Subtleties and Allusions

The Fate of the Messiah from the Perspective of the Gospels

In the four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) it is stated that Jesus (a.s.) was killed or crucified,(40) and this is not correct, because these four Gospels are not the true Gospel that God granted to the Messiah (a.s.), but rather these were lecture notes of that personage that his disciples wrote and compiled after him. Therefore, these Gospels are not attributed to God or an infallible, because the disciples of the Messiah (a.s.) were neither infallible in reception (talaqqī) nor in preservation nor in composition and dictation (writing). So in someone who lacks infallibility (ʿiṣma) in these three stages, there is the possibility of error; that is, it is possible that first, he may not have correctly understood the material presented, second, assuming correct understanding, perhaps it gradually faded from his memory, so he is not infallible in preservation either. Third, assuming correct reception and understanding and proper preservation of it, perhaps at the time of composing and dictating it with pen or speech he made an error.

However, in the fifth Gospel, namely the Gospel of Barnabas, the matter of killing and crucifixion is denied and refuted, but Christians do not accept it, because they believe that a Muslim wrote it and attributed it to Barnabas in order to show that the aforementioned four Gospels have been corrupted.(41) The type of exegetes (mufassirān) who have spoken about the books of the People of the Book have referred to both, namely the four Gospels and the Gospel of Barnabas.(42)