Ṣalaḥ al-Irānī
June 4, 2026
8 mins read
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The enemies of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam conspired to have him seized, condemned, and executed. They reported him to one of the ruling disbelieving kings of that era, whose name, according to al-Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (d. 110 AH / 728 CE) and Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq (d. 150 AH / 767 CE), was Dāwūd ibn Yūrā. Upon his order, soldiers were dispatched to arrest ʿĪsā. They surrounded a house in Bayt al-Maqdis (Jerusalem) where he had taken shelter, closing in on the evening of Friday as the Sabbath night began. With him inside the house were twelve men – his disciples, the Ḥawāriyyūn.
The narrative recorded by Wahb ibn Munabbih (d. 114 AH / 732 CE), transmitted through Ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī (d. 310 AH / 923 CE), gives a vivid and moving account of ʿĪsā’s final night with his companions.
When Allah ﷻ informed ʿĪsā that his time in this world was coming to an end, the weight of that knowledge bore heavily upon him. He gathered his disciples and prepared a meal for them, serving them himself. When they had finished eating, he rose and began to wash their hands with his own hands and to dry them with his garment. His companions were humbled and reluctant to allow this, but he said to them:“Whoever refuses what I do tonight has no part of me, nor I of him.”
They submitted. When he had finished, he said: “As for what I have done tonight – serving you at the table and washing your hands with my own hands – let it be an example for you. You see that I am the best among you, yet let none of you exalt himself above another. Let each of you give of himself to his brother as I have given of myself to you.”
He then revealed his true need in gathering them: he asked them to supplicate to Allah ﷻ and to strive earnestly in that supplication, asking that his appointed time be delayed.
But when they prepared themselves for supplication, sleep overcame them. They could not keep themselves awake. He went to rouse them, saying: “Subḥān Allah – can you not remain patient with me for a single night, and aid me in this?”
They replied: “By Allah, we do not know what has come over us. We are men who customarily stay up talking through the night, yet tonight we cannot. Every time we intend to supplicate, we find ourselves prevented.” He said to them: “The shepherd is taken, and the flock scatters.” And he began to speak words of as one bidding farewell to his own life.
Then he said: “Truly, before the cock crows three times, one of you will deny me twelve times after having believed, one of you will sell me for a small sum of dirhams and eat the price, and one of you will bargain me away.”
As the night wore on, the Jews intensified their search. They seized Shamʿūn – one of the foremost disciples – and accused him of being a companion of ʿĪsā. He denied it. He was seized again by others, and again he denied. Then the cock crowed, and he wept with grief at what he had done.
By morning, one of the disciples went to the Jews and said: “What will you give me if I lead you to the Messiah?” They offered him thirty dirhams. He took the money and led them to him.
Yet a substitution had already occurred before their arrival – a shubha, a likeness, had been cast upon another.
According to the transmission from ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās, recorded by Ibn Abī Ḥātim (d. 327 AH / 938 CE) with a chain of transmission graded ṣaḥīḥ on the criteria of Imām Muslim (d. 261 AH / 875 CE), the events unfolded as follows:
When Allah ﷻ willed to raise ʿĪsā to the heavens, ʿĪsā emerged from a spring within the house to his twelve companions. His head was dripping with water. He addressed them, saying:
“Among you is one who will disbelieve in me twelve times after having believed.” He then said: “Which of you will have my likeness cast upon him, be killed in my place, and be with me in my station?”
The youngest among them stood up. ʿĪsā said: “Sit down.” He asked again. The young man stood again. ʿĪsā said: “Sit down.” He asked a third time. The young man stood and said: “I will.” ʿĪsā said: “Then it is you.”
The likeness of ʿĪsā was cast upon that young man. ʿĪsā was then raised up through an opening in the roof of the house – a rawzana directly into the heavens. The disciples watched as he ascended.
The soldiers entered, found the young man upon whom the likeness had been cast, took him, killed him, and crucified him. They placed thorns upon his head in mockery.
In a further narration from Wahb ibn Munabbih, transmitted by Ibn Jarīr, the account adds that as the soldiers led away the one who resembled ʿĪsā – taunting him, spitting upon him, and casting thorns upon him – saying: “You who used to raise the dead and rebuke Shayṭān and cure the possessed – why do you not free yourself from this rope?” – ʿĪsā was raised to Allah ﷻ at that very moment.
The one who bore his likeness was crucified in his place. He remained on the cross for seven days.
After seven days had passed, ʿĪsā’s mother, Maryam, and a woman whom ʿĪsā had healed of her affliction – by the permission of Allah, came weeping to the place of the crucified. ʿĪsā appeared to them and said:
“Why do you weep?” They said: “For you.” He said: “Allah has raised me to Himself, and nothing but good has come to me. This is a matter in which a resemblance was cast for them. Inform the disciples to meet me at such-and-such a place.”
Eleven of the disciples met him at that place. The one who had sold him and betrayed his location to the Jews was absent. When ʿĪsā asked after him, the companions informed him that the man had regretted what he had done, and had strangled himself and taken his own life. ʿĪsā said: “Had he repented, Allah would have accepted his repentance.”
He then asked after a young boy who followed them, known as Yaḥyā. He said: “He is with you – so go forth. Every one of you will wake tomorrow speaking the language of a people; let him warn them and call them to Allah.”
Ibn ʿAbbās continues:
After these events, the Christians divided into three groups. The first said: “Allah was among us as long as He willed, then He ascended to the heavens.” These were the Yaʿqūbiyyah. The second said: “The Son of Allah was among us as long as Allah willed, then Allah raised him to Himself.” These were the Nasṭūriyyah. The third said: “The servant of Allah and His Messenger was among us as long as Allah willed, then Allah raised him to Himself.” These were the Muslims.
The two disbelieving sects then joined forces against the Muslim sect and destroyed them. Islam was thus extinguished and obscured – until Allah ﷻ sent Muḥammad ﷺ.
Ibn ʿAbbās said: this is the meaning of the statement of Allah ﷻ:
فَأَيَّدۡنَا ٱلَّذِینَ ءَامَنُوا۟ عَلَىٰ عَدُوِّهِمۡ فَأَصۡبَحُوا۟ ظَـٰهِرِینَ ۞
“So We supported those who believed against their enemies, and they became victorious.” (Sūrat al-Ṣaff, 61:14)
Allah ﷻ states with complete clarity:
وَقَوۡلِهِمۡ إِنَّا قَتَلۡنَا ٱلۡمَسِیحَ عِیسَى ٱبۡنَ مَرۡیَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَـٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمۡ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِینَ ٱخۡتَلَفُوا۟ فِیهِ لَفِی شَكٍّ مِّنۡهُ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنۡ عِلۡمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ یَقِینًا بَلۡ رَفَعَهُ ٱللَّهُ إِلَیۡهِ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَزِیزًا حَكِیمًا ۞
“And their saying: ‘We killed the Messiah ʿĪsā, son of Maryam, the Messenger of Allah’ – but they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him; rather, a likeness was made for them. And indeed those who differed over him are in doubt concerning him. They have no knowledge of it except the following of assumption. And they did not kill him, for certain. Rather, Allah raised him to Himself. And Allah is ever Exalted in Might, Wise.” (Sūrat al-Nisāʾ, 4:157–158)
Ibn Kathīr, Ismāʿīl ibn ʿUmar (d. 774 AH / 1373 CE). Al-Bidāyah wa’l-Nihāyah. Edited by ʿAlī Shīrī. 1st edition. Dār Iḥyāʾ al-Turāth al-ʿArabī, Beirut, 1408 AH / 1988 CE. Vol. 2, pp. 507–514.
Al-Ṭabarī, Muḥammad ibn Jarīr (d. 310 AH / 923 CE). Jāmiʿ al-Bayān ʿan Taʾwīl Āy al-Qurʾān. Edited by Aḥmad Muḥammad Shākir. Muʾassasat al-Risālah, Beirut, 1420 AH / 2000 CE.
Ibn Abī Ḥātim, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad (d. 327 AH / 938 CE). Tafsīr al-Qurʾān al-ʿAẓīm. Edited by Asʿad Muḥammad al-Ṭayyib. Maktabat Nizār Muṣṭafā al-Bāz, Makkah al-Mukarramah, 1419 AH / 1998 CE.
Al-Qurʾān al-Karīm. Translation based on: Muḥammad Taqī al-Dīn al-Hilālī and Muḥammad Muḥsin Khān. Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Qurʾān in the English Language. Dār al-Salām, Riyadh, 1996 CE.
May 23, 2026
14 mins read
