Consequences of Jesus' Departure for Muslims

Consequences

Our previous discussion of Jesus' departure from the earth in the context of Nisa 4:156-159 has brought some important insights:

- In his defence of his prophetic credibility, Muhammad follows the similar defence speech of Stephen. Instead of defending himself, he focuses on the messianicity of Jesus.

- In Nisa 4:156-158, three Jewish criticisms of Jesus' claim to Messiahship are rejected and refuted. The Qur'an defends Jesus as the Messiah and rejects the Jewish-Talmudic counter-thesis of Jesus' earthly abduction.

- Nowhere in the Qur'an is there any criticism of the account of Jesus' departure from the earth as told in the Gospel and believed by Christians. The criticism found in the Qur'an of false ideas about the death of Jesus relates exclusively to the Jewish account and could have been expressed in a similar way by Christians.

- The material about Jesus' removal from the earth is best explained if we understand it in accordance with the Gospel. This means that the Qur'an seems to confirm Jesus' death on the cross, his resurrection and his exaltation to God.

ConsequenCes: Nisa 4:159

With these results in mind, we now turn to the consequences that the Qur'an derives from Jesus' departure for the possessors of the Scriptures: Nisa 4:159 makes clear the extraordinary significance of Jesus' Messiahship in the history of God's revelation: 'And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Judgment he will be a witness against them;-'. The many pronouns in the verse must first be correctly assigned and determined, which has led to different interpretations: a) 'before his death': Does “his” refer to Jesus or to the people of the Scriptures? Since Jesus suffered death when he departed from this earth and has already experienced the second creation (i.e. the resurrection) through his exaltation to God (cf. interpretation of Al-i Imran 3:59), it makes no sense to relate the 'his' to Jesus' death, which is still pending. The second creation is characterised precisely by the fact that it lasts forever and is no longer at the mercy of death. If all people had to believe the Scriptures before Jesus' death, the Jews would have been too late at the time of Muhammad, because Jesus died almost 600 years earlier. We must therefore assume that the statement is to be understood as in the above translation: all the people of Scripture must believe in Jesus as the Messiah before their own death.

b) believes in 'him' or 'it': It is not immediately clear what this pronoun refers to. Since the context is about the Messiahship of Jesus, the meaning does not change significantly whether one believes in 'him', i.e. Jesus the Messiah, or in 'it', i.e. the Messiahship of Jesus. In both cases, it is about Jesus' claim to be the Messiah. Why this claim is so important will be discussed later.

c) ‘he’ will be a witness: The meaning of 'he' has also been debated, albeit to a lesser extent. According to the rules of grammar, it is not possible to insert a person here who is not mentioned in the text. Since Jesus is spoken of as the Messiah, it must be about him, so we understand the verse as follows: 'And there is none of the People of the Book but must believe in him [i.e. Jesus] before his [own] death; and on the Day of Judgment he [i.e. Jesus] will be a witness against them;-'

The Jews doubted that Jesus could be a messenger of God in the sense of Messiah (see Nisa 4:157). It is astonishing that the Messiahship of Jesus is so important that Jesus will appear as a witness at the Last Judgement against those who doubt his Messiahship. Since on the Last Day only the ‘People of the Book’ (cf. Nisa 4:162 1: ‘... believe in what hath been revealed to thee and what was revealed before thee ...’) are promised entry into paradise and they must believe in the Messiahship of Jesus before their death, belief in Jesus as Messiah will be a fundamental criterion for admission to paradise.

The context of Nisa 4:162 makes it clear that the significance of the other prophets is based exclusively on the revelation they received. In the case of Jesus, not only is acceptance of the Gospel required, but also belief in his Messiahship. What exactly the Qur'an understands by this will be discussed later.

In any case, according to the Koran, at least for Jews and the People of the Book, it is necessary for salvation to accept Jesus as the Messiah.

Challenge for Muslims

It follows from the following observations that a correct understanding of the calling of Jesus is also assumed to be absolutely necessary for Muslims: Even Muhammad is asked not to doubt the truth revealed to him by God about Jesus' birth, life, teaching and call (Al-i Imran 3:60 and 3:42-59). Should anyone, and this includes every Muslim, argue with Muhammad about these truths, he would be under the deadly curse of God (Al-i Imran 3:61). As we have seen in the discussion of Nisa 4:156-158, the birth and the manner in which Jesus was departed proves his Messiahship. The combination of Al-i Imran 3:54-61 with Nisa 4:156-159 thus shows that belief in the messianicity of Jesus is also fundamental for Muslims and all other people.

Only the followers of Jesus are promised superiority over the unbelievers in this world time until the Last Judgement (Al-i Imran 3:55). And in the Last Judgement, God will decide the matters wherein they disagreed in earthly life (Al-i Imran 3:55). According to the message of the Qur'an, being a believer means accepting God's truth about Jesus. This includes his departure from earth. According to our discussion of this departure, this means believing in Jesus' death on the cross, his resurrection and his exaltation to God as the firstborn in the second creation. According to the Muslim commentators I have read, today's Muslims do not believe this. Thus they are not followers of Jesus and hold contradictory beleives to the message of the Qur'an. They are 'at variance' with them (i.e. these followers). This will have consequences in the final judgement: '... Then shall ye all return unto me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute' (Al-i Imran 3:55).

In a lecture on the departure of Jesus from the earth, A. Ataie made the following statement: 'The question of whether Jesus died or not has no meaning for Muslims, in contrast to Christians, whose faith is based on the death and resurrection of Christ.'2 In the light of the knowledge we have gained about the depiction of Jesus' departure in the Qur'an, this claim is clearly refuted. The manner of Jesus' departure will be of decisive importance for Jews, Christians and Muslims at the Last Judgement.

conclusions

Unforeseen Consequences

At the beginning of our reflections, we asked ourselves what the message of the Qur'an is in relation to Jesus: Is the message predominantly negative and does it correct Christians from their erroneous beliefs? We can now conclude that the Qur'anic Christology is challenging both for Christians - Jesus is not the physical son of God and must not be equalised with God - and for Muslims - the departure of Jesus means his death on the cross, his resurrection and his exaltation to God as the firstborn of the second creation. It is not the case that the image of Jesus in the Koran only corrects Christians. Today's Muslims are at least as challenged by the Quranic statements about Jesus. The exclusively negative portrayal of Jesus by many Muslim commentators does not do justice to the Qur'an's image of Jesus. This portrayal does not prepare Muslims for the Last Judgement, in which their understanding of Jesus will be of decisive importance for salvation.

With this important realisation in mind, let us turn to the question of what the Qur'an understands by the Messiahship of Jesus.

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1 ‘But those of them firmly rooted in Knowledge, and the (true) believers believe in what has been sent down to you (O Messenger) and what was sent down before you; and especially those who do the Prayer in conformity with all its conditions, and those who pay the Prescribed Purifying Alms, and the believers in God and the Last Day (as both must be believed in): to them will We will grant a tremendous reward’ (Nisan 4:162; Ali Ünal).

2 The exact answer was: 'The thing [die Abberufung Jesu von der Erde / Kreuzigung] is not really important for us [Muslims]. It›s very important for Christians for Jesus to die, because Paul says, if Christ isn›t raised then Christianity is in vain, your faith is invalid, it›s in vain. But for us, I mean a prophet dying or not, - prophets were cut in half, prophets were tortured, right, prophets were decapitated –, it›s not so much of a big issue for us. … So I don›t think it›s just a big issue. Why is there no hadith [explaining the death of Jesus], I don›t know. I don›t know.' (Ali Ataie, The Crucifixion and the Quran – an Exegetical and Historical Inquiry into Surah 4:157-159, Zaytuna College Faculty Lecture Series in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09-JthSnyic (visited: 15/12/2022)).