Islam's View of the Cross of Christ

For those who are unaware, Muslims believe that Jesus existed for a different reason than the belief of Christians. The impact of His life was acknowledged but divides with the Christian over the death of Jesus and was it means.

Most Muslims are taught that Jesus was not crucified. In Sura 4, verses 157-159, provides the basis for the denial of the crucifixion:

"And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger. They slew him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt therefore; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah is ever Might, Wise. There is not on e of the People of the Scripture [Jews] but will believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them."

We must remember that this was written by the Prophet Muhammad, who was born in AD 571. There were witnesses that had reported that Jesus died by crucifixion including non-Christian historians who had no reason to fabricate the death of Christ. The crucifixion of Christ was common knowledge in the last part of the first century. It was not questioned.

Let's think about this for a second. If the death of Jesus did not occur through crucifixion, this hoax must have been created immediately since Christians were speaking and teaching about the power of Christs suffering and death as a means of salvation. This message was even preached in Jerusalem! To the Jewish leaders of that time, this type of preaching was considered blasphemy, since Christians claimed that Jesus was the Son of God (Mark 14:61-64).

Christian express their faith on the fact that Jesus was publicly tried, condemned, executed, and raise from the dead. Everyone in Jerusalem knew that Jesus had been crucified, and many had watched him die. These skeptics could have brought this false information to Pilate the governor or Herod the king or to the Jewish Council and gotten proof that he had not been condemned or crucified the way Christians said he was. But no one did that.

Paul, who was a contemporary of Jesus, said, "Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures...he was buried...he was raised on the third day...then he appeared to more than five hundred brother at one time, most of whom are still alive."
(1 Corinthians 15:3-6).

John Piper writes about the validity of the crucifixion:
"Why did Paul say 'most of whom are still alive'? Because he was not afraid to have his claims put to the test. he knew they could be verified by eyewitnesses. In other words, Christianity was spreading druing the very decades when eyewitnesses could have most easily proved it false. But the basic claims stood the test. The events had happened."

--Armando