The Shining Lamp — Page 78
78 will raise you towards Me; I will grant predominance to your followers over those who disbelieve. And your follow- ers will be of two types, the earlier ones and the later ones. This verse was revealed to Jesus at a time when his soul was under- going extreme anxiety owing to the machinations of the Jews. And the malicious Jews were determined to crucify him so that being stained with the death of a criminal, they may declare him accursed according to a verse in the Torah, for it was written in the Torah that he who is hung upon a tree is accursed. Wherefore crucifixion had become associated with criminal- ity on account of its being an ancient method of inflicting pun- ishment, and every murderer and the most egregious of offend- ers was punished by being placed on the cross, the decree of God had made the cross forbidden for the righteous to distinguish the pure from the impure. Thus, it is indeed amazing to note that no Prophet has ever suffered death by crucifixion so that their truth- fulness may not be doubted by the people. In short, in this verse Allah the Almighty had assured Hadrat Mas ih [ Jesus the Messiah as ] during the period of great anxiety when the Jews were plotting to crucify him. Now, this verse, which descended upon this humble one by way of ilh a m and is recorded in Barahin-e-Ahmadiyya , subtly indicates that this hum- ble one would also face such an event whereby people would make plans to kill him or have him crucified so that by suffering the punishment given to criminals my truth may become suspect. Accordingly, in this verse, by referring to this humble one as ‘ I s a [ Jesus] and mentioning His causing me to die [a natural death],