Surah An-Nisaa (4) — Ayah 157

(Ayah 157)➊ {وَقَوْلِهِمْ اِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيْحَ عِيْسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُوْلَ اللّٰهِ :} Here the question arises that the Jews themselves, while acknowledging the messengership of the Messiah (peace be upon him), claim in their assumption to have killed him and even boast about it—how is this possible? The commentators have given several answers to this: The first is that they meant, “The one who claimed to be the Messenger of Allah, we killed him.” The second is that they were calling him “Messenger of Allah” sarcastically. The third is that, because the Jews mentioned the killing of Jesus (peace be upon him) as a matter of pride, Allah Almighty added the words “Messenger of Allah” from Himself to express the honor and dignity of Jesus (peace be upon him), showing how great a personality they claimed to have killed. The fourth is that the Jews had no doubt about the purity of Mary (peace be upon her) nor about the messengership of Jesus (peace be upon him), because on the very day of his birth, as a miracle, Allah Almighty proved the purity of Mary (peace be upon her) and the messengership of Jesus (peace be upon him) before all the Jews through the words of the Messiah (peace be upon him) himself. But when Jesus (peace be upon him) admonished the Jewish nation for their disbelief, polytheism, hypocrisy, and usury, they became intent on killing him, and their sins so distorted their hearts that the great woman whom they had considered pure for thirty years, they accused her of adultery, and the one whom they had sincerely accepted as a Messenger, when he reproved them for their sins, they sought to kill him, to the extent that in their assumption they succeeded in killing him and even began to boast about it. This is an example of how far human nature can go when it is distorted. Even before this, they had killed many messengers.

➋ {وَ مَا قَتَلُوْهُ وَ مَا صَلَبُوْهُ وَ لٰكِنْ شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ:} The Holy Qur’an clearly refuted the claim of the Jews and stated that neither did they kill the Messiah (peace be upon him) nor did they crucify him, but rather, someone else was made to resemble the Messiah (peace be upon him) for them. They crucified him, thinking that they had put the Messiah on the cross. Who was this person and how was he made to resemble him? The Qur’an or the Hadith of the Messenger do not detail this, but in the next verse it is mentioned that (neither did they kill Jesus (peace be upon him) nor crucify him, rather) Allah Almighty raised him up to Himself. The manner in which the likeness of Jesus (peace be upon him) was made is narrated in an authentic chain from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both), as reported by Imam Ibn Kathir and Ibn Jarir: When the Jews went to capture the Messiah (peace be upon him), he said to his disciples, “Who among you is willing to have my likeness cast upon him?” One disciple agreed, so Allah Almighty raised the Messiah (peace be upon him) up to the heavens, and that young man was transformed into the appearance of the Messiah (peace be upon him). The Jews came and crucified that young man.

➌ {وَ اِنَّ الَّذِيْنَ اخْتَلَفُوْا فِيْهِ لَفِيْ شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ:} After killing the lookalike of Jesus (peace be upon him), those people themselves fell into doubt as to who it was that they had crucified! Some said, “It was indeed the Messiah who was killed,” while others said, “This is not the Messiah, but someone else.” Even they themselves could not be certain that they had actually crucified him; they had nothing but conjecture to follow. Certain knowledge was far from them; they themselves were in disagreement and doubt as to who was killed. This disagreement existed among the Jews as well as among the Christian sects, some of whom say that the human body (nasut) of Jesus (peace be upon him) was crucified and the divine part (lahut)—that part of him which was God— was raised up. Some believe both were crucified, and so on. The Holy Qur’an declared all of them to be false.