Bismillah: Assalamo Alikum.
Before I dwell into the subject, I would like to apologize in advance if this article might hurt any Christian friend, this is my observation of the Christian Bible, and so you may take it and come to Islam in which you will find peace and comfort insh a Allah, or you may ignore it and be our friends as you are now. But for those who could easily get emotional when talking about religions, <b>then you may not read it at all</b> to avoid any tension.
The topic is about the only prophecy that was given to the Jews by Jesus pbuh himself to prove that he was the Messiah, I am not talking about the one thousands+ prophecies of the Old Testaments that Christians are always talking about, I am only examining <b>the only claim that was made by Jesus pbuh himself to prove to the Jews that he was the appointed Christ pbuh</b>, but let us see if that prophecy was fulfilled or not.
We are told in the Gospel of Mathew, that some learned Jewish people approached Jesus pbuh asking him <b>"Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you."
</b> Matthew 12:38 and then he answered them very strongly saying: <b>"A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
</b> Matthew 12:39-40
Please note that the <b>ONLY SIGN </b> he gave to the Jews was the sign of the prophet Jonah, he didn't mention about any other miracle that he performed in front of their very eyes, <b>NO SIGN BUT ONE</b>, and that is the sign of Jonah, he is actually claiming to be the Messiah, <b>and the only sign that would prove him right and true, is the sign of Jonah.</b>
Now there are two questions to be asked:
<b>1- Did Jesus really fulfill that prophecy? </b>
2- What was exactly that sign of Jonah pbuh that Jesus pbuh is talking about?
To answer the first question, we have to know exactly what was that sign or miracle of prophet Jonah, and to get the correct answer <b>you have to open the Bible and read the book of Jonah</b> ( <i>the book of Jonah in the Bible is only one page</i>)… after reading, we can summarize the story of Jonah as follows:
1- God told Jonah to go to Nineveh and warn their people to repent from their evil ways.
2- Jonah, instead of going to Nineveh he goes to Joppa, and took a boat to escape from God's command.
3- When he was in his boat, the boat was affected by terrible storm, and back then, they believed that anyone who runs away from his master's command, causes turbulence at the sea.
4- They started to cast lots to see who was responsible for causing this evil upon them, so the lot fell on Jonah.
5- After that, Jonah <b>voluntarily</b>, asked them to throw him in the sea because he was the person that disobeyed God's command, and so they throw him into the sea.
6- A huge whale in the middle of the ocean came and swallows Jonah.
7- <b>For three days and three nights</b>, Jonah was in the belly of the whale praying to God to remove his difficulty.
8- After three days and three nights, the whale vomits Jonah on the seashore.
<b>Now please pay attention and try to answer those questions by yourself. </b>
- When Jonah was thrown from the boat into the sea, was he <b>dead or alive</b>?
Answer: -----------
- when the fish swallow Jonah, was he <b>dead or alive</b>?
Answer: -----------
- When he was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights praying, was he <b>dead or alive? </b>
Answer: ------------
- When the whale vomits him on the seashore, was he <b>dead or alive</b>?
Answer: -------------
If you answer to the above questions was <b>ALIVE</b>, then you have certainly understood the <b>miracle/sign of the prophet Jonah that Jesus pbuh was talking about.</b>
Now, if Jonah was alive in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, then <b>according to Jesus, he must have been alive too in his tomb for three days and three nights</b>, otherwise, why he had to say <b>FOR AS JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS, SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS</b>. But when you ask Christians, was Jesus dead or alive in his tomb, you will find 100% of them saying that he was dead. <b>Jesus plainly saying that what happened to Jonah is going to happen to me</b>, but Christians promote the exact opposite of what their master have said about himself.
But to solve this problem, some Christians have come up with another explanation, saying that Jesus actually was talking about the<b> time period of staying in the tomb</b>, and NOT about being dead or alive. I am asking now, <b>what is so miraculous about timing?</b> The miracle of Jonah actually is considered to be the mightiest miracle of the Bible, a person who had to die 3 times over, was found at the end alive (<b>when he was thrown into the sea</b>), alive (<b>when he was eaten by the whale</b>) alive (<b>for three days and three nights in the belly of the whale</b>), AND alive (<b>when the whale vomits him after three days and three nights</b>) . but Christians said Jesus was <b>dead, dead, dead</b>.
But anyway, let us examine further, whether Jesus pbuh fulfill the prophecy of <b>timing</b> as explained by some Chrsitians.
Ask any Christian, when was Jesus crucified, and almost all of them will say <b>ON FRIDAY</b> (<i>and that's why they call it good Friday</i>). According to Christians, he was killed on Friday, but before killing him, they torture him badly, they made him carry the huge cross and walk from Pilate to Herod, and then back to Pilate, so by the time they hang him on the cross it was little late, but they also wanted to bring him down quickly on the same day (Friday) and before sunset because of the Sabbath, because they were warned in the OT that the victim of crucifixion is not permitted to remain on the cross on the Sabbath day (Deuteronomy 21:23). After that, late on Friday, the disciples of Jesus took his body down from the Cross, gave him the burial bath and send him to his tomb <b>before night fall.</b>
So the first time Jesus entered his tomb was <b>FRIDAY NIGHT</b>.
<b>Now please count with me how many days and night did Jesus stay in his tomb and figure out by yourself whether he fulfill his own prophecy or not</b>
(FOR AS JONAH WAS THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS, SO SHALL THE SON OF MAN BE THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS IN THE HEART OF THE EARTH
)
<b>FRIDAY NIGHT</b> he entered his grave (ONE NIGHT
)
<b>SATARDAY DAY</b> he is still in his grave (ONE DAY
)
<b>SATARDAY NIGHT</b> he is still in his grave (ANOTHER NIGHT
)
<b>SUNDAY MORNING</b>, the first day of the week and before sunrise, (Mary Magdalene went to his tomb but found it EMPTY
)
Now I am asking, <b>how many days and how many nights did he stay in the tomb?</b>
-------------------------------------------------
RIGHT… they are only <b>TWO NIGHTS and A DAY</b>. but what the prophecy says? THREE DAYS AND THREE NIGHTS.
Now I am asking another simple question, <b>are 3 and 3 is same as 2 and 1?</b> Of course there is something wrong here and every Christian should re arrange his thoughts and figure out what went wrong with their scriptures.
It is either Jesus was lying or fooling the Jews by the words he uttered (<b>we Muslims don't believe that he is a lair</b>), or that the books that you are reading have got <b>serious problem</b>.
We ask Allah, the Almighty God to accept our good deeds and intentions for writing this article, and forgive us if any of what we have said was wrong. Ameen.
Salam
Wael.