Crucifixion Of Christ (Quran 4:157)
There is no mention in Quran that “ another was made to resemble him to them ”, in fact it says the matter was made dubious to them [1] . Quran’s statement ended right there and no further explanation was given as to how it was made dubious. The stories we usually hear are rumors and conjectures that mostly migrated from other sects like Christianity and Judaism. And we have no way to ensure veracity of such narratives. In all these matters where Quran is silent, we can express our preference on how things could’ve unfolded based on other external narratives, but we should never present those external narratives as a part of Quran. This demarcation should always be kept in mind. If you consider the incident mentioned in Barnabas, then it seems like no innocent was being killed in the whole incident. ___________________________ [1] فَبِمَا نَقْضِهِم مِّيثَاقَهُمْ وَكُفْرِهِم بَآيَاتِ اللّهِ وَقَتْلِهِمُ الأَنْبِيَاء بِغَيْرِ حَقًّ وَقَوْلِهِمْ قُلُوبُنَا غُلْفٌ بَلْ طَبَعَ اللّهُ عَلَيْهَا بِكُفْرِهِمْ فَلاَ يُؤْمِنُونَ إِلاَّ قَلِيلاً وَبِكُفْرِهِمْ وَقَوْلِهِمْ عَلَى مَرْيَمَ بُهْتَانًا عَظِيمًا وَقَوْلِهِمْ إِنَّا قَتَلْنَا الْمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ابْنَ مَرْيَمَ رَسُولَ اللّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمْ وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْهُ مَا لَهُم بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلاَّ اتِّبَاعَ الظَّنِّ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا بَل رَّفَعَهُ اللّهُ إِلَيْهِ وَكَانَ اللّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا (١٥٥-١٥٨) Then because they broke their covenant [We laid a curse on them] and because they denied the revelations of God and because they killed the prophets unjustly and because they said: “Our hearts have a covering on them.” – [no], in fact, it is God who has sealed their hearts because of their disbelief, so [now] they will seldom embrace faith – and because of their disbelief and vicious accusation against Mary and because of their claim: “We have killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of God.” – even though neither did they kill him nor did they crucify him; in fact, the matter was muddled up to them [11] . Those who are disagreeing in this matter are inflicted with doubt about it; they do have no knowledge about it; they are only following conjectures . They certainly did not slay him; in fact, God lifted him up to him, and God is Mighty and Wise . ( 4: 155-158 ) ( Excerpt from Quranic Exegesis: Javed Ahmed Ghamidi ) (Translated by Dr. Shehzad Saleem) Foot Note : [11] . What is meant is that the situation that was created made the Jews believe that they had actually crucified Jesus (sws). What then did actually happen? The most likely of scenarios is the one depicted in the Gospel of Barnabas. As per its account, when Judas Iscariot after being bribed by the chief priest of the Jews came over with some guards to arrest Jesus (sws), four angels at the behest of the Almighty took him away and transformed the voice and face of Judas into exactly those of Jesus (sws). It was he who was crucified. No one was able to even touch Jesus (sws). It is while pointing to this scenario that perhaps the Quran has dubbed it as being made muddled up for the Jews.