حَیًّا

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.

Commentary:

This verse implied a mighty prophecy. The prophecy was that Jesus’ people would put him on the cross and would compel him to flee his country and seek refuge in a foreign land. But the grace and blessings of God would attend him wherever he would go. After the crucifixion Jesus’ mission appeared to have been a complete failure but he travelled to the east—to Afghanistan and Kashmir, where his cause progressed and triumphed. See also 4:158 & 23:51.

19:16.

Commentary:

The words, and peace there will be on me the day I shall die, show that Jesus did not die on the cross, for death on the cross, according to the Bible, is an accursed death (Deut. 21:23; Gal. 3:13). It cannot be said about a person who died an accursed death that he died a blessed and peaceful death. But the mere fact of a person being put on the cross or meeting a violent end does not conflict with the idea of peace and blessedness to which this verse refers. It is an accepted fact of history that the Prophet Yahya was murdered while in jail but the words "peace was on him the day he died" have also been used about him in v. 16 above. So these words have been used about Jesus and Yahya to show that both these Prophets succeeded in their missions, and a person who succeeds in his mission and whose work is carried on after his death and who is remembered with love and respect cannot be said to have suffered death or to have been deprived of "peace". Jesus has left behind him a large community of followers and Yahya’s name is remembered with love and respect. Thus both Jesus and Yahya died a blessed death and enjoy everlasting peace.

The words, peace was on me the day I was born may also be understood as containing a hint that the birth of Jesus was out of the ordinary. These words have also been used about Yahya in verse 16 above because his birth, too, took place in extraordinary circumstances. He was born when his father had reached an extremely old age and his mother was barren.

The expression, the day I shall be raised up to life again, may also imply: "The day when I shall be raised again in the form of another Prophet who will testify to my truth." The implied reference may be to the Holy Prophet who bore witness to the truth of Jesus.

23:38; 36:79.

Commentary:

الانسان (man) does not here mean man in general but a particular class of men, viz. those who doubt the existence of the life after death. In fact, there are very few people in the world who totally deny the existence of the Hereafter. It is not by their words of mouth but by their actual actions and deeds—their entire engrossment in material pursuits, that they express their doubt or denial of the life beyond the grave. The interrogative form of the words used in the verse shows that such people suffer merely from a lack of certainty with regard to life after death and not that they totally deny it. As the Surah deals with Christian dogmas and doctrines, so the present and the following several verses deal also with the doubts of Christians about life after death.

Commentary:

The words "who live" mean, who are not spiritually dead, i.e. who are capable of receiving and accepting the Divine Message and who have the aptitude to respond to the call of truth.