An-Nisā’ 4:157

The issue

This verse recounts a discussion where the Jews said that they were responsible for

the crucifixion of Jesus. But Muhammad twisted this declaration in order to enforce

his own teachings that Jesus was not crucified. Therefore, he said that the Jews did not

crucify Jesus, but they instead crucified another man who resembled him, and that

Allah had raised Jesus up to himself.

This verse does not describe the crucifixion event. But the commentaries record the

following details:

• The first commentary states that when the authorites who wanted to kill Christ

surrounded the house where he was staying with his disciples, they could not see

clearly into the house. So they took another person who they thought was Christ

and killed him instead.

• Another commentary records that when the attackers surrounded the house where

Jesus was staying with his disciples, he asked his disciples if anyone would give his

life in his stead. One of the disciples volunteered for the mission, so Allah made

him resemble Jesus. Then the disciple was taken to be crucified and killed. “They

thought they killed ‘Īsā [Jesus] and likewise, the Christians thought it was Christ;

but Allah had raised Christ from that day.”

• Another story states that there was a hypocrite who followed Jesus. When the

enemies of Jesus wanted to kill him, the hypocrite volunteered to lead them into

Jesus’ house. So, Allah raised Jesus up to heaven and put his resemblance on that

hypocrite who was killed under the assumption that he was Jesus.

According to all of these accounts, Christians did not fabricate the event of the

crucifixion, because they really thought that Christ was crucified, a view supported

by al-Tabarī: “Likewise, the Christians thought that he was Christ.” In that case, the

Muslims should have asked themselves why Allah would raise Christ while making

The Christians believe that he had been crucified. One of them was actually willing to

sacrifice himself for Jesus’ sake, as they claim in one of the accounts.

These stories portray Allah as a deceiver because he raised Jesus while allowing another man to be conformed to Jesus’ likeness and thus be crucified. If we hypothetically assume that this is a true account, regardless of whether or not this man was one of the disciples or a hypocrite, this story of Allah’s deceitfulness would be an insult to Allah alone and not to Christians.

On the other hand, the fact that the Qur’ān denies the crucifixion is actually a

contradiction against its claim of being the true and final word. Muslims have always

claimed that the validity of the Qur’ānic text depends on the verbal recitation that

transfers and communicates its stories among the people. Many Muslims participate in

memorizing the Qur’ān, and, based on that recurrence, Muslims claim that the current

Arabic Qur’ān is the same Qur’ān that was recited by Muhammad. How then could

the Muslims reject the crucifixion, when that event was communicated verbally as well,

especially when those who witnessed the crucifixion were many more in number than

those who participated in the writing of the Qur’ān?

Al-Rāzī is the only scholar who attempted to deal with this problem. He noticed that

denying the crucifixion of Jesus, which was a recurrent report, would make the principle

of recurrence (tawātur) subject to disqualification as a reliable transmission method.

“This would necessitate the disqualification of all laws...and would collectively open

the door for questioning the validity of recurrence, also rendering the validity of the

prophecies of all prophets questionable.”

However, what he did not mention was that questioning the validity of the crucifixion

would necessitate questioning the validity of Muhammad’s status as a prophet as well

and not just the Qur’ān. For this reason, al-Rāzī suggested this solution: “When the

Jews wanted to arrest Christ, Allah raised him up [to heaven], so they arrested another

man and crucified him but said to the people that he was Christ. People believed this

ploy because Christ ‘did not mingle much with people.’ Therefore, the Christians were

deceived by a small, conspiring group of people.”

This attempt from al-Rāzī to deny Christ’s crucifixion does not agree with historical

facts that, to the contrary, show that Jesus preached regularly among the people and

was well known by both Jews and pagans. In addition, a great number of people—

those who believed in him, as well as his enemies—witnessed his crucifixion. However,

since al-Rāzī was the only scholar to realize the danger that Islām could face if Christ’s

crucifixion was denied, he might have possibly invented this story. Nonetheless, al-Rāzī

remained confused after briefly mentioning other narrations in other documentaries

and, noticing several differences in them, ended his commentary by saying, “These

aspects are opposing and contradicting each other, and only Allah knows the truth of

the matter.”

Thus, the question remains: What is the origin of Muhammad’s phrase, “but a

similitude was made for them?”

It seems that Islām has replicated the heretical views regarding Jesus that were in

circulation at the time. These include the Apollinarian and Docetic doctrinal view that

teaches about the dual nature of Christ, “that Jesus was neither crucified nor killed, but

that crucifixion and murder were inflicted on a man resembling him instead—or that

Jesus (the divine part) was separated from the physical Jesus at the time of crucifixion

and death.”

This doctrine was identical to one that was declared by Basilides and documented

by Irenaeus in his book, Against the Heresies. Basilides taught his followers that Christ

never experienced the agony of crucifixion, and that Simon of Cyrene, who carried the

cross for Christ, was mistakenly crucified by ignorant soldiers. Later, when Islām was

spread by the sword across the ancient world, Muslims used Basilides’ doctrine as a

weapon against Christianity.

This doctrine is in conflict with the implied testimony to Jesus’ crucifixion and

resurrection by other Qur’ānic verses (Q 3.55; Q 5.117; Q 19.33). (See also thencomment on Q 3.55.)