The Commentary of Al-Qasidah — Page 169
The commentary of al-Qa si dah 169 The whole tribe then became firm in Islam. ( T a r i kh-e- T abar i , vol. 1, part. 4, p. 94–95, Urdu translation, printed in Hyderabad, Dakkan) From this historical event it becomes clear that the apostates at the time of the Holy Prophet sa used his death as the basis of their apostasy. Their argument was rejected based upon the fact that all prophets before the Holy Prophet sa had died. It is apparent that this argument could only work if every one of the prophets before him had passed away, because even if one person was considered to be alive, then the argument fails. Thus it was the consensus of the companions of the Holy Prophet sa that Jesus had in fact died. Later, when Islam spread amongst the Christian nations, and the Christians accepted Islam in large numbers, their proper religious training could not take place. Due to the Christian influence, Muslims started to spread the same beliefs that were in existence before Islam. Also, since the Christians and Jews were considered to be educated and learned people, the Muslim public started to listen to them after they accepted Islam and slowly began to interpret the verses of the Holy Qur’ a n in line with their thinking. For example, in the commentary of Wahab bin Mambah, under the commentary of the verse: inn i mutawaff i ka wa r a fi‘uka ilayya ( ) it states that All a h gave Jesus death for three days and then He revived him and then raised him to heaven: ٗ. %I4=t k"/ Ftst ? ? %B/. 40 40 Tafs i rul-Qur’ a nil-‘A zi m, Ibni Kathir, vol. 2, p. 39, Tafs i ru S u rah A l-e- ‘Imr a n, under verse no. 56, D a rul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2004