Muslims reject the Christian claim that Jesus is God, saying God cannot die. Christians also believe God cannot die, the contention comes when we proclaim Jesus Christ is God and was crucified, killed and buried. Therefore, because He was killed they reject Jesus is God.

Let’s not overlook that the Word (λόγος) is Eternal, and Jesus Christ is identified as the λόγος. He (Jesus) is Eternal, the uniqueness about the Lord Jesus is that while He’s God, He took upon Himself a second nature. To be more specific, God became human, only the Lord Jesus who is distinct in Person from the Father and the Holy Spirit became a real Man.

Therefore, being a real Man He subjected Himself to everything we as humans experience, Christ was subject to hunger “he afterward hungered” (Luke 4:2).^[1] He also became tired like a real human “Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey,” (John 4:6), He also slept at times “but he was asleep” (Matthew 8:24).

We should expect these things to happen if someone is a real human, but our Muslim friends would say that if God does anything like this it disqualifies Him from being God. Allah in the Qur’an never said he became human and doesn’t need rest, yet Allah has a throne (arsh), what’s the purpose of the throne of Allah does he sit on the throne or not? If he does that means Allah needs to rest, if he never sits on the throne then his throne is meaningless.

Thus, it is a significantly large `Arsh; none knows how great the size of its magnificence is except Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) Who created it (but we are told by the Prophet that it is very large). This `Arsh is like a dome stretching over the entire universe; it is the ceiling of the whole universe. It is also the ceiling of Paradise; nothing is above it except Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He).

Meaning of Allah’s Arsh (Throne) – Fatwas of Nur Ala Al-Darb

Make no mistake the throne according to Muhammad, Islamic scholars and lay Muslim websites (abdurrahman.org) is large, how large they don’t know but it’s not imaginary. The question remains if the throne of Allah is real, does Allah ever sit on the throne? If he does then Allah is taking a rest, if he never sits on the throne then it’s meaningless.

This would mean because the Lord Jesus slept or ate when He was on Earth doesn’t take away the fact He’s God.^[2] And here’s the hypocrisy of Islam. There’s an ayat which says people who are killed are not dead. A distinction is made between the two words. It continues to say that these people who are killed are alive.

When Christians say Jesus Christ was crucified (killed), it doesn’t mean He’s remained dead, the Bible says that Christ rose from the dead after 3 days. He is victorious over death and the grave, death was not able to hold the Lord Jesus, “Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:” (Luke 24:46).

Why do our Muslim counterparts reject this when their Qur’an says those who are killed are not dead?^[3] It’s because they are in trouble and cannot answer this question. Unless they take the hypocritical road and simultaneously reject the Bible and Qur’an. The Qur’an says in [4:157] that Isa was crucified and Allah really deceived the people by placing an innocent man on the cross instead of Isa.

Isa is a coward, he’s not Jesus Christ! Isa was not willing to go to the cross, but Christ was ever willing and knew He would be crucified for the sins of the word. He mentioned to His disciples multiple times He would suffer and be killed and not stay dead. For He will raise Himself from the dead after 3 days. “The Son of man is delivered up into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and when he is killed, after three days he shall rise again” (Mark 9:31 ASV).

According to this ayat in which the Jews reported of killing the Messiah Jesus, Muslims would say Allah caused or fooled the Jews. In believing Jesus was crucified by causing another man who looked like Jesus to be killed instead. This would make Allah a liar, in which the adherents of Islam are completely fine with their god being a deceiver. But we Christians know better, we understand who Allah really is, the father of lies Satan.

The Lord Jesus warned us about him saying “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44 NIV). How these Muslims are so deceived following Satan to utter destruction!

Perhaps the better argument for Muslims is to claim Christ was crucified but is alive just as the Qur’an says in [2:154] agreeing with the Bible that Jesus Christ is alive. Either way they choose to answer Islam crumbles and cannot stand up against the truth of God’s Holy Word the Bible.

Conclusion

There are questions Islam cannot answer that Christianity can, (1) the fact that Allah has a throne he never sits on or does he which means he’s resting? This contradicts [2:255] which states Allah doesn’t “slumber nor sleep” and if he does rest. (2) If he has a throne (arsh) then Allah cannot be god according to the Qur’an because he needs to sit. Lastly, the Qur’an tells us that (3) those who are killed are not dead [2:154], just as Christians say Jesus Christ is alive, even though He was crucified at the cross of Calvary.

These are impossible questions for our Muslim friends to answer without contradicting the Qur’an. The Bible has the answers the Son of God took upon Himself a human nature “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself” (Philippians 2:8). Christ has two natures, there was a moment in time when Christ became a Man. But He (Jesus) for all eternity existed as God “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). This is why He raised Himself from the dead

Footnotes

[1] Bible quotations in this article are from the KJV unless otherwise noted.

[2] i. Jesus calms the storm (4:35-41) With the series of parables closed, we enter a new section: here Jesus will be shown as Lord of nature. This is a new revelation in Mark, yet a very necessary one, if Jesus is God: for, both in the Law and in the Prophets, God is seen as Controller of the natural world and natural phenomena. The God who blew with an east wind and dried up the waters of the Red Sea before Israel his people (Exod. 14:21) is now about to make a path over the wind and waves of Gennesaret for the disciples, the new ‘people of God’. Already, Mark has shown Jesus as one who sees heaven opened, one upon whom the Spirit rests, who is responsive to the Spirit’s guidance, who enjoys angelic ministry, and who receives the testimony of demons to his divine nature. Jesus in Mark preaches and teaches with a new ring of authority: he heals the sick, expels demons and forgives sins. Now, only the one who had initially created the wind and sea in the first place would dare to rebuke them so (verse 39): their instant obedience shows his full deity as Creator as well as Redeemer. The wondering question of his disciples in verse 41 shows that they realized in part at least the implications of his action here. It is significant that no ‘nature miracles’ are recorded in Mark as having been performed by the apostles, although (as Anderson well points out) Mark would not have distinguished nature miracles sharply from healings and exorcisms, as we might do today. Apart from calming storms (here and 6:51), Mark records Jesus as multiplying loaves (6:41 and 8:6) and withering a fig tree (11:20): he therefore accepts completely the power of Jesus over the natural world, as Son of God Cole, R. A. Mark : An Introduction and Commentary. Second edition. [North American version], Second edition. [North American version] ed., Inter-Varsity Press, 2008. pg 156

[3] (And say not of those who are killed in the way of Allah, “They are dead.” Nay, they are living,) indicates that the martyrs are alive and receiving their sustenance. (The souls of the martyrs are inside green birds and move about in Paradise wherever they wish. Then, they take refuge in lamps that are hanging under the Throne (of Allah). Your Lord looked at them and asked them, `What do you wish for’ They said, `What more could we wish for while You have favored us with what You have not favored any other of your creation’ He repeated the question again. When they realize that they will be asked (until they answer), they said, `We wish that You send us back to the earthly life, so that we fight in Your cause until we are killed in Your cause again,’ (because of what they enjoy of the rewards of martyrdom). The Lord then said, `I have written that they will not be returned to it (earthly life) again.) Imam Ahmad reported that `Abdur-Rahman bin Ka`b bin Malik narrated from his father that Allah’s Messenger said: (The believer’s soul is a bird that feeds on the trees of Paradise until Allah sends it back to its body when the person is resurrected.) This Hadith includes all the believers in its general meaning. Thus, the fact that the Qur’an mentions the martyrs in particular in the above Ayah serves to honor, glorify and favor them (although the other believers share the rewards they enjoy). Ibn-Kathir Tafsir Surah Al-Baqara 153