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Again we read in Surah iii. 48:— O Jesus! I will cause thee to die, — the
meaning being that after his return to this earth Jesus will die. This is
entirely opposed to the Scriptures, for in Revelation i. 17, 18 Jesus says,
"I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead: and,
behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of
death." The story has arisen from a passage in a traditional book1
regarding Enoch and Elias, who ascended without dying to the heavens and of whom
we are told: "It will happen to them that they will return to the world in
the last time, in the day of grief and fear and distress, and then will
die." And in the Coptic tale of the Falling asleep of Mary, it is said of
Enoch and Elias, — "Of necessity both of these will at the last taste of
death." So when the Companions of the Prophet had such foolish notions in
their heads, they no doubt concluded that Jesus too, like Enoch and Elias, would
eventually be made to taste of death; and moreover, knowing that he had ascended
up to heaven, they thought that his death would follow his return at the Second
coming. Hence the way in which they tried to illustrate the above text. It may
be noticed also that in other Surahs we find it written that "Every soul
shall taste of death."2
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IV. Some other stories from Christian or heretical writers. — When God would
create Adam he sent angels and archangels, one after another, to bring a handful
of earth. At last Azrael, having descended, brought a
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handful gathered from every quarter, and said, "O Lord, thou knowest
whence I have brought it."1 Abul Feda, quoting from Ibn Athr, gives us
this account:—
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The Prophet said that God created Adam from a handful of earth gathered from
all round the world ...and that he was called Adam as formed out of the earth below
(i.e. adm).
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The following is also taken from the heretic Marcion, who is
quoted by an old Armenian writer as follows: —
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The God of the Law seeing the earth fair to look upon, desired to make man
out of it, and having descended to Matter, Hylê
(υλη) on
the earth, he said, Give
me some of thy soil, and I will from myself impart to it a soul.....So when
Matter had given to him some of the earth, he created man and breathed into him
a soul; and for this reason he was called Adam, because he was made out of the
earth.
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According to the heretic Marcion, he whom they name "the God of the
Law," who got earth for the creation of man, was only an angel; for they
say that the Law came down from one of the angels hostile to the great God. And
that Angel they call Lord of the universe, Creator of all things, and Prince of
this world. This last is taken from the Gospel of John, where the devil is so
called.2 Marcion tells us that this angel was an inhabitant of the Second
heaven, and at first knew nothing of the great God; but when he came to know of
his existence, then he turned out to be an enemy of "the Unknown God,"
and sought that mankind should neither know nor worship him.
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This imaginative story of the creation is in entire
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