Malfuzat – Volume III — Page 217
217 this, Hazrat Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, stood up and delivered an address and recited the following verse: 1 ُ رَسُوْلٌ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُل مُحَمَّدٌ اِلَّا مَا Muhammad is only a Messenger. Verily, all Messengers have passed away before him. Now a wise and pure-natured individual can understand very well that if Hazrat Abu Bakr ra , or any other companion of the Holy Prophet sa for that matter, sub- scribed to the idea that the Messiah son of Mary was alive, how could this be a form of valid reasoning? Why did not a single companion respond: ‘What are you saying? The Messiah is still alive. ’ But no, everyone was silenced. Even Hazrat Umar ra was satisfied. The state of the companions was that they would recite this verse in the marketplace. 2 So, the companions have come to a consensus on this issue. At one instance in the Holy Quran, God Almighty has promised َ مُتَوَفِّيْك ْ اِنِّي (I will cause thee to die a natural death). Then in another instance, the Messiah, peace be upon him, speaks of his own death by stating ْ ي تَوَفَّيْتَنِ فَلَمَّا (but since Thou didst cause me to die). Now, it is strange indeed if after all this, someone continues to proclaim that Jesus as is still alive. This is a classic example of the proverbial witness who is more concerned than the plaintiff himself. And the most astonishing part is that the same word is also used for the Noble Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him; that is, the word tawaffi. Now if the word tawaffi does not mean death, then this meaning should not be applicable when the word is used for the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, either. Therefore, since the word tawaffi has been used approximately twenty-three times in the Holy Quran, and all in the same sense, it is contrary to the dictates of honesty and righteousness to reject this fact. All of these testimonies are strong arguments in favour of the death of Jesus, peace be upon him. Moreover, in the verse under discussion, since the Messiah, peace be upon him, declares ْ تَوَفَّيْتَنِي فَلَمَّا (but since Thou didst cause me to die), if he has not died, it must be accepted that the followers of the Messiah who now worship him have also not become corrupted, and no one from among his people have deified the Messiah as and Mary as , even though this is contrary to well-established facts. Those who worship the Messiah as are present in the world 1 Aal-e-Imran, 3:145 2 Al-Hakam , vol. 5, no. 30, dated 17 August 1901, pp. 5-8