Surah Az-Zukhruf, Ayah 62

The Contempt of the Quraysh for the son of Maryam, and His true Status with Allah

Allah tells us how the Quraysh persisted in their disbelief and stubborn arguments:

وَلَمَّا ضُرِبَ ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ مَثَلاً إِذَا قَوْمُكَ مِنْهُ يَصِدُّونَ

(And when the son of Maryam is quoted as an example, behold, your people cry aloud thereat.) Several others narrated that Ibn `Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him, Mujahid, `Ikrimah, As-Suddi and Ad-Dahhak said, "They laughed, i.e., they were astounded by that." Qatadah said, "They were repelled by that and they laughed." Ibrahim An-Nakha`i said, "They turned away." The reason for this was mentioned by Muhammad bin Ishaq in As-Sirah. He said, "According to what I have heard, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sat down one day with Al-Walid bin Al-Mughirah in the Masjid, and An-Nadr bin Al-Harith came and sat down with them. There were also other men from the Quraysh in the gathering. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ spoke, then An-Nadr bin Al-Harith came up to him and the Messenger of Allah spoke to him until he defeated him in argument. Then he recited to him and to them,

وَإِنَّهُ لَعِلْمٌ لِّلسَّاعَةِ (And he (Isa علیہ السلام) is a source of knowledge of the Hour [ the day of judgment ] - 43:61). This verse has been explained in two different ways. One is that Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) being born without a father is a proof to the fact that Allah Almighty can create people without apparent causes. Thus resurrecting the dead is not at all difficult for Him. But most exegetes have taken this verse in another sense. According to them it means that the descent of Sayyidna ` Isa (علیہ السلام) from the sky is a sign of the Doomsday. And his coming to this world again in its last days and killing Dajjal (the Antichrist) is proved by mutawatir ahadith. Some details on this subject have already been given in the explanation of the verse (3:54-55) of Surah 'Al-` Imran, (See V, 2, pp.76 onward of this book) and in Surah Nisa' 3:54-55 (See V. 2, PP. 622 onward of this book) and some in Surah Al-Ma'idah (5:110). For more details one should refer to the author's book “ التصریح بم اتواتر فی نزول المسیح ” At-Tasrih bi ma tawatara f nuzul-il-Masih in Arabic and Masih-e-Mau’ ud ki pehchan مسیح موعود کی پہچان in Urdu.

In this world it is possible for a man to derive a perverse meaning from every statement. For instance, the Messenger of God once said: ‘Whoever is worshipped other than God has no good in him.’ On hearing this, his opponents pointed out that the Christians worshipped Jesus Christ. Did it mean that Jesus Christ had no good in him? Obviously, this was only irrelevant hair-splitting, because the saying of the Prophet of God was in relation to the worshippers and not the objects of their worship. Even if it is presumed that it was in relation to the latter, it obviously meant those beings who, while unworthy of worship, acquiesced in their being deified. If a man does not take a saying in its right sense, it is possible for him to clothe it in a perverse meaning, howsoever right and proper it may be. The personality of Jesus Christ in a way resembled that of an angel. In view of this, many people made him an object of worship. But, the Messiah’s angel-like persona was an example of God’s creative powers and not an example of the Messiah’s personal powers. The fact is that creation of this kind is not at all difficult for God. If He so wished, He might convert the entire population of the earth into angels. Even so, the angels would still just be angels; they would not become gods and worthy of worship. Jesus Christ was blessed with the miraculous power to bring a dead man back to life. He used to bring earthen statues to life by blowing his breath into them. This was in fact a sign of God which was displayed in order to demonstrate the possibility of life after death. But the people did not learn a lesson from this; on the contrary, they treated Jesus as superhuman and started worshipping him. The signs of God appear before us in different ways. If they are treated as such, they are a tremendous source of guidance. But if they are considered something other than divine portents, they may become the cause of man’s going astray. Satan has eternally striven to prevent man from learning a lesson from the signs of God. It is at this point that man’s fate will be decided on the basis of whether Satan has succeeded in overcoming man or vice-versa.