Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya Part V — Page 459
Laying to Rest Some Doubts 459 the Holy Quran, which arbitrates between the Christians and the Jews, said in its verdict ْلَب ُهَعَفَّر ُهّٰللا ِهْيَلِا [ S u rah an-Nis a ’, 4:159] Meaning that, ‘God raised ‘ I s a towards Himself. ’ It is obvious that what is raised towards God is the spirit and not the body. God did not say بل رفعہ الل ّٰ الی السماء [‘On the contrary, God raised him to heaven’]. Instead, he said ْلَب ُهَعَفَّر ُهّٰللا ِهْيَلِا [‘On the contrary, Allah exalted him to Himself ’ ( S u rah an-Nis a ’, 4:159)]. In this context God only had to refute the objection of the Jews who deny his spiritual exaltation. And moreover God wanted to remove the misconception of the Christians. ٭ Thus, God Almighty used such comprehensive words that exposed the error of both parties. Because the statement ْلَب ُهَعَفَّر ُهّٰللا ِهْيَلِا [‘On the contrary, Allah exalted him to Himself ’ ( S u rah an-Nis a ’, 4:159)] of Allah the Exalted, dos not only prove that the Messiah was spiritually exalted towards God Almighty and that he is a believer, but it also establishes that he was not raised to heaven. Since God is not bound by physical existence or dimensions or space, to be exalted towards Him clearly shows that the exaltation was not physical; rather, just as the souls of all the other believers are exalted towards God, so did the soul of Hadrat ‘ I s a ,’ may peace be upon him, ascend towards Him. Every intelligent person knows that it is evident from the Holy Quran and the Hadith that when a believer dies his soul returns to God, as Allah the Exalted, says: اَهُتَّيَاٰۤي ُسْفَّنلا ُةَّنِٕىَمْطُمْلا ْۤيِعِجْرا ىٰلِا ِكِّبَر ًةَيِضاَر ًةَّيِضْرَّم ْيِلُخْداَف ْيِف ْيِدٰبِع َو ْيِلُخْدا ْيِتَّنَج Meaning that: ‘O soul at peace! Return to your Lord Who is well pleased with you and you are well pleased with Him. So enter among My chosen servants and enter My Garden. ’ [ S u rah al-Fajr, 89:28–31] And this exactly was the belief of the Jews that the soul of a believer ascends towards God Almighty, while that of a faithless and disbelieving per- son does not ascend to God Almighty. Since they considered Hadrat ‘ I s a, ’ may peace be upon him, to be an unbeliever and faithless—God forbid—that he had attributed falsehood to God and that he was not a true Prophet, and that if he had been true then the Prophet Elijah should have returned to the world before him. This is why these people believed in this exact thing, and do so to this day, that the soul of Hadrat ‘ I s a did not go to God Almighty like the souls of believers; rather, it went to Satan—God forbid. But in the Holy Quran God Almighty declares the Jews to be liars and together with them declares the Christians also to be speaking falsehood. The Jews have levelled serious accusations against Hadrat ‘ I s a, may peace be upon him, and it is written in the Talmud—the Jewish book of traditions— that when Jesus’ body was buried, a gardener by the name of Judas Iscariot