RESURRECTION OR RESUSCITATION?\r\n By Ahmad Deedat<\/pre>\n
\nIn one of my books - \"Who Moved the Stone?\" I had promised to\r\ndeal with the anomaly, where believers were reading simple\r\nEnglish, yet were so conditioned that they were understanding\r\nexactly the OPPOSITE of what they were reading. The following\r\nstory from real life will not only illustrate the point but\r\nwill also elucidate our present case - \"RESURRECTION OR\r\nRESUSCITATION?\"\r\n\r\nI was about to leave for the Transvaal on a lecture tour, so I\r\nphoned my friend Hafiz Yusuf Dadoo of Standerton, informing\r\nhim of my impending visit, as well as to enquire whether he\r\nneeded anything from Durban. He said that as he was taking up\r\nHebrew, I should try and obtain a Bible in the Hebrew language\r\nwith a translation in English side by side.\r\n\r\nI went to the \"BIBLE HOUSE\" in Durban. Without any difficulty\r\nI found the appropriate Bible for my friend, the \"Authorised\r\nVersion,\" also known as the \"King James Version,\" looking for\r\none with the best print and at the cheapest price, I noticed\r\nthe lady behind the counter had lifted up the telephone to\r\nspeak to someone. I was out of hearing distance, nor was I\r\ninterested, but after an exchange with the person on the other\r\nside of the line she put her hand on the mouthpiece and\r\naddressed me: \"Excuse me, sir, are you Mr. Deedat?\" I said,\r\n\"Yes.\" She said, \"The Supervisor of the Bible Society would\r\nlike my pleasure,\" I answered. She spoke a few more words into\r\nthe telephone and replaced the receiver. I said with a smile,\r\n\"I thought that you were ringing the police.\" (perhaps because\r\nof the number of Bibles I was handling). - She laughed and\r\nsaid, \"No, it was the Rev. Roberts, the Supervisor, who wishes\r\nto speak to you.\"\r\n\r\nWINNING A CONVERT\r\n\r\nPresently, Rev. Roberts approached me and after introducing\r\nhimself he gestured to me to hand over to him the Bible which\r\nI was holding in my hand. I handed the book. He opened it and\r\nbegan reading to me - \"and this is life eternal that they\r\nshould know Thee the only True God and Jesus Christ whom Thou\r\nhas sent.\" (John 17:3). (Subsequently, I checked up the Gospel\r\nreferences of his quotations).\r\n\r\nAfter having listened to his reading of this scripture, I\r\nresponded with the words: \"I accept!\" - meaning the\r\nimplication of the Message he was trying to convey to me. I\r\ndid not tell him then that what he was trying to convey to me\r\nwas the same as the Holy Qura'an was telling mankind for the\r\npast fourteen hundred years - that all must believe in the\r\n'ONE AND ONLY GOD ALMIGHTY AND JESUS CHRIST is only a\r\nMESSENGER OF GOD.' The words of the Holy Qur'an are as\r\nfollows:-\r\n\r\n\"MOST CERTAINLY THE MESSIAH, JESUS THE SON OF MARY, WAS AN\r\nAPOSTLE OF ALLAH AND HIS WORD, WHICH HE BESTOWED ON MARY AND A\r\nSPIRIT PROCEEDING FROM HIM: SO BELIEVE IN ALLAH AND HIS\r\nAPOSTLES...\" Holy Qur'an 4:171\r\n\r\nLOVE ONE ANOTHER\r\n\r\nRev. Roberts must have been elated to hear my words- \"I\r\nACCEPT,\" to his first quotation. He quickly opened the Bible\r\nin another place and began reading these words attributed to\r\nJesus:-\r\n\r\n\"A new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another;\r\nas I have loved you, that ye also love one another.\" \"By this\r\nshall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love\r\nfor one another.\" John 13:34-35\r\n\r\nA NEW CONVERT?\r\n\r\nWhen he had finished reading these verses, I remarked- \"Very\r\ngood!\" He was greatly encouraged with my comment. I sincerely\r\nmeant what I said and there was no pretence. The Reverend\r\nfound yet another quotation to clinch a convert for Christ. He\r\nbegan:-\r\n\r\n\"Judge not that ye be not judged.\" \"For with what judgement ye\r\njudge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it\r\nshall be measured to you again. Matthew 7:1-2\r\n\r\nTo this quotation I responded with the words, \"I agree!\" My\r\nonly reason for agreeing and accepting everything that the\r\nReverend was reading to me was not of the \"special discount\" I\r\nwas getting from the Bible Society on my purchases, but\r\nbecause these particular quotations were conveying the same\r\nmessage and ideals which Allah \"Subhanahoo Wa- Ta'aala\" was\r\ncommanding the Muslims to preach and practice. I would be\r\nspiritually jaundiced to take exceptions to what was common to\r\nboth of us - the MUSLIM and the CHRISTIAN. For me to say that\r\nan identical message from my Book (the Holy Qur'an) was VERY\r\nGOOD, but the same message in his Book (the Holy Bible) was\r\nVERY BAD would be hypocritical in the extreme. It would be\r\nsoul shaming untruth.\r\n\r\nTHE PURPOSE\r\n\r\nWhat was the real purpose of the Reverend's reading the\r\nScripture to me? Indeed, I was getting a special discount on\r\nall my purchases from the Bible Society and I was perhaps the\r\nonly non-Christian to get such a discount, though it was\r\ndepending purely on a business transaction, and this\r\ninformation must have been passed on the the Reverend as the\r\nHead of the Bible Society; that I was a Muslim there was no\r\nmistaking my identity, for my beard and my headgear were the\r\nbadges of my Faith, easily recognised as such in this part of\r\nthe world; and that, despite my numerous purchases of the\r\nBibles in English (various versions), in Zulu, Afrikaans,\r\nUrdu, Arabic and other languages, I was not yet \"converted.\"\r\nPerhaps, what I really needed was a gentle push, the\r\nSupervisor must have been told. Hence the recitation of the\r\npreceding quotations to me. The implication of this reading\r\nwas that I had probably not read those beautiful passages; how\r\nelse was it possible, then, that I had not yet embraced\r\nChristianity?\r\n\r\nA PROBLEM\r\n\r\nThe Reverend gentleman had taken the role of a teacher who\r\nwanted to teach, who wanted to impart new knowledge to his\r\npupil.\r\n\r\nSince I am commanded by my Prophet (Peace be upon him) to\r\n\"SEEK KNOWLEDGE FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE,\" and \"SEEK\r\nKNOWLEDGE EVEN IF IT BE IN CHINA,\" I wanted to learn. I said,\r\n\"I agree with all that you have read to me, but I have a\r\nproblem with your Bible.\" \"What problem have you got?\" he\r\nasked. I said, \"Please open the Gospel of St.Luke, Chapter 3\r\nVerse 23.\" This he did. I said, \"Please read.\" He read:- \"And\r\nJesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as\r\nwas supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,\"\r\nLuke 3:23\r\n\r\nI drew the Reverend's attention to the words - \"(AS WAS\r\nSUPPOSED).\" I said, \"Do you see that the words 'as was\r\nsupposed' are written within brackets?\" He said that he saw\r\nthat. I asked him, \"Why are the brackets there?\" He\r\nacknowledged, \"I don't know, but I could find out for you from\r\nsome Bible scholars.\" I admired his humility. Though I knew\r\nthat all Supervisors of Bible Houses in South Africa are\r\nretired reverends, it was possible that this aspect of Bible\r\nKnowledge was beyond their sphere. I said, \"If you do not\r\nknow, then let me tell you what the brackets are doing there\r\nin this verse. You do not have to take the trouble of looking\r\nfor a Bible scholar.\"\r\n\r\nI explained that in the \"most ancient\" manuscripts of Luke,\r\nthe words '(AS WAS SUPPOSED)' are not there. Your translators\r\nfelt that without this interpolation the \"little lambs\" not\r\nwell grounded in faith, might slip and fall into the error of\r\nbelieving that JOSEPH the Carpenter was the actual physical\r\nfather of Jesus. So they took the precaution of adding their\r\nown comment in BRACKETS to avoid any misunderstanding. I said,\r\n\"I am not trying to find fault with your system of adding\r\nwords in brackets to assist the reader, but what intrigues me\r\nis that in all translations of the Bible in the African and\r\nEastern languages you have retained the words \"as was\r\nsupposed\" but have REMOVED THE BRACKETS.Couldn't the nations\r\nof the Earth besides the English understand the meaning and\r\npurpose of the brackets?\r\n\r\nWhat is wrong with the Afrikaner? Why have you eliminated the\r\nbrackets from the Afrikaans Bible? The Supervisor protested,\r\n\"I didn't do it.\" I said, \"I know that you personally did not\r\ndo it but why have the Bible Society that you represent and\r\nyour Bible scholars been playing with the \"Word of God?\" If\r\nGod Almighty did not see fit to preserve Luke from error what\r\nright has anybody to add to or delete from words in the \"Book\r\nof God?\" What right have you to manufacture \"GODS WORDS?\"\r\n\r\nINTERPOLATIONS\r\n\r\nThe translator's own addition of words in brackets can easily\r\nbe put into the mouth of St. Luke by merely removing the\r\nbrackets, and by implication, if Luke was inspired by God to\r\nwrite what he did, then the interpolations automatically\r\nbecome the WORD OR GOD, which really is not the case. (More\r\nwill be said on this subject in the forthcoming publication\r\n\"Is the Bible God's Word?) I concluded my explanation with the\r\nwords - \"Your theologians of the day have succeeded where the\r\nalchemists of yours failed - of turning baser metal into\r\nshining gold.\"\r\n\r\nTHE ENGLISH LANGUAGE\r\n\r\nAt this stage the Reverend introduced irrelevancies into the\r\ndiscussion and the subject changed. He made some claims which\r\nmade me say, \"You see, sir, you English people do not know\r\nyour own language.\" (With apologies to my readers whose mother\r\ntongue is English). He quickly retorted, \"You mean to say that\r\nyou know my language better than I do?\" I said, \"It would be\r\npresumptuous on my part to tell - an Englishman - that I\r\nunderstand your language better than you do.\"\r\n\r\n\"Then what do you mean that we English people do not know our\r\nown language?\" he demanded. I said again, \"You see, sir, you\r\nread your Holy Scripture in your mother tongue, like every\r\nChristian belonging to a thousand different language groups,\r\nand yet each and every Christian language group understands\r\nthe facts, OPPOSITE to what he is reading.\" What are you\r\nrefering to?\" he asked.\r\n\r\nA GHOST\r\n\r\nI continued: \"Do you remember the occasion when Jesus returned\r\nto that upper room after his alleged crucifixion, 'and saith\r\nunto them, his (disciples), Peace be unto you' (Luke 24:36)\r\nand his disciples were ter- rified on recognising him?\" He\r\nanswered that he remembered that incident I enquired, \"Why\r\nshould they be terrified?\" When one recognises one's long-lost\r\nfriend or one's beloved, the natural reaction is to feel over-\r\njoyed, elated and one wants to embrace and kiss the hands and\r\nfeet of the beloved. Why did they get terrified?\" The Reverend\r\nreplied that, They (the disciples) thought that they were\r\nseeing a ghost.\" I asked, \"Did Jesus look like a ghost?\" He\r\nsaid, \"No.\" \"Then why did they think that they were seeing a\r\nghost when he did not look like a ghost?\" I queried. The\r\nReverend was clearly puzzled. I said, \"Please allow me to\r\nexplain.\"\r\n\r\nDISCIPLES NOT EYE WITNESSES\r\n\r\n\"You see, sir, the disciples of Jesus were not EYE-witnessess\r\nor EAR-witnesses to the actual happenings of the previous\r\nthree days, as vouched for by St. Mark who says that at the\r\nmost critical juncture in the life of Jesus, \"they all forsook\r\nhim and fled.\" (Mark 14:50). All the knowledge of the\r\ndisciples regarding their Master was from hearsay. They had\r\nheard that their master was HANGED ON THE CROSS; they had\r\nheard that he had GIVEN UP THE GHOST; they had heard that he\r\nwas DEAD AND BURIED FOR THREE DAYS. If one is confronted by a\r\nperson with such a reputation then the conclusion is\r\ninescapable; they must be seeing A GHOST. Little wonder these\r\nten brave men were petrified.\"\r\n\r\n\"To disabuse their minds from the fear that gripped them,\r\nJesus reasoned with them. He said, 'Behold my hands and my\r\nfeet, that it is I myself:' To put it in colloquial English,\r\nthis is how he told them: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU FELLOWS,\r\nCAN'T YOU SEE THAT I AM THE SAME PERSON - who walked and\r\ntalked with you, broke bread with you - flesh and blood in all\r\nrespects.\r\n\r\nWhy do doubts enter your minds? 'Handle me and see, for a\r\nspirit has no flesh and bones as you see me have.' (Luke\r\n24:39). In other words he is telling them: If I have FLESH and\r\nBONES, then I am not a GHOST, not a SPOOK and not a SPIRIT!\"\r\n\"Is that right?\" I asked. \"Yes,\" he replied. I continued that,\r\nJesus is telling them, as recorded in this verse, in Basic\r\nEnglish, that what the disciples were asked to HANDLE AND SEE'\r\nwas not a translated body, not a metamorphosed body and not a\r\nresurrected body, because a RESURRECTED body is a\r\nSPIRITUALISED body. He is telling them in the clearest\r\nlanguage humanly possible that he is NOT what they were\r\nthinking. They were thinking that he was a SPIRIT, a\r\nRESURRECTED body, one having been brought back from the dead.\r\nHe is most emphatic that HE IS NOT!\"\r\n\r\nSPIRITUALIZATION\r\n\r\n\"But how can you be so sure that the resurrected body cannot\r\nmaterialise physically as Jesus had obviously done?\" murmured\r\nthe Reverend. I replied: \"Because Jesus had himself pronounced\r\nthat the resurrected bodies get spiritualised.\" When did he\r\nsay any such thing?\" enquired the Reverend. I answered, \"Do\r\nyou remember the incident as recorded in the Gospel of St.\r\nLuke, Chapter 20, where the learned men of the Jews- 'the\r\nchief priests and the scribes with the elders'- had come to\r\nhim with a number of posers, and among them was one about a\r\nJewess who had seven husbands in turn, one after another\r\naccording to a Jewish custom, and in time all seven husbands\r\nand the woman too died?\" The Reverend said that he did\r\nremember the occassion. I continued: \"The trap that the\r\nreligious heirarchy was trying to spring on him was; which one\r\nof the seven husbands was going to possess the woman on the\r\n'Other side'- at the resurrection?- since they reasoned with\r\nJesus that the seven brothers \"had her\". There was no problem\r\nwhile they fulfilled their obligation of trying to give her a\r\nchild, because they had possessed her one by one in turn, and\r\nit was after the death of one that the other had taken her to\r\nwife. But since at the resurrection all seven will be brought\r\nto life simultaneously, there will be strife in heaven because\r\nall seven would want to get at her at the same time, specially\r\nif they had pleasure with her.\"\r\n\r\n\"Jesus debunked their false notion of the resurrection, by\r\nsaying that at the resurrection 'neither shall they die any\r\nmore:' (Luke 20:36) meaning that the resurrected persons will\r\nbe IMMORTALISED. They will not be subject to death any more,\r\nno more hanger or thirst, no more fatigue. In short, all the\r\ninstruments of death will be powerless against the resurrected\r\nbody. Jesus continues to explain: \"for they (the resurrected\r\nbodies) are equal unto the angles,\" that is, that they will be\r\nANGELISED - spiritualised, that they will become\r\nspirit-creatures, i.e. SPIRITS; 'and the children of God, for\r\nsuch are the children of the resurrection.' (Luke 20:36)\r\n\r\nJESUS NOT SPIRITUALISED\r\n\r\nI was taken off from the theme I was expounding two paragraphs\r\nabove by the Reverend with the challenge,\"But how can you be\r\nso sure ...?\" To continue from where I had deviated above -\r\n'HE IS NOT' what they were thinking, that he was not a SPIRIT,\r\nnot a GHOST, not a SPOOK. To assure them further after having\r\noffered his hands and feet for inspection and verification\r\nthat his was a material, physical body, and that all their\r\nbewilderment and disbelief was unjustified, he asked his\r\ndisciples: \"Have you here any meat?\" (Meaning something to\r\neat). 'And they gave him a piece of broiled fish and of a\r\nhoneycomb, and he took it, and did eat before them.' (Luke\r\n24:41-43)\r\n\r\nA DRAMA?\r\n\r\nWhat was Jesus trying to prove by all his demonstrations of\r\nwanting his hands and feet to be handled and chewing and\r\nmasticating broiled fish and honeycomb?\r\n\r\nWas all this a pretence, make-belief, an act or drama? \"NO!\"\r\nSaid Schleliermacher in 1819, a hundred years before I was\r\nborn. Albert - Schweizer records him saying, \"IF CHRIST HAD\r\nONLY EATEN TO SHOW THAT HE COULD EAT, WHILE HE REALLY HAD NO\r\nNEED OF NOURISHMENT, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A PRETENCE - SOMETHING\r\nDOCETIC.\"(\"In Quest of the Historial Jesus,\" page 64).\r\n\r\nI had not know of Schleliermacher and other Christian scholars\r\nwho over a hundred years ago doubted the death of Jesus on the\r\ncross as recorded by Albert Schweizer, when I was discussing\r\nthis subject with the head of the Bible Society.\r\n\r\nNO RESURRECTION\r\n\r\n\"What is wrong with you (Christian) folk?\" Jesus is telling\r\nyou in the most unambiguous language that he is not a SPIRIT -\r\nnot spiritualised, not a RESURRECTED person, and yet the whole\r\nChristian world believes that he was RESURRECTED, i.e.\r\nSPITITUALISED. Who is lying, you or him? How is it possible\r\nthat you (each and every Christian) are reading your Holy\r\nBible in your own mother tongue and yet EACH AND EVERY\r\nLANGUAGE GROUP IS MADE TO UNDERSTAND THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF\r\nWHAT THEY ARE READING? If you read the Bible, say, in Hebrew,\r\nand pleaded that you did not understand what you were reading,\r\nI can appreciate this fact. If you read it in Greek and\r\npleaded that you did not really understand the implications of\r\nwhat was written; I can appreciate this fact also. But the\r\nanomaly is that you are reading the Book, each and every one,\r\nIN HIS OWN MOTHER TONGUE, and are trained to understand the\r\nOPPOSITE of what is written. How have you been brainwashed, or\r\nrather, how have you been \"Programmed,\" as the Americans would\r\nput it.\r\n\r\n\"Please tell me as to who is lying? Is it Jesus or a thousand\r\nmillion Christians of the world? Jesus says, \"NO!\" to his\r\nbeing resurrected, and all of you say \"YES!\" Whom are we\r\nMuslims to believe, Jesus or his so called disciples? We\r\nMuslims would rather believe the Master. Did he not say, \"The\r\ndesciple is not greater than the Master.\" (Matthew 10:24)\r\n\r\nThis was more than the Reverend had bargained for. He politely\r\nexcused himself by saying that as he had to get ready to close\r\nhis office, he would look forward to meeting me again. This\r\nwas sheer evasive politeness!\r\n\r\nWith the Bible Society, I won the DEBATE but lost the\r\nDISCOUNT! No more discount for me from the Bible Society. But\r\nlet my loss be your gain. If you dear reader, can remove a few\r\ncobwebs from your thinking on the subject of the\r\n'CRUCIFIXION,' I will be amply rewarded.\r\n\r\nNow here are the verses discussed put together :\r\n\r\n \"....Jesus himself stood in their midst, and said unto\r\n them, Peace be unto you.\r\n \r\n \"....But they were terrified, and supposing that they\r\n were seeing a spirit.\r\n \r\n \"And he said unto them,....\r\n \r\n \"Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle\r\n me and see; for a spirit has no flesh and bones, as you\r\n see me have.\r\n \r\n \"And showed them his hands and feet.\r\n \r\n \"And while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, he\r\n said unto them, Have ye here any meat?\r\n \r\n \"And they gave him a piece of broiled fish, and of a\r\n honeycomb.\r\n \r\n \"And he took it, and did eat before them.\" Luke 24:36-43\r\n\r\n------------------------------------------------------------\r\n\r\nAll FREE books by Ahmed Deedat available in many Islamic\r\ncenters all over the world or write to :\r\n\r\n The Islamic Propagation Center\r\n 45\/47\/49 Madressa Arcade\r\n Durban 4001\r\n Repuplic of South Africa\r\n Tel : (031) 32-9518<\/pre>\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RESURRECTION OR RESUSCITATION? RESURRECTION OR RESUSCITATION? By Ahmad Deedat In one of my books – “Who Moved the Stone?” I had promised to deal with the anomaly, where believers were reading simple English, yet...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3068,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,153],"tags":[353,354],"class_list":["post-3067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-topics","category-religious-studies-and-research","tag-resurrection","tag-resuscitation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3067"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3067\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3069,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3067\/revisions\/3069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/investigate-islam.com\/web\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}