Does the Qur'an support the Gospel's account of Jesus' departure?

We have established that the Qur'an vehemently rejects the Talmudic rebuttal to the

Gospel's account of Jesus' birth, Jesus' departure and Jesus' state after death: Jesus was not conceived as a result of an illegitimate extramarital relationship between Mary and a Roman soldier; the Jews did not kill and crucify Jesus on the basis of proven guilt according to divine law; nor does Jesus burn eternally in hell, but rather God elevated him to a position of insurpassable honour. With these three arguments, the Jews fundamentally questioned Jesus' claim to be the Messiah. The Qur'an thoroughly refutes this attack and thus explicitly defends Jesus' Messiahship. The main message of Nisa 4:156-159 reads: Jesus is the Messiah awaited by the Jews. The Qur'an clearly and unequivocally rejects as false the Jewish-Talmudic version of Jesus's departure from earth.

The common Muslim interpretation goes one step further to claim that the Qur'an, with the words 'they slew him not nor crucified him, but it appeared so unto them', in addition to the Talmudic version also rejects the account of Jesus' departure in the Gospel. However, it is important to add that no Muslim interpretation makes any distinction whatsoever between the Gospel version and the Talmudic version of Jesus' departure from the earth. Without making any such distinction one can hardly do justice to the meaning of Nisa 4:157-159, as Muhammad explicitly speaks to Jews in this passage and contradicts their presentation of Jesus' departure. To come to the conclusion that the Qur'an rejects both the Jewish and the Christian version without discussing the serious differences betweeen these two versions is premature, since the Talmudic account is a radical attempt to reinterpret the Gospel account of Jesus' departure - on a historical, moral and theological level. The rejection of the Talmudic account in Nisa 4:157f. should by no means be hastly equated with the rejection of the Gospel account. In this blog, we want to examine the question of whether the Qur'an also rejects the Gospel account alongside the Talmudic version and thus presents a third version of Jesus' removal from this earth, as is claimed by many Muslim commentators.

In my view, the following considerations stand against the view that Nisa 4:157f. presents a third version:

- In order to justify a rejection of the Gospel account, one would have to read into 4:157 that Jesus was not killed at all, neither by Jews nor by anyone else. This statement is missing in this verse. The Qur'an only claims that the Jews did not kill Jesus, but leaves open the possibility that Jesus was killed by, for example, the Romans1. However, it is precisely this latter variant that is advocated by the Gospel: it was not the Jews but the Romans who killed Jesus; - The argument that Jesus as a prophet would never have been killed by God in such a cruel way is refuted by the context of Nisa 4:157: It is clear from that context that Nisa 4:155ff. does not reject the killing of prophets as impossible in principle, but primarily contradicts the Jewish claim that such killings were justified: '...that they slew the Messengers in defiance of right ...'2 This preparatory statement rejects the Talmudic claim that Jesus was killed on the basis of the Mosaic Law or that his killing was justified in any other sense, but does not question Jesus' death on the cross. - Since the Talmudic version of Jesus' removal from earth presented by the Jews has no historical basis, but rather pursues the theological intention of discrediting Jesus' messianity, it would be very strange if the Qur'an were to treat this version as partly historically accurate: it may have seemed to you Jews as if you had really killed Jesus within history and hung him on the cross, but your perception of history was deceived by God so that you killed the wrong person - the substitute for Jesus. If this really reflected the intention of the Qur'an, one would have to doubt its historical trustworthiness, because according to the historically trustworthy sources, Jesus was killed by Romans, not Jews. On the basis of purely historical sources, the Jews did not kill anyone. Certainly the Jewish account does not mainly claim to be historically accurate, but is intended to be understood as an apologetic counter-proposal to the Christian claim to Jesus' Messiahship.

Fortunately, we do not have to rely on speculation to decide the question of whether the Qur'an, along with the Talmudic account of Jesus' departure, also simultaneously rejects the corresponding account in the Gospel. The Qur'anic interaction with the Christian account of Jesus' departure from the earth is available to us in Al-i Imran 3:54-55 and 58-59. These verses were uttered during a discussion with Christians from Nejran:

‘And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah. Lo! God said: "O Jesus! Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee unto Me, and cleanse thee of [the presence of] those who are bent on denying the truth; and I shall place those who follow thee [far] above those who are bent on denying the truth, unto the Day of Resurrection. In the end, unto Me you all must return, and I shall judge between you with regard to all on which you were wont to differ. (Muhammad Asad) ... The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be". And he was.'

As we have already noted, the underlying tone of this discussion with the Christians is much more positive than that in Nisa 4:156-159 with the Jews. Here there are no obvious denunciations of false Christian beliefs, and Christians are not told to change their beliefs in order to survive the Last Judgement. Rather, they are asked to 'Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to Allah's Will).' (Al-i Imran 3:64). On the other hand, Muhammad (v. 60) and those around him (v. 61) are urged not to doubt or even contradict the claims made about Jesus in the previous verses.

If we listen to the text in Al-i Imran 3:54-59 with the ears of a Christian trained by the Tevrat and the Gospel, we find - quite contrary to the often repeated view -, that the Christian account of Jesus' departure from the earth is not challenged and not corrected here. On the contrary, a great deal of agreement between the account of Jesus' recall from the earth given by Muhammad and the account given by Christians can be found: a) ‘And (the unbelievers) plotted and planned, and Allah too planned, and the best of planners is Allah: The expression 'plotting', 'scheming', or 'planning' is used here once in the negative and once in the positive sense of 'concealing something from another by cunning'3. Both Jesus' enemies and God use cunning to deceive others. Interestingly, Christians believe something similar. In Matthew 26:3-5 we read about the Jewish leaders who conspired to eliminate Jesus:

‘Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled [συνεβουλεύσαντο4] in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they schemed [δόλος5] to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him. “But not during the festival,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”’

In addition, Christians also defend the view that God's plan came to fulfilment through his cunning planing against the plotters. They read Isaiah 53 in the Tevrat as a prediction of Jesus' death as described in the Gospel. The following prophecy is found there in connection with Jesus' death:

‘But it was the Lord’s good plan [חָפֵ֤ץ] to crush him and cause him grief. Yet when his life is made an offering for sin, he will have many descendants. He will enjoy a long life, and the Lord’s good plan [וְחֵ֥פֶץ] will prosper in his hands’ (New Living Translation; Isaiah 53:10).6

This verse claims that Jesus' death as 'an offering for sin' was God's explicit plan. And Peter brings these two plans, the human and the divine, together in the following words:

‘But God knew what would happen, and his prearranged plan [ὡρισμένῃ βουλῇ καὶ προγνώσει] was carried out when Jesus was betrayed. With the help of lawless Gentiles, you nailed him to a cross and killed him. But God released him from the horrors of death and raised him back to life, for death could not keep him in its grip' (Acts 2:23-24).

and again:

‘You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David:

“‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band togetheragainst the Lord and against his anointed one.’

Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen. [βουλὴ [σου] προώρισεν γενέσθαι].’ (Acts 4:25-28)

God's plan was miraculously fulfilled through the cunning planning of Jesus' opponents. Without realising it, people could only do what God gave them permission to do. Jesus' death on a cross was part of God's wider plan to establish Jesus as His messiah. It was Paul who emphasised that God's plan in connection with Jesus' departure deceived many people to reject his messianic claims (1 Corinthias 1:18-25):

'For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written:

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise;     the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”

20 Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.'

According to Paul, God's plan to have the Messiah die on the cross is blasphemy for Jews and complete nonsense for other peoples. God's plan is therefore categorised by those groups of people as absurd and hence rejected. God thus proves that human wisdom can be seriously deceptive. With this deception of the wise and educated, God intends to save those who trust and believe in His seemingly absurd actions.

Given this background, Christians would thus hear from the words in Al-i Imran 3:54 what they already knew from the Gospel: the Jews planned to kill Jesus with a trick. This would have silenced the latter and at the same time proved that he was not the expected Messiah. But God was pursuing a far greater plan. He used the intrigues of the Jews to realise His own plan. He arranged the killing of Jesus at the Passover and had it carried out by the Romans. He then proved Jesus' Messiahship through his resurrection from the dead and his exaltation to Himself. The nonsensical message of the Messiah dying on a cross deceived the wise men and the Jews and led them to come to a false conclusion about Jesus' Messiahship, but at the same time God's plan with the Messiah's death surpassed all human wisdom. The clue of the death on the cross followed by resurrection and exaltation explains how God's plan can also be understood as scheming. God's plan was far superior to that of Jesus' enemies. God's plan came to fulfilment. He is the best schemer.

b) 'Lo! God said: "O Jesus! Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee unto Me [lifting thee to myself (Darabadi)]' (Muhamad Asad): The Christians listening to this statement would also have felt strengthened in their faith, which was shaped by the Gospel. The expression 'I will take thee' (muteveffîke7) is most naturally understood as 'to kill' in the sense of 'to cause physical death'.8 The term 'to raise / elevate to God'9 (Al-i İmran 3:55: ' râfi'uke'; Nisa 4:158: 'rafe'ahu')' also occurs in the Gospel of John (John 3:14 ('rafae' and 'yurfae'); 8:28 ('tarfaeun'); 12:32+34 ('rufiet' and 'yurfaea'); see also Philippians 2:9 ('rafaeah'); all Arabic words are from the Easy-to-Read Translation of the Arabic Bible ): ‘And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die' (Johannes 12:32-33). The Greek for 'lifted up' also means 'exalted'. In John, the word 'exalt' or 'lifted up' has the double meaning of exaltation to the cross to death and exaltation to the messianic throne of honour with God through resurrection and ascension.10 It includes both death on the cross (John 3:14; 8:28) and resurrection and ascension (John 12:32; Philippians 2:9). Christians would have understood 'I will take thee' in the sense of 'let die' as God's planned crucifixion by the Romans. By the expression 'exalt to me' they would have associated both Jesus' death on the cross with the subsequent resurrection and exaltation to the right hand of God.11 Christians would have clearly heard Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection and ascension to heaven from the words of Al-i İmran 3:55, but would certainly never have come up with the idea that Jesus did not die, but was brought alive to God in safety - in the sense of the substitution theory. If the Qur'an's intention in Al-i İmran 3:55 had been to correct false Christian ideas regarding Jesus' departure from earth, the wording would simply be too imprecise for Christians to understand such a correction. Rather than accusing the Qur'an of imprecission and incomprehensibility, it is better to assume that the intention has never been to correct the Christian idea, but rather to explicitly confirm it: after Jesus' recall from the earth, the disciples explained the whole event in very similar terms to those found in Al-i İmran 3:55:

'…  This man was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, ... God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of it. Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. … Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah’ (Acts 2:23-24 und 32-36).

Jesus was killed by humans according to God's plan and confirmed as the Messiah through his subsequent exaltation to God.

c) ‘... and am cleansing thee of those who disbelieve' (Muhammad Pickthall): Rudi Paret translates: '... and make you pure, so that you are snatched away from the unbelievers'. According to the original Arabic text, one should keep it more simple and translate 'and cleansing yourself from the unbelievers' without adding the interpretative addition 'so that you are snached away', which is motivated by the theory of substitution. The substitutionary interpretation understands 'cleansing' in the sense of 'snatched away from', meaning, that God rescued Jesus out of the hands of his accusers by letting him escape unrecognized to heaven. But without this later interpretative addition, there is a certain perplexity among commentators as to why Jesus is to be cleansed from unbelievers: Allah ‘... further willed to purify and cleanse him [Jesus] from mixing with the unbelievers and remaining with them. Such a purification is necessary since all unbelievers are impure.’12 Sayyid Qutb fails to answer the question as to why such purification was not necessary at an earlier point in Jesus' lifetime and was only carried out at the time of his departure. And do all believers need such a cleansing? A better interpretation of the Arabic in Al-i Imran 3:55 is provided for example by Abdul Mannan Omar: ‘and I will clear you of the unchaste accusations of those who disbelieve'. He switches the object of the cleaning from humans to accusations. In this reading Jesus is not rescued from his enemies but purified from unjustified accusations made by his opponents. For the Christians listening, this understanding would have made perfect sense: the Jews wanted to declare Jesus as someone who is 'cursed by God' through his death on a tree (Acts 5:30, see Deuteronomy 21:23). But God cleared him of this accusation by exalting Jesus 'in the place of honor at his right hand' (Acts 5:31; New Living Translation).13 This Biblical background conclusively explains the connection mentioned in Al-i Imran 3:55 between Jesus' exaltation and his purification from his opponents brought about by Allah, without reading unmotivated additions into the Qur'anic text to support the theory of substitution. The word 'keferû' (unbelievers) could derive from the Hebrew 'kofer', which means 'to deny' and is used for those 'who unnecessarily ask questions and try to find contradictions in sacred texts.'14 The choice of the word 'keferû' understood as "denier" is a further indication of the correctness of our interpretation: with his exaltation to God, Jesus was cleansed of the accusations of the deniers of his messiahship and his claim to messiahship was confirmed by God himself. Understood in this way, this statement in the Qur'an fits very well with the account of Jesus' departure in the Gospel:

‘The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins' (Acts 5:30-31).

God has not only cleansed Jesus from the accusations of the deniers, but with this cleansing has even made it possible for the deniers themselves to repent and be cleansed of guilt.

d) ‘... and I shall place those who follow thee [far] above those who are bent on denying the truth, unto the Day of Resurrection. In the end, unto Me you all must return, and I shall judge between you with regard to all on which you were wont to differ' (Muhammad Asad): As already explained, the unbelievers are people who denied that Jesus was the Messiah, despite the fact that he was killed like someone cursed by God, but later justified as Messiah through God's exalting him to Himself. Those who follow Jesus as the Messiah15 are his disciples (Matthew 4:18-22), who were later also called "Christians" (i.e. followers of the Messiah; see Acts 11:26). Knowing this background, the Christians from Najran would certainly have counted themselves among these followers. Sayyid Qutb identifies the people described in 3:55 with 'the ones who believe in God’s true religion, Islam, or surrender to God'16. If our interpretation has been correct so far, Qutb's identification poses a real challenge to many Muslims. But what exactly is meant by Jesus' followers being superior to unbelievers? Is it a question of material, political, scientific, military or, in short, worldly superiority, or is it a question of spiritual superiority? Looking at the meaning of the word it can refer to both worldly and spiritual superiority.17 Again, Islamic interpreters find it somewhat difficult to accept the idea that followers of Jesus - that is 'Christians' by definition - should be in a God-sanctioned superior position to all deniers of Jesus' messiahship, not only until the coming of Muhammad and the Qur'an, but also until the Day of Resurrection.18 But from a Christian perspective, this statement makes perfect sense: Peter compares Jesus the Messiah to a building block that the Jewish builders (religious leaders) rejected, but who was chosen by God to be the cornerstone, i.e. Jesus is identified as the defining person in respect to faith in God (Acts 4:11). Peter testifies with regard to Jesus, ‘Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12). One's opinions about Jesus carry serious consequences. ‘Whoever believes in' Jesus as the Messiah exalted to God 'is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed' (John 3:18). With the justification of Jesus by God, i.e. his exaltation to Him, God gives the people of Israel the opportunity to repent so that their guilt, which consisted of their failure to recognise and accept Jesus as the Messiah, is forgiven (Acts 5:31). Belief or disbelief in Jesus, the Messiah, is not limited to the earthly era, but will also be decisive in the Last Judgement according to both the Bible (see above) and the Qur'an (e.g. Nisa 4:159 and Al-i İmran 3:55). God will then judge the different perceptions of Jesus. We will consider which side God will take in respect to the correct perception of Jesus in a later blog. But it is clear from this verse (Al-i Imran 3:55) that both in this world and in the hereafter, Jesus' followers, i.e. people who believe in Jesus as the Messiah, chosen as such according to God's plan and justified by exaltation, are superior in God's eyes to those who do not believe this. The Christians present when Muhammad spoke these words would have understood them quite naturally in the sense as described above and with the help of the following ideas written by Paul:

‘Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. 4 For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5 he[b] predestined us for adoption to sonship[c] through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8 that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, 9 he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10 to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

11 In him we were also chosen,[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, 12 in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. 13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory' (Ephesians 1:3-14).

According to Paul, Jesus' followers are blessed, chosen, adopted, graced, redeemed, their sins are forgiven, they have recognised God's secret will, have been appointed heirs and wer sealed with God's Own Spirit. Again, the Christian delegation from Najran would have felt strengthened in this belief with the statement: 'And I will cause those who follow you to be superior to the unbelievers until the day of resurrection. Then you will all return to me. And I will decide between you about what you disagreed about (in earthly life).'

e) '... The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him: "Be". And he was': We have already shown in detail that this verse can be understood as an affirmation of Jesus' resurrection and a description of his status before God as the firstborn of the second creation. The many passages in the Gospel that compare Jesus with Adam testify to the same thing: just as Adam is the progenitor of earthly mankind, Jesus became the progenitor of heavenly mankind through the resurrection.

We therefore conclude that there is nothing to suggest that the Qur'an corrects the version of Jesus' removal from this earth reported in the Gospel - through death on the cross, resurrection from the dead on the third day, and exaltation to God. Rather, every statement in Al-i Imran 3:54-59 can be easily harmonised with the version believed by Christians. An interpretation in line with the Gospel explains the whole Quranic passage in a more natural and logical way than if it has to be reinterpreted to conform to the theory of substitution: (a) it provides an explanation as to why God's plan with Jesus can be understood as cunning; (b) is not based on an unconvincing reinterpretation of 'to kill' as 'to put to sleep' and thereby saves the Qur'an from criticism of imprecission and incomprehensibility of its message; (c) explains the term 'purify' convincingly - 'to purify from false accusations' - without having to resort to the unmotivated 'to save from unbelievers'; (d) offers a cogent explanation of why Jesus' followers are superior to those who do not believe in Jesus' death and exaltation until the resurrection; (e) fits the comparison between Jesus and Adam naturally into the context of Jesus' departure from this earth. There is nothing to suggest that the Qur'an is correcting the Christians, that it was not Jesus but a substitute who died on the cross, but that Jesus was taken alive to God for protection. Reading such a substitutinary meaning into these verses requires more ingenuity than assuming a confirmation of the Gospel in Al-i Imran. Also on the basis of the context - see Muhammad's request to the Christians present: 'Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to Allah's Will)' - the view that the Qur'an in Al-i Imran 3:55 rejects the account of Jesus' departure from earth as described in the Gospel must be rejected as extremely unlikely.

We have shown that Al-i İmran 3:55 does not supplement or correct the account of Jesus' call in the Gospel, but the verse can very well be understood as a confirmation of it. It remains to be investigated whether the other Qur'anic passages on Jesus' departure from earth are also compatible with the Gospel account. But it is safe to say that, at least in direct contact with Christians, the Qur'an does not defend a different third version of Jesus' departure from earth. If a third version was nevertheless implicitly hidden in the verses, the Christians listening would never have been able to grasp it, even with their best intentions.

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1 'The Qur’an’s assertion that the Jews did not crucify Jesus – wa mā ṣalabūhu – is obviously different from saying that Jesus was not crucified – wa mā ṣuliba. The first phrase is Qur’anic, the latter is found nowhere in the Book' (Todd Lawson, Crucifixion, p. 25).

2 '... the Qur’an repeatedly accuses “the Jews” of “unjustly killing their prophets.” One mention of this accusation comes in Q 4:155, where it begins the Qur’an’s rebuttal of the Talmudic counter-narrative that the Jews killed Jesus justly for being a heretic who led the people astray. In the Qur’anic perspective, Jesus’ killing was unjust because he was the Messiah. To dramatize this problem, the Qur’an gives “the Jews” this problematic line: “We have killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of God” (Q 4:157a). Of course, “the Jews” that the Qur’an is arguing with would not have used honorific language for Jesus, but the troubling sound of “We have killed the Messiah” gets the point across that killing Jesus is not something of which to boast.’ (Ian Mevorach, “Qur'an, Crucifixion, and Talmud: A New Reading of Q 4:157- 58” in Journal of Religion & Society 19 (2017): pp.1-21. Moss, Candida, p. 12).

‘مَكْر 3

Hile ile, kendisinin neyi kastettiğini bir başkasından saklamaktır. Bu da iki çeşittir: Biri mahmûd (övülmüş, güzel görülmüş) şeydir. Bu, bir güzelliği kastetmek için amacını saklamadır. Bu manada Allah buyurur ki: وَاللّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِين Allah, hile yapanların en iyisidir (3/Âl-i İmrân 54)’ (Râgıb el-İsfehânî'nin el-Müfredât fî Garîbi'l Kur'ân eserinde; zum Eintrag ‘M-k-r - م ك ر)’ in https://www.kuranmeali.com/Aciklama.php?id=1382&islem=mufredat&kok=%D9%85%20%D9%83%20%D8%B1 (visited: 29/12/2023)).

4 ‘to take counsel with others, take counsel together, to consult, deliberate’ (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon in https://biblehub.com/greek/4823.htm (visited: 29/12/2023)).

5 ‘HELPS word studies' explains the term as follows: “dólos – properly, bait; (figuratively) deceit (trickery) using bait to alure ("hook") people, especially those already festering in excessive, emotional pain (brought on by themselves).

… /dólos ("deceit motivated by guile") uses decoys to snare (deceive) people which implies treachery to exploit the naive (undiscerning) – baiting them through (with) their own greed.' (Note 1388. Dolos in https://biblehub.com/greek/1388.htm (visited: 29/12/2023)).

6 The words חָפֵ֤ץ and וְחֵ֥פֶץ actually mean joy, delight, pleasure, delight, but can also be understood as will and positive plan.

7 «Ölüm ve uyku da تَوَفِّي [v-f-y] formuyla ifâde edilmiştir» (Râgıb el-İsfehânî'nin el-Müfredât fî Garîbi'l Kur'ân eserinde; 'V-f-y - و ف ي', https://www.kuranmeali.com/Aciklama.php?id=1606&islem=mufredat&kok=%D9%88%20%D9%81%20%D9%8A (visited: 01/12/2023)).

8 Muteveffîke (Al-i İmran 3:55)  goes back to the stem w-f-y, which occurs 66 times in the Qur'an. Of the 66 occurrences, 25 are in the same form as the verbs in 3:55 and 5:117. Most of these verses undoubtedly refer to physical death, and in one case it is even the death of Muhammad (Mümin 40:77). 'In verses 3:55 and 5:117, another word is used, which in other contexts is generally construed as physical death. This is a derivation of the root w-f-y. In the former verse, it appears as the active participle of the Vth form with the possessive second person pronominal suffix: mutawaffīka. In the latter, it appears as the second person perfect verb of the same form with the objective first person ligature: tawaffaytanī. In both cases, the originator of the action is God.' (Todd Lawson, Crucifixion, p. 41). 'Hani Allah şöyle demişti: Ey İsa, şüphesiz ki seni vefat ettireceğim, seni katıma yükselteceğim' (3/Âl-i İmrân 55). … İbn Abbâs şöyle der: Buradaki تَوَفِّي ölüm demektir. Çünkü Yüce Allah onu öldürmüş, sonra diriltmiştir.' (Râgıb el-İsfehânî'nin el-Müfredât fî Garîbi'l Kur'ân eserinde; 'V-f-y - و ف ي', https://www.kuranmeali.com/Aciklama.php?id=1606&islem=mufredat&kok=%D9%88%20%D9%81%20%D9%8A (visited: 01/12/2023)).

9 The verb r-f-a‘ 'Hz. İsa’nın [bedenen] göğe yükseldiği anlamına gelebildiği gibi, şeref bakımından yükseldiği anlamına da gelebilir' (Râgıb el-İsfehânî'nin el-Müfredât fî Garîbi'l Kur'ân eserinde; 'R-f-a - ر ف ع'  in https://www.kuranmeali.com/Aciklama.php?id=570&islem=mufredat&kok=%D8%B1%20%D9%81%20%D8%B9 (visited: 06/12/2023)).   Lawson explains: 'In the Qur’an, it appears twenty-two times as a verb and six times as a noun. The verbal uses are evenly divided into two general meaninggroups. The first carries the idea of raising as in the lifting of an object from a surface (12:100; 13:2; 88:18; 79:28; 2:63; 2:93; 4:154; 55:7; 49:2; 2. 127). The second means, or can mean, the exaltation of a thing or person in rank or value (2:253; 6:175; 43:32; 94:4; 7:176; 19:57; 19) ...4:157 … 4:158; 6:83; 12:76; 58:11; 35:10; 24:36). In addition, there are various noun forms that occur with a similar distribution of meaning (56:3; 3:55; 40:15; 52:5; 56:34; 80:14). It will be noticed among the verses in which r-f-‘ occurs, we find verse 3:55' (Todd Lawson, Crucifixion, pp.55f.).

10 'ὑψώσητε has the double reference of elevation on the cross and elevation to the Messianic throne' (Expositors Greek Testament related to John 8:29, https://biblehub.com/commentaries/egt/john/8.htm (visited: 01/12/2023).

11 In addition to the Johannine passages, see also Philippians 2:9.

12 Sayyid Qutb, Shade of the Quran zu Al-i İmran 3:55, p. 523.

13 'The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a cross. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins’ (Acts 5:30-31).

14 MUSTAFA SİNANOĞLU, "KÜFÜR", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/kufur (06.12.2023). 15 'تَبِعَهُ ve اِتَّبَعَهُ fiilleri bir kişinin izinde gitmek anlamını taşır. Bu, bazen bizzat bedenle izlemeyi bazen de onu örnek almayı (lider edinmeyi) ifâde eder' (Râgıb el-İsfehânî'nin el-Müfredât fî Garîbi'l Kur'ân eserinde; T-b-a - ت ب ع in https://www.kuranmeali.com/Aciklama.php?id=173&islem=mufredat&kok=%D8%AA%20%D8%A8%20%D8%B9 (visited: 11/07/2024).

16 Sayyid Qutb, Shade of the Quran, p.524. However, Kutb displays his differing understanding of Al-i Imran 3:55, when he adds: 'Every Prophet is fully aware of the true nature of this religion. Every messenger preached the same religion and everyone who truly believes in the Divine faith believes in it' (ibid).

'عَهُ' ve اِتَّبَعَهُ' [T-b-a] 17 Râgıb el-İsfehânî'nin el-Müfredât fî Garîbi'l Kur'ân eserinde; F-v-k  in https://www.kuranmeali.com/Aciklama.php?id=1145&islem=mufredat&kok=%D9%81%20%D9%88%20%D9%82 (06/12/2023). The author tends to understand Al-i İmran 3:55 as a spiritual supernatural superiority. Sayyid Qutb, on the other hand, emphasises both spiritual superiority and worldly superiority: 'These believers are indeed far superior to the unbelievers, according to God’s measure, and they will continue to be so until the Day of Judgement. Moreover, they prove their superiority in our practical life every time they confront the forces of un-faith with the true nature of faith and the reality of following God’s messengers' (Sayyid Qutb, Shade of the Quran zu Al-i İmran 3:55, pp.523f).

18Siehe Sayyid Qutb, Shade of the Quran zu Al-i İmran 3:55, pp. 81f.. Even if he claims 'It is not difficult, on the other hand, to explain God's statement that He has placed those who follow Jesus above the unbelievers', he must then generalise, deviating from the context - which is about Jesus' death and exaltation in connection with his Messiahship: ,Those who follow Jesus are the ones who believe in God’s true religion, Islam, or surrender to God. Every Prophet is fully aware of the true nature of this religion. Every messenger preached the same religion and everyone who truly believes in the Divine faith believes in it. These believers are indeed far superior to the unbelievers, according to God’s measure, and they will continue to be so until the Day of Judgement. ... The Divine faith is one, preached by Jesus, son of Mary, as preached by every messenger sent before him and by the messenger sent after him. Those who follow Muhammad at the same time follow all the messengers sent by God, starting with Adam until the last messenger.' (Sayyid Qutb, Shade of the Quran, pp. 523f.).