Jesus Not Accursed — Essence of Islam Vol. 3

Introduction

In this discourse from Essence of Islam (Volume 3), Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (AS), the Promised Messiah and Mahdi, expounds upon Jesus Not Accursed, presenting profound spiritual insights and scriptural verities.

Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 3)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 6: The Messiah and His Second Coming
Navigation: Book Table of Contents | « Previous: Absurdity of the Doctrine of Trinity | Next: Ointment of Jesus »

The Holy Qur’an has proclaimed the truth that Jesus did not die on the cross and did not become accursed. This is also borne out by the Gospels inasmuch as Jesus described his own case as resembling that of the Prophet Jonas; and every Christian knows that Jonas did not die in the belly of the whale. If Jesus lay dead in the sepulchre, what resemblance would he have with Jonas who was kept alive in the belly of the whale? It is also known that after deliverance from the cross Jesus exhibited his wounds to the disciples. If he had been bestowed a glorious body after death, how was it that he still retained the wounds received by his previous body? Had there been some deficiency left in the glory and, if so, how can it be expected that those injuries would be healed till the Judgement Day? All these are senseless tales on which the beam of Godhead has been rested; but the time approaches fast, rather it has already come, when God Almighty will blow away all these tales like the carding of wool.

[Siraj-e-Munir, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 12, pp. 64-65]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 246]

It is the agreed doctrine of all Christians that Jesus, having been crucified, became accursed for three days, and this curse is what their salvation is based on. This doctrine is open to so serious an objection whereby the whole doctrinal structure of the Trinity, atonement and forgiveness of sins is utterly falsified and disappears. If anyone is interested in maintaining the justification of these doctrines, let him come forth and answer this objection, otherwise this entire structure will fall and the whole bundle of Christian doctrines will be crushed. Then neither Trinity nor atonement nor the forgiveness of sins will survive. The entire doctrine of the cross will The Messiah and his Second Coming 247 be demolished by the power of God. In order to facilitate appreciation of this objection, we proceed to set forth the meaning of la‘nat [curse.] In Lisan-ul-‘Arab, which is an old Arabic lexicon and is an Islamic publication, in Qatr-ul-Muhit, Muhit and Aqrab-ulMavarid which have been compiled by two Christian lexicographers and have been recently published in Beirut, and in all other lexicons, the meaning of la‘nat is set out as follows: 192

An accursed one is he who is deprived of all good and of the mercy of God and the comprehension of God and is condemned to everlasting torment, that is to say, his heart is wholly deprived of all good and becomes Satan and acquires the qualities of swine and apes. The poet Shammakh calls an accursed one a wolf because his inner self has become corrupted. When it is said that a person is under God’s curse everyone understands that he has become truly vicious and faithless and a Satan in the estimation of God and that God is disgusted with him and he has turned away from God….We wish to inquire most respectfully from Christian clerics if it is true that such a curse, with all its characteristics, had been imposed by God Almighty on Jesus and that under this curse he had fallen under the wrath of God and become black-hearted and had turned away from God? In my estimation such a person who designates a chosen one of God 192 The word la‘n is common in Arabic and Hebrew. [Author] as accursed, that is to say, as black-hearted, disgusted with God and of satanic character, is himself accursed. Can it be said that a loved one of God had truly become accursed which means bitter enmity towards God…. To designate a dear one of God as Satan is a satanic act. I cannot conceive that any decent person would for a second apply all these designations to Jesus. If this is not permissible then the whole structure of atonement falls to the ground and the doctrine of Trinity is demolished and the cross is broken. Is there anyone in the world who can challenge this objection?

[Majmu‘ah Ishtiharat, vol. 2, pp. 333-335]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 246]

The Christians believe that Jesus (peace be upon him), having been apprehended in consequence of the treachery of Judas Iscariot, was crucified and, having been resurrected, ascended bodily to heaven. But a careful study of the Gospels discloses that this doctrine is altogether false. In Matthew 12:40, it is written: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. We know that Jonas did not die in the belly of the whale; at the most he suffered unconsciousness. The scripture shows that by Divine grace Jonas remained alive in the belly of the whale and emerged therefrom alive and was in the end accepted by his people. If Jesus (peace be upon him) died in the belly of the whale193, what resemblance would there be between him and Jonas?
The truth is that as Jesus was a true Prophet and believed 193 This is a misprint in the first edition, the word ‘whale’ should be read ‘earth’. [Publisher] The Messiah and his Second Coming 249 that God, to whom he was dear, would safeguard him against an accursed death, he had, under Divine revelation, prophesied in this manner in order to convey that he would not die on the cross but would become unconscious like the Prophet Jonas. In this prophecy Jesus had also indicated that after emerging from the belly of the earth he would meet his people and would be honoured by them as Jonas had been honoured by his people. This prophecy was also fulfilled, inasmuch as after emerging from the belly of the earth, Jesus travelled to his people who were settled in Kashmir, Tibet and other Eastern countries. These were the ten lost tribes of Israel which had been captured from Samaria by Salamendor, King of Assyria, seven hundred and twenty-one years earlier, and who had migrated towards India and had settled in various countries.
It was necessary that Jesus should have undertaken this journey because the ultimate purpose of his Prophethood was to meet the lost tribes who were settled in India and other countries. They were indeed the lost tribes of Israel because after they had settled in these countries they had given up the religion of their ancestors and most of them had become Buddhists, and, in course of time, they had become idol worshippers…. Moreover deliverance from the cross was also necessary for Jesus because scripture says that he who dies upon the rood is accursed. The meaning of curse is such that its application to Jesus for even a moment would be the height of cruelty and injustice. Curse is related to the heart. A person is called accursed when his heart, being alienated from God, becomes black and is bereft of His mercy, becomes a stranger to His love, is emptied completely of His comprehension, becomes blind and is filled with the poison of misguidance like Satan; and not a ray of the love and understanding of God survives in it. It is cut asunder from all faith and loyalty. Rancour, hatred, aversion and enmity are generated between it and God, so much so that God becomes its enemy and it becomes the enemy of God; and it becomes averse to God and God becomes averse to it. In short, curse means to become the heir of Satan in all his qualities. That is why Satan is designated the accursed….Can we say that the heart of Jesus had ever turned away from God and had denied God and had become disgusted with God and God had become his enemy? Can we imagine that the heart of Jesus at any time felt that it had become disgusted with God and had become His enemy and was sunk in the darkness of disbelief and denial? If the heart of Jesus never felt so and was ever filled with the light of love and comprehension, then ponder, O wise ones, how can we say that it had become subject not to one but to a thousand curses, with all that they entail. God forbid, certainly not. Then how can we say that Jesus became accursed?…
Such a notion is not only inconsistent with the status of Jesusas as a Prophet and a Messenger but is also inconsistent with his claim of perfection and purity and love and comprehension of God, which is mentioned time and again in the Gospels. A perusal of the Gospels shows that Jesusas affirmed, ‘I am the light of the world’; ‘I am the guide’; ‘I have a relationship of deep love with God’; ‘I have been bestowed a holy birth by Him’; ‘I am the beloved son of God’. Then, despite these inalienable and holy relationships with God, how can the concept of curse be attributed to his heart? Jesus certainly did not die on the cross and his heart was safeguarded against the unholy condition of being accursed. If he did not die on the cross, he also did not ascend bodily to heaven, for The Messiah and his Second Coming 251 such ascension was a part of the whole project of his crucifixion. If he did not become accursed nor was committed to hell for three days, his bodily ascension to heaven, which was part of this whole drama, also falls to the ground. The Gospels furnish other evidence to the same effect, which is as follows: Jesus is reported to have said: But after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee. (Matthew, 26:32)
This shows that after emerging from the sepulchre Jesus went to Galilee and not to heaven. The expression ‘after rising again’ cannot be construed to mean resurrection after death. Jesus employed this expression in anticipation of the notions of the Jews and the common people concerning his end on the cross. Also such an expression would not be inept with reference to a person who was nailed to the cross and appeared to be dead while he was unconscious. If a person, on being delivered from such a situation, claims to have risen from the dead, it would be no exaggeration on his part…. This shows that on emerging from the sepulchre Jesus proceeded towards Galilee. It is written in the Gospel of Mark, that he was seen walking towards Galilee and met the eleven disciples when they were at supper and showed them his hands and feet, which bore marks of wounds. They had imagined that he was a spirit, whereupon he asked them to touch him and see that a spirit could not have flesh and bones as he had. He took from them a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb and ate before them. See Mark, 16:14 and Luke, 24:39-42. These verses show clearly that Jesus did not ascend to heaven but on emerging from the sepulchre went to Galilee in his normal body and clothes. Had he risen from the dead, his glorious body would not have borne the marks of the injuries inflicted upon him on the cross, nor would he have been in need of nourishment. If despite his having risen from the dead he was still in need of food, he must need food in heaven also. The cross was not like the modern gallows deliverance from which is almost impossible. In crucifixion no rope was put round the neck of the offender, nor was he suspended after being pushed from a platform. He was only nailed to the cross through his hands and feet and, in case it was not the intention to kill him, he was taken down after one or two days and his bones were not broken. If death was intended, he was left on the cross for two or three days without food or drink and was exposed to the heat of the sun. Thereafter his bones were broken and he died as a result of all this torment. In the case of Jesusas, the grace and mercy of God safeguarded him against all such torment as might have ended his life. The Gospels show that Jesusas did not remain on the cross for three days exposed to the sun without food or drink, nor were his bones broken. He remained on the cross for just about two hours. The grace and mercy of God so ordained that he was put upon the cross late on Friday when only a brief part of the day was left. The next day was the Sabbath and it was also the day of Passover and it was forbidden in the Jewish law to leave anyone on the cross on the night of the Sabbath, which began with sunset on Friday. This was the natural juxtaposition of the events. Then God Almighty caused a storm to arise at the sixth hour after midday, which darkened the earth and lasted for three hours. (Mark, 15:33.) The Jews were afraid lest in the darkness the sun might set and the Sabbath begin and they might be held guilty of breach of the Sabbath and become liable to punishment. So they took down the body of Jesus from the The Messiah and his Second Coming 253 cross and also the bodies of the two thieves.
Another heavenly intervention that occurred was that when Pilate sat in the Judgement seat his wife sent him word: Have you nothing to do with that just man; for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him. (Matthew, 27:19) The appearance of the angel to the wife of Pilate in her dream was a sure sign that it was God’s design not to let Jesus suffer death on the cross…. Another piece of evidence furnished by the Gospels in support of the deliverance of Jesus from death on the cross is his long journey to Galilee, which he undertook after emerging from the sepulchre. On Sunday morning he first met Mary Magdalene who immediately notified the disciples that Jesus was alive, but they did not believe her. Then he was seen by two of the disciples who were going into the country. Then he appeared to the eleven when they were at supper and rebuked them over their lack of faith and their hard-heartedness. See Mark 16:9- 14. When Jesus met the two disciples near Emmaus, which is at a distance of three or four miles from Jerusalem, he desired to go forward but they stopped him to spend the night with them and he supped with them. See Luke, 24:13-31. It is thus obvious that all these incidents like eating and drinking and sleeping and going on a long journey to Galilee, a distance of seventy miles from Jerusalem, all of which are relevant to a mortal body, were utterly inconsistent with a glorious body with which Jesus is imagined to have been invested after death. Despite the many changes that have found their way in the different accounts of the Gospels due to prejudiced thinking, it appears clearly that Jesus did meet his disciples in his corporeal and mortal body and undertook a long journey on foot all the way to Galilee, showed his wounds to the disciples, supped with them and spent the night in their company. We shall prove later that he also treated his wounds with an ointment. Here one must pause and consider as to how it was that Jesus, after being invested with a glorious and eternal body with which he was to sit eternally on the right hand of God Almighty, and which should have been exempt from the need of food and drink and should have been free from every stain and pain and deficiency and should have reflected the glory of God the Eternal, he was still bearing the marks of the wounds suffered on the cross, which were bleeding and hurting him, and for which an ointment had been prepared. This glorious and immortal body, which should have endured through eternity secure, faultless, perfect and unchangeable, was so full of defects. Indeed, Jesus himself showed his flesh and bones to his disciples…. Thus without a doubt the truth is that Jesus did not die on the cross, nor was he invested with a new glorious body. He had become unconscious and appeared to have died, but Divine grace so ordained that the sepulchre, in which he was placed, was not like the graves in this country. It was a commodious, ventilated chamber with a window. It was customary with the Jews at that time to build such chambers beforehand and place corpses in them when the need arose….
Of the testimonies contained in the Gospel is the one concerning the statement of Pilate recorded in Mark, which reads as follows: The Messiah and his Second Coming 255 And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation … Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead. (Mark, 15:42-44) From this, we are led to conclude that, soon after Jesus was put on the cross, doubt was expressed about his death by one who knew from experience how long it took for a man to die on the cross. Of the testimonies contained in the Gospel, is the one which we reproduce below: … because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Then came the soldiers and break the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs: but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. (John, 19:31-34) These verses clearly show that, in order to put an end to the life of a crucified person, it was the practice in those days to keep him on the cross for several days and then to break his bones. But in the case of Jesus, his bones were purposely not broken and he must have been taken down from the cross alive, unlike the two thieves. That is why blood flowed out from his side when it was pierced, while the blood of a dead man is congealed.
This also shows very clearly that all this was a covert design. Pilate was a God-fearing and good-hearted man. He was afraid to show overt favour to Jesus, as the Jews had threatened to inform Caesar against him. All the same, Pilate was lucky to have beheld Jesus, but Caesar was not so fortunate. Pilate not only saw him but also treated him with favour and did not at all wish that Jesus should die on the cross. It is clear from the Gospels that Pilate sought several times to release him, but the Jews cried out that if he let Jesus go he would be no friend of Caesar…. Among the testimonies which bear out that Jesusas was indeed saved from the cross is the one narrated in Matthew 26:36-46. It relates that, having been informed by revelation of his impending arrest, Jesusas prayed to God all night, crying and prostrating. These prayers, which Jesusas offered in such humility, and for which he was given ample time, could not have gone unaccepted. God never turns down the prayer of a chosen one when he prays in distress. How could Jesusas’ prayer have been turned down, which he offered all night in a state of anguish and distress, particularly when he had himself claimed that his Father in heaven listened to his prayers. How could one believe that God heard his prayers, if this prayer, which was offered in such anguish, was not accepted?
The Gospels also show that Jesusas was sure that his prayer had been heard and he had great faith in his prayer. That is why when he was arrested and nailed to the cross, he found things contrary to his expectation and involuntarily cried out: ‘Eli, Eli, Lima sabachtani’—My Lord, My Lord, why has Thou forsaken me? That is, ‘I never expected things to come to this pass, and that I would have to die on the cross. I expected You to hear my supplications.’ God Almighty does indeed accept prayers, especially The Messiah and his Second Coming 257 when the oppressed fall at His threshold with implicit faith in Him. He responds to their cries and helps them in strange ways. To this I myself am a witness. How could it be that the prayer of Jesus offered in such anguish was not heard? Indeed it was heard and God did save him, and for this purpose He caused things to happen on earth, and in heaven. John, or the Prophet Yahya, was granted no time to pray for his time had come, but Jesus was granted a whole night for prayer and he spent it in supplication, standing and prostrating before God. This was so because God had so willed that Jesus should give expression to his distress and pray for deliverance to Him for Whom nothing is impossible. God, in keeping with His eternal practice, heard his prayer. The Jews were false when they taunted him at the time of the crucifixion as to why God had not saved him despite his trust in Him. God frustrated all the designs of the Jews and saved his beloved Messiah from the cross and the attending curse. The Jews indeed failed. Among the testimonies of the Gospels which have reached us, are the following verses from Matthew: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily, I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation. (Matthew, 23:35-36) In these verses, Jesus (peace be on him) clearly says that the chain of the slaying of the Prophets by the Jews had come to an end with the assassination of the Prophet Zechariah, and that thereafter they would not have the power to kill any Prophet. This is a great prophecy and it clearly spells out that Jesusas did not die on the cross. He was, on the contrary, delivered from the cross and ultimately died a natural death. Had it been that Jesusas, like Zechariah, was also to be killed by the Jews, he would certainly have hinted at it in these verses.

[Masih Hindustan Meiń, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 15, pp. 16-34]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 248]

The Jews have always been at a loss to explain how Jesusas died within two or three hours of being nailed to the cross, when even his bones had not yet been broken. This has led some of them to invent another plea that, in fact, they had killed Jesus with the sword. But the history of the Jews does not support this claim.
In order to save Jesus, Divine might and majesty intervened and caused darkness to prevail, which was followed by an earthquake. Pilate’s wife’s dream, the approach of the night of Sabbath when it was not permissible to leave anyone on the cross, and Pilate’s inclination to save Jesus because of the nightmare, all these coincided to save Jesus. Jesus was also made to lose consciousness so that he would appear dead.
The Jews became frightened of Divine chastisement, because of the terrible signs like the darkness and earthquake. They were also afraid lest the bodies should remain on the cross during the night of Sabbath. And when they saw Jesus in a swoon, they thought him dead. It was dark and there was an earthquake and great panic. They were also anxious about their homes and what their children must be going through in the darkness and earthquake. They were also perplexed that if Jesus was a liar and an apostate, which they thought he was, then why had such terrifying and unprecedented signs coincided with the torture to which he was subjected. They were so upset that they were unable to find out for The Messiah and his Second Coming 259 themselves whether Jesus had really died or what exactly his condition was. All this was part of God’s design to save Jesus, and to which this verse refers: 194

This means that the Jews did not kill Jesus, but it was God Who made them believe that they had killed him. It is these circumstances which encourage the righteous to place great trust in God and to believe that He can save His servants as He pleases.

[Masih Hindustan Meiń, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 15, pp. 51-52]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 258]

Some people may be troubled by the notion that the Gospels repeatedly mention that Jesus (peace be on him) died on the cross and that after resurrection he ascended to heaven. I have already answered such objections briefly, but I find it appropriate to repeat that Jesus (peace be on him) met his disciples after the crucifixion, journeyed to Galilee, ate bread and broiled meat, showed them his wounds, spent the night with his disciples at Emmaus, escaped secretly from Pilate’s territory, and, like Prophets before him, migrated from the country and travelled under the shadow of fear. All these facts indicate that he did not die on the cross, that he retained the functions of his mortal body and underwent no visible change.
The Gospels do not contain any eyewitness account of
ascension to heaven. Even if there had been such evidence, it would have lacked credibility, for the evangelists seemed to be in the habit of making mountains out of a molehill. To illustrate, one of them may have said that Jesus was the son of God, whereupon another became anxious to make him God and a third invested him with

authority over heaven and earth and a fourth had no hesitation in asserting that there is no God beside him. In short, the tendency to exaggerate carries them too far. A vision in which someone saw that the dead had emerged from their graves and had walked into the town was changed into an actual event that the dead had truly emerged from their graves and had arrived in Jerusalem and met other people. Just imagine how a feather was turned into a crow, and a crow into millions of crows. With such exaggeration, how is it possible to get to the truth?
It is also worth considering that the Gospels, the socalled books of God, contain inflated statements such as that if all the works of Jesus had been committed to writing, there wouldn’t be room enough in the whole world to accommodate them. Can such exaggeration be the way of honesty and truth? If the works of Jesus were so unlimited and beyond count, how were they confined within the brief space of three years?… Then, in the same Gospel of Matthew, we read: And when they were assembled with the elders, and had taken counsel, they gave large money unto the soldiers, saying, Say ye, His disciples came by night, and stole him away while we slept. (Matthew, 28:12-13) Look, just how childish and absurd such statements are. If it means that the Jews wanted to cover up the fact that Jesus had risen from the dead and had bribed the watchmen so that this great miracle should not become known to the people, then why did Jesus, whose primary duty it was to proclaim this miracle among the Jews, keep it a secret and forbid others from disclosing it? And if it is The Messiah and his Second Coming 261 said that he was afraid of being apprehended, then I would say that when the decree of God had been carried out once and for all and he was resurrected after death and blessed with a glorious body, what fear did he have of the Jews? Surely, they had no power over him as he was now beyond mortal existence. On the one side it is said that he had been blessed with a glorious body upon his resurrection and met the disciples and journeyed to Galilee and then ascended to heaven, while on the other hand, he was afraid of the Jews at every step, and, in spite of his glorious body, fled secretly from the country lest the Jews should recognize him and, to save his life, undertook a 70 kose journey to Galilee and more than once told his disciples not to mention this incident to anyone. Are these the ways and signs of a glorious body? Indeed no. The truth is that his body was neither new nor glorious; it was the same wounded body which had been saved from death; and as he still faced the threat from the Jews, he took all the necessary precautions and left the country. All statements to the contrary are simply absurd.

[Masih Hindustan Meiń, Ruhani Khaza’in, vol. 15, pp. 46-49]
[Essence of Islam, Vol. 3, p. 259]

Book Series: Essence of Islam (Volume 3)
Author: Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (AS)
Section: Part 6: The Messiah and His Second Coming
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