Appearance
Selected Exegesis
Another cause of the disbelief of the fanatical members of the Children of Israel was their false notion regarding the killing of Jesus the Messiah. They killed many prophets(1) and brazenly sought to kill him as well, and falsely claimed they had slain him—a lie which reveals their audacity and transgression.
The Children of Israel outwardly called the Messiah Jesus son of Mary: “We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary”; however, they did not consider him the legitimate son of Mary. Similarly, they did not believe in the Messiah’s prophethood and either mockingly or based on his own claim called him “the messenger of God.”
Of course, it is possible that in this sentence, God used the eloquent and acceptable expression “the messenger of God” in place of some improper expression they had uttered.
In any case, they neither killed the Messiah in the ordinary manner nor crucified him, but rather the matter became confused for them; that is, they executed or crucified someone who was not Jesus, but rather someone who resembled him.
It is unlikely that “confusion” (ishtibāh) here means that God made the matter confused for them; in such a way that He cast the resemblance of the Messiah upon one of the leaders of disbelief and instigators of sedition (fitna), and the person killed or crucified was one of the leaders of disbelief and seditious Jews upon whom this matter was mistakenly applied.
The secret of combining killing and crucifixion and negating both: “though they did not kill him nor did they crucify him” is that if He had only negated the killing, it might be possible to speak of crucifying him, since sometimes it is possible for someone to be crucified and not die.
The explanation is that there is a difference between killing and crucifixion. Crucifixion and hanging on the cross is a specific type of killing, and in it there is the possibility of survival. Therefore, there is no necessary correlation between the two (crucifixion and killing), and for this reason they are placed in opposition to each other: “though they did not kill him nor did they crucify him” (4:157). By virtue of this very opposition, the word “killing” (qatl) in this sentence does not encompass both killing and crucifixion; however, this same word in the final summary of the verse: “and certainly they did not kill him” (4:157) encompasses both killing and crucifixion.
The claims of those who assert killing or crucifixion are unscholarly and unresearched, based on following doubt and conjecture, which is not reliable in such cases. The Qur’an refutes their certainty with three expressions:
The foundation of their judgment is their doubt, and they have no knowledge of the story of the Messiah.
They follow conjecture.
They have no certainty.
The fundamental and real report in this regard is the account of divine revelation that neither killing occurred nor crucifixion took place, and this definitive report is obtained from the expression “though they did not kill him nor did they crucify him” (4:157). However, it is unlikely that the sentence “and certainly they did not kill him” (4:157) means a certain report, because all of God’s statements are definitive. The clear meaning of this sentence can be that certain killing did not occur, but rather suspected, doubtful, and confused killing took place.
It should be noted that the negation of killing and crucifixion does not necessitate the current life of the Messiah. What is certain is his elevation to divine proximity.