Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 101
101 if anyone sees a dream or a vision of the nature of Kashf, that the dead have come out of the graves and have made for their homes, the interpretation is that a prisoner would be released from his bondage, and that he would be rescued from the hands of his persecutors. The context shows that this prisoner would be a great and a high personage. Now, it would be noticed how this interpretation applies, with reason, to Jesus. One can readily understand that the dead saints having been brought to life and appearing to head for the city points to the fact that a prisoner may be released. The fact that the dead people being raised were prophets and saints suggests that the prisoner will be an extremely important personality. In context of its timing, the vision meant that Jesus had been saved from death on the Cross. Hence, according to this interpretation, Jesus did not die on the cross and God rescued him from death on the cross according to His plan. This interpretation is totally consistent with Biblical and Quranic evidence which deny Jesus' death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection. It can thus be concluded that Jesus did not die on the cross and that accounts of the four Gospels do not support the current Christian beliefs about Jesus' clinical death, his resurrection and physical ascension. Rather, the Gospels provide overwhelming evidence to the contrary which is also supported by historical facts, circumstantial evidence, Quranic affirmations and discoveries of older Biblical writings. Any attempts to reconcile Biblical accounts with the current Christian faith have to rely heavily on superstition. In denying historical facts, circumstantial and Quranic evidence and the latest discoveries (Nag Hamadi, Dead Sea Scrolls) in support of Gospel accounts attributed to Paul and others who promoted the current Christian belief, the absolute accuracy of the current Bible has to be conscientiously accepted; a statement that the Bible itself does not make. Moreover, for fully understanding the situation, Jesus' statements, as reported in the Bible should be given more importance than those made by others. Also historical events subsequent to Jesus' departure from Judea and prophecies in the Old Testament must be considered in order to obtain a factual view of the situation. History records Jesus' travels beyond Judea and his dying a natural death. Recent discoveries of earlier writings authored by Jesus' disciples at Nag Hamadi and around the Dead Sea confirm that Jesus did not die an accursed death on the cross; a number of researchers have investigated this subject. The original and most comprehensive work in this area is by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. 46