Page 177 - The Prophet Jesus (pbuh) Did Not Die
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                                       HARUN YAHYA


                  already died.
                       As stated earlier, the great majority of Islamic scholars

                  agree that these verses refer to the Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) as-
                  cension to Allah's Presence. For instance, Fakhr al-Din al-
                  Razi said that the verse means "Jesus' (pbuh) raising to the
                  sky." Similarly, Ibn Kathir said that this does not point to
                       82
                  his death, but describes a conversation that will take place
                  on the Day of Judgment. He also said that the word in the
                  familiar sense of (biological) death is not used in the verse. 83
                  In his book Mawqif al-'Aql, Sheikh al-Islam Mustafa Sabri
                  analysed the verse in the following terms: "You took and
                  raised me from among them, and put an end to my relation-
                  ship with Earth." He then continued: "This is taking by rais-
                  ing to His Presence; it is not killing." Such modern commen-
                  tators as Hasan Basri Cantay, Omer Nasuhi Bilmen, and al-
                  Sabuni have said that "You took me back to You" means "You
                  raised me from among them to the heavens." 84



                             Claim 2 and Its Refutation
                       As stated earlier, the Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) ascension
                  to Allah's Presence is an important piece of evidence that he
                  never died. People who misunderstand this truth, however,
                  have sought to interpret his ascension in terms of the con-
                  cepts of time and space, which apply to us. As a result, they
                  assert that the Prophet Jesus (pbuh) is present in the sky in
                  physical form, which then leads them to deny his ascension
                  to Allah's Presence. But this is a most mistaken view. First
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