessarily means ‘causing to die’, and there is no denying this. (Author)