Was Jesus Crucified? An Imam and Pastor's perspective.

Imam Zuber and Pastor Duncan are both friends of mine with whom I shared an event in 2019 organised by the Christian Union in association with the Islamic Society at Dundee University.

The significance of the pineapple is that it has been a universal symbol of hospitality and welcome for many centuries all over the world and a fitting symbol for conversation between Muslims and Christians in every context.

Imam Zuber's perspective

The Glorious Quran rejects the notion that Jesus (peace be upon him) was crucified. It states,

“And for their saying, ‘We have certainly killed the Messiah, Jesus (‘Īsā) the son of Maryam, the Messenger of Allah’, while in fact they did neither kill him, nor crucify him, but they were deluded by resemblance. Those who disputed in this matter are certainly in doubt about it. They have no knowledge of it, but they follow whims. It is absolutely certain that they did not kill him, but Allah lifted him towards Himself. Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise.” (The Quran, 4:157-158)

The Noble Quran negates the notion of crucifixion and killing about Jesus. It asserts that that delusion happened due to the resemblance of someone else apart from Jesus who was put on the cross to Jesus. Some Islamic textual sources maintain that a young disciple volunteered to take the form of Jesus and sacrifice himself for the noble cause instead of Jesus who was uplifted to the heavens. The young man was arrested instead and was placed on the cross, while Jesus was lifted up. The following verse states, “But Allah lifted him towards Himself. Allah is All-Mighty, All-Wise.” (The Quran, 4:158)

Pastor Duncan's perspective

The four Gospel accounts in the New Testament (Injil) each provide us with an independent narrative of Jesus of Nazareth’s death by crucifixion[2]. These accounts claim to be based on the testimony of eye-witnesses[3]. The rest of the New Testament literature concurs that Jesus was crucified, and there are references in the First Century Roman and Jewish historians, Tacitus, and Josephus.

Jesus’ crucifixion created a huge problem for the earliest disciples. ‘We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel (the Messiah)’, lament two of Jesus’ disciples[4]. But how could he be, now he had died such a disgraceful death as that of crucifixion?

Jesus’ way of responding to this was to go back to the ancient prophets

25 He said to them, ‘How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken!26 Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?’ 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)

Many passages in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) predict the suffering and then victory of the Messiah. Of particular note are Zabur, Psalm 22 and Book of the Prophet Isaiah 52:13-53:12, both of which predict in considerable detail the suffering and vindication of the Messiah, and which are fulfilled in amazing ways in the experience of Jesus.

Jesus’ death is revealed in Jesus’ own words that speak of his death:

‘I lay down my life for the sheep... I lay down my life, in order that I may take it back again.

No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down of my own free will. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it back again.’ (John 10:15, 17, 18)

The Jewish leaders thought that they, by their own scheming, had got rid of Jesus and triumphed over him. This is what is meant when an-Nisā’ 4:157 says that it seemed to them that they had killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary. But these Jews failed to understand that the Messiah’s death was in the purpose of God, and that Jesus, in obedience to that purpose, deliberately and voluntarily laid down his life. As Jesus himself says, ‘No one takes my life from me’ – not the Jews, not the Romans nor anyone else, ‘but I lay it down of my own free will.’ This agrees exactly with what the Qur’an teaches when it says the Jews did not kill him or crucify him.[5]

[2] See Matthew 27, Mark 15, Luke 23, John 19.

[3] See especially Luke 23:49, 55, John 19:35.

[4] Luke 24:21.

[5] Understood in this way, an-Nisā’ 4:157-158 harmonises with both the New Testament (Injīl) and also what the Qur’an itself says in Āl- ‘Imrān 3:55, al-Mā’idah 5:117, Maryam 19:33, which speak of Jesus’ death.