You Too….!
Death of Jesus
by Masud Akhtar Choudry
The Islamic Review (UK), October/November 1982 Issue (Vol. 3, Nos. 1–2, pp. 17–18)
‘The World Muslim League’ organ, The Journal, of October 1981, published an article of Mr. Zakriya Idrees Oseni titled
‘Jesus in the Scriptures as Seen by Muslims’
wherein appeared the following statement:
“Whatever be the case, the Islamic belief is that Jesus died a natural death after God had saved him from crucifixion. The stories of his ascension after he had been saved from crucifixion, which we sometimes find in some Arabic books, are obviously taken from Christian sources and should not be taken very seriously by Muslims with discerning minds.”
About a hundred years back, the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the Mujaddid (Reformer) of the 14th century Hijrah, declared that thirty verses of the Holy Quran prove that the Prophet Jesus Christ had died like other human beings and as such had not risen bodily to heaven as is commonly believed. Since then, ‘Death of Jesus’ has been an Ahmadiyya belief. Ahmadis are not the only people in Islam who entertain such a belief. Imam Muhammad Abduhu of Egypt and Sir Syed Ahmad Khan of India held the same belief. Later came a fatwa [religious edict] from Allama Mahmud Shaltut of the Al-Azhar University in Egypt declaring that Jesus is dead and did not rise bodily to heaven as is commonly believed, yet the orthodox Mullahs [clerics] stuck to their position and, amongst other things, it constituted one of the crimes of the Founder of the Ahmadiyya Movement and his followers for proclamations of Kufr (heresy) against them by the orthodox Maulvis [clerics] — so much so that in 1978, when the Qadiani Ahmadis held their Wafat-e-Masih [Death of Jesus] conference in London, England, representations and memorandums were offered to the British Government by the orthodox Maulvis from Pakistan and Arab World stating that the conference is a threat to their beliefs and will endanger peace and order in the United Kingdom. Consequently, the British Government had served notices on the sponsors of that conference not to state anything that might injure the feelings of the Orthodox Muslims. Not only that, a counter Hayat-e-Masih [Life of Jesus] conference was announced and held wherein teams of politico-Mullahs from Pakistan and certain Arab countries delivered fiery speeches against the concept of the death of Jesus. Now Mr. Zakriya Idrees Oseni’s article (in the Journal of October 1981) tells us:
“Whatever be the case, the Islamic belief is that Jesus died a natural death after God had saved him from crucifixion, and stories of his ascension, taken from Christian sources, should not be taken very seriously by Muslims.”
It is a healthy sign that after all The World Muslim League, which played an important role in the matter of issuance of proclamation of Kufr against the Ahmadis, has ultimately discovered the truth that the ‘death of Jesus’ is an Islamic belief. It is hoped that the orthodox elements in the ranks of the League no longer consider it a crime and have found courage to change their belief as to Hayat-e-Masih (Life of Jesus) and his bodily ascension to heavens.