A Hoax and Its Paradoxes

8/9/2019 A Hoax and Its Paradoxes

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A Hoax and its Paradoxes

The Cruci-fiction of the Quran

Masud Masihiyyen

It will not be an exaggeration if we say that Islam and its scripture dissent from the fundamentaldoctrines of Christianity from cradle to grave, for most of the Quran verses interpret both Jesus

miraculous birth and His passion in a totally different and controversial way. In sharp contrast towhat Christian scripture teaches about Jesus crucifixion, the Quran overtly rejects Jesus

passion and death, implicitly endorsing a theory of illusion or a case of mistaken identity:

And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah;and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and

most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge

respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure. Nay! Allah tookhim up to Himself; and Allah is Mighty, Wise. (Surah 4:157-158)1

Being rather vague and open to interpretation, these Quran verses take the form of an unsolvablemystery in the hands of Muslim apologists who ironically contribute to their obscurity through

their differing and puzzling comments. This kind of a disagreement concerning the true meaningof the verses quoted above condemns the Quran into a chain of paradoxes that subsequently

undermine the validity and credibility of the Islamic hypothesis about Jesus crucifixion.

The first paradox is based on the allegation that the ones bragging about crucifying and killing

Jesus the Messiah are followers of a conjecture as they do not know anything about this

incident. These verses most likely address the Jews and designate them as ignorant people whodid not know what had actually happened at the time of Jesus crucifixion. However, the sameverses somehow fail to explain to mankind all the supposed mysteries of the crucifixion as they

do not allow even Muslims to comprehend how and why Jesus was saved from the cross. Thus,Muslims and non-Muslims alike are deprived of the divine knowledge, without which their

opinions remain as conjecture awaiting authorization from above.

The second paradox, derived from the erroneous argument that disagreements prove doubt aswell as inadequate knowledge, is embedded in the following statement that ascribes ignorance to

people who are said to have differing views about Jesus crucifixion:

most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledgerespecting it (Surah 4:157)

Apparently, either there is a problem with the linguistic structure of this particular verse or itcontains a logical fallacy. In the first place, Muslims cannot be exempt from the charges of doubt

and ignorance since they absolutely dissent from Christians and Jews when they deny Jesuscrucifixion. Second, the quoted verse does not narrow the content and form of disagreement,

confirming the idea that Jewish or Christian groups do not know anything about Jesus


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crucifixion because they disagree among themselves. If we suppose that one group dissentedfrom the other by denying Jesus death, even that certain group would be condemned to

following speculations despite the fact that they concurred on the denial presented in the Quran.As a result, the Islamic scripture surprisingly teaches that whoever denies Jesus crucifixion as a

matter of disagreement has nothing else than doubt!

The third paradox is related to the following Quran verse:

And when Allah said: O Isa, I am going to terminate the period of your stay (on earth) and causeyou to ascend unto Me and purify you of those who disbelieve and make those who follow you

above those who disbelieve to the day of resurrection; then to Me shall be your return, so l willdecide between you concerning that in which you differed. (Surah 3:55).

In this verse Allah supposedly speaks to Jesus and promises to cleanse Him from all Hisdisbelieving adversaries. The striking feature of this alleged statement is that it refers to Jesus

ascension, which occurs also in Surah 4:155-158, where the negation of Jesus crucifixion and

death are strengthened through His relevant ascension to Allah. The meaning of the Arabic wordwaffa occurring in this verse is still disputed among Muslims apologists2 as to whether Jesusexperienced a physical death prior to His ascension or not, but this does not change the fact that

the Quran considered Jesus ascension the termination of His earthly life and prophetic mission.This conclusion begets the question why Jesus physical departure from this world had to

coincide with the Jewish resistance and disbelief. A similar question is why Allah would ever letthe Jewish disbelief result in the forced end of Jesus prophetic ministry.

When we analyze the aftermath of Jesus alleged ascension in the Quran, we can see that this

incident has a disappointing result for Jesus, who is targeted by a disbelieving community. Thisis merely because the inevitable end of Jesus mission in the form of a bodily departure and

isolation from this world signifies His foes salvation from Him more than His own rescue fromtheir hands. More to the point, those who disbelieve and plan to take Jesus out of their lives are

absolutely grateful to the god of Islam, who takes Jesus out of this world before they bother topunish Him and shed His blood. Thus, it surprisingly becomes impossible for the god of Islam to

blame some Jews of Jesus time for crucifying and killing Him. As there is no victim, there isneither guilt nor accusation.

However, some Islamic groups deem it necessary to reinterpret Surah 3:55 as they are not

pleased with the idea of Jesus physical death prior to His ascension. This they can achievethrough the symbolic parallelism they draw between death and sleep, which finds support in

another Quran verse likening sleep at night to the state of death3. Their relevant conclusion is

that Jesus was taken up alive, and that He will die after His second coming4. This approach to the

form of Jesus ascension which is the result of an attempt to harmonize the tension between theverses of the Islamic scripture aims to radically distinguish the Islamic tenet concerning Jesusglorification from the basic Christian tenet binding Jesus glorification to His passion and death.

St. Paul the apostle stresses the relation between Jesus passion and exaltation when he writesthat Jesus humility became manifest in His incarnation and culminated in His surrender to death

on a cross5. Thus, in Christian theology of salvation, Jesus glorification is preceded by and

cannot be separated from His physical death. The literal interpretation of the verb cause to


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die/end ones life in Surah 3:55 is thus discarded by some Muslim apologists who want to evadeany thematic or linguistic affinity between the means of Jesus exaltation in Christianity and in

Islam.

Nevertheless, the symbolic interpretation of Jesus bodily departure from our world in Surah

3:55 paradoxically becomes more troublesome for its adherents. The assertion that Jesus did notexperience a physical death prior to His ascension makes Him a figure that was granted eternallife before Mohammad, which contradicts a Quran verse:

AndWe did not ordain abiding for any mortal before you. What! Then if you die, will they

abide? (Surah 21:34)

Besides, Jesus infancy narrative in the 19th

Surah of the Quran contains some statements that

make Jesus equal to a messenger named Yahya (John the Baptist) in terms of physical death andresurrection:

And peace on him on the day he was born, and on the day he dies, and on the day he is raised tolife. (Surah 19:15)

And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life.(Surah 19:33)

Another Quran verse implies that ALL the messengers/prophets before Muhammad passedaway:

And Muhammad is no more than an apostle; the apostles have already passed away before

him; if then he dies or is killed will you turn back upon your heels? (Surah 3:144)

According to the Quran, every human must experience death:

Every soul must taste of death and We try you by evil and good by way of probation; and to Us

you shall be brought back. (Surah 21:35)

At this point, Muslim scholars are torn between making Jesus exempt from death through theirsymbolic interpretation of Surah 3:55 and making Jesus subject to death because of the verses

quoted above. In order to find a way out of this paradox, they make use of Jesus second comingat the end of times, which is a purely Christian concept compatible with the apocalyptic doctrines

of Jesus universal Kingdom and divine authority as the Judge of the mankind6. Consequently,

bringing Jesus down from the sky just before the Day of Judgment signifies for some Muslimscholars the only way of terminating Jesus long life so that He can be adapted to the formermessengers and prophets of the Quran, all of whom are said to have passed away.

This sort of reasoning adds a new item to the list of contrasts between Islamic and Christian

creed. Although both faith systems believe in the second coming of Jesus to our world, thechronology of the events in Jesus life has a sharp contrast. In Christianity Jesus experiences

death during His first advent and conquers death on the third day. His resurrection proves that


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death has no more dominion over Him7, as a result of which He comes the second time not to

die, but to judge the living and the dead and proclaim His eternal Kingdom. Islam reverses this

order by claiming that Jesus will come the second time to die as death had no dominion overHim during His first advent until His ascension. More interestingly, Jesus in Christianity comes

the first time so that He can save mankind through His death whereas in Islam Jesus comes the

second time so that He can die and save some Muslim apologists from a theological problem.

In addition, the Quran verse used as a reference for the prediction of Jesus second coming is

highly problematic:

And most surely it is a knowledge of the hour, therefore have no doubt about it and follow me:this is the right path. (Surah 43:61)

This specific verse talking of the knowledge of the hour is not a standardized version sinceMuslim scholars have not reached a consensus on the gender of the personal pronoun occurring

in this verse yet. This is why in another Quran version (Yusuf Alis translation) we read Jesus

name inserted into the translation in brackets:

And (Jesus) shall be a Sign (for the coming of) the Hour (of Judgment): therefore have no

doubt about the (Hour), but follow ye Me: this is a Straight Way. (Surah 43:61)

Interestingly, another Quran version (Pickthalls translation) omits the personal pronoun fromthis sentence:

And lo! verily there is knowledge of the Hour. So doubt ye not concerning it, but follow Me.This is the right path. (Surah 43:61)

It is not reasonable to claim that the personal pronoun in 43:61 refers to Jesus as the sign of theHour because this chapter was written prior to Mohammads adoption of the Gnostic heresydenying Jesus crucifixion and death. The Islamic teaching that Jesus escaped death through

divine intervention was an innovation unknown in the early (Meccan) period of the Quran.What Muslims today do is reinterpret an obscure verse of an earlier period of the Quran in the

light of another obscure verse of a later period with the help of Hadiths reiterating the Christiantenets about Jesus second coming. Muslim commentators can claim only now (after the

completion of the whole Quran) that the referent in Surah 43 points at Jesus. Nevertheless, suchan interpretation would be unthinkable in the early days of the Quran when Muslims were not

familiar with the Islamic doctrine that Jesus had been taken to Heaven. Nothing in the Meccanperiod of the Quran enabled Muslims to infer that Jesus was somehow in Heaven.

If we get back to the unstated and vague reasons underlying the necessity of Jesus salvation

from the cross and the related denial of His crucifixion, we first encounter a group of Muslimswho cannot endure the idea that almighty and righteous God would allow some evil unbelievers

torture and murder one of His honorable prophets8. This kind of an objection to Jesus passion

and death primarily became so dominant and popular in the Islamic world that even a Christiansaint writing a critique of the basic Islamic tenets remarked that Muslims faith in Gods love

towards Jesus was the main obstacle in the way to their endorsement of the passion and


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crucifixion9. The claim that God loved Jesus so much that He did not allow Him to suffer and die

is a distorted version of the Christian doctrine that Jesus suffering and death expressed Gods

love for sinful mankind10

. Although the Islamic theory that the admittance of Jesus passion anddeath betrays Gods love for Him is not explicitly supported by the Quran, it manages to

provide a nice theological reason for the denial of the crucifixion. However, it is not possible to

say that this theological reason perfectly fits the case of many prophets and messengers of theQuran.

Unlike the New Testament, the Islamic scripture disregards the notion of consistency when therescue of certain prophets is in question. The parable named the tenants of the vineyard11, which

is found in the Synoptic Gospels with slight variations, does not only illustrate that Gods electednation persecuted and murdered Gods messengers, but also that the Son of God in human flesh

was not exempt from a murderous act. Nothing could it make clearer than this parable that Jesuspassion and death was the culmination of Israels unfair reaction to and disbelief in Gods chosen

servants. The Quran, on the other hand, contains inconsistent statements about the supposedrescue of all prophets or messengers since it both sanctifies the concept of martyrdom and

promotes the supposition that certain messengers were miraculously saved from the hands oftheir unbelieving enemies. Jesus is unsurprisingly forced into the specific group of prophets that

were saved from the harms of their adversaries.

First, there are certain Quran verses that extol the martyrdom of believers to the point ofproclaiming them immortal in Gods sight. This partly proves that Islam does not object to the

idea of associating suffering and sorrow with Gods holy and righteous servants:

And do not speak of those who are slain in Allah's way as dead; nay, (they are) alive, but you do

not perceive. (Surah 2:154)

And reckon not those who are killed in Allah's way as dead; nay, they are alive (and) areprovided sustenance from their Lord. (Surah 3:169)

Jesus in Islam, however, is more than a righteous and pious servant of God. He is both a

messenger and a prophet who is allegedly given a divine scripture named the Good News.According to some implicit verses of the Quran, what justifies Jesus divine rescue from His

enemies is His prophetic ministry. At this point, the story of Abrahams miraculous salvage fromthe hands of his idolatrous enemies

12may be introduced as an example to support the argument

that Jesus alleged salvation from the cross was not an exceptional case.

The comparative analysis of Abraham and Jesus supposed rescues reveals how erroneous it is to

assume that the denial of Jesus crucifixion is compatible with the stories of the former prophets.This sort of a comparison highlights that both the means and results of Abrahams alleged rescue

from his enemies are in sharp contrast to those of Jesus supposed salvation from disbelievingJews. In the first place the narratives relating Abrahams life in the Quran lay emphasis on the

assertion that Abrahams enemies became aware of their defeat because they could see andunderstand how God supposedly saved His prophet from the fire of his pagan adversaries

13. The

verse denying Jesus crucifixion and claiming His divine rescue in the Quran contrastivelyaffiliate the miracle saving Jesus from the evil plots of his enemies with an optical illusion. This,


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in turn, entails the allegation that it was impossible for the Jews who tried to slay Jesus to beaware of their failure and defeat. In other words, the invisible miracle in Jesus life bafflingly

prevented Jesus adversaries from both murdering Him and knowing that they did not actuallymurder Him! This was such a paradoxical operation of divine rescue that the true miracle turned

out to be the concealment of the very miracle14

.

Second, the repeated accounts of Abrahams supposed salvation from the fire of his pagan folkthrough a miracle do not refer to the end of Abrahams prophetic ministry unlike the verses that

attach Jesus ascension to His alleged salvation from death. Thus, Jesus is claimed to have leftthis world despite His rescue from the hands of His adversaries whereas Abraham is claimed to

have continued his life and prophetic mission through a miracle. In short, Jesus story in theQuran lacks the notion of survival. As it is impossible for the disbelieving Jews to know that

Jesus had not been crucified, it is also impossible for Jesus to continue His prophetic ministry inIsrael. Jesus survival in the sense of a continuation of his ministry is mysteriously made

impossible by those who want to kill Him, which means that the Jews who wanted to shut himup have actually reached their goal.

It should be stressed that in the Quran Abraham is the only holy figure whose supposed rescue

from danger through a miracle is recorded in details if the Israelites salvation from Pharaohsarmy in Moses leadership is distinguished as a miraculous incident aiming to save not only a

messenger but also his entire nation. At this point, Abraham and Moses stories make a moreplausible pair, for both figures are threatened by pagan folks that oppose the idea of monotheism.

Nonetheless, Jesus case in the Quran is rather different in that He is an Israelite who is sent byGod as a prophet to His own nation, and the Israelites at His time are followers of a monotheistic

faith. Accordingly, Jesus prophetic ministry must be examined in the same category as the otherIsraelite messengers and prophets so that a sound comparison can be worked out.

Strikingly, the Quran recurrently denounces Jews for opposing Gods message and murderingHis messengers. In various chapters of the Quran, even more than once in a single chapter, the

Jews are marked as a rebellious community persecuting and murdering Gods chosen servants:

And abasement and humiliation were brought down upon them, and they became deserving ofAllah's wrath; this was so because they disbelieved in the communications of Allah and killed

the prophets unjustly; this was so because they disobeyed and exceeded the limits. (Surah 2:61)

What! whenever then an apostle came to you with that which your souls did not desire, you wereinsolent so you called some liars and some you slew. (Surah 2:87)

And when it is said to them, Believe in what Allah has revealed, they say: We believe in thatwhich was revealed to us; and they deny what is besides that, while it is the truth verifying that

which they have. Say:Why then did you kill Allah's Prophets before if you were indeedbelievers? (Surah 2:91)

Surely (as for) those who disbelieve in the communications of Allah and slay the prophets

unjustly and slay those among men who enjoin justice, announce to them a painful chastisement.(Surah 3:21)


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Abasement is made to cleave to them wherever they are found, except under a covenant withAllah and a covenant with men, and they have become deserving of wrath from Allah, and

humiliation is made to cleave to them; this is because they disbelieved in the communications ofAllah and slew the prophets unjustly; this is because they disobeyed and exceeded the limits.

(Surah 3:112)

Allah has certainly heard the saying of those who said: Surely Allah is poor and we are rich. Iwill record what they say, and their killing the prophets unjustly, and I will say: Taste the

chastisement of burning. (Surah 3:181)

(Those are they) who said: Surely Allah has enjoined us that we should not believe in any apostleuntil he brings us an offering which the fire consumes. Say: Indeed, there came to you apostles

before me with clear arguments and with that which you demand; why then did you kill them ifyou are truthful? (Surah 3:183)

Therefore, for their breaking their covenant and their disbelief in the communications of Allah

and their killing the prophets wrongfully and their saying: Our hearts are covered; nay! Allahset a seal upon them owing to their unbelief, so they shall not believe except a few. (Surah 4:155)

Certainly We made a covenant with the children of Israel and We sent to them apostles;whenever there came to them an apostle with what that their souls did not desire, some (of them)

did they call liars and some they slew. (Surah 5:70)

It is by no means a coincidence that all these verses belong to the late period of the Quranscomposition and therefore reflect the religious and political conflicts between Muhammad and

the Jews of Arabia after the migration to Medina. The context of these verses points outMuhammads scribes wish to speed up their anti-Jewish campaign and ascribe various negative

characteristics to the followers of Judaism. One of the most effective weapons of this campaignis undoubtedly the presentation of the Jews as murderers of Gods messengers/prophets. The

authors of the Quran refer to the sinful acts of the elected nation of God in the ecstasy of theiranti-Jewish sentiments and fail to understand how their recurrent reference to the murder of

Gods prophets makes Jesus alleged redemption from the plots of disbelieving Jews odd andunique. Muhammads scribes desire to accuse the Jews of murdering righteous and holy figures

consequently overrides the theological expectation that Gods messengers and prophets be savedfrom the hands of their disbelieving enemies, and this makes Jesus divine rescue inconsistent

and exceptional.

To play the devils advocate, it may be suggested that what necessitates Jesus rescue from His

enemies is the type of death Jesus is said to have experienced. Most of the statements in the NewTestament sound scandalous to Muslim believers because of the basic Christian tenet seeing in

Jesus passion and death the atonement of the mankinds sins. All of the four Gospels recountwith much emphasis how Jesus was persecuted and murdered by His adversaries

15. The accounts

of Jesus passion highlight His mockery and torment even prior to His crucifixion, indicating thedifferent methods of humiliation (mockery, insult, scourging) conducted by the opposing groups.

This rather embarrassing image of a fully humiliated, dishonored, and abandoned prophet maybe presented as a plausible reason for Jesus unique case of rescue from the hands of His


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enemies. God exceptionally intervenes in Jesus life because He does not want the disbelievingpeople to think that Jesus was a false prophet unsaved by the true God. This reasoning is related

to the approval of Jesus prophetic ministry, expecting God to save Jesus from His enemies sothat the Jewish allegations concerning the veracity of Jesus teachings can be rebutted16. In short,

the prevention of Jesus humiliation is said to be crucial for the deletion of the image of a false

prophet drawn by the Jews for Jesus.

No matter how reasonable and theologically valid this argument may seem, it too is condemned

to a paradox if the Islamic theory of substitution17

, the oldest and traditionally prevalent theory,is remembered. The adherents of this theory contend that the Quran verse implicitly refers to an

optical illusion through the sentence so it appeared to them. The disbelieving Jews are assertedto have arrested, tortured, and murdered someone else in Jesus stead while the true Jesus is

saved from harm and taken up into Heaven. The improved and detailed version of this theorygives us even the identity of the person who was mistakenly crucified instead of Jesus.

In the Gospel of Barnabas, which is a false medieval Gospel written by an author who knew

more about the Bible than about the Quran, Judas Iscariot is miraculously transformed intoJesus image in return for his disbelief and betrayal. This supposed physical and vocal

transformation is said to be so successful and convincing that even Jesus apostles are claimed tohave mistaken Judas Iscariot for Jesus:

Truly I say that the voice, the face, and the person of Judas were so like to Jesus, that his

disciples and believers entirely believed that he was Jesus; wherefore some departed from

the doctrine of Jesus, believing that Jesus had been a false prophet, and that by art magic hehad done the miracles which he did: for Jesus had said that he should not die till near the end of

the world; for that at that time he should be taken away from the world. (Gospel of Barnabas217:14)

18

The author of the Gospel of Barnabas does not know that this so-called transformation God

allegedly performs to punish Judas Iscariot and the other Jewish leaders (Jesus adversaries) failsto efface Jesus image of a humiliated and defeated false prophet. The author of the Gospel of

Barnabas and some Muslim commentators who endorse the theory of illusion and substitutioncannot understand that through the supposed miraculous transformation God Himself compels

Jesus enemies to see and be convinced that Jesus is truly a humiliated and defeated prophetwhen He makes Jesus identical with a criminal and sinner (Judas Iscariot) in the eyes of the

disbelieving Jews! This is why in the Gospel of Barnabas the Roman soldiers and Jewish leadersthink that they mock and dishonor Jesus, for whatever Judas Iscariot does is automatically

ascribed to true Jesus due to the success of the divine miracle:

The soldiers took Judas and bound him, not without derision. Forhe truthfully denied that he

was Jesus; and the soldiers, mocking him, said: 'Sir, fear not, for we are come to make youking ofIsrael, and we have bound you because we know that you do refuse the kingdom.' Judas

answered: 'Now have you lost your senses! You are come to take Jesus of Nazareth, with armsand lanterns as [against] a robber; and you have bound me that have guided you, to make me

king!' (217:1)


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If the only thing that matters about Jesus crucifixion is what Jews think about Jesus and howthey see Him, then Jesus cannot be saved by God from persecution and death in the sight of His

disbelieving adversaries, who are made to believe with the help of a miracle (!) that who isarrested and crucified is no one else than Jesus of Nazareth! Here we encounter a baffling image

of a god who makes His holy prophet equal to a murdered traitor because He wants to save the

same holy prophet from a humiliating death and the image of a killed sinner! This ridiculousargument enables us to comprehend that someone elses supposed substitution for Jesus reflectsGods alleged desire to deceive the disbelieving Jews of Jesus time and punish a traitor rather

than help His holy prophet maintain His honor and glory through the prevention of Hiscrucifixion and death. Should we consider the theory of substitution true, we have to admit that

the god of the Quran is not concerned with Jesus honor and glory because the way he choosesto punish the unbelievers and sinners is inevitably bound to Jesus humiliation and defamation.

This also illustrates how the god of the Quran makes Jesus (through the abuse of His face andvoice) a sacrifice to his aspiration to beguile the Jews.

The other Islamic supposition that one of Jesus apostles volunteered to assume His image and

endure the crucifixion for the sake of a place in Heaven only adds a piece of heroism into Jesusstory, but falls short of dissociating Jesus from the image of a defamed and murdered prophet of

God since the unbelieving Jews still see and believe with no doubt that the person crucified as acriminal is Jesus. Further, the allegation that one of Jesus apostles was substituted for Him

betrays the notion of justice since it teaches that a righteous believer had to die for Jesusalthough the supposed illusion made that innocent death meaningless and useless.

Since the tenets of the Ahmadiyya19

denies the crucifixion only partly and claims that what saved

Jesus from death on the cross was His passing out rather than a miracle of replacement, it is notpossible to say that this modern Islamic approach to Jesus crucifixion has anything to do with

the notions of divine justice or the punishment of the disbelievers. Nonetheless, this innovatedtheory accepts from the start that Jesus actually suffered a in the hands of His adversaries,

enduring torture and humiliation. The admittance of this fact entails that the god of the Quranfailed to rescue Jesus from physical pain and the accusations of being a sinner/criminal. No

matter how much aversion this Islamic sect has to the notion of a holy prophets experiencing acursed death, its assertions lead one to the conclusion that the Jews were convinced of Jesus

cursed death since they declared Him dead.

Finally, another Islamic theory that strives to explain the historical reality of Jesus crucifixion

and death through the alleged invention of a story needs special examination, for it goes againstthe other Islamic theories that are essentially bound to the admittance of the crucifixion as a real

tragic incident befalling someone else than Jesus. According to this theory of the invention of alegend, which is nothing more than a legend invented by Muhammad Asad, Jesus crucifixion is

a fabricated story that Christians embraced long after Jesus prophetic ministry and even theJews acknowledged to present Jesus as a murdered criminal

20. Asads view is problematic not

only because it ignores the fact that the Quran verse does not accuse Jesus adversaries ofacknowledging a lie and contributing to its dissemination, but also because it denies that in the

same verse only the disbelieving Jews are claimed to be the people giving credence to anappearance (so it appeared to THEM). Further, Asads theory, which owes its existence to the

supposed invention of a legend concerning only Jesus crucifixion, serves to declare indulgence


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for the Jews through the mitigation of their guilt. This, however, is not compatible with theseveral verses of the Quran that identify the Jews as murderers of Allahs prophets (Surah 2:61,

Surah 5:70, etc) as well as with the specific verses that bind the Jews plot to kill Jesus to theirdisbelief:

But when Isa perceived unbelief on their part, he said Who will be my helpers in Allah's way?The disciples said: We are helpers (in the way) of Allah: We believe in Allah and bear witnessthat we are submitting ones. Our Lord! we believe in what Thou hast revealed and we follow the

apostle, so write us down with those who bear witness. And they planned and Allah (also)planned, and Allah is the best of planners. (Surah 3:52-54)

If Jesus passion is an illusion in the sense that it is a fabrication, it is not reasonable to talk of

Jesus rescue from His enemies as it is not reasonable to claim that the Jews attempted to murderJesus. Muhammad Asads argument encourages one to consider the possibility that even the

Jewish attempt to kill Jesus was an indispensable part of the invented legend. Allah presumablydenied the crucifixion not because the Jews really tried to crucify His Messiah, but because he

mistook a legend for a true historical incident! It is high time Asad answered the questions whyand how Jesus was rescued from His disbelieving enemies and how the disbelieving Jews tried to

murder Him.

In addition, Asads theory would definitely not get the appraisal of the Jews no matter how it

makes diligent efforts to save them from being the victims of an illusion. This is because thesame theory, as a matter of paradox, would offend the Jews through the allegation that they

became eager to comply with Christians in the authorization of this supposed legend despite therisk of authorizing the purely Christian tenet of salvation through Jesus sacrificial death.

Even the admittance of Asads theory cannot save Jesus from being a persecuted and murdered

criminal in the sight of His adversaries because it proves that the allegedly invented story wassuccessful to the point of fooling everyone until the appearance of this verse in the Islamic

scripture. Apparently, the only benefit Asads view aims to grant Islam is the salvation of the godof the Quran from being a beguiling deity. Once more Jesus honor and glory are disregarded so

that the god of the Quran can be indicted.

CONCLUSION

Since the Quran denies Jesus passion and death with no overt theological reason and fails to

provide adequate information on this issue, Muslim commentators feel themselves obliged toderive new solutions to the problematic verse of the Quran, running the risk of having

conflictive theories. They constantly try to work out new solutions to the remarkable problem oftheir scripture with regard to Jesus death only because they know the bitter truth that their

scripture is both theologically and linguistically incompetent in terms of distorting the basicChristian tenet of salvation through the cross.

One wonders why the Quran cannot remove the cross out of Jesus life altogether and claim that

Jesus was never associated with the cross during His prophetic ministry. The authors of theQuran astonishingly make the crucifixion an indispensable part of Jesus life and mission


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through their denial of the event by clinging to a theory of illusion. All the Islamic theories thattry to negate Jesus crucifixion and death eventually converge in the assertion that Jesus had to

APPEAR to have been suffered and murdered by people who opposed His teachings and hatedHim. The god of the Quran surprisingly needs an illusion to deny Jesus death on the cross,

being unable to wipe the cross off the historical and secular accounts concerning Jesus.

What actually drove the authors of the Quran to explain the image of a crucified Messiah withthe help of an illusion or appearance was their familiarity with the fact that the historical reality

of Jesus passion cannot be ignored. Since the testimonies of both Jewish and non-Jewisheyewitnesses made the removal and deletion of the cross from Jesus life improbable, the

removal of Jesus from the scene of crucifixion was tried as a remedy. This cunning strategyresulted in the depiction of the god of the Quran as a deceptive and unreliable deity that

concealed the truth about Jesus until Muhammads advent. Consequently, the Messiah of theQuran was condemned by Muhammad to death only in appearance for the punishment of His

adversaries unlike the true Messiah of the New Testament, who died in reality for the salvationof sinful mankind. The New Testament proclaims the crucified Messiah and saved humanity

whereas the Quran promotes the saved Messiah and punished humanity.

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A Hoax and Its Paradoxes