@Thomas.
Greetings, Thomas.
In Post 102 you reference Gabriel Said Reynolds, who quotes from Sūrah Al-Ma’ida:
‘I told them only what You commanded me to: “Worship God, my Lord and your Lord.” I was a witness over them during my time among them. Ever since You took my soul (‘
tawaffaytanī’), You alone have been the watcher over them: You are witness to all things’ (ʾĀyah 117).
Reynolds writes (my emphasis):
‘The verb
tawaffa causes significant problems among Muslim exegetes.
Tawaffa appears in 25 passages in the Qur'an, twice in relation to Jesus (5.117 and 3.55). For the other 23, the standard and common definition is understood – separating the soul from the body,
making someone die.
‘For the two verses where
tawaffa applies to Jesus however, exegetes generally apply a secondary meaning of the term,
'to sleep' or even 'to take up', so reconciling these verses with the denial of the crucifixion.
‘However,
tawaffa means to die, and it takes some nuanced exegesis to make it say otherwise – it could be said that such a theological 'sleight of hand' is just the kind of thing Christian exegetes are accused of – reading 'young woman' to mean 'virgin' is an obvious example.’
Oh dear!
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines ‘death’ as: ‘A permanent cessation of all vital functions – the end of life.’; and this is what most people understand whenever they hear the word, or see it written. However, the Qur’an uses
two different terms when referring to death: ‘
tawaffâ’ and ‘
mawt’. Only ‘
mawt’ accords with the Merriam-Webster definition.
Concerning ‘
Tawaffâ’:
It must be remembered that an Arabic word may have a range of meanings, depending on context.
‘
Tawaffâ’ stems from the trilateral root ‘
wāw fā yā’; and, in our context, invokes the notion of completion and fulfilment. The Qur’anic image of death through ‘
tawaffâ’ is quite different from that of ‘
mawt’. For a start, ‘
tawaffâ’ is
never associated with ‘
qatala’ (killing)); instead, it is juxtaposed with ‘
nawm’ (sleep). Moreover, there is no notion of physical damage or decomposition in ‘
tawaffâ’.
Sleep is described as a repeated nightly death: ‘It is He who takes your souls back by night, (‘
yatawaffākum bi-al-layli’) knowing what you have done by day, then raises you up again in the daytime until your appointed time is fulfilled. It is to Him that you will return in the end, and He will tell you what you have done.’ (Al-An‘am: 60).
Concerning ‘
Mawt’:
‘
Mawt’ stems from the trilateral root ‘
mīm wāw tā’ – ‘
māta’.
Abdur Rashid Siddiqui reminds us that:
‘Māta means to die, to perish, to lose life. Mawt from this root means death or demise. This is the opposite of life. The word Mawt is used for absence of life in living creatures as well as plants and metaphorically for inanimate objects like stone where there is an absence of greenery (Qāf 50: 11). When a person dies he loses all sensation and consciousness whereas during sleep one only suffers loss of consciousness; even this is described figuratively as death (al-Zumar 39: 42; al-Anʿām 6: 60). Death is something that is inevitable: it is the most predictable event. In the Qur’ān it is referred to as Yaqīn (certainty) (al-Ḥijr 15: 99; al-Muddaththir 74: 47). It is stated that “every soul shall taste death” (Āl ʿImrān 3: 185).’ (‘Qur'anic Keywords: A Reference Guide’).
A major point of distinction between ‘
mawt’ and ‘
tawaffâ’ is that only the
former is associated with killing, murder or manslaughter (‘
qatala’).
We see examples of ‘
qatala’ (and its derivatives) in Al-Nisa: 155-158, and in the following:
‘And Pharaoh said: “Leave me to kill Moses (‘
aqtulu Musa’) – let him call upon his Lord! – for I fear he may cause you to change your religion, or spread disorder in the land.”’ (Ghafi: 26); and again: ‘They were struck with humiliation and wretchedness, and they incurred the wrath of Allāh because they persistently rejected His messages and killed (‘
yaqtuloona’) prophets contrary to all that is right. All this was because they disobeyed and were lawbreakers.’ (Al-Baqara: 61); and again: ‘Allāh has certainly heard the words of those who sneer, “So Allāh is poor, while we are rich”. We shall record everything they say – as well as their killing (‘
wa qatlahum’) of prophets in defiance of all that is right – and We shall say to them: “Taste the torment of the scorching fire.”’ (Al‘Imran: 181). There are several others verses where derivatives of ‘
qatala’ are used when describing the death of prophets.
With ‘
mawt’ comes the natural decomposition of the body; its return to dust.
It is worth noting that whenever a verse includes reference to a person’s predestined death the term used is always ‘
mawt’, with no chance to return to life, save at the Day of Resurrection. There are no exceptions.
Derivatives of ‘
qatala’ – used in reference to the killing of prophets – are
never used of Yeshua, except as a false claim, and its denial (‘Al-Nisa’: 155-158).
A derivative of ‘
mawt’– used as an expression of natural (biological) death in used only
once of Yeshua; in Sūrah Maryam. See below.
Continued:
