وَسَلَٰمٌ عَلَيْهِ يَوْمَ وُلِدَ وَيَوْمَ يَمُوتُ وَيَوْمَ يُبْعَثُ حَيًّا
19:34.
Commentary:
During the first few centuries of its life Islam made very rapid progress. Large numbers of people from every religion—especially from Christianity, entered its fold. They brought with them some very erroneous beliefs about Jesus Christ. As they had not imbibed fully the true spirit of Islamic teachings, their false ideas and beliefs subsequently found their way into Muslim religious literature with the result that they came to form part of the beliefs of Muslims. All these beliefs had been invented to invest Jesus with an extraordinary personality—a personality much above human level. It is these foolish beliefs about Jesus that the Quran seeks to demolish in the present Surah. By instituting a comparison between Yahya, who was a Prophet of an ordinary spiritual stature, and Jesus, it means to suggest that there was nothing in Jesus which distinguished him from other Divine Messengers. We give below some of the spiritual qualities and characteristics of both these Prophets as given in the Quran to establish the above fact.
About Jesus it is said that:
1. He was a Prophet of God (3:50).
2. He was of the righteous (3:47).
3. God taught him the Book and the wisdom (3:49).
4. He talked to people as a child i.e. in rather early age (3:47).
5. He was granted nearness to God (3:46).
6. He was kind and dutiful to his mother (19:33).
7. He was kind of heart and compassionate (5:119).
8. He was not haughty and unblessed (19:33).
9. He was blessed by God and was strengthened with the Spirit of Holiness (2:254; 19:32).
10. Divine peace enveloped him (19:34).
11. His name Messiah was given to him by God (3:46).
About Yahya it is said that:
1. He was a Prophet (3:40).
2. He was noble, chaste and a Prophet from among the righteous (3:40).
3. God gave him the Book and granted him wisdom (19:13).
4. God gave him wisdom while yet a child (19:13).
5. God was well pleased with him (19:7).
6. He was kind and dutiful to his parents (19:15).
7. He was kind-hearted, pure and pious (19:14).
8. He was not haughty and rebellious (19:15).
9. God was pleased with him and he was unequalled in some respects (19:7-8).
10. Divine peace enveloped him (19:16).
11. His name Yahya was given to him by God (19:8).
By instituting this comparison we should not be understood to mean that Jesus and John were of absolutely equal spiritual standing and there was nothing to distinguish one from the other. Jesus did indeed possess a higher spiritual status than John. What the Quran wants to make clear is the fact that there was nothing in Jesus which should raise him to the pedestal of Divinity. He was no doubt a great Prophet of God and was immune from sin but so were all other Divine Messengers, John being one of them. About him Jesus says: "For I say unto you, among those that are born of woman there is not a greater prophet than John, the Baptist" (Luke 7:28).
The verse should not be understood to signify that Prophet Yahya was not murdered but died a natural death, a view mistakenly held in certain quarters, because it runs counter to an established fact of history. The words "peace was on him" used in the verse seem to have given rise to this manifestly wrong view but they lend no support to it. The word "peace" has not been used in a physical but a spiritual sense. In fact the verse refers to three periods or states of man’s life. The first state begins with his birth and ends with his death. The second state which is called برزخ (Barzakh), literally meaning 'the period of earning merit or demerit is over', commences with death and continues till doom. The third state has been called "The Day of Resurrection" in the Quran. It is the day of the complete manifestation of God’s glory. It is these three states or periods of man’s existence to which the present verse refers and in all of which, it says, Yahya will enjoy spiritual peace.
19:34.
During the first few centuries of its life Islam made very rapid progress. Large numbers of people from every religion—especially from Christianity—entered its fold. They brought with them their erroneous beliefs about Jesus. As they had not imbibed fully the true spirit of Islamic teachings, their false ideas and beliefs subsequently found their way into Muslim religious literature with the result that subsequently they came to form part of Muslim beliefs. All these beliefs had been invented to invest Jesus with an extraordinary personality—a personality much above human level. It is these foolish beliefs about Jesus that the Qur’an seeks to demolish in the present Surah. By instituting a comparison between Yahya and Jesus, this Surah and the Surah Al-e-‘Imran mean to suggest that there was nothing in Jesus which distinguished him from other Divine Messengers. See "The Larger Edition of the Commentary," pp. 1565.