Zia Sheikh – Ramadan Khatira Day 5

Last night we completed Surah An-Nisa and

we completed a major portion of Surah Al

-Ma'idah.

Towards the end of Surah An-Nisa, Allah

SWT talks about some issues related to the

claims of the Jews and the mistakes made

by the Jews and also it refers to

the perception that the Christians have about the

crucifixion of Isa AS and what is our

belief on it.

So basically you have three views.

You have the Jewish view, you have the

Muslim view and you have the Christian view.

The Jewish view is that they, even though

it's not politically correct to say it in

this day and age, but their understanding is,

their belief is that they took Isa AS

and they killed him and their understanding is

that again he was a false messiah, he

wasn't the messiah that they were waiting for

and even to this day when they are

at the wailing wall, they are still waiting

for that promised messiah because they believe that

Isa AS was not the messiah that was

supposed to come.

So this is the Jewish view.

Then we have the Christian view.

The Christian view is that, and this is

a very fundamental and central view of Christianity,

is that Jesus died on the cross and

his death was a means of salvation for

humanity and Jesus basically dying on the cross

without it, the sins of humanity could not

be forgiven.

So this is the Christian belief and they

are very adamant on that.

And then we have the Muslim belief.

The Muslim belief is what Allah SWT mentions

in this verse in Surah An-Nisa.

At the end of Surah An-Nisa.

And they are saying, meaning this is the

Jewish saying, it's a section of verses which

talk about the mistakes that the Jews made

and the things that they did in disobedience

to Allah SWT and one of those things

is, they are saying, that we killed Isa

AS, Messiah, Isa Ibn Maryam, Rasool Allah.

They didn't kill him and they didn't crucify

him, but the matter was made confusing for

them.

Something was made confusing for them, meaning that

it wasn't clear for them what happened, something

happened.

The Quran doesn't clarify what happened.

So there are, in Riwayatul Hadith, there are

a couple of things that are mentioned.

One thing that is mentioned is, that Isa

AS, he actually knew that he is going

to be killed, so he asked from amongst

his followers, his disciples, somebody to take his

place.

So he asked three times, who is going

to take my place?

One of his companions stood up.

He asked again, the same one stood up.

The third time he asked, the same person

stood up.

So Isa AS said, you will be the

one who will take my place and his

features were changed to be that of Isa

AS and he was the one that was

crucified and Isa AS was raised up as

the following ayat they suggest.

However, again, this is not very clear how

strong or authentic those Riwayat are.

The Quran is not very clear as to

what happened and we rely on such Riwayat

to figure out what actually happened.

In any case, Allah SWT goes on to

say, وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُهُ وَلَكِنْ شُبْيَهْنَاهُمْ وَإِنَّ

الَّذِينَ اخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْ Indeed, those

people that dispute about him, they are in

doubts about him.

What does that mean?

That even amongst the Christians, there are differing

views about the crucifixion of Isa AS.

It is not a clear cut matter.

Some people say that he was put on

the cross and then before being put on

the cross, before dying, he was taken off

because apparently what was going on was that

the Passover was coming.

It was a Friday and before sunset, they

had to take the bodies down and finish

everything before sunset.

So, one understanding is that before dying, he

was put into a tomb and he hadn't

actually died.

And then there are different views upon that.

And there are different books written about this

subject amongst the Christians.

One is called the Jesus Papers.

One is called the Passover Plot.

And similar books of that nature which talk

about the different understandings that even the Christians

have about the crucifixion.

So, it is not very clear.

So, the question is that something that is

so fundamental to the Christian faith and is

such a central tenet of their beliefs, why

is it that there is still ambiguity about

it?

So, this is what is meant here.

وَإِنَّ الَّذِينَ اَخْتَلَفُوا فِيهِ لَفِي شَكٍّ مِّنْ They

are still in doubts about it.

مَا لَهُمْ بِهِ مِنْ عِلْمٍ إِلَّا اتِّبَعَ عَظَّنٍ

They don't have true knowledge about it except

just following conjecture and just assumptions that they

have.

That this could have happened, this could have

happened.

But nobody is sure, even amongst the Christians,

as to what truly happened.

But Allah SWT declares that one thing is

for sure.

وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينًا For sure they didn't kill

him.

They didn't kill Isa AS.

بَرَّفَعُهُ اللَّهُ إِلَيْهِ But Allah SWT raised him

up.

وَكَانَ اللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمًا Allah SWT is Almighty

and Wise.

And our belief is that before the Day

of Judgment, Isa AS is going to return.

He is going to come back.

He is going to descend in Damascus.

And there will be the battle between him

and Dajjal.

He will kill Dajjal in a place called

Lod, which is in modern day Israel, just

outside Tel Aviv.

This place is even marked, if you go

to that area, there is a sign there

which says that the Muslim belief is that

at this place, Jesus will kill the Dajjal.

I went many years ago, the sign was

there.

I don't know if it's still there or

not.

But in any case, this is our belief

that Isa AS will return one day.

After that, later on, we have Surah Al

-Ma'idah.

Surah Al-Ma'idah, it's one of those

surahs which throughout, from beginning to end, it

talks about the mistakes that the people of

the book made.

And basically the understanding is that we should

not follow in the footsteps of those mistakes.

We should try to refrain from making those

same kinds of mistakes.

One particular verse that pops out for us

living amongst Christians is Allah SWT says وَمِنَ

الَّذِينَ قَالُوا إِنَّا نَصَارًا أَخَذْنَا مِيثَاقَهُمْ فَنَسُوا حَظًا

مِمَّا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ Those people that call themselves

Nasara, the Christians, Allah SWT says we took

a mythab from them.

We took a covenant from them, a promise

from them.

The promise was, as we mentioned before a

couple of days ago, that when Prophet Muhammad

AS comes, then they're supposed to follow, they're

supposed to believe, they're supposed to take him

as a messenger.

But فَنَسُوا حَظًا مِمَّا ذُكِّرُوا بِهِ They forgot

a great portion of what they were reminded

of.

Meaning that they did not accept this message,

they did not accept this command.

So Allah says فَأَغْرَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ إِلَى

يَوْمِ الْخِيَامَةِ So we put hatred and enmity

amongst them until the day of judgement.

So amongst the Christians, there are so many

different factions.

The Catholics, they believe that the Protestants, they

are not Christians.

The Christians, the Protestants, they believe that the

Catholics are not true Christians.

And then even amongst the Protestants, there are

different kinds.

Episcopalian and the Baptists and Anglicans and so

on and so forth.

So there are hundreds and hundreds of different

factions found amongst the Christians.

And this is what Allah SWT says here.

That until the day of judgement فَأَغْرَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ

الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْخِيَامَةِ And even up

until this modern day, the huge difficulties that

were taking place in Ireland, the disputes that

were taking place in Northern Ireland, it was

simply Catholic and Protestant.

They were killing each other, they were, they

call it sectarian violence, but it was on

the basis of Catholic and Protestant.

And even to this day, there are still,

there is still friction between Catholics and Protestants

over there and across the world.

So this is what Allah SWT has referred

to.

Why this surah is called Al-Ma'idah?

InshaAllah we'll discuss that tomorrow.

It refers to a table spread that the

Sahaba of Isa AS had requested and that

will be mentioned towards the end of the

surah tomorrow.

I pray that Allah SWT gives us tawfiq

to understand and practice what has been said

and heard.

Al-Fatiha.