Christianity - A Journey from Facts to Fiction — Page 67
chapter four crucifixion Before turning to the biblical description of events relating to Christ as and his crucifixion, perhaps it would not be out of place to mention here, in brief, the Ahmadiyya Muslim understanding of what happened during and after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ as. This issue will be briefly touched upon here and a detailed discus- sion will follow later. We believe that the crucifixion of Jesus as was an attempt made on his life, like any attempted murder. Crucifixion was only the weapon used in that murderous attempt. However, the attempt to crucify him failed in inflicting death. This is tantamount to saying that they failed to crucify him. When we say this, we express ourselves exactly as we would in any other case of attempted murder. If an attempt is made on someone’s life and the attempt fails, it cannot be said that the intended victim was murdered. For instance, if such an attempt is made with a sword, and the attempt fails, no one can say that the intended victim was put to the sword. So we believe, as Muslims, that only an attempt to murder Jesus as was made: crucifixion being the instrument of the at- tempted murder. After a few hours of intense suffering upon the cross, before death could overtake him, he was taken down from