The Essence of Islam – Volume III — Page 196
196. Essence of Islam-III. I put only one question to the clerics who differ with me on the question of the death of Jesus. Had they pondered over it sincerely, it would have been enough to guide them aright, but they did not ponder over it, as none was desirous of being rightly guided. My question is: Twice has Allah the Glorious, applied the expression Tawaffi in the Holy Qur'an with reference to Jesus as; and the same has been applied to the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him); and it has also been used in the prayer of Joseph (peace be on him. ) There are several other places where it has been used in the Holy Qur'ān. . Pondering over all these references, a just minded person would be satisfied that in each case Tawaffi connotes death and nothing but death. The expression Tawaffi has been used in hundreds of places in the Aḥādīth but nobody can show you a single occasion where it has been used to connote anything other than death. If an illiterate. Arab were told Tuwuffiya Zaidun he would understand by it that Zaid has died. Whenever a companion or a relative of the Holy Prophets died, he always used the expression Tawaffi for the purpose of conveying that the person mentioned had died. When he himself died, the companions used the expression Tawaffi to convey that he had died. In the same way, this expression was used to indicate the death of Abū Bakr, ‘Umar and all other companions of the Holy Prophet (May Allah be pleased with them. ) The use of this word to indicate the death of a Muslim is an honourable way of conveying the news of his death. In view of all this, why is it that this expression, when used with reference to Jesus, should be interpreted in any other way? [Itmām-ul-Hujjah, Rūḥānī Khazā'in, vol. 8, pp. 292-293]. In the idiom of the Holy Qur'an, the word Tawaffi has