QUR'AN THE NON-CRUCIFIXION OF THE MYSTERIOUS ISSA OR ESAU WHO IS NOT JESUS CHRIST

It is a myth that the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, claimed to have been written by God, refers to Jesus Christ. The figure in it has one or two similarities but not enough to make him the same person as the figure of the New Testament. There is no evidence that Muhammad meant us to take his Issa as Jesus.

Early in the book we read that Islam is the only true faith and the Qur'an the only reliable source of knowledge about God,  "Do not marry unbelieving women until they believe.  A slave woman who believes is better than an unbelieving woman, even though she allures you."  Read 2:221.  This rules out going to anybody else or any other scripture or going to any follower of Jesus.

Surah 4:82 is clear that there are no errors in the Qur’an. “Do they not ponder on the Qur'an? Had it been from other than Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy.”  The implication is that no other revelation is reliable.

The book says that even if your parents are disbelievers in Islam they must be shown respect 17:23-24, 31:14-15, 29:8. What about 9:23, 58:22 which bans respect to parents who oppose Muhammad? Probably the answer is that it depends.  Some parents were pagans and others were Christian.  The latter by default opposed Muhammad.

Qur’an 5:90 and 2:219 ban wine as a concoction of Satan. We read that Paradise though has wine flowing everywhere 47:15, also 83:22,25.  A Jesus who gives wine at the Last Supper then is out.  The rule only applies on earth for Allah in Heaven can prevent wine doing harm.

Surah 19:71 says that the Muslim will go to Hell for a time. The other texts say that dying for Jihad means immediate entrance to Paradise.  Issa as a Muslim then went to Hell.  Unless he died in Jihad, his entry to Heaven was not instant.  The book says that God only does miracles as warnings and that Muhammad did no miracle except be an instrument for the delivery of the Qur'an.  The Qur'an is the miracle of miracles not the resurrection of Jesus.

Qur'an Surah 17:58-59 says,

And there is no city but that We will destroy it before the Day of Resurrection or punish it with a severe punishment. That has ever been in the Register inscribed.  And nothing has prevented Us from sending signs except that the former peoples denied them. And We gave Thamūd the she-camel as a visible sign, but they wronged her. And We send not the signs except as a warning.

Jesus' resurrection was not a warning and his healing miracles were about helping.  And the she-camel miracle is held to matter.  The resurrection is not.  This is an implied denial of the resurrection of Jesus.  The she-camel story is just a coincidence, not even an interesting or remarkable one.  If that was put in front of the resurrection it shows how terrible Muhammad thought it was as a miracle.

The scripture makes a mistake about crucifixion. Despite being invented centuries later by the Persians, Pharaoh threatens his pagan sorcerers with crucifixion in Qur'an 7:124. Interestingly the mention of crucifixion fits how the Qur'an states that Issa - allegedly Jesus - escaped crucifixion despite living in Moses' day! We are told that Miriam Moses' sister was Issa

“That they said (in boast), “We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah”;- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not.” (4:157,Yusif Ali). The Qur'an never says Christ was crucified and says it is only hearsay that he was. The plain reading of the verse is that the crucifixion is being challenged. There was a legend that an illusion was worked on people to help them think Jesus died on the cross. The legend appears in the "Christian" work, the Acts of John.

"There is only one verse in the whole Qur'an addressing the subject of the crucifixion and it denies it as an historical fact in such emphatic terms that one must surely believe that this is the book's express intention. The text has to be somewhat tortured to make it yield an alternative interpretation, especially where this turns out to be a hidden meaning completely contrary to its obvious teaching. The contrast between Acts 2.23 ("This Jesus . . . you crucified and killed ") and Sura 4.157 ("They neither crucified nor killed him") can lead to only one safe conclusion - the Qur'an's intention to specifically deny both the crucifixion of Jesus and his death on the cross. One finds thus that the foundation of orthodox opinion in Islam on the fate of Jesus has always been that the Qur'an teaches that he was never put on the cross. The Qur'an and the Bible, therefore, must be taken to contradict each other in no uncertain terms on this issue". This is from https://www.answering-islam.org/Gilchrist/Vol2/6c.html.

The verse clearly shows that anybody who says the Jews killed Jesus is only guessing for it is certain they did not kill him. It accuses the boasters of doubting that they killed Jesus as in doubting that anybody knows what really happened. This does not fit the New Testament where the death of Jesus by crucifixion was a certainty.

The verse distinguishes crucifying Jesus from killing him. The Jews never claimed to have crucified Christ. If the Romans nailed Jesus that would still allow for the Jews killing him if they got the Romans to do it. But the Jews never claimed that either. Christian belief as expressed by the New Testament data is clear that there is no reason to think the Jews would have seen themselves as killing the messenger of God. They seen Jesus as a fraud.

Some offer the bizarre claim that the the Qur'an teaches that God or somebody else killed Jesus on the cross not the Jews so it is not a denial of the crucifixion. The idea that God killed Jesus would not exclude him using the Jews to do it. It goes without saying that for Jews or Romans to kill Jesus means God was doing it too for as creator God is responsible for all that happens. It makes no sense that the Qur'an would think the Jews were taking all the credit for killing Jesus. Do we want to be left thinking that Allah murdered Jesus directly on the cross!

The Qur'an would not need to mention and deal with the boast unless Jesus really did not die. Though the Qur'an says Jesus will die it never says he died on the cross. A verse, 3:55 reads, "God said, ‘O Jesus, I will make you die, raise you up to me, purify you from those who disbelieved, and lift those who have followed you above the disbelievers until the day of resurrection, then you will all return to me.'” The Qur'an has Jesus being taken to Heaven and he is yet to die.

The Qur'an does not say where the information about killing the Christ came from. The text says the boasters only guessed they killed him or crucified him. So the Qur'an is probably saying God has revealed that some liars thought they killed Issa. The information probably is related to the data in the New Testament or the Christian faith. The Qur'an by saying that the subject is full of guesses and the only thing that is sure is that Jesus was not killed is denying the importance of any New Testament evidence. It is effectively denying Christianity.

The Qur'an is reasoning that Issa was too special for God to allow him to be murdered. Thus the Issa of the Qur'an is not Jesus for as Paul says the death of Jesus and his return is the core of the faith.

Morally the Qur'an Issa cannot be Jesus if the latter was a man of peace. Issa as a prophet and forerunner of violent Muhammad and his violent revelation from God is not a man of peace.

The Qur'an curses those who accept Christian ideas about Christ. "The Jews call ‘Uzair a son of Allah, and the Christians call Christ the son of Allah. That is a saying from their mouth; (in this) they but imitate what the unbelievers of old used to say. Allah’s curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!" (9:30, Yusif Ali).

The Qur'an denies that Jesus in any way is better or worse than any other prophet of God.

“We believe in Allah and in that which was sent down to us and that which was sent down to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes. And that which was given to Moses and Jesus and the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them!” Sura 3:84.

It is not what Christians want to hear for Abraham was willing to murder his son as a sacrifice and had concubines and Moses was a warlord! The text talks about what is sent down but this most probably means oral tradition for Abraham and Ishmael and the others wrote nothing. There is no information at all on paper about say what Isaac wrote or prophesied or Ishmael either.

If Jesus was homosexual as some believe, then we have to live with how the authorised schools of Islam all agree that active homosexuality should not be tolerated never mind accepted. The Sunni and Shi'a legal systems are very clear on that. Qur'an 4:16 condemns lewdness between two men and demands legal punishment if they won't repent. Lewdness here means sodomy or any same sex activity.

Women supposedly said that Jesus rose. The Qu'ran is adamant that a woman's word is no good on its own compared to a man's (Qur'an 2:282). Two women witnesses must be cross-examined when with a man only one will do. Imagine what such a policy does to women who are raped! Qur'an 4:43 says a woman touching a man defiles him - hardly good news for the author of John's gospel who says Mary touched the risen Jesus. A really risen and saved Jesus would not be defiled or let it happen. Qu'ran 3:73 says that nobody should be believed unless they are Muslim and it is obvious the gospels as they stand now are far from Muslim. Qur'an says that Allah is strictly an individual so by condemning putting gods alongside him it means that to say Allah is Father, Son and Holy Spirit, three persons, is really to add two other gods in and not admit it. Read Qur'an 6:106 which forbids association with people who do that.

Here is a narration from Ibn Abbas was a disciple who kept company with Muhammad.

"Just before God raised Jesus to the Heavens, Jesus went to his disciples, who were twelve inside the house. When he arrived, his hair was dripping with water (as if he had just had a bath) and he said, 'There are those among you who will disbelieve in me twelve times after you had believed in me.' He then asked, 'Who among you will volunteer for his appearance to be transformed into mine, and be killed in my place.  Whoever volunteers for that, he will be with me (in Heaven).' One of the youngest ones among them volunteered, but Jesus asked him to sit down. Jesus asked again for a volunteer, and the same young man volunteered and Jesus asked him to sit down again. Then the young man volunteered a third time and Jesus said, 'You will be that man,' and the resemblance of Jesus was cast over that man while Jesus ascended to Heaven from a hole in the roof of the house. When the Jews came looking for Jesus, they found that young man and crucified him".

This figure is as good as a murderer.  He is definitely a trickster.

Quran 22:5 says that Allah makes you from dust in the womb and then out of a sperm and out of a blood clot so we should not doubt his power to bring back the dead in resurrection. Allah adds that he pours rain on the dead earth and life appears.

Few have noticed that this is saying Allah will use natural means to bring back the dead. Perhaps a device or his super-science will do it.  So the Bible idea of a Jesus raised as in a miracle is out.

Finally, Jesus or as we should say Issa did not die and did not rise again. There is no need for him to die and the text says God would not let his prophet die by crucifixion.