Today is Good Friday. This is the day those of us who are followers of Jesus Christ commemorate his suffering and death. Our salvation would be in vain had Jesus not died and resurrected. Do you know most Muslims believe Jesus was never crucified or died? Only a small minority most Muslims consider heretics believes Jesus died a natural death in Kashmir many years after he supposedly escaped the crucifixion. The majority believes a Jesus look-alike was crucified while the real Jesus ascended to heaven. They believe he will return at the end of the world. All these Muslims draw their conclusions about Jesus’ supposed fate from the Qur’an. The travel to Kashmir is not in the Qur’an or the Hadith. Majority of Muslims who denies the death of Jesus claims since Jesus was a prophet of Allah, Allah wouldn’t have left him to die such a horrible death.

One thing Muslims would not say or are just ignorant of; Allah was silent about Jesus’ death the first 12 years of Islam. It was only after Prophet Muhammad’s arrival in Medina when Allah supposedly started objecting to the death of Jesus Christ. It was not like Christians in Arabia did not celebrate Easter. The issue surrounding the death of Jesus Christ was not an issue in Islam. In fact Allah—the all-knowing—was silent in Mecca over the fate of Jesus.

Verses from the Qur’an revealed in Mecca show ALL prophets who had preceded Muhammad died. Muslims consider Jesus as one of these prophets. Sura Al-Anbiya, chapter 21 of the Qur’an, verses 7 and 8, “And We sent not (as Our messengers) before thee other than men, whom We inspired. Ask the followers of the Reminder if ye know not? We gave them not bodies that would not eat food, nor were they immortals.” And then verse 34 of the same chapter, “We appointed immortality for no mortal before thee. What! if thou diest, can they be immortal!”

Since majority of Muslims believes that Jesus has not died yet, does that mean Jesus as Muslims understand him is immortal? These verses certainly show all prophets before Prophet Muhammad died because all of them were mortal. Muslims who argue a prophet of Allah shouldn’t be subjected to suffer need to read about circumstances that led Prophet Muhammad’s death. I hope they have answers to the three years he suffered as a result of the poisoned lamb he ate. The Hadith has the whole story. The two facts—Muhammad’s suffering and death and all prophets’ mortality—simply confound Muslims contention about the suffering and death of Jesus Christ. Have fun engaging your Muslim friends this Easter.

 

 

Hussein Wario is a former Kenyan Sunni Muslim. He is the author of Cracks in the Crescent. He blogs regularly at http://www.cracksinthecrescent.com You can listen to his testimony here or read it here.