ABSTRACT
The crucifixion is taken up on p.54. Hamidullah says that it is a minor historical question for Islam. "Even if Jesus was crucified and killed, nothing changes, because other prophets have eoually been assassinated by miscreants." He adds that the Islamic conception of Divine Justice does not admit the punishment of the innocent (in this case, Jesus) as a con dition of pardon for culpable sinners. Hussein says that the Quranic text on the crucifixion may be taken in two ways: certainly they did not kill him; or they were not sure of having killed him. But there is no doubt that the weight of Islamic attitude rests upon the first interpretation, "flor me, the problem of the crucifixion is a problem of two different mentalities: a) the Christians, like the Shiites, need a mar tyr who suffers for others; b) while we Sunnis have no need in our spirituality for such an idea, which represents for us a sort of injustice. Consequently, my response to the question is that, on this plane, the two positions are irreconcilable," He goes on to give a poetic look at the possibility that they are reconcilable on a higher plane.
