Surah 4:157 (Part II)

So how to reconcile Christian belief with that of Islam? It can't be done, though the tales in Islamic tradition of Jesus being raised are actually the closest we can come. But these traditions are non-sensical and require more faith to believe than those of the Christian claims.

No, what the Qur'an says is that the Jewish boasts are false. The crucifixion never happened. Crucifixions happened (and the Qur'an claims this happened during Egyptian's heyday which is another story altogether) according to the Qur'an. But not to Jesus. The Jews falsely believed this and their bragging of it is false.

If in fact the Qur'an is speaking about Christians in this verse, it could only be if Christians were calling the Jews of the region "Christ-killers" (something easily found in the Christian historical record) and the Qur'an is refuting this claim.

But the verse is not a historical account of what happened. It is apparent that Jesus was persecuted, as Muhammad was persecuted, as all Prophets have been persecuted, but there is no interest in validating Christian claims that Jesus was crucified. The Qur'an does not answer what happened to him. It does not answer what happened to any of the Prophets prior to Muhammad. He thus died (cf. Surah 3:55). The 'raising' in question (rafa'nahu, phrases also used in 19:57, 4:158 and 4:172) is exaltation of status which Muhammad Asad renders as "whom We exalted."

So what happened to Jesus? The Qur'an does not say. The question remains unanswered. All answers to the question come from outside the Qur'an and/or are interpretations of what the Qur'an says. But the Qur'an itself is essentially silent on the matter.

The Qur'an does not speak of a Docetic/Gnostic Jesus. It does not speak of another person dying on the cross for Jesus. It does not speak of Jesus being raised alive to heaven. No. The crucifixion did not happen. Period. Jesus, as all Prophets before him, spoke his message, was persecuted for it, and kept a gathering of disciples (i.e. muslims) true to his word who carried the message forth.

This is perfectly consistent with the Qur'anic ideal. Any paths to dialogue begin here.

This idea troubles Christians greatly. How can there be such little interest in the Jesus of the Christian faith? One verse lays aside the crux of the Christian faith? One verse? That's it? It's maddening to the Christian. So Christians read back into the verse the aberrant theologies floating around in regions of Persia/Arabia as an explanation of the verse, Muslims retort, developing elaborate stories influenced by and in response to these Chrisitans claims and the convoluted Islamic Jesus develops.

On the flip side, Muhammad begins to take on the characteristics attributed to Jesus. This shows not only the influence of Christianity on the traditions that would develop about Muhammad but also show the phenomenology of how a tradition about someone developes.

It can be argued, and often is, that a similar process occurred in the deification of Jesus though Christianity did not have the safeguards preventing this from occurring and thus the development of the Trinity in order to maintain monotheism. But that is another story.