Please do not cite a Tafsir which is mere commentary, but rather I want the actual authentic Sunnah of Muhammad. If you cannot find any, then the claim Jesus did not die on the cross should really be scrutinized if you as Muslim are truly seeking the truth.
Folks keep in mind that the Koran is quite clear that Jesus did die as shown in Surah 3:54-55, 5:117 and 19:33. Now let’s turn our focus on the Koran identifying the death of Jesus.
Here is how Islamic scholar Asad translated Surah 3:55 "Lo! God said: "O Jesus! Verily, I shall cause thee to die..." Here is the transliteration of Surah 3:55 "Ith qala Allahu ya AAeesainnee mutawaffeeka warafiAAuka ilayya wamutahhiruka mina allatheena...." (http://www.alim.org/…/c…/3/55/allah's-promise-to-isa-(jesus))
Here is what Asad says in his commentary note 172:
“Cf. 3:55, where God says to Jesus, "Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee unto Me." The verb rafa'ahu (lit., "he raised him" or "elevated him") has always, whenever the act of raf' ("elevating") of a human being is attributed to God, the meaning of "honoring" or "exalting". Nowhere in the Qur'an is there any warrant for the popular belief that God has "taken up" Jesus bodily, in his lifetime, into heaven…..”
As noted in an article by M. A. Malek on the Islamic Research Foundation International Webpage, others also translated Surah 3:55 similarly as Asad above.
“Interestingly, in the First Edition of his translation of the Qu’ran, Yusuf Ali translated "inni muttawaffi-ka" (Q3:55) as "I will cause thee to die." A similar translation is given by many others, including George Sale, J.M. Rodwell, N. J. Dawood, Muhammad Asad, Maulana Muhammad Ali, Shaykh Muhammad Shaltut, Allama Ghulam Ahmad Parwez, and so on.
Islamic scholar Muhammad Pickthall translates Surah 3:55 as "I am gathering thee." It should be noted that the language of his translation is "scriptural" and "I am gathering thee" is the Biblical idiom for "I am causing thee to die." (A. A. Karim, member of the Editorial Board).” (Malek, 1998, “The Message,” United Islamic Association (UIA) publication, London, England [http://www.irfi.org]).
Islamic historian Al-Tabari proclaims one way of interpreting Surah 3:55 is with a literal physical death as he states, “Death (wafat) means the death of real, literal dying, that is, “I am causing you to die literally.” (Abu Jaf’ar Muhammad ibn Jarir Al-Tabari, Tafsir al-Tabari: Jami’ al-Bayan ‘an Ta’wil Ay al-Quran, Salah Abd al-Fattah al-Khalidi (ed.) Damascus: Dar al-Qalam, 1997.)
It’s clear by his definition, that Asad agrees the phrase mutawaffeeka means “cause thee to die.” Keeping in the context of Surah 4:157-158, it should be interpreted to indicate the the Jews did not cause Jesus to die but rather it was Allah as he stated this in Surah 3:55, “innee mutaffeeka” meaning “I will cause thee to die.” Note, that Asad acknowledges the Koran does not teach that Allah took Jesus bodily; therefore Allah raised the soul of Jesus. This would imply that the soul left the body; therefore, the body is dead.
Yusuf Ali in his commentary note 4306 states this about death, “….In death we surrender our physical life, but our soul does not die; it goes back to a plane of existence in which it is more conscious of the realities of the spiritual world: "Allah takes the soul" (http://www.alim.org).
Asad - Surah 5:117 "....I bore witness to what they did as long as I dwelt in their midst; but since Thou hast caused me to die (falammatawaffaytanee)...."
Again, the words "tawaffaytani" and "mutawafeeka" are forms of the Arabic word “tawaffa”. The word “tawaffa” refers to physical death. Again we find in the hadiths regarding Surah 5:117 that the term tawaffa means to literally die.
The Arabic word "mutawaffeeka" in general terms means "cause thee to die". Ibn Abbas a companion of Muhammad stated: “Mutawaffeeka [means] ‘I’ll cause you to die’ (Mumeetuka)” (Sahih Bukhari, Kitabut Tafsir 4259, Sura al-Ma’idah).
The term mutawafeeka comes from the word “tawaffa” meaning to take something in full, or complete, and is almost always used to denote a physical death. The Arabic expression tawaffaitani (translated: take me up) is explained by Dr. Mahmud Shaltut, one of the previous presidents of Al-Azhar University: “(It) is entitled in this verse to bear the meaning of ordinary death…there is no way to interpret ‘death’ as occurring after his [Jesus] return from heaven…because the verse very clearly limits the connection of Jesus…to his own people of his own day and the connection is not with the people living at the time when he returns.” (Muslim World, xxxiv, pp. 214 ff; as quoted by Parrinder. Geoffery, Jesus in the Qur'an, pp.115-116; Sheldon Press, London, 1965.)
Here is what one Muslim indicates regarding Tawaffa, “What I discovered on checking every page of the compilations of Sahih Bukhari, Sahih Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn-e-Maja, Abu Dawud, Nasa’I, Darimi, Mu’atta; and Sharh-us-Sunnat etc.; was that the expression Tawaffi has been used three hundred and forty-six times, and in no single instance has it been used, either by the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) or by his companions, to mean anything other than ‘death’, or ‘taking possession of the soul’.... (Izala-e-Auham, Ruhani Khaza’in, volume 3, pp. 583-585).
Here are some examples of the use of Tawaffa in the hadiths.
Bukhari Volume 4, Book 55, Number 656
Narrated Ibn Abbas: “Allah's Apostle said, "You will be resurrected (and assembled) bare-footed, naked and uncircumcised." The Prophet then recited the Divine Verse:-- "As We began the first creation, We shall repeat it: A promise We have undertaken. Truly we shall do it." (21.104) He added, "The first to be dressed will be Abraham. Then some of my companions will take to the right and to the left. I will say: ‘My companions!’ It will be said, ‘They had been renegades since you left them.’ I will then say what the Pious Slave Jesus, the son of Mary said: ‘And I was a witness over them while I dwelt amongst them; when You did take me up (tawaffaytani), You were the Watcher over them, and You are a Witness to all things. If You punish them, they are Your slaves, and if you forgive them, You, only You are the All-Mighty the All-Wise.’" (5.117-118) Narrated Quaggas, "Those were the apostates who renegade from Islam during the Caliphate of Abu Bakr who fought them".
Sahih Bukhari, Vol. 6, Book 60, Hadith 149
Narrated by Ibn Abbas (RA): Allah’s Messenger delivered a sermon and said, “O people! You will be gathered before Allah bare-footed, naked and not circumcised.” Then (quoting Qur’an) he said: “As We began the first creation, We shall repeat it. A promise We have undertaken: Truly we shall do it.” (21.104) The Prophet then said, “The first of the human beings to be dressed on the Day of Resurrection, will be Abraham. Lo! Some men from my followers will be brought and then the angels will drive them to the left side (Hell-Fire). I will say. ‘O my Lord! They are my companions!’ Then a reply will come from Allah the Almighty, ‘You do not know what they did after you were gone.’ I will say just as the pious slave the Prophet Jesus (AS) said: “And I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them, but since Thou didst cause me to die (Tawaffaitanii), Thou hast been the Watcher over them; and Thou art Witness over all things (5.117) Then it will be said, “These people have continued to be apostates since you left them.”
Here we find that Ibn Abbas was indicating that God took Muhammad (tawaffaytani) in the same manner he took Jesus up to himself. Since we know that Muhammad was taken by death, this strongly argues that Jesus also died before ascending to God.
Author: Trent Smith
