Hot Air » Blog Archive » Blogging the Qur’an: Sura 4, “Women,” verses 104-176The Jews boast that they killed Jesus, but “they slew him not nor crucified him,
but it appeared so unto them” (v. 157). Ibn Kathir explains: “When Allah sent
‘Isa [Jesus] with proofs and guidance, the Jews, may Allah’s curses, anger,
torment and punishment be upon them, envied him because of his prophethood and
obvious miracles…” They stirred up “the king of Damascus at that time, a Greek
polytheist who worshipped the stars” to order his deputy in Jerusalem to arrest
Jesus. Jesus, perceiving this, asked those with him, “Who volunteers to be made
to look like me, for which he will be my companion in Paradise?” A young man
volunteered, whereupon “Allah made the young man look exactly like ‘Isa, while a
hole opened in the roof of the house, and ‘Isa was made to sleep and ascended to
heaven while asleep.” Then “those surrounding the house saw the man who looked
like ‘Isa, they thought that he was ‘Isa. So they took him at night, crucified
him and placed a crown of thorns on his head. The Jews then boasted that they
killed ‘Isa and some Christians accepted their false claim, due to their
ignorance and lack of reason.” Other sources offer other theories: Wahb bin
Munabbah, Qatadah, and Mujahid say that Jesus was with seventy of his disciples
when the guards came to arrest him, and all seventy were made to look just like
Jesus; one stepped forward and was crucified. The Ruhul Ma’ani identifies the
one who was made to look like Jesus and crucified as the one who betrayed him
for thirty dirhams — Judas. Allama Baghawi says it was a sentry who was guarding
Jesus after his arrest.
The assertion that “there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death” has been taken to mean that Jesus will return to earth – and when he does, according to Muhammad, he will “break the Cross and kill the pig and abolish the Jizya (a tax taken from the non-Muslims, who are in the protection, of the Muslim government).” That is, he will abolish the subservient dhimmi status of the non-Muslims, and Islamize the
world: “During his time, Allah will destroy all religions except Islam and Allah
will destroy Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal (the False Messiah).”
There are a few things in this that caught my interest. One is that they don't believe that Jesus was killed on the cross. That god was able to put a decoy in his place, and that person was killed on the cross. If you believe in god, like the Christians and the Muslims do, there is nothing that would put this above gods power. If he can bring Jesus back from the dead, he can make another person look like Jesus to trick those who would kill him.
The second is that the end of days for Muslims sounds a whole lot like the end of days for Christians. Jesus comes back, check. Establish his reign on earth, check. The only religion that will remain will be their religion - of course Christians say it will be Christianity and Muslims say Islam.
There is a lot of interesting content in this one, click the link to read more.
