Quran 5:75 – Jesus used to eat food

Introduction

According to the Quran, Isa (as) and his Mother both used to eat food.

مَّا ٱلْمَسِيحُ ٱبْنُ مَرْيَمَ إِلَّا رَسُولٌۭ قَدْ خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ ٱلرُّسُلُ وَأُمُّهُۥ صِدِّيقَةٌۭ ۖ كَانَا يَأْكُلَانِ ٱلطَّعَامَ ۗ ٱنظُرْ كَيْفَ نُبَيِّنُ لَهُمُ ٱلْـَٔايَـٰتِ ثُمَّ ٱنظُرْ أَنَّىٰ يُؤْفَكُونَ ٧٥
The Messiah, son of Mary, was only a messenger; other messengers had come and gone before him; his mother was a virtuous woman; both used to eat food [like other mortals]. See how clear We make these signs for them; see how deluded they are.

[Quran 5:75]

According to the Quran, all Messengers were given bodies that required food:

وَمَا جَعَلْنَـٰهُمْ جَسَدًۭا لَّا يَأْكُلُونَ ٱلطَّعَامَ وَمَا كَانُوا۟ خَـٰلِدِينَ ٨
We did not give them bodies that ate no food, nor were they immortal.

[Quran 21:8]

Argument

The Argument: Isa (as) Cannot Be Bodily Alive in Heaven

• Premise 1 (Quran 5:75): The Quran states that both Isa (as) and his mother Mary “used to eat food” (كَانَا يَأْكُلَانِ الطَّعَامَ), grouping them together in the same grammatical construction and the same category of being.
• Premise 2 (Quran 21:8): The Quran establishes a general rule for all messengers — they were given real bodies that require food, and none of them were made immortal (“nor were they immortal”).
• Premise 3 (Shared grammar): Because 5:75 uses a dual verb form (كَانَا — “the two of them used to”) applied jointly to Isa and Mary, Arabic grammar requires that whatever is true of one regarding this action must be true of the other. They cannot be separated in status.
• The dilemma this creates for non-Ahmadi belief:
  • If Isa (as) is bodily alive in heaven, then as a human body he must still require and eat food there.
  • But the verse pairs him with Mary using the same verb — so if he is still eating/alive, she must be too.
  • No non-Ahmadi Muslim believes Mary (as) is bodily alive in heaven today.
  • Therefore, by the logic of the shared verb, Isa (as) cannot be bodily alive in heaven either.
• Only two consistent readings remain:
  1. Both Isa and Mary are alive in heaven and both still eat food — a position no one holds, and one that contradicts 21:8’s statement that messengers are not immortal.
  2. Both Isa and Mary lived, ate food as mortals, and both died a natural death — leaving neither alive in heaven today.
• Reinforcement from 21:8: The phrase “nor were they immortal” directly undercuts the idea of Isa (as) having a 2000-year uninterrupted physical life in heaven, especially when contrasted with the accepted death of Prophet Muhammad (saw).

Conclusion

Since no non-Ahmadi scholar claims Mary (as) is alive in the heavens, and the Quran grammatically ties her fate to Isa’s in this verse, consistency demands concluding that both died natural deaths — refuting the belief that Isa (as) remains bodily alive in heaven awaiting a second coming.