Christians have exceeded all limits to relate injustice to God the Almighty. They have indeed undermined God in ways that no other nation has ever done before. In fact, they are far away from praising God or glorifying Him. They claim that when Adam (PBUH) ate from the forbidden tree, God became angry and directed punishment onto him; that punishment continued on Adam's offspring's until the coming of Jesus (PBUH). His crucifixion was to relieve the generations after him from their forefather's sin. Christians also claim that all the sons of Adam (PBUH) were imprisoned by Satan, even the prophets of God such as, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, et al (PBUT).
On the other hand, let us see what the Qur'an says about these respected prophets:� We gave him Isaac and Jacob: All (three) We guided: And before him, We guided Noah, And among his progeny, David, Solomon, Job, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron: Thus do We reward Those who do good (84). And Zakariya and John, And Jesus and Elias: All in the ranks of the Righteous (85). And Ismail, and Elisha, and Jonas, and Lot: And to all We gave favor above the nations (86)� (6: 84-86).
We know that Abraham's father was a nonbeliever and God did not punish Abraham (PBUH) for his father's grave sin. Why would God hold him responsible for his forefather's (Adam's) sin? This is, if we assume that Adam did not repent. However, God has declared that he has repented and was granted forgiveness by Him. This is what Allah the Almighty says about Adam (PBUH):� Then received Adam from his Lord certain words and his Lord pardoned him; for He Is The Oft-Repenting, The Bestower of Mercy� (2:37).
The Christians have gone out of their way to claim that it was through crucifixion, which is one of the grave sins, that God has saved Adam (PBUH) and his offspring's from hell fire. They also claim that it was through crucifixion that God was able to trick Satan, not withstanding the fact that Satan disobeyed God and deserved punishment since the time he refused to prostrate to Adam (PBUH) and he misled him to commit the sin. In fact, God had the ability to punish Satan long before the coming of Jesus (PBUH). Thus, one cannot help but to question the assumption as to why the sons of Adam are to be held accountable for their forefather's mistake[7].
As a matter of fact, the life of Jesus (PBUH) is much involved in mystery, and indeed the greater part of his private life, except the three main years of his ministry. It is not profitable to discuss the many doubts and conjectures among the early Christian sects and among Muslim scholars. The Orthodox Christian Church make it a cardinal point of their doctrine that his life was taken on the cross, that he died and was buried, that on the third day he rose in body with his wounds intact, and walked about and conversed, and ate with his disciples, and was afterwards taken up bodily to heaven. This is necessary for the theological doctrine of blood sacrifice and vicarious atonement for sins including the innate Original Sin, which is rejected by Islam[8]. However, some of the early Christian sects rejected the doctrine that Jesus was killed on the cross.
Deedat in his book Crucifixion or Crucifiction (PP. 19-38) has provided numerous references to the falsity of this concept. He drew most of his evidence from the Bible and other writings by Christian authorities.
The issue of crucifixion, as presented in Christianity, only strengthens the claims of the Jews that they were behind the crucifixion of Jesus (PBUH), that was never true. Instead, let's contemplate on what the Qur'an says about the issue of crucifixion:� And due to their breaking their covenant, and their rejection of the Signs Of Allah, and their slaying the prophets unjustly, and their saying: Our hearts are sealed. No ! Rather Allah hath imprinted upon their hearts due to their denial therefore they believe but a little (155). And due to their denial, and their saying about Mary great blasphemy (156). And their saying: We killed the Messiah Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah' but they killed him not, Nor did they crucify him. Only a likeness of that was shown to them. And those who differed about it are in doubt of it; they have no knowledge of it, only conjecture to follow, and with certainty they did not kill him. Rather Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is Ever-Powerful, Ever-Wise. And there is not one of the people of the book except that he will believe in him before his death, and on the day of Judgement he will be a witness against them� (4:155-159).
In the Qur'anic verses above, there is a catalogue of iniquities of which the Jews were guilty, and for these iniquities we must understand some such words as: "they are under divine displeasure" [9].
Their (the Jews) iniquities were:
- That they broke their Covenant;
- That they rejected Allah's (God's) guidance as conveyed by His messengers;
- That they killed Allah's messenger and incurred a double guilt which included murder and that of deliberate defiance of Allah's law; and
- That they imagined themselves arrogantly self-sufficient, which means a blasphemous closing of their hearts forever against the admission of Allah's grace.
Then they begins another series of iniquities from a different point of view:
- That they rejected faith;
- That they made false charges against a godly woman like Mary, who was chosen by Allah to be the mother of Jesus;
- That they boasted having killed Jesus when they were victims of their own self-hallucination;
- That they hindered people from Allah's way; and
- They by means of usury and fraud they oppressed their fellow men[10].
The false charge against Mary was that she was unchaste. Such a charge is bad enough to make against any women, how about Mary the mother of the prophet of Allah, Jesus (PBUH). They rejected his message from the beginning by ridiculing Allah's power through his extraordinary birth (see The Qur'an 17: 27-28). Chastity of women is highly respected because it is an essential aspect of their dignity and honor that nobody may doubt without strong evidence which is four eye witnesses that she has committed an unchaste act. If a person fails to do so, that person will be flogged with eighty lashes and debarred from being a competent witness. (See the verse that talks about this in The Qur'an 24:4).
Other sects of Christianity like the Basilidans rejected the issue of crucifixion of Jesus (PBUH) and believed that some one else was substituted for him. The Docetae (another sect of Christians) held that Christ never had a real physical or natural body, but only an apparent or phantom body. The gospel of St. Barnabas supported the theory that Christ was substituted on the cross[11].
Moreover, the Christians say that Christ (PBUH) was a man and a god at the same time. He purposely allowed the unbelievers to crucify him; so Jesus (god to them) would trick Satan[12]. They claim that Jesus concealed his identity as god, so Satan would not know him. They say that he allowed his foes to take him, beat him up and spit on his face[13]. According to them, he also allotted them to crucify him and put the thorns on his head; and showed the fear of death. Then, he started saying:" Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachtani? which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46).
So, the Devil will not know that he is "God" or "the son of God". Satan wants to take his soul to hell fire as he did to Noah, Abraham, Moses and other prophets (PBUT) and believers. Therefore, God will argue against Satan by saying, " For what reason did you take my soul?" Satan would reply, " Because of your sin". Then god's human side would reply: " I have no sins like other prophets. They had sins by which they deserve that their souls be thrown in hell fire." They (the Christians) also say that this way God was able to establish a pretext (evidence) on Satan. Therefore, it became permissible for god to punish Satan and save the children of Adam from Hell-fire.
Such claims are full of falsity in relating injustice to God the Almighty. Who dares to speak about God in such away? This has indeed terribly rebuked the knowledge of God, His wisdom and justice in an unprecedented manner. God says:� Say: if the ocean were supply (Ink) for the words of my Lord the ocean would run out before the words of my Lord would run out, and even were we to bring the same supply as it with it� (18:109).
We will go through testing these claims in a logically organized manner from several angels.
If we accept that Jesus (PBUH) was saying "Eloi ... Eloi ... lima shabachtani ?" and he was not telling the truth but just doing so just to deceive Satan. He, then, is accused of lying. Thus Muslims believe that a prophet of God will never lie, since all the prophets of God are infallible. The only other alternative is that Jesus (PBUH) did not know that he was the "son of God" and this is absolutely out of the question. Therefore, we are left with the third, and most probable option which is that Jesus (PBUH) was a man[14].
[7] Ibn Taymiyah, pp. 216-217.
[8] The Holy Qur'an: English translation of the meanings and commentary. Translator's note #663 p.268.
[9] The Holy Qur'an, translator's footnote 659, p.266.
[10] Such dealings are prohibited in the Bible. Look at (Ezekiel 18:8) Nevertheless, they insist in acting against the Gospel.
[11] The Holy Qur'an: translator's footnote #663, P. 286.
[12] Ibn Taymiyah, p.216
[13] What does the Qur'an say about this? "They did not crucify him nor did they kill him�"
[14] Ibn Taymiyah, p.216.
