They Killed Him Not, Nor Crucified Him

Now, just to confirm the meaning further, we'll read ayat from Sūrat al-Nisāʾ. Allah (swt) says — and these ayat are talking about the Jews — because of their breaking the covenant, and of their rejection of the ayat of Allah, and of their killing the prophets unjustly, and of their saying, "Our hearts are wrapped" — nay, Allah has set a seal upon their hearts because of their disbelief, so they believe not but a little; and because of their disbelief, and uttering against Maryam a grave false charge; and because of their saying in boast, "We killed Messiah ʿĪsā, son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah."

Allah (swt) says: but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of ʿĪsā was put over another man. And those who differ therein are full of doubts; they have no certain knowledge; they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely they killed him not, but Allah raised him up unto Himself; and Allah is ever All-Powerful.

And subḥān Allāh, when you read the ayat of the Qur'an, and you look deeply into the words — subḥān Allāh, you find the miracle of the Qur'an. Allah (swt) said on this issue in particular — on the issue of the crucifixion and the killing of ʿĪsā — Allah (swt) is saying that they're following nothing but doubts. If you go back to the Bible, and you look at the evidences that are used to prove that ʿĪsā was crucified, and that he was killed, and that he was raised up from the dead, you find that all of those evidences are doubtful. And Allah (swt) summed it all up in one word. Allah (swt) says: in yattabiʿūna illā al-ẓann — they are following doubts. Shakk: doubtful conjecture. There's no firm, substantial evidence to prove the point.

The life of Sayyidunā ʿĪsā (peace be upon him) isn't over. He's alive now, and the rest of his life is in the future. But we're not going to talk about it now; we'll keep it for the series about al-ākhirah, which we're going to start talking about, in shāʾ Allāh taʿālā, next Saturday. We started already with al-ākhirah in Ramaḍān, and we're going to continue, in shāʾ Allāh, next Saturday. So we'll reserve the part about the coming — the second coming — of ʿĪsā until we talk about ʿalāmāt al-sāʿah.