Truth About The Crucifixion — Page 109
Best of planners. When Allah said: O Jesus, I will cause thee to die a natural death and will exalt thee to Myself and will clear thee from the charges of those who disbelieve and will place those who follow thee above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. (3: 55-56). Mary, whereas they slew him not nor killed him on the cross, but he was made to appear to them as dead. . Those who differ therein are certainly in doubt about it. . They have no knowledge thereof, but only follow conjecture, and they certainly did not kill him. On the contrary,. Allah exalted him to Himself, and Allah is Mighty and. Wise. (4: 158-159). By reading the two versions together it becomes clear that the plan (makr) of the Jews was to kill Jesus and thereby disprove his claim to Messiahship, because he who was hanged on a tree was cursed by God (Deut 21:23). But God also had a plan or a counter-plan (makr) and that was to save Jesus from the accursed death and exalt him in rank and position. . It is clear that God's plan could not be a supernatural event like casting the likeness of Jesus on someone else and raising him bodily to heaven; nor to let him die and then resurrect him and raise him bodily to heaven. Makr (plan) means to change something to the opposite of that which is designed by the opponent by a stratagem or device or other means. . Thus makr operates through means adopted in this world for achieving a purpose, and no miracle can be called a makr. . The second reference also ends with a reference to God's. Wisdom. What Wisdom Divine or otherwise could there be in cheating the Jews, the Romans and the disciples alike by substituting another person for Jesus?. The expression used for natural death is tawaffa. Without any exception it means: to take possession of the soul; to cause somebody to die after completing his or her term. . The Quran contains as many as 22 (twenty-two) clear references where tawaffa has been used in that connotation. We have excluded therefrom the references where Jesus is mentioned as the object of tawaffa, because they are under discussion. There are two separate verses (6:61 and 39: 42) about the taking possession of the soul during sleep. But that does not detract from the connotation that we have mentioned, as a simple 113