Page 88 - The Prophet Jesus (pbuh) Did Not Die

86

ADNAN OKTAR

In that case, Jesus (pbuh) was raised to the skies and will
return before the Day of Judgment. 33

Mehmed Vehbi, a commentator who lived during the
final years of the Ottoman Empire, interpreted the verse in
the following manner:
O Jesus, I shall put you to sleep and raise you to the skies,
the place of plenty and My sanctity. I shall rescue you
from the Jews' wickedness and cleanse you of the unbe-
lievers' impure actions, rescuing you from their wicked-
ness by drawing you up away from them. 34
The great Islamic scholar Imam Ibn Taymiyya stated
that Surah Al 'Imran:55 indicates that the Prophet Jesus
(pbuh) did not die, but most likely experienced a kind of
"sleep death." He then wrote:

This verse is proof that the death of Jesus (pbuh) is not being
referred to… The word al-tawaffi [the infinitive form of the
word mutawafeeka used] in the verse requires the death of
the soul without that of the body, or of both, but with the
existence of another piece of evidence explaining the cir-
cumstances in this sense. The meaning may be the death
of sleep (as in Surat al-An'am:60). The words at the end of
the verse, to the effect that: "I shall separate you purified
from the unbelievers," are also along these lines. Had Je-
sus' (pbuh) body been separated from his soul, then his
body would be in the ground, as with the other
prophets. 35

In his commentary, Hamdi Yazir of Elmali stated that
the verse in question means: