A Muslim Perspective on Jesus's Crucifixion

A Muslim man from Sweden recently wrote me with a question: In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. What is the proof that Jesus was Crucified? (as the Bible shows that there was no eyewitnesses.) I wrote back to explain that of course there were eyewitnesses. John, the writer of the 4th Gospel was there, as was Mary, the mother of Jesus, and some other women. And there were of course the Roman Soldiers. So it seemed a bit odd to say that there were no eyewitesses. The gentleman wrote back to explain that the Bible says regarding Jesus that, "all deserted him." It was interesting that he was willing to hear one verse in the Bible that makes a general statement, which he then attached a "for all time" meaning to, but he would not accept other verses that clearly stated that there were eyewitnesses. We carried on a conversation via email for a couple of days with this pattern repeating itself. In several polite and respectful exchanges back and forth I noticed another pattern: While I would address each and every one of his questions and present Biblical evidence showing his assumptions about the Bible to be incorrect, he would not acknowledge that his questions had been answered and would simply move on to another subject as though the last one had not been discussed. I suggested that our conversation wasn't going to be productive with only one party--me--actually addressing questions and "arguments" laid out by the other. We ended our conversation on a positive note. I mention all of the above to say this: Unless a person is intellectually honest in discussing an issue, there is no point in continuing on. To do so creates unnecessary conflict. We can agree to disagree and respect each other's differences, but when one person won't acknowledge that their questions have been answered or their arguments have been addressed, conversations become unproductive and problematic. For some, like this gentleman, it is often the case of an unwillingness to believe rather than them needing another convincing reason to believe. At some point when all reasonable questions have been answered, belief comes down to a matter of the will. And some people refuse to believe no matter what evidence is placed before them. This man sought me out with a question and followed up with others. He was clearly somewhat well read about the Bible. His struggle however, was that when his questions were plainly and clearly answered, the answers didn't fit with his preconceived view of what the answers should have been. This is how it went, to paraphrase and shorten: Question from the Muslim writer: "How can you believe in the resurrection when there were no eyewitnesses?" Answer from me: "There were eyewitnesses...here are there names." His Comment: (as he claims the Crucifixion never happened) Quran 157-58. And because of their saying (in boast), "We killed Messiah Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of Allâh," - but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but it appeared so to them , and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not . But Allâh raised him up (with his body and soul) unto Himself (and he is in the heavens). And Allâh is Ever All-Powerful, All-Wise. Answer: "If I might say, without giving offense, you mention that the Koran says--if I understood your words correctly--that Jesus only appeared to have been crucified. Since you are rightly concerned about eyewitness accounts, why would you believe some one who came along 600 years later and who was not an eyewitness? If you say the Koran's writer (whom you believe) was a prophet of God, then it would be important to believe other prophets of God like Moses and Jesus himself (both of whom Muslim's believe to be prophets). In Luke 24, Jesus says this: "44 He said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled." 45 Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures. 46 And he said to them, "Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day 47 and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. " Notice that the testimony of Jesus is that Moses the great prophet, prophesied that the Messiah would suffer and rise from "the dead on the third day." So there is no doubt that Jesus was dead and that he is speaking of himself in this passage. He also says that these men to who he was speaking were eyewitnesses." Question: (As he ignored my answer) "Differences in what day Christians think the crucifixion happened make Christians liars." Answer: "There is a difference between being a liar and being mistaken. And the real issue isn't the precise day (Thursday or Friday) that Christ was crucified on, but that he was crucified. Question: (Again he ignored my above answer) "Also if this is not enough, let me mention to you that the Qur’an has 114 chapters, over 6000 verses and there were hundreds of people in the time of the prophet Muhammad who memorized the book entirely. Did anyone memorize any of the gospels? Did anyone memorize the Torah? The Psalms? The Old and the New Testament? Nobody, not even the pope himself." Answer: "You are mistaken that no one has memorized the Gospels or the Psalms for example. In Rabbinical schools in past centuries the Psalms were memorized. And whether the Bible or the Koran is memorized is irrelevant as to either being truth. Many people memorize nursery rhymes, but that doesn't make the nursery rhymes true." Then as we ended the conversation the gentleman, still not having addressed nor acknowledged that his arguments had been answered, he signed off with a respectful comment and added: Quran 3:64. Say "O people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians): Come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but Allah (Alone), and that we associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides Allah. Then, if they turn away, say: "Bear witness that we are Muslims." Interesting that I was not trying to convince him to believe in the God of the Bible or in Christ. I was merely answering his questions. He had come to me, not the other way around. None of my comments had to do with asking him to believe in Christ, although of course that would be my hope for him. Yet he seemed to feel pressure on the subject in his closing comment that, "none of us shall take others as lords besides Allah." Of course the Bible says the same thing essentially about the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, so this isn't unusual. What the Bible does say, however, as God speaks to Israel in the book of Isaiah, is, "Come let us reason together." God is a God of reason. Logic did not invent itself. It comes from the Lord himself. He expects us to use our minds and to think. But as is demonstrated in the above conversation, there is also a matter of will. This gentleman, though his questions had been answered (in greater detail than shown above) was I am sure, intellectually aware that his arguments had been defeated...not to put it in an adversarial sense. Yet he could not believe just then. I understand. It takes time to reprocess things. Perhaps one day he will rethink things and come to understand. But if today you find yourself where this man was: unwilling to believe in the face of the evidence, let me ask you to consider rethinking your views. Is it really an issue of truth that is in the way of your belief, or is it a matter of the will...you just refuse to believe? I don't want to overstate this, but the reality is that your eternity depends on you being honest with yourself. John 3:16 is still quite true: For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The corollary thought, friend, is that those who don't put their faith in Christ will perish. That statement is either true or it is false. There is no middle ground. Reason it out and consider the implications. Your destiny hangs on what you decide. May God grant you wisdom to choose well.