Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 100
100 If it is to be believed that hundreds of prophets and many hundred thousands of saints were brought back to life and they all returned to the city at the time of Jesus' resurrection, then the event is nothing short of the greatest miracle. The Christian assertion that this miracle was shown in support of Jesus' divinity is extremely shallow and shatters at the initial scrutiny. If the people and past prophets of Israel had really been brought to life and had returned to the city alive, the Jews had an excellent opportunity to inquire of them whether Jesus, who claimed to be god or the son of God, was a true claimant or an imposter. They probably did not loose this unique opportunity and must have confirmed the authenticity of Jesus' claim, especially because his advent was also foretold in the Jewish scriptures. It is unthinkable to consider that the Jews, or for that matter any other group, would let such a unique event pass without confirming the authenticity of the claimant who claimed to be the Messiah that the Jews had waited for. It is impossible to believe that the Jews would have refuted the favorable testimony of hundreds of thousands of saints, from the time of Adam up to the time of John the Baptist, who had been lying in their graves and had been brought back to life to attest to the truth of Jesus' claim? According to the Biblical description, all the resurrected saints emerged from their graves and came to the city at the same time. Naturally, each and every one of them would have borne witness before thousands of people that Jesus, the Messiah, was really the Son of God or God Himself. Hence only he should be worshipped and people should renounce their former beliefs in order to go to heaven, which these saints had themselves witnessed. Yet notwithstanding such excellent evidence and such eyewitness accounts which proceeded from the mouths of hundreds of thousands of dead saints, the Jews did not desist from their denial! Conversely, their failure to convince the Jews about Jesus' divinity therefore implies that these hundreds of thousands of saints, prophets and apostles, etc. , had undoubtedly given unfavorable evidence. They could never have borne witness to the divinity of Jesus. This seems to be the reason why the Jews, after having listened to the evidence of the dead prophets, became confirmed in their denial of Jesus. He wanted to get them to believe in his divinity, but they, as a result of this evidence, denied that he was even a prophet. In short, such beliefs have highly injurious and evil effects. The belief that hundreds of thousands of dead persons, or any dead person before that time, had been brought back to life either to testify to Jesus' truth or by Jesus himself as proof of his divinity did not serve any useful purpose. The Muslim interpretation of this incidence is logical and does not deny the Laws of Nature. This interpretation of visions is consistent with similar interpretations mentioned in the Bible, for example, Joseph's dream had an interpretation. Hence, this vision also had to have an interpretation of its own. The Muslims regard such accounts as visions (or Kashf in Arabic), which are intended to convey a message to the believers. Accordingly, a leading ancient authority on the art of interpretation of dreams and visions, Qutbuz-Zaman Shaikh Abdul Chani Al Nablisi has commented on the possible meaning of this vision in his book Kitab Tabirul Anam. 100 This interpretation can be translated as: