On Easter Sunday morning 1997, in a Seattle Church, without any warning that they would occur, I experienced three visions, all- relating to ALLAH revealing Isa/Jesus to Islam. If someone would prefer to call them dreams, that is fine, but they were totally unlike any dreams I have ever had. I have no other explanation than that the God whom we worship was their source. Therefore, I sense a responsibility to share both their content and what I am convinced is their meaning.

The three visions seemed to occur within a few seconds of each other. I would estimate that none of them were more than twenty seconds in duration. They were viewed in my mind while I was participating in the Lord’s Supper which at this church is a time for men to publicly share about the significance of the sacrificed death of Jesus. I had just sat down after sharing with the other people in attendance. Though I had a good night’s sleep, I found myself struggling to stay awake and soon was barely asleep. Then the three visions appeared in my mind, one after another. My own conclusion regarding their meaning is this: they separated and collectively reveal how world-wide Islam will soon embrace and exalt their crucified but Risen Messiah, referred to as Isa in the Qur’an and as Jesus in the Scriptures preceding the Qur’an.

Background: Shortly after my arrival in Riyadh Saudi Arabia in 1976, I began to study the Qur’an. I especially wanted to know why Muslims do not believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Through this study I discovered that only one verse in the entire Qur’an can be understood to teach that Jesus neither died nor was he crucified. Of course, if Jesus did not die on the cross, but escaped directly to heaven alive, the glorious resurrection of Jesus from the dead has been eliminated. Though it is standard Islamic belief that Jesus did not die, and so was not raised from death, it is significant that not one verse in the entire Qur’an speaks against Jesus’ resurrection. It is also significant to realize that the Islamic belief that Jesus escaped directly into heaven without being crucified places Islam in the position of reinforcing Judaism’s claim that the Almighty did not raise Jesus from death. This incorrect belief also relieves Israel from having any responsibility for the Messiah’s death.

In studying the Qur’an and especially the verse which states that Jesus was neither killed nor crucified, I have come to one definite conclusion. This verse, Women 4:157, in its context, was never intended to be taken literally. Rather it is an insightful, bold and figurative declaration intended to silence shameful Jewish boasting about having killed the son of Mary. Of course ALLAH in his Might and Wisdom would not allow the life of His Messiah to be permanently ended, which was the declared intention of certain Jewish leaders. In the sense that Jewish leaders intended to permanently kill Jesus by crucifixion, Jesus was indeed neither killed nor crucified. Yes, it appeared to Jewish leader that had accomplished their evil purpose of permanently ending Jesus’ life. But the Almighty had defeated their plot. They totally failed.

It is both puzzling and disappointing that Muslim Scholars, though they have great respect for the Qur’an, will not acknowledge how remarkably ingenious the Qur’an truly is, especially as is revealed in Women 4:157. These scholars mislead all of Islam by insisting that this verse must be interpreted in a superficial way. They refuse to acknowledge that in this verse the Qur’an is wonderfully profound. Perhaps no other statement in all of literature has a deeper meaning than this verse, when people are not forced to understand it superficially.

Jesus, in the deepest sense of what killed or crucified means, was neither killed nor crucified. As the next verse explains, ALLAH, in His Great Power and Wisdom raised Jesus up to himself. Of course the verse that follows the verse about his death, means that Jesus was raised up after he had been crucified and died. It is obvious that neither ALLAH’S Wisdom nor His Might would be required to arrange for a person who appeared to be Jesus to die on the cross instead of him. A clever intelligence agency could have arranged for that kind of superficial deception. But it would have required ALLAH’S Wisdom and His Power to raise Jesus from the tomb after he had indeed died.

When the verse about Jesus’ death and the verse after it which speaks of this resurrection are understood in the sense that the Qur’an intends for them to be understood, they solve a serious problem for Muslim thinkers. Now these two verses agree with other verses in the Qur’an which speak of either Jesus’ death or of his resurrection or both. With this new understanding, Women 4:157 and 158 no longer contradict other Qur’anic verses. For example, Family of Imran 3:55 states, “Oh Jesus, I will cause you to die and will raise you to myself…” With this new understanding this verse no longer needs an elaborate explanation that has Muslims waiting for Jesus to come back to earth so he can finally die and then be raised from death at the final resurrection.

The evidence is overwhelming that the verse, which is currently used to deny Jesus’ death, was never intended to be taken literally. So, I have resisted the temptation to sit on my hands and expect GOD to use only others who are more scholarly than myself to try to help Islam acknowledge the true intention of these Qur’anic verses. Though I am not a writer, I have written several papers attempting to reveal this more internally consistent interpretation of these two verses. I also have had a professional translator translate the papers into Arabic. Then I have mailed them in either Arabic or English to Muslim leaders throughout the world.

RESURRECTION MORNING

With this background in mind, these are the three visions which occurred Easter Sunday morning, March 30^th, 1997.      

Vision 1- THE LATCH ON THE WOODEN WINDOW

My eyes were fixed on a solid wooden window that would allow no light to pass through it. Then I found my eyes concentrating on a latch on the window which prevented the widow from being opened. I assumed that of course I could not open the latch because I have no mechanical aptitude to figure out how things work. However, the latch became so large and clear in my eyes that I could clearly see that it was the most basic type of window latch. It could be easily opened by anyone. As I realized that I could open the latch, the vision suddenly ended.

Vision 2- A THICK CHAIN FROM A DEEP HOLE

I was looking at what appeared to be a deep hole in the ground. But what my eyes became fixed upon was an externally thick chain which had one end in the hole with the other end lying loose on the ground extending several meters from the hole. But nothing was on the end of the chain. Whatever had been held in bondage by the chain had been released.

Vision 3- A GREEN TREE GROWING THROUGH A STRAIGHT ROAD

My eyes were then fixed on about three hundred meters of a very straight road. The road was fairly narrow, perhaps three to four meters wide. But less than a meter in from the right side of the road, a young and healthy green bush or tree had burst through the edge of the road and had began to grow. Just as I began to focus on the tree, an invisible but strong force began to rapidly peel back the part of the road that had been suppressing the green tree. The edge of the road simply began to curl up into the air in a similar way to the peeling of an orange or potato. As the rapid peeling process was about to reach the tree, the vision suddenly ended. I was left with the impression that the peeling back of that part of the straight road or path allowed opportunity for the tree to grow and produce fruit.

EXPLANATION

Vision 1 - THE LATCH

I am convinced that the wooden window that allowed no light to enter represents the agreement by Muslims to interpret Women 4:157 in a way that disagrees with both the Qur’an and the Scriptures preceding the Qur’an. Islam interprets this verse so that the courageous death of Jesus is denied. Tragically, when Islam denies Jesus’ sacrificial death, Islam also denies that ALLAH displayed His Own Great Might and Wisdom in gloriously raising Jesus from death. So, the very basic latch that became so large in my own eyes and so easy to open is one verse among the hundreds of verses in the entire Qur’an. Yes, it is that one verse that is used by Muslim leaders to make the misinformed claim that Jesus was not crucified on the cross. The explanation for what this verse truly means could not be more basic and simple, similar to the simple latch in my vision. The Qur’an uses exaggeration and hyperbole in order to totally focus the entire world’s attention on one magnificent reality. In one superb verse it is revealed that for all time Jewish leaders failed in their feeble plot to totally end the life of ALLAH’S Messiah. To deny that this is the true intention of this verse is to deny the obvious. It is to deny reality in order to cling to the comfort of tradition and superficiality.

In the last twenty years this verse has become very large in my eyes as I have considered it’s meaning in its context and in its relation to other verses in the Qur’an. I have also considered its meaning in its relation to many, many verses in the Scriptures preceding the Qur’an, which Scriptures the Qur’an so strongly affirms.

When the more logical, consistent and basic explanation of this verse’s true meaning is accepted by Muslims, the window latch is unlocked and the window will swing open wide so that the glorious light of the Risen Messiah will shine into Islam.

Vision 2 - THE THICK CHAIN

The thick chain from the deep hole or pit represents the bondage from the enemy of truth who has prevented Muslims from understanding the truth of the death and resurrection of Jesus. But once the true meaning of this one verse is understood, and then all Muslims are released from their former heavy chain of bondage to a misrepresentation of ALLAH’S truth.

Vision 3 - THE STRAIGHT ROAD

I knew intuitively, immediately after the Vision that the Straight Road or Path represents Islam. However, it was a few days later while reading the Qur’an that I became aware that the Qur’an itself refers to Islam as the “Straight Road” or “Straight Path.” The green bush or tree represents both Jesus Himself and those who in their hearts and minds have embraced the Living Jesus. Both Jesus and those who have embraced him have already burst through that part of Islam that has attempted to suppress them.

The invisible force that rapidly peeled back the edge of the road was ALLAH’S Mighty Spirit removing that part of Islam which has attempted to suppress that truth of Jesus’ compassionate death and his glorious resurrection. Yes, at the time of this writing there continues to be a tragic situation. If it were not such a serious situation, this misunderstanding of the Qur’an true intention could be considered humorous. Women 4:157 and 158 proclaim ALLAH’S total triumph over evil Jewish intentions in such a profound and glorious way that even brilliant Muslim minds have missed its true meaning. Of course these verses do not proclaim that ALLAH helped Jesus escape death. Rather, these remarkable verses shout to theintire world that the Almighty simultaneously and magnificently defeated both the enemies of His Living Word, and death itself. In the deepest sense, Isa/Jesus was neither killed nor crucified.

For those who may think I may have invented these visions, I fear ALLAH much too much to be engaged in such deception. Additionally, I felt obligated the Sunday following the visions to share with the Seattle church the visions and their meaning. Consequently, at a subsequent elders’ meeting, one elder made it very clear that he did not believe that GOD had inspired me to have any visions. He also implied that my activities over the last few years to influence Muslims to accept Jesus as their Messiah are totally wrong. Because of what he considered as my own misguided ideas, I was no longer welcome to share my ideas at their Church. This hurt me deeply as this particular church had been such a vital part of my whole family’s life. Therefore, if the visions had truly occurred, I would gladly not have shared about them in order to be accepted by the church. But GOD/ALLAH has emphatically taught me that to obey ALLAH is vastly more important than receiving acceptance or praise from man.

FIVE RELEVANT CONTEXTS

Several weeks after experiencing the three visions I realized that they occurred in five very significant contexts.          

Context 1 - AFTER MY OWN SILENT EXPRESSION OF DEEP CONCERN

It was a few minutes after I sat down after making my comments regarding the Jews’ rejection of Jesus’ sacrificial death that the visions occurred. However, as I was speaking about the Jews’ rejection of Jesus, GOD was aware of how my own heart was aching over the Muslims’ similar rejection of Jesus’ courageous death and glorious resurrection. That one billion two hundred million Muslims agree together that the greatest act of love and mercy in the history of the world did not occur, is tragic and causes me continual distress.

Context 2 - TWO ELDERS’ PREDICTIONS

In 1979 and in 1988 two different influential elders from the church which I was attending that morning each made private comments to me about how I should continue to communicate Christ to Muslims. They were each convinced that a time was coming when multitudes of Muslims would trust in the Living Christ as their Messiah. They both emphasized that since GOD Himself had named Islam’s forefather “GOD Hears” which is the literal meaning of Ishmael, GOD would soon respond to the silent cry of Muslim hearts and reveal their Messiah to them. These were Elder Alex Ainsley’s last words to me, as I returned to Saudi Arabia a few days after he made these comments. He joined our Risen Lord in Heaven within a month of our conversation. The other elder was sitting directly across from me when I made my public comments.

Context 3 - DURING THE MEETING WHICH FOCUSES ON JESUS’ DEATH

Jesus’ death is so significant that Jesus Himself taught his disciples to always remember him giving his life for the world. He taught them that when believers gathered together in the future, there should be many times when their total focus should be on thankfulness for him giving himself as a sacrifice for the disobedience of us all. Regretfully, all of Islam is now united in denying that this courageous act even occurred. Therefore, it is significant that a vision of their change of heart toward Jesus’ agonizing death on the cross occurred during a meeting where his courageous act of love for even those who hated him and rejected him, was the entire focus.

Context 4 - ON DAY OF RESURRECTION CELEBRATION

These three visions of Jesus revealing Himself to Islam occurred on Easter morning, the very day that celebrates Jesus’ resurrection. To underestimate the importance of GOD raising Jesus from death is a serious error. The Scriptures clearly teach that it is his triumphant resurrection from death that confirms that GOD has given Jesus the authority to be the final judge of each person of every nation (Acts 17:31 and Matthew 25). Since Jesus will be the just judge of every person whether we accept his authority or not, GOD/ALLAH grieves over Muslims’ rejection of Jesus’ sacrificial death and glorious resurrection.

Context 5 - AFFIRMATION OF PREVIOUS EFFORTS

For seventeen years I have been focusing my own energies, finances, thoughts, and prayers into one effort. I have mailed a total of thousands of several different papers I have written to different Islamic educators, Journalists, ambassadors, government leaders, businessmen etc., pleading with them to realize one thing. The true message of the Qur’an is that ALLAH’S Messiah Isa (Jesus) is the true Messiah of Islam. On Resurrection Morning (Easter), March 30, 1997, my mind was given three supernatural visions from the Almighty with one unequivocal message. The efforts of servants of ALLAH as well as my family’s sacrifices have not been in vain. ALLAH Himself, by His Own Might and Wisdom will soon exalt his Own Messiah within the Straight Path of Islam in a way that demonstrates His Own Glorious Power and His Own Incomparable Mercy, Forgiveness, love and Justice.

SUMMARY

The sequence in which these three visions occurred is quite significant. The first vision indicates that the first step for Islam to take is to have the courage to acknowledge the reality that a combination of a justified negative reaction to the horrors of the crusades and the influence of Judaism’s total rejection of the death and resurrection of Jesus has influenced Islam to miss the wonderful meaning of two most powerful verses in the entire Qur’an. Nevertheless it is understandable that Islamic thinkers, because of their justified resentment of the crusades, would allow Judaism’s unwise rejection of Jesus’ death and resurrection to temporarily blind their eyes to the true meaning of these two verses.

When Women 4:158 are understood to teach the redeeming death and glorious resurrection of Jesus, new light and fresh air from the Merciful will flood into the life of Islam through the wooden window that has been shut but has now been swung wide open. Then, the heavy chain of bondage to the negative influences which are against truth from ALLAH will have lost their evil grip and all will be free.

When the straight path of Islam is free to understand that Isa/Jesus is truly exalted as the Messiah in the Qur’an, Islam will then realize that the verses that appear to be negative about him are only intended to correct over-zealous Christian heresy. Also. Islam will come to understand that the dominant teaching of the Qur’an is to affirm the Scriptures which preceded the Qur’an (3:3, 3:187, 5:148, 10:94, etc.). Then they will also realize that when the Qur’an does, on a rare occasion, imply that the Scriptures have been changed, it is referring to the Jews having changed the meaning of Scriptures by their explanations with their tongues and not that Christians had altered the Scriptures with their pens. If they had been truly altered there would be in existence today many copies of the Scriptures before they were altered. When these issues are clarified, the Risen Isa/Jesus who has already burst through the edge of the straight path of Islam will grow and flourish within Islam. Not only will Islam carry truth to many areas of the world, but also will very possibly be the strategic influence that will help Judaism and Israel finally recognize their Risen Messiah (See Romans 11:11).

I am convinced that a combination of our obedience, our prayers and ALLAH’S Will, will determine how soon the wonderful message of these visions will be fulfilled.

May the Merciful Pour Out

His Blessing Upon You,

Abu Toma