Islam
Père Zakaria Boutros

Answering challenges of the Christ crucifixion

The author      : Father Zakaria Boutros
The publisher:  www.fatherzakaria.com
 

The Christ crucifixion was for the redemption of mankind for man to be rescued from perishing

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone believing into Him should not perish, but have everlasting life”(John 3:16)

In the beginning God created man on his image and likeness, but man had sinned and his image was mutilated by sin, so with the motive of love, God wanted to recreate him again

In Jeremiah 18:1- 4:” The Word which was to Jeremiah from the lord, saying: Rise up and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause you to hear My Words. Then I went down to the potter's house, and behold, he was working a work on the wheel. And the vessel that he made in clay was ruined in the hand of the potter. So repeating he made it, another vessel, as it seemed good in the potter's eyes to make it”

God made us of mud then we were distorted and mutilated, then he recreated us again
The Christ died for our redemption and recreation

So that if anyone is in the Christ, he is anew creation; the old things have passed away, all things have become new“(2Corinthians 5:17)
 
The Christ death over the cross was a Godly loving act

They are saying: the quran said that the Christ was not crucified, with certainty

The women chapter (Surat An-Nisa’) 157:” And their saying (meaning the Jews), "We killed Messiah 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allah, but they crucified him not, but it appeared so to them”
While in The family of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 54, 55 “And they (the Jews) plotted, and Allah plotted too. And Allah is the Best of the plotters. Allah said: "O 'Iesa! I will amortize you and raise you to myself and clear you of those who disbelieve” from this verse it is clear that the Christ died before he was raised to the heaven
Mary chapter (Surat Maryam) 33: “And peace be upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!" from this verse it is clear that the Christ died before he was raised alive
The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma'idah') 117:”when you amortize me, you were the watcher over them” from this also it is clear that the Christ was killed by the Jews & God was the watcher over them”

Let us go through the Islamic scholar’s utterances in the exegesis of these verses:

1) Imam Al-Razy said: narrated ibn Abbas & Mohammed ibn Ishak: the meaning of amortizing you is to let you die (Al-Razy exegesis (Tafsir) part 2 page 457) (1)
2) Narrated Wahb: the Christ died for three hours (1)
3) Narrated ibn Ishak:  he died for seven hours (1)
4) Imam Al-Baydawy said: it was said that the human nature was crucified & the divinity was raised (2)
Actually the saying of Al-Baydawy is correct concerning the crucifixion of the human nature, but it is incorrect concerning what he said about the raising of the divinity, as we believe that the crucifixion actually happened for the human nature which was affected by the crucifixion, but the divinity was inseparable from the human nature, not for a moment or even twinkling of eye & the divinity was not affected by the act of crucifixion, and it is not raised as God is present everywhere
In general the previous saying of Imam Al-Baydawy although it is incorrect concerning what he said about the raising of the divinity, but we see in it a clear indication that the Christ was really crucified by his human nature
It appeared so to them
Al-Razy exegesis ( Tafsir) part 3 page 350:‘ If it is permitted to say that almighty God put man’s resemblance on another person this will open the door for confusion & uncertainty , as if we see Zaied (certain person) ,he may not be Zaied, as Zaied’s resemblance might be put on someone else, he may be Obeid (another person)& if a man marries Fatima, he may not marry Fatima as a Fatima’s resemblance might be put on Khadija , therefore he will marry Khadija instead, thinking that she is Fatima, If it is permitted to put a person’s resemblance on another person, then neither marriage nor divorce nor possession will be certain all will be doubtful”

They differed in that person whom was crucified instead of Jesus, according to their claim, some said that he was Judas; others said he was a roman solider , or Simon the Cyrenean, and others said a man named Surges, We know well the legalistic rule stating that if the witnesses’ testimonies contradict, that’s a solid proof that the accusation is basically fabricated

They asked is the repentance insufficient for the forgiveness?
Saying that the quran said in the cow chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 37:”Then Adam received from his Lord Words. And his Lord pardoned him, He is the relenting, the Most Merciful”
The repentance is important for the forgiveness, but alone is insufficient for the forgiveness
The repentance is a human act, but the forgiveness is a Godly act

The repentance is a remorse for the past; a confession and a determination for not sinning again in the future, but it will not repair what happened

If someone hit your car and destroyed it completely, then he came to you regretting and saying sorry, I will not do that again, is his apology sufficient to compensate you for the damage and loss of your car? , of course not, he has to compensate you for your loss, so his apology alone is not enough

That compensation is what the Christ did on the cross, as he died for us

We were sentenced to death; he died for us to set us free from the death sentence

 In 1 john 2:1, 2:” I'm writing these things to you so that you might not sin. Yet if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ, one who is righteous. And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world”

In The table chapter (Surat Al-Ma’idah) 89:”Allah will not punish you for what is unintentional in your oath, he will punish you for your deliberate oath, for its expiation feed ten poor persons on a scale of the average of that with which you feed your families or cloth them or manumit a slave, but whosever can’t afford, then he should fast for three days”

In this verse it is clear that there is expiation for the deliberate oaths which is feeding of ten poor persons or clothing them or manumitting a slave, or fasting for three days

So if the oath deserves expiation, so the sin deserve an expiation

In Mutual fraud chapter (Al-Taghabun) 9:”and whosever believe in Allah & perform righteous good deeds .He will expiate his sins for him, and will admit him to gardens under which rivers flow”

In this verse it is clear that God himself expiates the sins, till he abolishes them

Actually the real expiation in Islam is what we mentioned before on the sacrifice,

Some may challenge by saying: what the innocent Christ has done to be forced by God to be killed? Is that a justice?

The quran said in:
The cow chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 61:” they used to disbelieve the verses of Allah and killed the Prophets wrongfully”
The cow chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 87: “whenever there came to you a Messenger with what you yourselves desired not, you grew arrogant? Some, you disbelieved and some, you killed.”

So how God allowed for the death of his prophets while they were innocent people?
Or the killing of the innocent prophets was permissible, while killing of the Christ was impermissible!!!
 
 
 

Some are asking how do you believe in a crucified God and who was ruling the universe while he was crucified and buried in the grave?

As we mentioned what was said by Imam Al-Baydawy:”the human nature was crucified & the divinity was ascended (2)

The divinity is present everywhere and as the Christ is a complete human in whom the divinity revealed, he died by his human nature, while by his divinity he was ruling the whole universe

Some are asking how the Christ is God and he was eating, drinking and perform all the bodily needs?

To those I am asking, is God present every where or He is confined to certain places and not the others, is He present in the impure places or not?

He is definitely present everywhere, even in the impure or defiled places, but he is not affected by that places , as the sun diffuses even into the stagnant impure water, but it is not affected by that unclean water
 
 

(1) Al-Razy exegesis (Tafsir) part 2 page 457

(2) Al-Baydawy exegesis (Tafsir) part 2 page 128