Maybe I misread it, if all It's saying is that the physical body of Jesus died, but not His soul/spirit. Well, yeah. That's obvious.
That’s not what the Qur’an is saying.
Consider:
‘And so for breaking their pledge, for rejecting Allāh’s revelations, for unjustly killing their prophets, for saying: “Our minds are closed” – No! Allāh has sealed them in their disbelief, so they believe only a little – and because they disbelieved and uttered a terrible slander against Mary, and said: “We have killed (‘
qatalnā’) the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the Messenger of Allāh.”
They did not kill him (‘qatalūhu’), nor did they crucify him, though it was made to appear like that to them; those that disagreed about him are full of doubt, with no knowledge to follow, only supposition:
they certainly did not kill him – No! (‘bal’), Allāh raised him up (‘rafaʿahu’) to Himself. Allāh is almighty and wise.’ (Al-Nisa: 155-158 – my emphasis).
There are tafâsîr (interpretations of the Qur’an) by Wahb Ibn Munabbih; Ṭabarî; Makkî Ibn Abi Ṭâlib; Qurṭubî; Ibn Kathîr; Suyûṭî; Ṭabâṭabâ’î ; and Jazâ’irî. All of them (apart from Ṭabâṭabâ’î) claim that Yeshua (ʿalayhi as-salām) was not crucified, but that another was made to resemble him – and to take his place. The text provides no justification for this claim.
I opine that the words ‘though it was made to appear like that to them’ are nothing more than a reference to the belief – widespread by the time these verses were revealed – that the crucifixion of Yeshua (ʿalayhi as-salām) did, in fact, take place.
Hasan Basri Cantay writes: ‘Allah raised and lifted up the Prophet Jesus (as) in both body and soul.’ (Tafsir of the Qur'an).
Imam ibn Taymiyya writes: ‘The verse "He raised him to His Presence" … explains that the Prophet Jesus (as) was raised in both body and soul.’ (Majmu' Fatawa).
The word ‘raise’ renders ‘
rafa‘a’ (‘to raise’) rather than ‘
ba‘atha’, which is used elsewhere in the Qur’an to mean ‘to resurrect’ after death. In short, Yeshua (ʿalayhi as-salām) was raised, without having died.
Zahid al-Kawthari claims that the ascension of Yeshua is beyond doubt: ‘That is because the basic meaning of the word
rafa'a in the verses is transportation from below to above. There is no element here that could be used to interpret the verses metaphorically. Therefore, there is no evidence for seeking to produce a meaning in the sense of ascension in honour and station.’ (Nazra 'Abira fi Maza'im).
The argument that Yeshua was not killed is strengthen by the use of the word ‘
bal’ in verse 158.
By way of explanation, Sheikh al-Islam Mustafa Sabri writes that if the term ‘
bal’: ‘Comes after a sentence expressing a negativity, then, according to the rules of Arabic linguistics, the sentence following it must mean the exact opposite of the one preceding it. The opposite of death is life. This is a requirement of the rules of linguistics.’ (‘Position of Reason’).
Referring to this same verse, Said Ramadan al-Buti writes:
‘The mutual compatibility between the verses’ previous and later sections necessarily reveals a fact. For example, if an Arab says: "I am not hungry; on the contrary, I am lying on my side," this is not a correct sentence. In the same way, there is a discrepancy between the components in the sentence: "Khalid did not die; on the contrary, he is a good man." What would be correct is to say: "Khalid did not die; on the contrary, he is alive." …… The term
bal expresses a contradiction between the preceding and the following words. In other words,
bal cancels out a previous statement. (Islamic Catechism; page 338).
