The Bible and Qur’an prove Jesus died on the cross

THE EDITOR: This is in response to Dr Waffie Mohammed’s letter entitled “Be careful when expressing opinions,” carried in the Newsday of March 27, 2004. In refuting some of the teachings of Mr Imran Hosein, Dr Mohammed says that it was not Jesus who died on the cross and suggests that perhaps it was Simon of Cyrene who died instead of Jesus.

Firstly, in the Qur’an, Sura 3 we read “. . . there is no God but He, the living, the self-subsistent. He has sent down to thee the Book, in truth, confirming what was before it, and has revealed the law, and the gospel before the guidance of men . . .” Sound and unbiased scriptural exegesis would reveal that “the Book” and “the gospel” referred to here, by Prophet Mohammed (pboh) cannot be the Qur’an, but are the Old Testament and the New Testament (ie The Bible). Prophet Mohammed (pboh) therefore, did not try to discredit the Bible in any way, as some of his followers today are deliberately doing, rather each reference he made to it is reverential, as quoted above, “in truth.”

Secondly, the same Bible says that it was Jesus who died on the cross! Dr Mohammed claims that “there is no record that it (the cross) was taken back from Simon and given back to him (Jesus).” That may be so, but the Bible also clearly says it was Jesus who was crucified on the cross and that he died! (See Matthew 27: 40, 43, 46, 50; Mark 15: 25, 30, 34, 37; Luke 23: 34, 42; John 19: 18, 23 KJV). Furthermore, in the same Sura cited above, we read, “When God said, ‘O Jesus! I will make Thee die and take Thee up again to me . . .”, showing clearly that the Prophet (pboh) actually believed that Jesus died. Again, sound exegesis and Prophet Mohammed’s (pboh) attitude towards the Bible, demands that Sura 4:157, cited by Dr Mohammed, should be interpreted so as not to conflict with these verses in Sura 3. Thirdly, Dr Mohammed seems to be saying that we should ignore the Bible and concentrate only on what the Qur’an has to say.

He is adamant that the Qur’an says nothing about Jesus dying on the cross. Perhaps, here I should point out that the Qur’an say nothing about Simon, yet Dr Mohammed seems to think that he died in Jesus’ stead. He is quite prepared to believe what the Bible says about Simon, but not what it says about Jesus. As I have written before, Dr Mohammed’s problem with Bible history and indeed Islamic history is not intellectual but moral. Clearly then, all evidences considered, of the Qur’an and of the Bible, Jesus did die on the cross. Dr Mohammed should be careful when expressing opinions.

GRAHAM ALI
Erin Road, Debe