Isa a.s. and Difference between ‘Mauta’ and ‘Mutawaffi’

       

In this article we would see that ‘mauta’ and ‘mutawaffi’ are two different words and are used with different meanings in Quran and in Arabic language. Though in Urdu, we use word ‘mutawaffi’ in the meaning of ‘dead’ but, in Arabic language and Quran, this word ‘ mutawaffi’ is not essentially used in the meaning of ‘dead’.  In Arabic language and Quran, word ‘mauta’ is essentially used in the meaning of ‘dead’, and word ‘mutawaffi’ is used with two meanings i.e. ‘taken away’ and ‘dead’. In other words, if word ‘mutawaffi’ and its variants have been used in Quran, all such words do not mean ‘dead’; many such words mean ‘taken away/taking away’. On the other hand whenever word ‘mauta’ and its variants are used in Quran, all such words mean ‘dead/ giving death’.

In the succeeding lines, we will see that in the Quranic verses which are presented as a proof of death of Hazrat Isa a.s, word ‘mutawaffi’ and its variants have been used in the meaning of ‘taken away’, not in the meaning of ‘dead’. One such verse is stated below:

 [Mention] when Allah said, "O Jesus, indeed I will take you (mutawaffika) and raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieve and make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. After that to Me is your return, and I will judge between you concerning that in which you used to differ (al-imran-55).

The word ‘mutawaffika’ used in this verse cannot be taken as meaning ‘  will give you death’; rather this word means  ‘ will take you’. A plain reading of sequence of this verse tells clearly that first Allah will give Christians (people following Jesus) superiority over the people not believing hazrat Isa (as) and this superiority will continue till Qiyamah.  After that (word ‘summa’  in Arabic language means ‘after that’; ‘after that’ means after continuation of this superiority till Qiyamah) Hazrat  Isa (and people) will return to Allah (means they will die on/ near Qiyamah) . It may be noted that addressee of this verse is hazrat Isa which is a singular noun but word 'kum' in the word ‘ merjiokum’/ your return’ is a plural word; that means 'merjiokum'/ 'your return' means  not only death of hazrat Isa but also death of other people around. Because this ‘merjiokum’/ ‘death of Isa a.s. and people around’ has to happen after superiority of Christians over non-Christian people would have continued till Qiyamah, it means this ‘merjiokum’/ ‘death of Isa a.s. and people around’ will happen on/ near Qiyamah.  (it may also be noted that Christian superiority is to happen over people who do not have faith in Hazrat Isa a.s.; because Muslims do have faith in Hazrat Isa (as), Muslims will not be dominated by Christians forever like non-Muslim and non-Christians will be dominated forever by Christians). In short, al-imran 55 states that first Allah will give Christians superiority over the people not having faith in hazrat Isa (as) and this superiority will continue till Qiyamah, and, after this superiority would have continued till Qiyamah,  hazrat Isa and other people around will die near/on Qiyamah. 

Now it is obvious when Isa a.s. was made ‘mutawaffi’- when he was exalted/raised above in 33 AD- Christians were not superior to non-Christian nations including Jews. Christians started getting strength after three centuries had passed after exaltation of Isa a.s. That means exaltation of Isa a.s. in 33 AD cannot be labelled as death of Isa a.s. because death to Isa a.s. would occur after Christians would have got superiority over the non-Christian people. Similarly above quoted verse ale Imran-55 states death will occur to Hazrat Isa a.s. near/on Qiyamah. Now that Christians have got superiority over non-Christian and non-Muslim nations, Isa a.s. may descend whenever Allah wills it so but it would happen near Qiyamah.

In short death has not yet occurred to Isa a.s. That means word ‘mutawaffika’ used in verse ale imran-55 does not mean death has happened to Isa a.s; rather this word means Isa has been ‘taken away’. 

Similarly another verse which is presented as a proof to death of hazrat Isa a.s is discussed below. 

“I said not to them except what You commanded me - to worship Allah , my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me up (tawaffaytani), You were the Observer over them, and You are, over all things, Witness” (al-maidah-117).

In this verse word ‘tawaffaytani’ has been used; this word too means ‘you took me up’, not ‘you gave me death’. In this dialogue between Isa a.s and Allah on Qiyamah, Isa a.s. is mentioning the period between his exaltation and his return; Isa a.s is not mentioning the period after his death. Even if he a.s is mentioning the period after his death, it may be appreciated that this dialogue between Isa a.s. and Allah will happen on Qiyamah and before that dialogue he a.s. will face death after his return on/ near Qiyamah. In short this verse does not prove death has occurred to Isa a.s even if word ‘tawaffaytani’ is taken as meaning ‘you gave death’.

There are many other verses in Quran in which word ‘mutawaffi’ and its variants do not mean ‘ dead’; rather they mean ‘taken away/taking away’. For instance

 “Those who commit unlawful sexual intercourse of your women - bring against them four [witnesses] from among you. And if they testify, confine the guilty women to houses until death takes them (yatawaffahunn al moutu) or Allah ordains for them [another] way” (al-nisaa-15).

In this verse, word death (maut) has been used side by side with word ‘takes them/ yatawaffahunna’. That means death and ‘yatawaffahunna’ are two different words and ‘yatawaffahunna’ means ‘takes them’, not death. Similarly in verses al-anaam-61 and al-zumar-42 , word ‘death’ has been used along-with variants of word ‘mutawaffi’.  If  these two words  have been synonymous, these two words would not have been used side by side. It is against principle of comprehensiveness that two words should be used, if meaning may be conveyed with one word. Similarly, al-anaam-60 states:

“And it is He who takes your souls (yatawaffakum) by night………….”

 This verse states about taking away human soul in night (during sleep); it is obvious during sleep human does not die; he only becomes unconscious. It means in this verse ‘yatawaffakum’ (a variant of ‘mutawaffi’) does not mean ‘ give you death’; rather it means ‘takes your souls’.

From the foregoing it becomes clear that word ‘mutawaffi’ and its variants do not essentially mean ‘dead’/ ‘giving death’; rather they may mean ‘taking away/ taken away’. The verses presented as a proof of death of Isa a.s. contain word ‘mutawaffi’ and its variants which do not mean ‘death’; rather such words  mean ‘taken away’. In short, death of Isa a.s. is not proved from Quran; rather life of Isa a.s. is proved, as discussed above.

Wherever word ‘mutawaffi’ and its variants have been used in Quran regarding  Isa a.s, such words do not mean death of Isa a.s. However word ‘mauta’ and its variants mean ‘death/giving death’. For the description of death of Isa a.s. too- when it will occur-, variant of word ‘mauta’ has been used. Quran says:

“And peace is on me the day I was born and the day I will die (amutu) and the day I will be raised alive (ub,athu hayya)" (Maryam-33).

This verse states Isa’s a.s statement in his childhood. He says peace is on him the day when he was born and on the day he will die and on the day he will be raised alive”.

This verse is another proof that Isa a.s. has been raised above alive; actually Isa a.s. has made a prediction about his raising above alive. It may be appreciated, in this verse, the words ‘ ub,athu hayya’  do not mean ‘raising alive on Qiyamah’; this is one meaning of these words.  Another meaning of these words is ‘raising above alive’. We have already seen in many cases that if there are two different meanings (not contradictory to each other or to any other Quranic verse) both meanings may be adopted. There is no contradiction between these two meanings of these words; so both meanings may be adopted. In this case, to adopt both meanings would mean that Isa a.s. has been raised above alive (before Qiyamah) and he a.s. will be raised again alive on Qiyamah, after having death after his return to earth. 

We may conclude that death has not yet occurred to Isa a.s. The verses which are presented as a proof of death of Isa a.s. contain word ‘mutawaffi’ and its variants which do not mean ‘dead/ giving death’; rather such words mean ‘taken away/taking away’. That means Isa a.s. has yet  not been  given death; he has been raised above alive, and will face death after his return to earth on/ near Qiyamah.

Masih e Maood- original Masih or Maseel e Masih

           

Qadyanis take Mirza Ghulam Qadyani as Maseel e Masih. They believe the original Masih Ibn e Maryam has died and the Masih who is to return to this earth is not Masih Ibn e Maryam rather he is Maseel e Masih who is Mirza Ghulam Qadyani who has already appeared in the last part of 19^th century in India and who has died in 1^st decade of 20^th century. In the succeeding lines, we would see  Qadyanis’ this view  in the light of Quran and Hadith.

The first part of Qdyanies’ view is that original Masih Ibn e Maryam has died. Let us see what Quran says about Hazrat Masih’ a.s. death. Quran states:

[Mention] when Allah said, "O Jesus, indeed I will take you (mutawaffika) and raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieve and make those who follow you  superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Qiyamah. After that to Me is your return, and I will judge between you concerning that in which you used to differ (al-imran-55).

A plain reading of sequence of this verse tells clearly that first Allah will give Christians (people following Jesus) superiority over the people not believing hazrat Isa (as) and this superiority will continue till Qiyamah. After that- means after this superiority would have continued till Qiyamah (word ‘summa’  in Arabic language means ‘after that’) hazrat Isa (and people) will return to Allah (means they will die on or near Qiyamah) and Allah will judge between the people in which they used to differ. It may be noted that addressee of this verse is hazrat Isa (as) but word 'kum' in the word ‘ merjiokum’/ your return’ is a plural word; that means 'merjiokum'/ 'your return' indicates not only death of  hazrat Isa (as)  but also  death of all people around, on/ near Qiyamah.

This above mentioned verse clearly states that Hazrat Isa a.s will die on/ near Qiyamah- it means Isa a.s. has not died yet. Therefore Qadyanis’ view about death of Isa a.s. is baseless.  

The second part of Qadyanis’s view is that the Masih who is to return to earth is not original Masih Ibn e Maryam; rather he is Maseel e Masih. We again return to above mentioned verse in order to rebut this view of Qadyanis.

There is no second view that above mentioned verse is about Isa Ibn e Maryam; the addressee of this verse is Isa Ibn e Maryam who has been taken and raised to Allah, and obviously this is Isa Ibn e Maryam. This verse is clearly saying that this Isa Ibn e Maryam has not yet died because he is to die on/near Qiyamah along-with other people around. That means he a.s. would be on earth along-with other people, when Qiyamah would occur on earth. That means the Masih who is to return to earth is original Masih Ibn e Maryam, not a Maseel e Masih. Moreover the long hadith in Sahih Muslim also specifies that Isa Ibn e Maryam would return to people on earth. The word ‘ Ibn e Maryam’ mentioned in that hadith clarifies that the coming Masih is Ibn e Maryam, not Ibne someone else. 

This verse Ale Imran-55 also makes the prediction the nations who disbelieve Isa .a.s. (means who deny Isa’s a.s. Resalah and Nabuwwah) would be inferior to nations who follow Isa Ibn e Maryam. That means all nations except Muslims (because Muslims believed in Resalah/Nabuwwah of Isa a.s.) would be inferior to Christian nations till Qiyamah and Christian nations’ combined strength would be greater/ superior to all those nations who do not believe in Resalah/ Nabuwwah of Isa Ibn e Maryam.

This verse Ale Imran-55 states that first Allah will give Isa’s followers a superiority over the disbelievers of Isa a.s. and that superiority will continue till Qiyamah. After that Isa and people would die. It is obvious when Isa a.s. was taken and raised to Allah, Christians were not superior to people who did not have faith in Isa Ibn e Maryam. Actually Christians started getting strength after three centuries had passed after exaltation of Isa Ibn e Maryam; that means exaltation/ rising of Isa a.s. to Allah cannot be treated as death of Isa a.s. because Christians were not superior at that time to disbelievers of Isa a.s. Now that Christians have got superiority to disbelievers of Isa a.s., Allah may make him return to earth but that period of his return will be closer to Qiyamah as is mentioned in Ale Imran-55.

Meanings of Khaatam al Nabeyyeen

                           

In this article we would see and analyze what are meanings of words ‘khaatam al nabeyyeen’. Muslims say the meanings of these words are ‘last of Nabis’; whereas Qadyanis say the meanings are ‘Kamal e Nabuwwah. In this article we would see even if meanings ‘ Kamal e Nabuwwah’ are accepted, it would mean ‘last of Nabis’.  We have already seen in the article https://secondriseofislam.blogspot.com/2012/03/khatam-l-nabeyyeen-saw.html that

                                                   

Quran says:

“Muhammad (ﷺ) is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah and last of the 'Nabis'. And ever is Allah , of all things, Knowing” (al-ahzab-40).

In this verse two statements have been given; the first statement is that Muhammad (ﷺ) is father of no man, and the second statement is that he [Muhammad (ﷺ)] is the Messenger and last of the 'Nabis'. Apparently there seems to be no connection between these two statements. But actually there is a link between these two statements, and the link is that both statements contain predictions. Just ponder when this verse was revealed, many wives of Muhammad (ﷺ) were alive; any one of them could give birth to a male child and that male child might grow to become a 'rajul’/ man'. But if it happened so, this verse would have been proved to be wrong, because this verse states that our Nabi (ﷺ) is father of no man. So it was not to be happened so. Actually this verse contains a prediction that either no male child will be born to Muhammad's (ﷺ) wife, or if male child will be born, such child will not reach the age of puberty to become a man. We know this prediction turned out to be true. Similarly second statement also contains a prediction that after Muhammad (ﷺ) there will be no 'Nabi'. The verse also contains a third statement that “ Allah is knowing of all things; this third statement also suggests that the previous two statements are about Allah’s knowledge/information.

In the above quoted verse, word 'khaatama l nabeyyeen' means seal of the 'Nabis'. The word ‘khaatam’ is noun and its verb is  'khatam'; both in its noun and verb forms, it is is used in Quran in 'istilahi'/ idiomatic meaning (al-baqra-7; al-anam-46; al-jathiyah-23; Yasin-65). In its 'istilahi'/ idiomatic meaning, ‘khaatam’/seal means  closing something. In words, ‘khaatama l nabeyyeen’, word 'khaatam'/seal is noun and 'khaatam l Nabeyyeen' would mean ‘closing the chain of Nabis’.

Another 'istilahi'/ idiomatic meaning of word ‘khaatam’/ seal, in Arabic,  is 'validating/confirming'; but this meaning is less probable, in the above mentioned verse, for two reasons. First, for 'validating/confirming', Quran uses another word ‘musaddiq’ (e.g. al-baqra-89,101;al-imran-81); nowhere in Quran, word 'khaatam' or 'khatam' has been used for 'confirming'. Secondly, confirmation is a process in which identity/particulars of a person/thing is certified. Quran has certified identity of almost two dozen prophets, but this certification may not be called confirmation by Muhammad (ﷺ); it is confirmation by Quran. In other words, this confirmation is not something specific and confined to Muhammad (ﷺ); it means such confirmation may not warrant a title of 'Confirming the Nabeyyeen'.

Our Nabi (ﷺ) has also mentioned, in his sayings, about a few prophets which have not been mentioned in Quran; but such prophets are, most probably, not more than single digit in number. Taking into account total number of prophets which are more than one lac, confirmation of such a small number of prophets by Muhammad (ﷺ) may not warrant the title of 'Confirming the Prophets'.  In short, ‘khaatam l nabeyyeen’s more probable meaning is 'closing the chain of Nabis' and the least probable meaning is 'Confirming 'Nabis'. The meaning 'closing the chain of Nabis' has been verified by Muhammad (ﷺ) himself through many ahadith; therefore the meaning ‘closing the chain of Nabis’ is most authentic meaning. 

Qadyanis say the most probable meanings of 'Khaatam al nabeyyeen' are ‘the most perfect nabuwwah/ ‘kamal e nabuwwah’. Actually ‘kamal e nabuwwah’ may be meaning of words ‘ khatim ul nabeyyeen’, not words ‘khaatam al nabeyyeen’. Khaatam al nabeyyeen’ and ‘khatim ul nabeyyeen’ are two different words. In the verse mentioned above, word ‘khaatam al nabeyyeen’ has been used which do not mean ‘kamal e nabuwwah’; rather it means ‘seal of the Nabis’. Seal is used for two purposes- for closing something or for certifying something. As discussed above, the most probable meanings are closing something- closing the chain of Nabis.  Even if meanings ‘certifying something are taken, Nabuwwah of Mirza Qadyani is not proved because certifying/confirmation is a process in which identity/particulars of a person/thing is certified, and Muhammad ﷺ  has nowhere certified Mirza as a Nabi. 

 Though it is proved, as discussed above, khaatam al nabeyyeen does not mean ‘ kamal e nabuwwah’- kamal e nabuwwah is meaning adopted by qadyanis.  But even if it means 'kamal e nabuwwah', it means 'kamal e wahi'. No Nabi was partial or incomplete Nabi; every Nabi was complete Nabi. So ‘kamal e nabuwwah’ does not mean complete Nabi; rather ‘kamal e nubuwwah’ means ‘kamal e wahi’- a wahi which is complete in all aspects; which is complete guidance for humanity till Qiyamah, and after which there is no room for prophetic wahi. Therefore, 'khaatam al nabeyyen' means last Nabi ﷺ, even if we take its meaning as 'kamal e nabuwwah'.

Having said all that, it may be noted that Quran is 'Words of Allah' and as such Quranic words have multiple meanings; all such meanings of a Quranic word are to be accepted, if they are not contradictory to each other, and not contradictory to any other Quranic verse by apparent meaning or by inference. On the basis of this principle of interpretation of Quran, all three meanings ('closing the chain of Nabis' and 'Confirming Nabis', and 'Kamal e Nabuwwah') of 'Khaatama l Nabeyyeen' may be adopted; because all three meanings are not contradictory to each other, neither are they contradictory to any other Quranic verse.

We may conclude Mirza Ghulam Qadyani’s claim for nabuwwah cannot be justified in the light of analysis given above.