Page 119 - The Glad Tidings of the Messiah
P. 119
In Arabic the word that is
translated in some translations of this
verse as "You have caused me to die" is
tawaffa and comes from the root wafa—to
fulfil. Tawaffa does not actually mean "death"
but the act of "taking the self back" either in sleep,
in death or as in the case of the Prophet Jesus (pbuh)
being taken back into the Presence of Allah. From
the Qur'an again, we understand that "taking the
self back" does not necessarily mean death. For in-
stance, it can mean "taking back the self while one is
asleep," as indicated in the following verse:
It is He Who takes you back to Himself
(yatawaffaakum) at night, while knowing
the things you perpetrate by day, and then
wakes you up again, so that a specified term
may be fulfilled. (Surat al-An'am, 60)
The word used for "take back" in this verse is
the same as the one used in Surah Al 'Imran 55. In
other words, in the verse above, the word tawaffa is
used and it is obvious that one does not die in one's
sleep. Therefore, what is meant here is, again, "tak-
ing the self back." In the following verse, the same
word is used like this:
