Ali 'Imran · Madani · ayah 55 of 200

Ali 'Imran 3:55

إِذْ قَالَ ٱللَّهُ يَـٰعِيسَىٰٓ إِنِّى مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَىَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا۟ وَجَاعِلُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّبَعُوكَ فَوْقَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓا۟ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ ۖ ثُمَّ إِلَىَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ فِيمَا كُنتُمْ فِيهِ تَخْتَلِفُونَ

“[Mention] when Allāh said, "O Jesus, indeed I will take you and raise you to Myself and purify [i.e., free] you from those who disbelieve and make those who follow you [in submission to Allāh alone] superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. Then to Me is your return, and I will judge between you concerning that in which you used to differ.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Allah told ʿĪsā He would take him and raise him to Himself, free him from his rejecters, and judge between all who differ about him.

A reflection

The final word is not ours

Under a video about religion, a comment thread has grown to eleven thousand replies. The same arguments go round and round, each one sharper than the last. Nobody, as far as anyone can tell, has changed their mind.

This ayah speaks into exactly that kind of dispute, the oldest one between faiths about ʿĪsā. And it ends by taking the final ruling out of human hands. 'Then to Me is your return, and I will judge between you concerning that in which you used to differ'. A modern commentary specifies: the matter of ʿĪsā.

Before that, every verb in the ayah belongs to Allah. 'I will take you. I will raise you to Myself. I will purify you from those who disbelieve. I will place those who follow you above them'. ʿĪsā is addressed and acted upon; Allah acts. The lexicons picture tawaffā as a measure filled to the brim, a debt collected in full. They picture rafʿ, raising, as lifting a thing from where it rests.

Here the ego of the debater is quietly shrunk. We want to win the argument now: the last reply, the decisive point. The ayah does not tell believers to stop explaining. The surah itself argues carefully. But it reminds them that the verdict on every difference belongs to the One to whom all return.

Does Allah need to announce that He will judge? He needs nothing (35:15). The announcement is mercy. It lifts an impossible weight from us: the need to settle every disagreement before we die.

The comment thread will go on. The ayah allows us to say what is true, kindly, and then to leave the final word where it belongs.

The full entry has 5 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.