The Death of Jesus by Maulana Hafiz Sher Mohammad Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore Inc. Ohio, U.S.A. The Death of Jesus A compilation of the evidence of Islamic sources and authorities and Muslim scholars and writers by Maulana Hafiz Sher Mohammad Translated from Urdu by Dr. Zahid Aziz Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore Inc. Ohio, U.S.A. Original Urdu version first published 1980 First Edition of English Translation 2003 © 2003 by Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam Lahore, Inc. P.O. Box 3370, Dublin, Ohio 43016, U.S.A. Website: www.muslim.org All Rights Reserved. The Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam (Ahmadiyya Association for the Propagation of Islam) was founded at Lahore, Pakistan, in 1914 by the prominent followers of Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. It exists to promote a liberal, tolerant and peaceful picture of Islam, as found in the Holy Quran and the life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad. It has published a vast quantity of highly-regarded literature on Islam in various languages, and has branches and members in several countries. ISBN: 0–913321– Translator’s Preface ā ī (cid:2) ā (cid:3) ī The Urdu book Waf t-i Mas h N sir , of which this is the English translation, was written by Maulana Hafiz Sher Mohammad, the eminent scholar and distinguished inter- national missionary of the Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha‘at Islam, Lahore, Pakistan, and first published from Fiji in October 1980. A little earlier the learned author had sent me its manuscript for translation into English. The translation that I then made was published in installments in the period 1980 to 1982 in two magazines of our Movement: the bi-lingual Paigham-i Haqq of Fiji, and The Islamic Review which was issued in those days from California. In 1997 I returned to this translation and requested some members of the Youngmen’s Association of our Central body, the Ahmadiyya Anjuman, Lahore, Pakistan, to type it into computer form. I am grateful to them for their typing work, which they did promptly and competently. I then revised the translation by carefully comparing it with the published Urdu booklet, and it was printed in installments in The Light and Islamic Review of Ohio from the March–April 1998 to the November–December 1999 issue. That revised translation is now being published in the form of this booklet with some further amendments. An Appendix has been added, quoting views expressed by some Muslim writers on this subject which appeared after the Urdu work was compiled. In transcribing Arabic (and Urdu) words and terms in English letters, the use of diacrāitica(cid:2)l marks over and under certain letters (as for example in , h or th) has been generally avoided, especially in common words such as Quran and 1 2 THE DEATH OF JESUS ā (cid:4) ī Hadith (which would be Qur’ n and Had th). Diacritical marks expressing full transliteration have only been used in cases where the meaning of a word is discussed, an expression is quoted, or the spelling of a word, name or title of book needs to be shown exactly to avoid ambiguity. Within quotations there are a few instances where an extra explanatory word or two had to be inserted, and this is done in square brackets, thus [ ]. Round brackets are used inside translated quotations, thus ( ), at those points where it is desired to show the original word or term used as well as its trans- lation. It is hoped this book will establish that the highest and earliest sources of Islam plainly teach that Jesus has died, just as every other prophet died, and that a large number of Muslim religious scholars, leaders, intellectuals and writers of recent times who are outside the Ahmadiyya Movement also uphold the same view. Zahid Aziz, M.Sc., Ph.D. October 2003 Contents Translator’s Preface 1 Introduction 7 The harm and defects of believing Jesus to be alive...........9 Chapter 1: Evidence of the Holy Quran 12 First evidence: All human beings live and die in this world............................................................................12 Second Evidence: Physical life depends on food and drink.............................................................................13 Third Evidence: Human body suffers ravages of time......13 Fourth Evidenceā: Death of all prophets............................15 Meaning of khal ..............................................................15 Fifth Evidence: All “gods” are dead..................................16 Sixth Evidence: Jesus’ second coming contradicts Finality of Prophethood...............................................17 Seventh Evidence: Holy Quran specifically mentions Jesus’ death..................................................................18 Eight Evidence: Christians went astray after Jesus’ death................ā.............................................................19 Meaning of tawaff ...........................................................20 Summary...........................................................................21 Chapter 2: Evidence of the Hadith ā 23 First Hadith: Meaning of tawaff .....................................23 Second Hadith: Seeing Jesus in company of the dead......24 Third Hadith: Jesus’ “descent” on night of Mi‘raj...........24 3 4 THE DEATH OF JESUS Fourth Hadith: All prophets had to die.............................25 Fifth Hadith: Death within a century................................26 Sixth Hadith: Jesus’ age given as 120...............................26 Seventh Hadith: Jesus dead like Moses.............................27 Eighth Hadith: Tomb of Jesus..........................................27 Ninth Hadith: Holy Prophet’s discussion with a Christian delegation.....................................................28 Tenth Hadith: Two different descriptions of Jesus...........28 Conclusions.......................................................................30 Chapter 3: ā Evidence of the Ijm ‘ of the Muslim Umma 32 Umar’s saying...................................................................32 Abu Bakr’s arrival and speech..........................................33 The companions’ reaction.................................................33 Companions agreed on death of all prophets....................34 Chapter 4: Views of the Companions 35 The Khalifas......................................................................35 Members of the Holy Prophet’s household.......................36 Other companions of the Holy Prophet.............................37 Chapter 5: Scholars of the classical times 38 ā 1. Imam M lik...................................................................38 2. Imam Ibn Hazm, Amawi Zahiri Qurtabi.......................38 3. Abul Hasan Ali Hajwairi (Data Ganj Bakhsh)..............39 4. Shaikh al-Akbar Muhayy-ud-Din Ibn Arabi.................39 5. Imam Ibn Taimiyya.......................................................39 6. Shaikh al-Islam Hafiz Ibn Qayyim................................40 ā 7. Allama Jub ’i................................................................40 8. Abu Hayyan..................................................................40 9. Allama Shaukani...........................................................41 CONTENTS 5 Chapter 6: Modern Arab and Iranian Ulama 42 I. SCHOLARS OF ARABIA 42 1. Allama Abdul Rahman Sa‘di........................................42 2. Muhammad Asad..........................................................42 II. EGYPTIAN SCHOLARS 43 1. Muhammad Abduh........................................................43 2. Allama Rashid Raza......................................................43 3. Mahmud Shaltut............................................................44 4. Al-Ustaz Mustafa al-Maraghi........................................44 5. Allama Muhammad Farid Wajadi.................................45 6. Ahmad Al-‘Ajuz............................................................45 7. Al-Ustaz Abdul Karim al-Sharif...................................45 8. Al-Ustaz Abdul Wahab al-Najjar..................................46 9. Dr Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi............................................46 10. Al-Ustaz ‘Abbas Mahmud al-‘Aqad...........................46 11. Allama Ibn Rashid al-Baghdadi..................................47 III. IRANIAN SCHOLARS 47 1. Zain al-‘Abidin..............................................................47 2. Mirza Abul Hasan Qa-ani Sherazi.................................47 Chapter 7: Ulama of India and Pakistan 48 1. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan...................................................48 2. Nawab Azam Yar Jung.................................................49 3. Tafsir Muhammadi........................................................52 4. Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi and Shah Rafi-ud-Din......52 5. Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi...........................................53 6. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad...........................................53 7. Allama Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal..................................54 8. Maulana Sayyid Sulaiman Nadawi...............................56 9. Khwaja Hasan Nizami of Delhi....................................56 10. Allama Inayatullah Khan Mashriqi.............................57 11. Maulana Zafar Ali Khan.............................................57 12. Allama Niyaz Fatehpuri..............................................58 13. Maulana Muhammad Usman Farqleet........................59 14. Muhammad Hasan ibn Muhammad Abbas.................59 6 THE DEATH OF JESUS 15. Abdullah Yusuf Ali.....................................................60 16. Maulana Amin Ahsan Islahi........................................60 17. Sayyid Abul ‘Ala Maudoodi.......................................60 18. Ghulam Ahmad Pervaiz..............................................62 19. Maulana Sayyid Abdul Da’im Jalali...........................64 20. Abu Zafar Nazish Rizvi...............................................64 21. Lt.-Colonel Khwaja Abdur Rashid..............................64 22. Maulvi Muhammad Ali of Jalandhar..........................64 23. Professor Ilyas Barnee.................................................65 24. Khwaja Ibadullah Akhtar, B.Aā., of Amritsāar..............65 25. The editor of the monthly Bal gh al-Qur’ n, Lahore..........................................................................66 Chapter 8: Conclusion 70 How did belief in Jesus being alive arise among Muslims?......................................................................70 1. Hafiz Ibn Qayyim’s view..............................................71 2. Ubaidullah Sindhi..........................................................72 3. Sir Syed Ahmad Khan...................................................72 4. Muhammad Asad..........................................................72 5. Sir Muhammad Iqbal.....................................................73 6. Maulana Zafar Ali Khan...............................................73 7. Maulana Sayyid Suīlaiman Nadawi...............................73 8. The Editor of Tanz m Ahl-i Hadith................................73 9. Ghulam Ahmad Pervaiz................................................74 Appendix 76 1. Adil Salahi in Saudi newspaper Arab News..................76 2. Zakariya Idrees Oseni in Rabita’s journal.....................79 3. Imam A. Khatib on website...........................................79 4. Ahmad Von Denffer in his book Islam for Children....80 5. Rahmatullah Tariq in his book Burhan-ul-Quran.........81 Introduction The first point of difference between the Ahmadiyya Move- ment and the general body of the rest of the Muslims is the issue of the death of Jesus. The ordinary Muslim public considers that Jesus is alive in heaven in his physical, human body. As against this view, the Ahmadiyya Movement among Muslims, as well as those religious scholars of the rest of the Muslims who have investigated this matter, believe that Jesus died as did the other prophets. Before dealing with this issue in detail, it is necessary to expand upon the following points by way of introduction and background. Firstly, what is the necessity, in these modern times, of raising the issue of whether Jesus is dead or alive? Secondly, what is the harm and damage done to our beliefs by accepting that Jesus is still alive in bodily form? Thirdly, what is the judgment of the Holy Quran, Hadith reports and Muslim religious scholars regarding whether Jesus died or is still alive? Fourthly, if Jesus has died like the other prophets, then how did the belief that he is alive become established among the Muslims? Regarding the first question, that point is raised by those who have little interest in the propagation of Islam and have not felt the need to spread Islam among Christians and followers of other faiths, and thus they have not had to face any difficulties in disseminating the message of Islam. It is a fact 7