Appearance
The Final Destiny of Jesus
The Almighty God, based on His might and wisdom, raised Jesus up toward Himself: “Rather God raised him up toward Himself, and God is all-mighty, all-wise” (4:158). There is disagreement about the meaning of his raising (rafʿ) toward God; however, it is clear that it cannot mean migration; that is, God took him from among the Jews to another land to keep him safe from their oppression, because this is incompatible with his being one of the resolute prophets (ūlū l-ʿazm); since the region of his prophetic mission (risāla), like that of the Seal of the Prophets, is the entire earth; with the difference that the mission of the Seal of the Prophets also extends temporally until the Day of Resurrection; but the mission of the Messiah is until the coming of the subsequent Prophet. Therefore, one cannot say that the Messiah was taken from that region to another place, because wherever he is, he must convey God’s message to the people; and inevitably some will believe and a group will disbelieve and stand against him; he must have been taken to a place where he no longer has responsibility, unless the inhabitants of that land are all pure believers where there is no danger.(27)
Likewise, it cannot mean elevation of rank (tarfīʿ daraja); that is, God granted him elevation of status just as He grants elevation of rank to some of His servants: “God will raise those of you who have faith and those who have been given knowledge in rank”;(28) “In houses God has allowed to be raised and wherein His Name is celebrated, He is glorified therein, morning and evening.”(29) Because spiritual elevation (rifʿat maʿnawī) has always existed and exists for Jesus, just as it exists for other prophets and saints (awliyāʾ), while the expression “Rather God raised him up toward Himself” is only about the Messiah and it is not the case that if his bodily existence had died, he would not have had spiritual elevation (and it would be necessary for it to be raised).
Therefore, the meaning of raising (rafʿ) in the phrase “Rather God raised him up toward Himself” is summarized in three possibilities:
Natural death; the Messiah may have died naturally and God raised his pure soul toward Himself.
Ascension to heaven; as the apparent meaning of some narrations indicates, and at the time of the appearance of His Holiness the Proof, son of al-Ḥasan, that personage will descend from heaven and pray behind the leadership (imāmat) of the Imam of the Time.(30)
Occultation (ghayba) and concealment from others; similar to the occultation of His Holiness the Guardian of the Age (Walī l-ʿAṣr); that is, God has concealed his soul and body while preserving his life from human sight, so he is alive and awaiting the appearance (ẓuhūr). Of course, one who is hidden from sight does not have the responsibility of prophetic mission (risāla) and guidance of society, although he does have formative (takwīnī) and individual responsibility.
There is no proof of impossibility, nor definitive Qur’anic evidence for the definitive confirmation of any of the three possibilities. Indeed! From the initial apparent meaning of the verse “When God said, ‘O Jesus, I shall take you[r soul], and I shall raise you up toward Myself, and I shall clear you of [the calumnies of] the faithless, and I shall set those who follow you above the faithless until the Day of Resurrection”(31) and with careful consideration of it, it becomes clear that that personage has died (wafāt).
The essence of the mentioned verse (Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, verse 55) consists of four elements that God has expressed all of them with the active participle (ism fāʿil): taking the soul (tawaffī), raising (rafʿ), purification (taṭhīr), and making the believers and followers of the Messiah superior (jaʿl bartarī) over the disbelievers until the Resurrection.(32) The active participle indicates the beginning of an action in the present or near future; like the making of leadership (jaʿl imāmat) for Abraham: “He said, ‘I am making you the Imam of mankind’”.(33)
Based on this, the raising of that personage toward God is mixed with taking the soul (tawaffī) which encompasses only the soul, not the body. However, it is necessary to note that the expression “mutawaffīka”(34) does not have explicitness in death and demise (wafāt), but sometimes it is applied to death (complete taking of the soul) and sometimes in sleep (incomplete taking of the soul), in which case the life of the body and the soul’s attachment to it is preserved: “It is He who takes your souls by night, and He knows what you do by day”;(35) “God takes the souls at the time of their death, and those who have not died in their sleep”.(36) Of course, regarding sleep being an instance of taking the soul (tawaffī), there is no difference between the shortness of sleep duration and its length; similar to what happened to the Companions of the Cave.(37) Therefore, there are three states for a human being: in two states he is taken (mutawaffā) and in one state he is not taken, because a person is either alive or dead, and a living person is either asleep or awake. Moreover, perhaps the sleep state can be considered a new instance of taking the soul (tawaffī) in some respects.
In any case, since the term taking the soul (tawaffī) does not have explicitness in death, certainty about the death of Jesus from the specific verse “I shall take you[r soul], and I shall raise you up toward Myself, and I shall clear you of [the calumnies of] the faithless”(38) is difficult. Rather, from the apparent meaning of the verse under discussion along with the preceding and following verses, it emerges that Jesus the Messiah was neither killed nor crucified, but God raised his body and soul alive toward Himself: “though they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but so it was made to appear to them … Rather God raised him up toward Himself, and God is all-mighty, all-wise” (4:157-158), as Master ʿAllāma Ṭabāṭabāʾī has also explicitly stated.(39)
In the verse under discussion, there are two contextual indicators (qarīna) that point to the raising of Jesus while alive:
The word “rather” (bal) which indicates a turning away from being killed and crucified, and this is not compatible with his demise and the ascension of his soul alone, which is what is at issue in killing and crucifixion.
The unity of context in the reference of pronouns that return to Jesus, because if the pronoun “raised him” (rafaʿahu) refers to the soul of that personage, the unity of context would be disrupted. Of course, “Rather God raised him up toward Himself” (bal rafaʿahu llāhu ilayhi) does not mean ascension and going to heaven, because God manifests both in the heavens and on earth: “It is He who is God in the sky, and God on the earth” (43:84), but He has no physical place or location for that personage to have gone to heaven and before God, just as a similar expression appears in the migration (hijra) of Abraham: “He said, ‘Indeed I am going toward my Lord, who will guide me’” (37:99) and Lot: “Indeed I am migrating toward my Lord” (29:26), and this does not mean that these prophets died or went to heaven with this same body and soul, but rather it indicates a spiritual journey toward God.
In the verse under discussion as well, the speech is about “raising toward God” (rafʿ ilā llāh), not “raising to heaven” (rafʿ ilā l-samāʾ).
In summary, the sentence “Rather God raised him up toward Himself” (bal rafaʿahu llāhu ilayhi) is harmonious with verse 55 of Āl ʿImrān, and the realization of the raising of Jesus toward God is either in the form of ascension and return to God (rujūʿ ilā llāh) or in the manner of occultation (ghayba).
It should be mentioned that:
The narration that says Jesus the Messiah will descend after the appearance of the Master of the Age and will follow him in prayer is compatible both with his descent from heaven and with his appearance after occultation and concealment.
Death is certainly inevitable for all human beings and admits no exception: “We did not give immortality to any human before you. If you are fated to die, will they live on forever? Every soul shall taste death, and We will test you with good and ill by way of test, and to Us you will be brought back” (21:34-35). Jesus (a.s.) has either already passed away or will pass away later, because God said through his tongue: “Peace is to me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised alive” (19:33). Therefore, if that personage has not yet passed away, he will certainly pass away one day. However, if his death is extraordinary like his birth, it is completely believable.