Our God is Alive While Jesus(as) Has Perished
“When a delegation of sixty men from the (Christian) people of Najran came to the Holy Prophet, their chief priest discussed with him the status of Jesus and asked him as to who Jesus’ father was. The Holy Prophet said: ‘Do you not know that a son resembles his father?’ They replied: ‘Yes’. He said: A lastum ta‘lamuna anna rabbana la yamutu wa anna Isa ata ‘alaihi-l-fana’, i.e., Do you not know that our Lord lives for ever while Jesus perished.”
(Asbab an-nuzul, by Imam Abu-l-Hasan Ali ibn Ahmad al-Wahidi of Neshapur, published in Egypt, p. 53)
This hadith does not really need an explanation. Holy Prophet(saw) made it clear that Jesus(as) has died but our Creator can never die. Some anti-Ahmadis present books of tafasir which say death will come to Hazrat Isa (as) in the future tense. However, all such statements are interpolated because no Christian agrees with the fact that Jesus is yet to die. It would not be possible for them to respond by saying ‘bala’ which is used for affirmation.
This beautiful hadith is also in line with these beautiful Qur’anic verses:
“And those on whom they call beside Allah create not anything, but they are themselves created. They are dead, not living; and they know not when they will be raised.” (Chapter 16 verse 21-22)
These verses of the Holy Qur’an illustrate something really important. It is being mentioned that all the false Gods who people worshiped are dead and not alive. Since Jesus(as) is also one who is worshiped as a God he also is included in this verse, and has also died as the verse says. The only one in the entire world who he is called God more then even Allah himself is Jesus(As) alone. There are over 2.2 billion Christians who believe in the divinity of Jesus. We also know that during the life of Holy Prophet Muhammad(Saw), people believed Jesus was a God and worshiped him which clearly shows that he is included here. According to this ayah it is clear that when this was revealed to our Master Muhammad(saw), Isa(as) had indeed died already.
Non Ahmadis try to claim that this verse is only for idols and that those idols are dead not living. However this is a ignorant statement with no proof. Secondly the verse right after says “They know not when they will be raised” This shows that it is not for idols as we know that Idols are not resurrected nor do they have any life.
A Statement of the Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as)
The Promised Messiah (as) states: “Look at how explicitly these verses prove the death of the Messiah and all those people whom the Jews, Christians, and various sects among the Arabs held as God and to whom they supplicated. If even still you are not convinced of the death of the Messiah son of Mary, why do you not clearly confess that we hold reservations in believing in the Qur’an all together?”