And when Allah will say, “O Jesus, son of Mary, didst thou say to men, ‘Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah?’”, he will answer, “Holy art Thou. I could never say that to which I had no right. If I had said it, Thou wouldst have surely known it. Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Thy mind. It is only Thou Who art the Knower of hidden things.  “I said nothing to them except that which Thou didst command me — ‘Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’ And I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them, but since Thou didst cause me to die, Thou hast been the Watcher over them; and Thou art Witness over all things. (Chapter 5 Verses 117-118)

These verses are a dialogue between Allah and Jesus(as) on the day of judgement. Allah asks Isa(as) whether it was his reasoning and teaching and that if he was the one who taught his followers to take himself and his mother as gods. Jesus(as) responded to this by saying : “I was a witness over them as long as I remained among them”. This statement shows that Jesus(As) is taking full responsibility for the people while he was alive and a guardian over them. He assures that as long as he was with the people and among them, they followed they right path and did not commit shirk, rather worshiped on God alone. The next statement of Isa(as) is that he states that he cannot be blamed nor held responsible for what the people did and the misguidance they followed, after Allah caused him to die, since he was no longer among them to guide them. Isa(as) explains this in the next statement where he states: since Thou didst cause me to die, Thou hast been the Watcher over them; and Thou art Witness over all things. It is obvious that in this context tawaffaitani can mean nothing other then death nor in any context can it mean anything other then death (unless sleep or night is mentioned) which will be proven.

These verses also conclude and lead to the conclusion that Isa(As) would not return physically in the latter days as that would contradict the perfect book, the Holy Quran. If we do for arguments sake accept that Isa(As) went into the heavens 2000 years ago and will return, then this statement In the Quran cannot be true as he claims Allah was a watcher after he left them and Allah alone. Either you say the Quran is creating a contradiction God forbid, Isa(As) is lying, or he has died. An open minded person after reading this verse would agree he has died. The Promised Messiah(as) states in the Will :

The  meaning [of this verse], in the context of the relevant  verses, is that on the Day of Judgement God will ask  ‘Isa(as), “Was it you yourself who taught your followers  ‘Believe in me and my mother as gods?’ “. To this he  will reply, ‘As long as I remained among them I was  witness over them and was their custodian, but after  You caused me to die, how could I know what the  heresy was with respect to which they had gone  astray!’ Now, if one desires one can take the verse to mean ‘When You caused me to die;’ or if one so  desires, without abandoning one’s unjustified  obduracy, one can take it to mean: ‘When You raised  me to Heaven with my physical body.’ In any event,  this verse proves that ‘Isa(as) will not return to this  world. For had he come again to this world and had he  [having returned to this world] broken the Cross, then  in that case it would not be possible that ‘Isa(as), who is a Prophet(as) of God, should tell such a blatantly plain  lie in the presence of God on the Day of Judgment  viz., ‘I have no knowledge whatsoever that after me  my people adopted a false creed and made me and my  mother gods’. Can a person who returns to this world  and lives in it for forty years and fights battles against  Christians, tell such detestable lie—i.e. ‘I am totally  ignorant of it all’—even though he is a Prophet? Thus  the above verse prevents the return of ‘Isa(as) because,  otherwise, he has to be taken for a liar. If he is in  Heaven with his physical body and, as the above verse   elucidates, will not descend on the earth till the Day of  Judgment, will he die in Heaven and will his grave  be in Heaven, while his dying in Heaven is  contradicted by the verse He said, “Therein you will live, and therein you will die, and from it you will be brought forth.”. Hence, all this  proves that he [‘Isa(as)] did not ascend to Heaven with his physical body but went to Heaven after having  died. If to oppose the Book of God, when it has given an explicit verdict, is not a sin, then what else is sin? (The Will page 17-19)

If Isa(as) was to return in the latter days here was the perfect time he could have mentioned it but yet he is even ignorant of the fact that he was worshipped. He would tell Allah that I was a watcher over them not only once before my tawaffi but once after it too.

The Holy Prophet Muhammad(saw) quoted this exact same verse in regards to the condition of his sahaba and even quoted Isa(As) and falamma tawaffaitani as death.

حَدَّثَنَا سُلَيْمَانُ بْنُ حَرْبٍ، حَدَّثَنَا شُعْبَةُ، عَنِ الْمُغِيرَةِ بْنِ النُّعْمَانِ، شَيْخٍ مِنَ النَّخَعِ عَنْ سَعِيدِ بْنِ جُبَيْرٍ، عَنِ ابْنِ عَبَّاسٍ ـ رضى الله عنهما ـ قَالَ خَطَبَ النَّبِيُّ صلى الله عليه وسلم فَقَالَ ‏”‏ إِنَّكُمْ مَحْشُورُونَ إِلَى اللَّهِ حُفَاةً عُرَاةً غُرْلاً ‏{‏كَمَا بَدَأْنَا أَوَّلَ خَلْقٍ نُعِيدُهُ وَعْدًا عَلَيْنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا فَاعِلِينَ‏}‏ ثُمَّ إِنَّ أَوَّلَ مَنْ يُكْسَى يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ إِبْرَاهِيمُ، أَلاَ إِنَّهُ يُجَاءُ بِرِجَالٍ مِنْ أُمَّتِي، فَيُؤْخَذُ بِهِمْ ذَاتَ الشِّمَالِ، فَأَقُولُ يَا رَبِّ أَصْحَابِي فَيُقَالُ لاَ تَدْرِي مَا أَحْدَثُوا بَعْدَكَ فَأَقُولُ كَمَا قَالَ الْعَبْدُ الصَّالِحُ ‏{‏وَكُنْتُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًا مَا دُمْتُ‏}‏ إِلَى قَوْلِهِ ‏{‏شَهِيدٌ‏}‏ فَيُقَالُ إِنَّ هَؤُلاَءِ لَمْ يَزَالُوا مُرْتَدِّينَ عَلَى أَعْقَابِهِمْ مُنْذُ فَارَقْتَهُمْ ‏”‏‏.‏

Narrated Ibn `Abbas:

Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) delivered a sermon and said, “O people! You will be gathered before Allah barefooted, naked and not circumcised.” Then (quoting Qur’an) he said:– “As We began the first creation, We shall repeat it. A promise We have undertaken: Truly we shall do it..” (21.104) The Prophet (ﷺ) then said, “The first of the human beings to be dressed on the Day of Resurrection, will be Abraham. Lo! Some men from my followers will be brought and then (the angels) will drive them to the left side (Hell-Fire). I will say. ‘O my Lord! (They are) my companions!’ Then a reply will come (from Almighty), ‘You do not know what they did after you.’ I will say as the pious slave (the Prophet (ﷺ) Jesus) said: And I was a witness over them while I dwelt amongst them. When You caused me to die. You were the Watcher over them and You are a Witness to all things.’ (5.117) Then it will be said, “These people have continued to be apostates since you left them.”(Sahih Bukhari Vol 6, Book 60, Hadith 149)

This further makes it clear that over here the word tawaffi means nothing other then death. Muhammad(saw) has made it clear with this Hadith.

Now it is important to talk about the word tawaffi because the non Ahmadis do not really understand the meaning. The word tawaffi is from waw fa ya and is the infinitive of the verb tawaffa. Whenever this appears in the form which is known as Bab Tafa’ul and the subject is Allah or the angels and them applying to a verb that has a soul it always means death (unless night or sleep is mentioned). It is always death when used for human beings, and the only part it is not death is when night or sleep is mentioned in the verse. Tawaffi is used in Al-Baqarah (2:235, 2:41), Al-e-‘Imran (3:194), Al-Nisa’ (4:16), Al-Nisa’ (4:98), Al-An‘am (6:62), Al-A‘raf (7:38), Al-A‘raf(7:127), Ar-Ra‘d (13:41), Yunus (10:47), Yusuf (12:102), Al-Nahl (16:33, 16:71), Al-Hajj (22:6), As-Sajdah (32:12), Az-Zumar (39:43), Al-Mu’min (40:68, 40:78), Muhammad (47:28), Al-An‘am (6:61), Al-Anfal (8:51), Yunus (10:105) and always means death except for in 6:61 and 39:43 because sleep or night are mentioned. In fact Allah Himself has told us when He causes tawaffa of a human being:

Allah states: Allah takes away the souls of human beings at the time of their death; and during their sleep of those also that are not yet dead. And then He retains those against which He has decreed death, and sends back the others till an appointed term. In that surely are Signs for a people who reflect.(Chapter 39 verse 43)

Now let us look at some Arabic dictionaries and see what they say about the word tawaffi.

Hadhrat Ibni Abbas(ra) a great companion made a statement which Imam Bukhari has quoted under the tafseer of  Chapter 5 verses 117-118  :

“Ibni ‘Abbas (ra) states, ‘Mutawaffika means we caused you to die.’”( Sahih Bukhari, Kitabut-Tafsir, Surah Al-Ma’idah, Under the verse Falamma tawaffaitani..)

This clearly confirms what tawaffi means when used for a human being, and confirms that even when used for Isa(as) it means death. This statement is from a great sahaba which we cannot ignore.

Now to conclude the discussion on the meaning of tawaffi I will show the explanations from Lane’s lexicon, one of the most famous Arabic dictionaries:

Waw-Fa-Ya = to reach the end, keep ones promise, fulfil ones engagement, pay a debt, perform a promise. tawaffa – to die. wafaat – death.
Tawaffaa (prf 3rd. p. m. sing. V.): He causes to die.
Tawaffat (prf 3rd. p. f. sing. V.): They take away the soul.
Tawaffaitanii (prf. 2nd. p. m. sing. V.): ‘You caused me to die.
Tatawaffaa (imp. 3rd.p.f.sing. V.): She causes to die.
Yatawaffaa (imp. 3rd. p. m. sing. V.): He causes to die.
Tawaffanii: Let me die; Let it be that I die.
Yutawaffaa (pp. 3rd. p. m. sing. V.): He has died.
Yutawaffauna (pip. 3rd. p. m. plu. V.): They die.
Mutawaffikka (ap-der. m. sing. V.): Cause you to die a natural death.

Some have tried claiming that when the word كَمَا is present it does not make the phrases the absolute same. No one claimed that the way Isa(As) died was 100% same to the Holy Prophet Muhammad(Saw) nor is their question they would be asked the same as the prophets mother was not worshipped. Tawaffa only occurs at death or sleep(when night or sleep is mentioned) are you now aware that kama is used in durood shareef? Are we not asking for blessings from the same God and the same blessings?This has no basis behind it as when kama is used it shows the resemblance between two things and the Holy Prophet Muhammad(saw) has made it clear that the resemblance is the exact same by quoting the exact same words of the ayah word for word. He could have changed them to show a resemblance but he showed that they are the exact same. Also in the Holy Qur’an we read:

Surely, the case of Jesus with Allah is like the case of Adam. He created him out of dust, then He said to him, ‘Be!,’ and he was.(Chapter 3 verse 60)

Now the word kama shows the resemblance between the two and the resemblance is the same. “Be and He was”

The words stated after kama kala for Muhammad(saw) are the exact same which Isa(as) will say on the day of judgment. Nowhere does it state it would be similar rather it is word for word the exact same.

كَمَا قَالَ الْعَبْدُ الصَّالِحُ ‏{وَكُنْتُ عَلَيْهِمْ شَهِيدًا مَا دُمْتُ فِيهِمْ ۖ فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِي كُنْتَ أَنْتَ الرَّقِيبَ عَلَيْهِمْ ۚ وَأَنْتَ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ شَهِيدٌ}

This would be read till the end of the verse and clearly shows Isa(as) has died. After kama the exact same Arabic is used of the ayah which dictates the words of Isa(as) on the day of Judgment. The Holy Prophet(saw) made it clear that his words would be exactly the same.

Kala shows the resemblance of two things and if different the Prophet(saw) would have clarified as the examples the non Ahmadis quote have different explanations after kama. The hadith we quote is exactly word for word, what isa(as) will say on the day of judgment and therefore the words are exactly the same which the Prophet(saw) will say and their tawaffa is also the same.

Challenge of the Promised Messiah (as) Regarding Tawaffi

He(as)  states: “If anyone can cite a single instance from the Holy Qur’an or Hadith, or from ancient or modern Arabic poetry and prose, that the word Tawaffi, when applied to a human being, God being the subject, has been used in any connotation other than death and taking possession of the soul, for instance, in the connotation of the taking the body, I bind myself on oath that I shall pay that person one thousand rupees in cash by selling some of my property and shall always hold him in high esteem as a great scholar of the HolyQur’an and Hadith.”(Izalah-e-Auham, Ruhani Khaza’in, Volume 3, p. 603)