Sura 3, al-Imran, Medina [3H – 10H]
The Quranic text and Ali’s version
إِذْ
قَالَ
اللّهُ
يَا
عِيسَى
إِنِّي
مُتَوَفِّيكَ
وَرَافِعُكَ
إِلَيَّ
...
3:55. Behold! Allah said:
"O Jesus! I will take thee and raise thee to Myself
C394. Read this with 4:157, where it is said that "whereas they slew him not nor they crucified him but it was made dubious unto them.
The guilt of the Jews remained, but Jesus was eventually taken up to Allah.
... وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ...
and clear thee (of the falsehoods) of those who blaspheme;
C395. Jesus was charged by the Jews with blasphemy as claiming to be Allah or the son of Allah.
The Christians (except a few early sects which were annihilated by persecution, and the modern sect of Unitarians), adopted the substance of the claim, and made it the cornerstone of their faith.
Allah clears Jesus of such a charge or claim.
...وَجَاعِلُ الَّذِينَ اتَّبَعُوكَ فَوْقَ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ إِلَى يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ ...
I will make those who follow thee superior to those who reject Faith, to the Day of Resurrection;
C396. Those who follow thee refers to both Muslims (insofar as they truly follow the basic teachings of Jesus) and Christians (who claim to follow him). [Eds].
...ثُمَّ إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ فِيمَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ ﴿٥٥﴾
then shall ye all return unto Me, and I will judge between you of the matters wherein ye dispute.
C397. All the controversies about dogma and faith will disappear when we appear before Allah.
He will judge not by what we profess but by what we are.
Asad’s version
3:55 Lo! God said: "O Jesus! Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee unto Me, and cleanse thee of [the presence of] those who are bent on denying the truth; and I shall place those who follow thee [far] above those who are bent on denying the truth, unto the Day of Resurrection. In the end, unto Me you all must return, and I shall judge between you with regard to all on which you were wont to differ. 45
Other versions
3: 55
Pickthall (And remember) when Allah said: O Jesus! Lo! I am gathering thee and causing thee to ascend unto Me, and am cleansing thee of those who disbelieve and am setting those who follow thee above those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. Then unto Me ye will (all) return, and I shall judge between you as to that wherein ye used to differ.
.
Yuksel The Death of Jesus
3:55 God said, "O Jesus, I will terminate you, and raise you to Me, and cleanse you of those who have rejected, and make those who have followed you above those who rejected, until the day of Resurrection; then to Me is your return so I will judge between all of you in what you were disputing."*
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[[ Asad’s notes - 45 Lhis refers to all who revere Jesus (i.e., the Christians, who believe him to be "the son of God", and the Muslims, who regard him as a prophet) as well as to those who deny him altogether. Regarding God's promise to Jesus, "I shall exalt thee unto Me", see surah 4, note 172.
172 Cf 3:55, where God says to Jesus, "Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and shall exalt thee unto Me." The verb rafa ahu (lit., "he raised him" or "elevated him") has always, whenever the act of raf ("elevating") of a human being is attributed to God, the meaning of "honouring" or "exalting". Nowhere in the Qur'an is there any warrant for the popular belief that God has "taken up" Jesus bodily, in his lifetime, into heaven. The expression "God exalted him unto Himself" in the above verse denotes the elevation of Jesus to the realm of God's special grace - a blessing in which all prophets partake, as is evident from 19:57, where the verb rafa nahu ("We exalted him") is used with regard to the Prophet Idris. (See also Muhammad 'Abduh in Manar III, 316 f, and VI, 20f) The "nay" (bal) at the beginning of the sentence is meant to stress the contrast between the belief of the Jews that they had put Jesus to a shameful death on the cross and the fact of God's having "exalted him unto Himself". ]]
[[ Yuksel’s note - 003:055 During the fertile era of hadith fabrication, Christian converts (like their contemporary Jews, Arab nationalists, proponents of various Sunni and Shiite sects, and propagandists of Umayyad or Abbasid caliphs), used hadith as a tool to import their religious, cultural or political ideas. The later muslims not only imported them, but by attributing them to the idolized name of prophet Muhammad, baptized them and provided a powerful protective shield against time, reason, facts, and utility.
The Christian converts were successful in introducing their own fabrications regarding the "second coming of Jesus" into islam via hadith. Though the verse expressly uses the verb mutaWaFeKa (I will terminate you), many commentaries of the Quran ignore the word. The word WaFaYa means Complete (11:85; 12:59; 24:39), Fulfill (2:40; 2:177; 3:76; 5:1; 13:20; 22:29; 47:10; 53:37; 76:7), Recompense or Pay (3:57; 4:173; 8:60; 11:15; 11:111; 16:111; 35:30; 46:19). In 25 occurrences, however, it is used in the form TaWaFa, and in all of them, it means "terminate" or "put to death" or "take the conscious away." (2:234; 2:240; 3:193; 4:15; 4:97; 6:60-61; 7:37; 7:126; 8:50; 10:46; 10:104; 12:101; 13:40; 16:28; 16:32; 16:70; 22:5; 32:11; 39:42; 40:67; 40:77; 47:27).
Christ's consciousness was uploaded to heaven without possibility of return. His enemies did not crucify him but his unconscious but biologically living body. St. Paul, created a pagan religion based on the absurd concept of "God sacrificing his innocent son, or His third personality, to be able to forgive our sins!" See 4:157. Also, see 2:59; 3:45,51-52,55; 4:11,171; 5:72-79; 7:162; 19:36.]]