Shabir Ally - Jesus Death and Ascension

Shabir Ally and Jesus’ Death and Ascension

Here are a few comments by Muslim apologist Shabir Ally on the death and ascension of Jesus.

Shabir Ally and Jesus’ Ascension ¹When does Shabir Ally believe Jesus ascended into heaven? Before the crucifixion, during the crucifixion, or sometime after the crucifixion?

Shabir Ally says that Muslims believe Jesus is going to return. However, this is not in the Quran, but in a tradition attributed to Muhammad:

Allah’s Apostle said, “The Hour will not be established until the son of Mary (i.e. Jesus) descends amongst you as a just ruler, he will break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the Jizya tax. Money will be in abundance so that nobody will accept it (as charitable gifts)” (Sahih al-BukhariVolume 3, Book 43, Number 656).

Jesus never taught anything like this.

The Prophet’s Mosque (Masjid al-Nabawi) — The Prophet’s Mosque. The Green Dome over the mosque is the burial place of Muhammad and where a vacant grave is reserved for Jesus.

Furthermore, Muslims believe when Jesus returns He will die. In fact, next to the place Muhammad is buried in Medina is an empty tomb that awaits Jesus. But the future death and burial of Jesus in Medina has nothing to do with what Jesus taught.

An interesting topic for discussion therefore would be: Will Jesus one day be buried in Medina next to Muhammad?

Shabir Ally and Jesus’ Crucifixion

Shabir Ally gives his conjectures and speculations as to why he believes Jesus did not die on the cross and says that the Gospels contain doubt about Jesus’ death. Really? Is this a conclusion that recognized non-Muslim scholars have come to in their study of the New Testament?

Shabir Ally says nobody checked Jesus’ pulse. Does that mean Jesus was therefore not dead? When in history did people start checking pulses to see if someone was alive or dead?

Shabir Ally says nobody verified medically whether Jesus was actually dead. So what? After looking at crucifixion an article in the peer-reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association concluded:

Clearly, the weight of historical and medical evidence indicates that Jesus was dead before the wound to his side was inflicted and supports the traditional view that the spear, thrust between his right rib, probably perforated not only the right lung but also the pericardium and heart and thereby ensured his death. Accordingly, interpretations based on the assumption that Jesus did not die on the cross appear to be at odds with modern medical knowledge (William D. Edwards, MD; Wesley J. Gabel, M.Div.; Floyd E. Hosmer, MS, AMI; “On the Physical Death of Jesus Christ,” Journal of the American Medical Association 21 March 1986; Volume 255, 1463).

Shabir Ally emphasizes in the video that Jesus’ legs were not broken, but why doesn’t he say anything about Jesus’ side being pierced? (John 19:32-34)

The fact that the Roman soldiers permitted Jesus to be taken from the cross is proof Jesus died. The consequences for the centurion being wrong about Jesus’ death would likely have been severe. Rome did not look favorably upon military men failing to do their duty (see Acts 12:19; 16:27; 27:42).

The renowned medical examiner Dr. Frederick Zugibe wrote that centurions were capable of determing when a person was dead or not:

It is important to understand that the exactor mortis [the centurion in charge of the crucifixion] and quaternion [soldiers who carried out the crucifixion] were experts at determining the presence of death from crucifixion, as they performed thousands of crucifixions. ²Zugibe, The Crucifixion of Jesus: A Forensic Inquiry, second edition (New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc., 2005), 148.