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Islam
Père Zakaria Boutros
The Challenges of
They crucified him not ; they killed him not with certainty & their answers
 

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

This series
 
The books of the Islamic proselytiser Ahmed Didat had been widely dispersed in the market, as he met with some of the church pastors in United States & Europe ,he had argued with them on the Christianity & Islam, these arguments had been published in books, audio & video tapes & had been on a global international propaganda, these materials had been used by extremities & bigots in embarrassing the simple Christians  who has no knowledge of the theological thinking or religious argument, a lot of our believers came to us inquiring about these utterances that are attacking our Christian beliefs & asking to give replies  to them, this matter pushed me to write these books to answer him, clarifying the truth which he didn’t know

Before going through the replies I want first to clarify our motives to publish these books & also our goals we aim at, then our style in the discussion

First: our motives

Our motives are:

1- Our heartily love to God: as the holy bible said: “you love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:30)

2- Our love to all the people:” You love your neighbour as yourself”
 (Matthew 22:39)

Second: our goals:

1- glorifying the holy name of God as written”, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

2- The benefit of all the selves: “let's do what is good toward all men”
 (Galatians 6:10)

Third: our style;

1- The respect of the freedom of creed, freedom of viewpoint & the individual right of thinking and embracing whatever he believes

2- We are ready to answer whoever asks us, as the holy bible said: “always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with humility and fear” (1Peter 3:15)

3- We are careful about the foolish and ignorant arguments as the holy bible warns us from that saying:  “refuse foolish and ignorant questionings, knowing that they generate strife….. And the Lord's servant must not strive” (2Timothy 2:23, 24)

4- When we answer any accusation and explain our faith, this doesn’t mean at all that we are humiliating the creeds of others, or hurt their feelings, but we are very careful on the ethics of discussion & argument with  all respectability

5- With the spirit of friendliness & understanding, we look for a common ground & points of agreement between us, we are not hunters of what we think from our point of view as mistakes, as we know that there are explanations from the other partner’s point of view, which are convincing to him & not necessary convincing to us & visa versa

6- So we answer & express ourselves with the logic in which we believe, so if the reader agrees with it well & good & if he doesn’t agree he can through it away after knowing our point of view, therefore we all will end in the friendliness which we never bargain, as the value of every human being for us is immense, as he is God’s creature, whom he loved & as we love God we love all those beloved by God

7- We are careful not to say offensive, hurting words or insults as we are totally away from that & we never accept this, therefore we quietly & logically speak to let the peace & friendliness dominate

8- To achieve this goal & to avoid clashes let us disregard completely the idea of a winner & looser in the discussion as if we are in an honour battle &, so we have to differentiate between the personal subjective & objective battles, let us have objective discussion

9- We are careful not to have superficial replies, but a reply which is out of comprehensive deep study, to induce satisfaction to present the full truth; we hope to give satisfactory answers for the honest person who asks to know the truth
 
The author

Introduction

Answering Sheikh Didat

With whom Sheikh Didat had conducted his arguments?

Sadly the sheikh went to people from America & Europe, he had chosen people who know nothing about Islamic religion so they know nothing about the religion dialogue especially between Islam & Christianity, so all his arguments came one sided
Exactly like a professional gladiator who fights with an innocent person who know nothing about fighting, so the game is one sided, shall the gladiator after the battle be proud of defeating this innocent person?
Why the sheikh didn’t think of arguing one of the Christians specialised in the comparisons between religions from middle east especially Egypt?

Answering the issues provoked by Sheikh Didat

Sheikh Didat provoked several subjects regarding our faith in:
1- God is one in the holy trinity
2- The incarnation of the Christ son of God
3- Crucifixion of the Christ & inevitability of the redemption
4- Veracity of The holy bible & its non falsification
5- The book of Ezekiel chapter 23 about Oholah and Oholibah
6- The book of Song of the Songs.
7- The permission of drinking wine
8- The discrepancy in the number of the people of Israel
9- The discrepancy in the number of the people of Jude
10- The discrepancy of the number of the years of famine between first Samuel & first Chronicles books

We published books answering these issues

You will find in this book the answer for:
The challenge of They didn’t crucify him but it appeared so to them
 

Chapter one

The challenge of
They crucified him not, but it appeared so to them

We have discussed before in other books the issue of crucifixion of the Christ; we have discussed God’s love, his creation of man then God’s fairness when man had sinned & was condemned to death, then we went through God’s wise plan by setting forth the redemption, we discussed the prerequisites of the redeemer that were fully fulfilled in the Christ, in this book we will discuss the challenge claiming that the Christ was not crucified but it appeared so to them

This challenge was based on the quran verse in:

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”

Let us dear reader discuss this issue wisely, objectively & without effervescence from different aspects to explore the reality

First

The utterances of Islamic scholars concerning
The exegesis of this verse is conflicting

We will mention some of these utterances as mentioned in the book of (Game El-bayan page 12-16): it is said

(1) God had put the resemblance of the Christ on one of the disciples named Surges:

“A Christian man who converted to Islam narrated: when 'Iesa (Jesus) was told by God: I am raising you up to me he said: O disciples who want to be my companion in the paradise, by taking my resemblance & appearing to the public to be killed instead of me? Surges replied: I do O God’ soul.

'Iesa (Jesus) said to him: then sit in my seat , then he did & 'Iesa (Jesus) was raised up ,when the crowd got inside they took him & crucified him as they saw the face of 'Iesa (Jesus) & the body wasn’t his body but others said it is him

2) It is said that God had put the resemblance of the Christ on Judas who extradited ‘Iesa (Jesus) to the Jews:

It is mentioned in the same previous reference “others said: one of 'Iesa (Jesus)’s disciples (i.e. Judas) dissimulated & came with the Jews to direct them to him, so when he got inside with them to take him, God had put on him the resemblance of 'Iesa (Jesus), therefore he was taken , crucified & killed

3) It is said that God had put the resemblance of the Christ on one of the roman’s soldiers:

We read in the same previous reference “when the Jews arrested 'Iesa (Jesus), they assigned a guard to him, but 'Iesa (Jesus) was raised by a miracle to the heaven & his resemblance was put on this guard therefore he was taken & crucified while he was yelling: I am not 'Iesa.

4) Imam Al-Baydawy mentioned: it is said that Titus, the Jewish, came to a house where 'Iesa (Jesus) used to be there, & he didn’t find him, therefore God had put the resemblance of 'Iesa (Jesus) on him, so when he came out, people thought that he is 'Iesa (Jesus) therefore they took him & crucified him

5) It is said: God put the resemblance of 'Iesa (Jesus) on another man therefore this man was crucified instead of 'Iesa   (The book of Game El-bayan page 12-16)

My dear reader would you tell me which one of these narrators we believe? & which one of these narrations will we believe??

Was the one upon whom the resemblance of 'Iesa (Jesus) was put& therefore was crucified instead of him was this man:

Surges? , Judas? , the guard? , Titus the Jewish? Or another man? Or who???

We know well the legalistic rule stating that if the witnesses’ testimonies contradict, that’s a solid proof that the accusation is basically fabricated
Isn’t this a sufficient answer to this challenge?

But let us, as we used to do, give other logic answers

We have discussed in the previous item the contradiction of the narrators’ utterances concerning the expression of: “it appeared so to them” we will discuss another aspect which is:

 
Secondly:

Was God in need to perform this drama?

What was the urgency he had to do that? Wasn’t he capable of just lifting up the Christ without making such resemblance & that will be enough?
Or they wanted to confirm the concept of redemption (they are trying to deny) though deceit & bluffness?
Did the Christ come as a redeemer for the mankind? Or he was in need of someone to redeem him & to be crucified instead of him?
These questions & others are enforcing themselves to distinguish between the truth & fallacy. I am leaving the answers to the mind of the honest thinkers, they will realize with certainty that God was not in need to perform this deciding drama which was fabricated by some of the narrators, then we come to a third aspect which is:
 

Thirdly

Is this deceit & lie from the ethics of God,
The All- honest & All-truthful?

These annotators don’t they realize what the noble quran said concerning the deceit, lie & about the honesty & the truthfulness:

The cow chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 8-10:” And of mankind, there are some who say: "We believe in Allah and the Last Day" while in fact they believe not ,They think to deceive Allah, while they only deceive themselves, and perceive it not! , In their hearts is a disease and Allah has increased their disease. A painful torment is theirs because they used to tell lies.” after all of this they attributed to God the deceit & it is a disease deserving a painful torment, God forbids
The Cattle chapter (Surat Al-An'am) 57:” The decision is only for Allah, He declares the truth." also in
The light chapter (Surat An-Nur) 25:” they will know that Allah, He is the manifest Truth”. God is the manifest Truth, so how do they attribute to him the fallacy???
The Cattle chapter (Surat Al-An'am) 115: And the Word of your Lord has been fulfilled in truth and in justice. None can change His Words. “The Word of God is truthful, also in
The Family of Imran chapter (Surat Aal-Imran) 61:” the Curse of Allah upon those who lie." God curses the liars so how they attribute to him the lie?
Actually we absolutely deny these ethics to belong to Al mighty God, so it is not allowed to explain these verses by attributing man’s diseases as deceit, lie & fallacy to God, these disease which deserve the punishment & painful torment

Now we will shift to discuss another issue which is:

Fourthly

The exegesis of the most wise, respectful Islamic annotators

Concerning the expression “It appeared so to them”

1) The great jurisprudent Imam Al-Razy in his book (the exegesis (tafsir) Al-Razy, part 3, page350) “If it is permissible to say that Al mighty God put the resemblance of a man on another, this will open the door for confusion, so if we see (Zaied), he may not be (Zaied), but the resemblance of (Zaied) was put on someone else!!!
If a man married to (Fatima), he might not marry Fatima, but the resemblance of (Khadija) was put on Fatima, so he would marry Khadija instead of Fatima, thinking that she is Fatima”

Imam Al-Razy concluded this serious fact saying:
If it is possible to put the resemblance of someone upon someone else, so neither marriage, nor divorce, nor ownership is authenticated anymore”

So Imam Al-Razy is denying that the expression “It appeared so to them” meaning putting the resemblance of the Christ on someone else!!

2) Imam Al-Baydawy is saying: it is possible that what was meant by this verse is: the human nature was crucified & the divinity was ascended (Imam Al-Baydawy exegesis part 2, page 128)
 

Fifthly

What was meant by ‘It appeared so to them”??

1) Maybe, the noble quran was trying to say that the meaning of ‘It appeared so to them” is that by their crucifixion of the Christ, it appeared to them that they totally demolished him & his mission, but they will never demolish him, nor his mission, but It appeared so to them.

2) Another meaning is; it appeared to them that they killed him, but in fact God was the one to allow this & he did, as mentioned in;
The Spoils of War chapter (Surat Al-Anfal) 17:” You killed them not, but Allah killed them, threw not when you did throw but Allah threw…”

3) Also there is another meaning which is; anyone who was killed in the Way of God is not dead: so the meaning of the verse it appeared to them that the Christ was dead , in fact he is alive with his lord as was mentioned in the noble quran in this meaning, saying in ;
a) The Family of Imran chapter (Surat Aal-Imran) 169:”
Think not of those who are killed in the Way of Allah as dead. Nay, they are alive, with their Lord, and they have provision.”
B) The cow chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 154:
”And say not of those who are killed in the Way of Allah, "They are dead." Nay, they are living, but you perceive it not.”
4) It is also possible that what was meant is crucifixion of the human nature and the improbability of crucifixion of the divinity , this what was pointed at by  Imam Al-Baydawy by his saying : : “the human nature was crucified & the divinity was ascended (Imam Al-Baydawy exegesis part 2, page 128)
Actually the utterance of Al-Baydawy is true concerning the crucifixion of the human nature, but it is untrue concerning what he is saying  about the ascend of the divinity , as we believe that the crucifixion was verily for the human nature , which was affected by the act of crucifixion , but the divinity was inseparable from the human nature, not for a moment or a blinking of eye even though  the divinity was not affected by the act of crucifixion, this fact is understandable by looking to a piece of iron, put in fire, when we  hammer it by a hammer ,we will find that only the iron will be affected by hammering , but the fire will not be affected
In general, the utterance mentioned before of Imam Al-Baydawy, although being untrue concerning what he said about the ascend of the divinity, but we can see in it a clear indication that the Christ was actually crucified by his humanity, without affecting the divinity
Sixthly
Why did Islam deny that the Jews had killed the Christ?
Didn’t the quran mention that Jews are the killers of the prophets?

The cow chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 87:”
 Is it that whenever there came to you a Messenger with what you yourselves desired not, you grew arrogant? Some, you disbelieved and some, you killed.”
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) 91:
”Say "Why then have you killed the Prophets of Allah a foretime, if you indeed have been believers?"
The Family of Imran chapter (Surat Aal-Imran) 112:
” … This is because they disbelieved in the verses of Allah and killed the Prophets without right. ..”
This comes in accordance with what was mentioned in the holy bible concerning the killing of the Prophets & men of God by the Jews, as it was said;
Nehemiah 9:26:” They were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and killed your prophets”
Luke 11:49 “I will send to them prophets and apostles; and some of them they will kill and persecute”

Romans 11:2, 3 ‘Elijah pleads with God against Israel saying: "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life."

Actually I don’t understand why some of the annotators of quran insist on denying the act of the Christ crucifixion
 
 

Seventhly

The reason behind this denial?

The reason behind the denial of the Christ crucifixion by some people is probably attributed to the following reasons:

1) It is proved historically & from the testimony of history & religion books that Mohammed knew a monk named Bohyra in a monastery on the convoys’ road from Mecca to Al-sham {the simplified Arabic encyclopaedia (Al-Maosouaa Al-Arabia Al-mouyasara) page 330}

2) It is proved that this monk was Nestorian (Ibn Hesham, first part, page 166)
& has wrong beliefs about the Christ
 

3) Also Waraqua bin Nofal, the cousin of Miss Khadija, the prophet’s wife, was a priest in Mecca, belonging to the ibionian heresy, that was a Christian rite believing in false doctrines  that controvert the true Christian doctrines , among its beliefs that the divinity of the Christ was separated from his humanity on the cross ( Al-Yaqouby history part 1 page 254-257), so the quran verse probably meant in The women chapter (Surat An-Nisa) 157 saying that they didn’t crucify him  having no certain  knowledge .This what was explained by  Imam Al-Baydawy by his saying : : “the human nature was crucified & the divinity was ascended
(Imam Al-Baydawy exegesis part 2, page 128)
 

Eighthly

The verity of crucifixion of the Christ

Let us explain the verity of crucifixion of the Christ from the holy bible, the noble quran, the archaeology & from the history

First: the crucifixion in the holy bible:

1) “And they were come unto a place called Golgotha, they had crucified him” (Luke 32, Matthew 27, Mark 15, John 19)

2) Pilate the ruler who was interrogating the Christ testified before his crucifixion by a testimony which couldn’t be applied to anyone but the Christ personally & no one else as he said:  I have examined him before you, and found no basis for a charge against this man concerning those things of which you accuse him. Neither has Herod, for I sent you to him, but they shouted, saying, "Crucify! Crucify him!" Pilate decreed that what they asked for should be done” (Luke 23:24)

3) From the words of the crucified on the cross we will find that they are showing that the one who was crucified was no one but the Christ as he was asking the forgiveness for those who crucified him, saying: "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they are doing." And saying to the criminal who was crucified with him ““today you will be with me in Paradise." {Meanwhile one of the stories of it appeared so to them saying that the one who had the resemblance of the Christ was yelling: I am not Iesa’}
From these it is obvious that the crucified was the Christ & no one else what so ever

Secondly: the crucifixion in the quran:

We can find in the noble quran verses a hinting of killing & declaration of death in:

1) In The cow chapter (Surat Al-Baqarah) 87: “And we gave Moses the Book … And we gave 'Iesa (Jesus), the son of Maryam (Mary), clear signs and supported him with Rûh-ul-Qudus. Is it that whenever there came to you a Messenger with what you yourselves desired not, you grew arrogant? Some, you disbelieved and some, you killed.”
Notice the matching of Moses & Iesa in this verse as the Jews had belied Moses but they killed Iesa

2) The Family of Imran chapter (Surat Aal-Imran) 55. And they plotted [meaning the Jews], and Allah plotted too. And Allah is the Best of the plotters when Allah said: "O 'Iesa (Jesus)! I will amortize you and raise you to myself and clear you of those who disbelieve” from this verse it is obvious that the Christ died before being raised to the heaven.

3) 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 obvious that the Christ died before being raised alive

4) The Table Chapter (Surat Al-Ma’idah) 117: but when you amortized me, you were the watcher over them,” from this also it is obvious that the Christ was killed by the Jews & God was the watcher over them

Thirdly: the testimony of the archaeology & history:

 Dear readers let us discuss in the sciences that never lie to realize the verity of this matter, let us turn the pages of history & explore the depth of the relics:

1) The archaeologists discovered the original verdict issued by Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea to crucify the Christ: It is a yellowish brassy slat pleaded in the Hebrew language
  It was discovered in the year 1280 in the city of Aquella, a district of Napoli during the search for the Romanian relics

The text of the verdict issued by Pontius Pilate on Jesus the Nazarene, to be executed crucified:

{In the seventeenth year of the reign of the emperor Tiberius Caesar, corresponding to the twenty fifth of azar (March) in the holy city of Jerusalem in the high priesthood of the great rabbis Annas and Caiaphas, and the verdict of Pontius Pilate the governor, sitting for adjudgment in the house of protorin keenest on Jesus the Nazarene sentenced to death crucified based on the numerous obvious testimonies given by the people that Jesus the Nazarene is:

First      : he is a deceiver driving people to aberration
Second:  he is inciting people on riot & agitation
Third     : he is an enemy of the law
Fourth   ; he proclaim himself the son of God
Fifth       : he proclaim himself the king of Jews
Sixth      ; he entered the temple in a great multitude carrying palms

Therefore Pontius Pilate is commanding Coninus Cornelius ,the centurion to bring Jesus to the place set forth for his execution & he has also to deter anyone who is violating the execution of this verdict whether he is rich or poor }
2) This is confirmed by what was mentioned in the Talmud, Amsterdam edition on 1643, in the chapter of Sanhedrim, page 43, as it was said that:
{Jesus was crucified one day prior to the Passover; he was killed as he was a warlock aiming to deceive Israel}

3) Yousifus, the Jewish historian, who was contemporary to the apostles, also wrote in the third chapter {Jesus lived as a wise man, he proclaimed to be the messiah, when he was adjudged by Pontius Pilate, and sentenced for crucifixion because of the complaints of our nation leaders, those who were before believing in him remained, as he reappeared alive in the third day, those Christians who took their name after him are still present}

4) the testimony of Tasitus , the roman historian , who documented the events of the roman empire, from the death of Augustus  Caesar, on year 14 A.C, to the death of neuron , on year 68 A.C, he said about the Christ { there was a group of people , named in the public Christians, taking their name from the Christ , their leader, who was killed as guilty in the reign of Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was the governor }

5) The writings of the idolatrous philosopher Celsus, who wrote against the Christian creed, concerning divinity of the Christ, he said { If the Christ believers are true, how one of them denied him , how the other one betrayed him, pushing him to death & how they worship a crucified Christ }

6) The famous philosopher martyr Youstinus & the great scholar tirtilianus, from the church leaders in the second Gregorian century documented that the verdict of Pontius Pilate to crucify the Christ is saved in the records of the roman empire in Rome
{Ante Nicene Fathers Vol. 1 P160}

So beloved, we have seen, from this fast demonstration answering the challenge of they didn’t crucify him, but it appeared so to them, we have discussed:

1) the contradiction between the utterances of the Islamic scholars concerning the expression of,”it appeared so to them”

2) God is not in need of this drama to rescue the Christ from death

3) The deceit & lie in this drama are not from the ethics of Al-mighty God
4) The nearest explanation of the expression it appeared so to them, is the occurrence of the act of crucifixion on the human nature with the divinity unaffected as Al-Baydawy said

5) It is understood from this expression”it appeared so to them” that it appeared to them that they destroyed the Christ but he is alive in the heaven & his mission is still present on earth

6) The Jews are really the killers of the prophets, with no sound reasons
7) We have seen the verity of crucifixion of the Christ from the holy bible, the noble quran& from the testimony of the history & archaeology

Finally

I have a simple comment on the annotators
Who came after the incident of crucifixion by more
Than 600 years, in the Islamic era & explaining the
Verse “they didn’t crucify him with certainty” by their
Denial of the crucifixion & death, I am saying that these
People are like those who came after 600 years from now
& say about president Sadt who was assassinated in the
Rostrum accident in 1981: saying he wasn’t assassinated
But it appeared to them so!!!, would  they find
Any listening ears? Would anyone believe them
and deny the reality & the history?
So we realized by the confirming proofs the unreality of the
Challenge saying“They didn’t crucify him, but it appeared so to them”

 
Chapter Two

The Challenge of:
“They killed him not, but it appeared so to them”

The Christ was not killed but God raised him to him
This challenge is based on the second half of verse 157 of:
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…. (to his saying), they killed him not they have no certain knowledge, But Allah raised up unto Himself, and Allah is Ever All-Powerful, All Wise”.
Those saying this challenge are telling that quran is confirming with no doubt that the Christ was neither crucified nor killed but God raised up unto Himself, as it is evident from this verse!!
But let us put beside this verse some other quran verses & some of  Islamic scholars & annotators  utterances explaining the verity of what was meant by this verse , here are some of these noble quran verses in the following:
1) The Family of Imran chapter (Surat Aal-Imran) 55. “And they plotted [meaning the Jews], and Allah plotted too. And Allah is the Best of the plotters when Allah said: "O 'Iesa (Jesus)! I will amortize you and raise you to myself and clear you of those who disbelieve” and I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve till the Day of Resurrection” from this verse it is obvious that the Christ died before being raised to the heaven.
2) 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 obvious that the Christ died before being raised alive

3) The Table Chapter (Surat Al-Ma’idah) 117:” but when you amortized me, you were the Watcher over them,” from this also it is obvious that the Christ was killed by the Jews & God was the watcher over them

Let us demonstrate the Islamic scholars’ utterances in exegesis of the meaning of death as mentioned in these verses:
The noble quran annotators have been divided in exegesis of the meaning of death into two groups:
 

The first group

Who explained the meaning of death in a metaphorical explanation

1) - Some are saying that the death means sleeping & not the real death, depending on what was mentioned in the noble quran in:
The Cattle chapter (Surat Al-An'am) 60:”It is He, Who takes your souls by night……. “
The Groups chapter (Surat Az-zumar) 42:” Allah takes away the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep. He keeps those (souls) for which He has ordained death and sends the rest for a term appointed”.
On that basis Imam Al-Baydawy explained the Christ death saying:” amortizing you asleep, as it was said that he was raised asleep”
2) Some others said that the death means taking his rights in full {Al-Ma’gam Al-Waseet part 2 page 1047}
This is one of the exegeses made by Imam Al-Baydawy on, The Family of Imran chapter (Surat Aal-Imran) 55 “….Allah said: "O 'Iesa (Jesus)! I will amortize you and raise you to myself”
Al-Baydawy said: I will take your right….I will prevent them from killing you”
3) Some are saying the death means death from having lusts
As Imam Al-Baydawy is saying also: I will amortize you from the lusts which hinder you from going to heaven “

These are some of the opinions of those who explained the death metaphorically,
Then we will come to:

The second group

Who explained the meaning of death as a real one

Among those Imam Al-Razy as he 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)

Among them also Al-Syouty as he said in the book (Al-Itqan (the perfection) part 1 page 116) “amortizing you meaning putting you to death”

Actually this group of people with this opinion differ among themselves in determining the period of time passed since the Christ died till he was raised up later on alive as mentioned in the book( Game Al- Bayan page 289-292) what follows:
1) Narrated Ibn hamyed …narrated Ibn Ishak, narrated Wahb Ibn menabeh he said: the Christ died for three hours then he was raised up (Gamee Al- Bayan)
2) Narrated Mohammed Ibn Ishak:  he died for seven hours, then God revived him & raised him”
3) Imam Al-Baydawy: mentioned five opinions in the exegesis of this verse:
+ I am amortizing you i.e. I will take your right, I will prevent them from killing you
+ Or, I am taking you from the earth
+ or” amortizing you asleep
+ Or I will amortize you from the lusts which hinder you from going to heaven “

(We have mentioned before his opinions on discussing the metaphorical explanation
 but he added saying:
+ It was said that God put him to death for seven hours then he raised him to heaven that what the Christian said “
And also among the opinions of the great Islamic annotators what was mentioned in:
4) In the exegesis (tafsir) of Ibn Kathir: narrated Idris he said: the Christ died for three days then he was revived by God & raised up “
The answer:
Now we will handle these utterances by analysis;
First: the contradictions in these utterances;
You can see dear reader the extent of contradiction & confusion in these utterances concerning the death of the Christ; some are denying the death completely, and explaining it as sleeping or death from having lusts
While others accepting the death but differ in its duration; three hours, seven hours or three days
In this issue I am reminding you again by the legalistic rule which was mentioned before which states that:
If the testimonies of witnesses contradict together, it will be a basic evidence for the fallacy of accusation!!!
So the accusation concerning the verity of crucifixion & death of the Christ are not matching together, this is a confirming evidence for their fallacy, and the verity of crucifixion & death of the Christ will remain above all doubts and stronger than any efforts denying it

Secondly; answering the metaphorical exegesis;

For answering this group of people explaining the death of the Christ in a metaphorical way, we have to clarify an essential linguistic rule that should not be overlooked by those great annotators, which is if any word is used in its unreal meaning to point to a   metaphorical meaning it has to be accompanied by a contexture in the same sentence,
As it is explained in the following two verses concerning the sleeping:
The Groups chapter (Surat Az-zumar) 42:
” Allah takes away the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep. He keeps those (souls) for which He has ordained death and sends the rest for a term appointed”. So here he mentions the contexture which is’ those that die not during their sleep’ that will let the” die” word exit from its real meaning which is the death to its metaphorical one which is the sleeping
Also the same in The Cattle chapter (Surat Al-An'am) 60:
”It is He, Who takes your souls by night” as he mentions the contexture which is’ by night” that will let the word exit from its real meaning which is the death to its metaphorical one which is the sleeping
Actually in all quran chapters the death word was not mentioned in its metaphorical meaning except in these two verses , meanwhile it was mentioned 25 times in the noble quran in its real  death meaning, I will mention here some of these as examples :
1) The Groups chapter (Surat Az-zumar) 42:” Allah takes away the souls at the time of              their death”
2) The women chapter (Surat An-Nisa’) 15:” until death comes to them “
3) The Prostration chapter (Surat As-Sajdah) 11: "The angel of death will take your souls”
And there are lot of quran verses in such a way explaining the meaning of death by real death, unless a contexture comes with it, exiting it from its real meaning which is the real death to point exclusively to the metaphorical meaning
 
 

Thirdly; the contradiction between the exegesis of Al-Baydawy & the noble quran verses:

The saying of Al-Baydawy in his metaphorical exegesis for the death: I will amortize you from the lusts which hinder you from going to heaven

We say to Imam Al-Baydawy with all our respect for you &your opinion, what do you think, respectful jurisprudent, in the quran & the annotators’ saying concerning the Christ, as he was called Christ as he was cleared from the sins & transgressions, as we mentioned before , we will remind you by what we have said :

+ Mary chapter (Surat Maryam) 19: in which the angel says: “I am a messenger from your
 Lord, to announce to you the gift of a righteous son.( means pure) ,so the Christ is a
 Pure human
+The family of Imran chapter (Surat Al-Imran) 36: I have named her Maryam, and I seek refuge with you for her and for her offspring (i.e. the Christ) from Satan, the outcast."
+Imam al-Razy said in his tafsir (exegesis) of the word” the Christ”: he was cleared from the sins & transgressions by Gabriel’s wing at the time of his birth to protect him from Satan {Al-Razy tafsir (exegesis) part 3 page 676)
+Narrated Abu Hurairah: {I heard the prophet of Allah peace upon him said: every newborn from Adam‘s offspring has been touched by Satan at the time of his birth so he yelled screaming from his touch except Maryam (Mary) & her son}
+In Sahih Al-Bukhari: each son of Adam is stabbed by Satan’s finger when he is born except Iesa son of Maryam, when he (Satan) tried to stab him he stabbed in the curtain (i.e. he did not cause him any harm)
From this, it is clear that the Christ is the only innocent & pure person who has not been touched by Satan, so how Imam Al-Baydawy dared to say :” I will amortize you from the lusts which hinder you from going to heaven”
So the metaphorical meaning claimed by the respected Imam Al-Baydawy is far from truth, he will be left with what he suggested about the real death of the Christ saying: “God put him to death for seven hours then he raised him to heaven that what the Christian said”
Fourthly: the verity of the Christ death:
Actually in spite of the contradiction of the Islamic annotators in determining the duration of the Christ death, but  they are close to the verity concerning what was mentioned in the exegesis (tafsir) of Ibn Kathir: narrated Idris he said: the Christ died for three days then he was revived by God & raised up “
In order to know the verity of the Christ death fully away from the confusion & doubts of Islamic annotators, we have to go back to the holy bible following the commandment of the noble quran itself as it says in:
+ Jonah chapter (Surat Yunus) 94: “So if you are in doubt concerning that which we have revealed unto you, then ask those who are reading the book before you….”
+The Bees chapter (Surat An-Nahl) 43:” And we sent not before you any but men, whom we inspired. So ask of those who know the Scripture, if you don’t know” & the same verse also mentioned in The Prophets chapter (Surat Al-Anbiya') 7
+ It was mentioned in the exegesis (tafsir) Al-Galaleen (page 357): those who know the Scripture are the scholars in the torah (Pentateuch) & gospel (Bible) & in his saying “if you don’t know “meaning that the people of the Scripture know it”
Following the commandment of the noble quran, we will clarify for those who don’t know the verity of the Christ crucifixion and death &  to those also who are in doubt concerning this matter, so let us clarify this from the holy bible & from the history:
First; from the holy bible:
We have discussed before the testimony of the holy bible about crucifixion of the Christ, now we will mention the testimony of the holy bible on;
? The Christ death:
1) John 19:33 -35 :”but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they didn't break his legs.( as the two criminals) However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe”.
2) Romans 6:8” for while we were yet weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ..But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
3) Romans 8:34: Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead”

   & there are a lot of verses explaining that the Christ died for the sinners
    Also the holy bible testified on;

? Resurrection of the Christ :

1) Act 2:32 “This Jesus God raised up, to which we all are witnesses.”

2) Mar 16:1-6 “ When the Sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, bought spices, that they might come and anoint him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. They were saying among themselves, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?" for it was very big. Looking up, they saw that the stone was rolled back. Entering into the tomb, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, dressed in a white robe, and they were amazed. He said to them, "Don't be amazed. You seek Jesus, the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen. He is not here. Behold the place where they laid him!

3)  1Co 15:3-8;”  For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas ( peter) , then to the twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also”

Second; the testimony of the archaeology & history

We have mention before the testimony of the archaeology & history
 On crucifixion of the Christ, now we will clarify from it also that the Christ verily was killed & he died & resurrected alive from death:
1) 1) The archaeologists discovered the original verdict issued by Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea to crucify the Christ: It is a yellowish brassy slat pleaded in the Hebrew language
  It was discovered in the year 1280 in the city of Aquella, a district of Napoli during the search for the Romanian relics

The text of the verdict issued by Pontius Pilate on Jesus the Nazarene, to be executed crucified:

{In the seventeenth year of the reign of the emperor Tiberius Caesar, corresponding to the twenty fifth of azar (March) in the holy city of Jerusalem in the high priesthood of the great rabbis Annas and Caiaphas, and the verdict of Pontius Pilate the governor, sitting for adjudgment in the house of protorin keenest on Jesus the Nazarene sentenced to death crucified based on the numerous obvious testimonies given by the people that Jesus the Nazarene is:

First      : he is a deceiver driving people to aberration
Second:  he is inciting people on riot & agitation
Third     : he is an enemy of the law
Fourth   ; he proclaim himself the son of God
Fifth       : he proclaim himself the king of Jews
Sixth      ; he entered the temple in a great multitude carrying palms

Therefore Pontius Pilate is commanding Coninus Cornelius ,the centurion to bring Jesus to the place set forth for his execution & he has also to deter anyone who is violating the execution of this verdict whether he is rich or poor }
2) This is confirmed by what was mentioned in the Talmud, Amsterdam edition on 1643, in the chapter of Sanhedrim, page 43, as it was said that:
{Jesus was crucified one day prior to the Passover; he was killed as he was a warlock aiming to deceive Israel}

3) Yousifus, the Jewish historian, who was contemporary to the apostles, also wrote in the third chapter {Jesus lived as a wise man, he proclaimed to be the messiah, when he was adjudged by Pontius Pilate, and sentenced for crucifixion because of the complaints of our nation leaders, those who were before believing in him remained, as he reappeared alive in the third day, those Christians who took their name after him are still present}

4) the testimony of Tasitus , the roman historian , who documented the events of the roman empire, from the death of Augustus  Caesar, on year 14 A.C, to the death of neuron , on year 68 A.C, he said about the Christ { there was a group of people , named in the public Christians, taking their name from the Christ , their leader, who was killed as guilty in the reign of Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was the governor }

5) The writings of the idolatrous philosopher Celsus, who wrote against the Christian creed, concerning divinity of the Christ, he said { If the Christ believers are true, how one of them denied him , how the other one betrayed him, pushing him to death & how they worship a crucified Christ }

6) The famous philosopher martyr Youstinus & the great scholar tirtilianus, from the church leaders in the second Gregorian century documented that the verdict of Pontius Pilate to crucify the Christ is saved in the records of the roman empire in Rome
{Ante Nicene Fathers Vol. 1 P160}

So beloved we have seen the answer of the challenge of “They didn’t kill him but God raised him to him” we have discussed

1) The contradiction between the utterances of Islamic scholars in the exegesis of the meaning of death whether a real or metaphorical
2) Their contradiction regarding the duration of the Christ death ; three hours, seven hours or three days
3) The Testimony of the holy bible & history on the death, crucifixion & resurrection on the third day of the Christ,
Concerning the contradiction between what was mentioned in The women chapter (Surat An-Nisa’) 157: “they crucified him not, but it appeared so to them, they killed him not, they have no certain knowledge, But Allah raised up unto Himself, “I mean the contradiction with the rest of the quran verses testifying the Christ death, we will handle it in the next book, if God permits. So see you later
 
 

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