SURAH AL-E-IMRAN: 54-55

TRANSLATION:

[3:54]

They (the opponents of Isa ) devised a plan, and Allah devised a plan. And Allah is the best of all planners.

[3:55]

When Allah said: .O Isa , I am to take you in full and to raise you towards Myself, {23} and to cleanse you of those who disbelieve, and to place those who follow you above those who disbelieve up to the Day of Doom. {24} Then to Me is your return, whereupon I shall judge between you in that over which you have differed.

INTERPRETATION:

{23 } The enemies of Hazrat Isa AS (Jesus) had planned to nail him to a cross. However, Allah Ta'alah lifted him to the Heavens. Allah Ta'alah turned one of the people who had come to arrest Hazrat Isa AS into his look alike, and the enemies nailed him to a cross believing that he was Hazrat Isa AS. The translation of this verse here is based on the literal meaning of the Arabic word "توفی", and a big group of Interpreters of the Holy Quran have adopted the same meaning. There is another possible meaning of this word which has been adopted by Hazrat Abdullah Ibn Abbas RAA, and has been explained in Ma'ariful Quran volume 2.

{24} It means that the followers of Hazrat Isa AS (whether they are true followers like Muslims, or followers who have exaggerated his status) will always dominate the enemies of Hazrat Isa AS. That is the way it has always been in history. If exceptionally his enemies achieved domination for a short period in hundreds of years of history it doesn't go against this rule.