The Crucifixion and the Qur'an

While the Qur’an denies Jesus’ divinity in unambiguous terms more than thirty times, the denial of Jesus’ crucifixion is based on a single ambiguous phrase, shubbiha lahum, which occurs only once, in Sura Al-Nisa’ (4) Ayat 157. Ironically, the root ‘sh-b-h’ appears in Surat Al-‘Imran (3) Ayat 7 warning that since only God knows the meaning of the ambiguous verses, it is irreverent to interpret them. Today’s commonly held interpretation is that shubbiha lahum means that God placed Jesus’ likeness on Judas Iscariot which confused the Jews into crucifying Judas

instead of Jesus. Most people familiar with the topic understand that the Qur’an denies Jesus’ crucifixion. My review of Todd Lawson's interesting book was published in the January issue of The Muslim World Journal and can be accessed at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/ 10.1111/j.1478-1913.2010.01347.x/abstract then click 'get PDF' on the right.