Jamal Badawi: Not really, not 100% as some people might think. Even in such a controversial topic where there is such a fundamental difference, between what the Qur'an and other sacred writings teach, particularly Christian. There are certain elements in the New Testament which are not inconsistent with what the Qur'an says. At least in respect to two areas. One, the position of the Israelites in respect to Jesus and the conspiracy to have him crucified or killed.

Jamal Badawi: That explanation common as it may be is very erroneous and I have heard it several times from clergy, theologians African and North American, it is common and very erroneous. To start with, Muslim belief is not really founded or based on some sorts of theorizing or giving some reasons, like it is not good for a Prophet to die so we should reject this. Muslim belief is based on the Qur'an which is the word of Allah definitely the truest and ultimate truth, especially in matters that are unseen, something that is neither fully proven or disproven, something that goes back or something that will happen in the future, on the word of Allah. Now, there is absolutely no reference that I know of in the Qur'an which refers to this notion or idea that if a Prophet is killed or, and crucifixion is just one mode of killing, that this is really. In fact, the evidence is contrary to that claim. The Qur'an clearly indicates that the person who died, or gave his life or is martyred for the sake of Allah, or in the path of Allah is the highest honor that anyone can hope to attain. Indeed, in the Qur'an you find documentation in numerous ayats, or verses, about other Prophets who were killed before and it doesn't mean that it is something that belittles their position, several Prophets have been mentioned in the Qur'an have been killed especially when the Qur'an addresses the Israelites and what they did to their Prophets. I think that it is common knowledge that Prophet John the Baptist, who was a contemporary of Jesus and the Qur'an honors him tremendously, so there is no basis for that particular assumption. I would suspect that some of the Christian writers in particular who make that claim are simply projecting their own background and it is my understanding that in the book of Deuteronomy, in the Torah it says there whose Prophets shall die. How there is a connection there between killing and dishonor. But as far as the Qur'an is concerned, there is no basis for that. That's not the reason, the reason is that Allah in the Qur'an, the words of the creator is definitely the ultimate truth.

Jamal Badawi: When I, again we have to be quit careful because this again is a common statement made by missionaries which is based in fact on interpretation by scholars rather than the text of the Qur'an itself. I mean if someone says that some Muslims or some interpreters give this as an explanation - find. But sometimes it is written in such a way that it is the Muslim belief and based on the Qur'an, there is no other possible explanation. No where in the Qur'an does it say that does it say explicitly and clearly no Jesus was not killed but another person was given or substituted or replace Jesus on the cross. There is no such thing. In fact, if you refer back to the passage or verse that we recited earlier, the original Arabic says "it was so made to appear to them" . It so appeared to them. It is interpreted of course, and one person who did says that someone else, other than Jesus was crucified and people or people around thought that it was Jesus and not that other person. That is a possibility, but it is not the only one and that is the point, in other words, the text of the Qur'an the specific word of Allah, as revealed the last prophet is one thing. And the interpretations of others be they non Muslims or Muslims is something else that we cannot equate the theology of the verse with the wording of the verse. Means that substitution by human could also be by an angel or it could refer to a miracle that we do not fully know - which gave the impression that it was Christ who was on the cross and that the ultimate point made Allah saved him from the cross at the last moment. We cannot say indeed that is what the Qur'an said.

Jamal Badawi: That fact is that we have to be quit honest and frank. The Qur'an to the Muslim is the word of Allah, the revelation. Being the word of Allah, it is the final word, the information is coming from someone who does not make errors, it was not from someone who was mislead by an illusion, it is from the creator himself. And, as such, must be true.

Jamal Badawi: Yes and this continued into the 16th and 17th for example in Austria, a Gospel was discovered of St Barnabas who was one of the close associates of Jesus who was spoken of very highly especially of the acts attributed to him I am not saying that it is right or wrong. Even thoung, I realize that this is not one of the Canonized, even though I know that it has been condemned by the Church as an apocrypha at best, but it was interesting again that it was discovered by Christians in a Christian country and language, that is someone else writing that document and putting it among Christians is very unlikely. Without getting into the merits and demerits of the Gospel of Barnabas I am saying that in that Gospel also, it indicates that the same basic story of Jesus, there are fundamental differences from the Canonized Gospels about Jesus who was crucified.

Jamal Badawi: That's not true to start with. But still, it exist outside of the claim, I think that we should look into the basis of the claim that is sometimes used as an argument. In referring to Jesus, the Qur'an quotes him as saying : "Peace be upon me the day I was born the day I die and the day I come back to life". And some people have been tempted to say without careful study, they say look, here is even after the early days after his birth, he talks about his birth, his death, and his resurrection. That is, after his death on the cross, his resurrection after three days. That is far from an appropriate interpretation because and if the verse actually said that after I die on the cross, I will resurrect in three days than that would be a conclusive indication that this would be an accurate prediction of what is described in the Canonized Bible. Furthermore, it could mean that also is erroneous because this has to be interpreted also within the context of the Qur'an so the other areas that we decided early in the program ayah 157 and 158 says categorically and clearly and in no uncertain terms, nothing that you can interpret this way or that way. They killed him not nor did they crucify him, this is an approach to a story that was rejected already in the Qur'an. In addition to this, what was actually quoted on the tongue of Jesus are three stages that apply to every human being each of us pass through these same three stages, birth, death, and all of us will be resurrected in the day of judgement. So when this passage is put into the proper context of the Qur'an, we find that it applies to Jesus, it applies to you and me all human beings. And the Qur'an is quit clear in Sura 55 that every soul will have the taste of death, every soul will have the taste of death. And the Qur'an is replete with passages which shows that all of us will be resurrected in the day of judgement.

Jamal Badawi: Well, yes it was, the particular quotation that we had, for example, peace be upon me the day I was born, die, and come back to life, almost identically was used, exactly the same words, except instead of peace be upon me, it says peace be upon him about John the Baptist. It says about John the Baptist, peace be upon him the day he was born, dies, and comes back to life again. So there is not uniqueness in that respect, it probably refers to the experience of every human being and above all Jesus was a human being, a great person being but a human being.

Now, the most crucial term in both of these verses .... has two meanings, one is a lexicon meaning, Syed Maududi to fulfill, give or receive to receive you. And the Qur'an also used the derivatives from that root to fulfill something or to complete something which could mean God told Jesus that I am going to complete or finish your mission. By another meaning is to take you in a sense to take you or causing you to die. The difference in opinion or the difference in the linguistic meaning of the ways in which the meaning of the word can be taken the interpreters have differed to exactly what and how it can be explained. Perhaps if we have another opportunity, we can come back to this.