Allah Says in The Noble Quran (interpretation of meaning), “˹They were condemned˺ for breaking their covenant, rejecting Allah’s signs, killing the Prophets unjustly, and for saying, ‘Our hearts are unreceptive!’—it is Allah Who has sealed their hearts for their disbelief, so they do not believe except for a few—and for their denial and outrageous accusation against Mary, and for boasting, ‘We killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.’ But they neither killed nor crucified him—it was only made to appear so. Even those who argue for this ˹crucifixion˺ are in doubt. They have no knowledge whatsoever—only making assumptions. They certainly did not kill him. Rather, Allah raised him up to Himself. And Allah is Almighty, All-Wise” (Quran 4:155-158).
When reading these verses, some people might wonder: why did Allah make it seem like Jesus (peace be upon him) was crucified? First and foremost, Muslims believe that Allah has unlimited wisdom and knowledge. He always knows what He is doing, even if humanity doesn’t fully understand it. Secondly, it’s important to remember that Allah saved His Prophet from the people who were trying to kill him. This shows His mercy and protection. So, why would anyone blame Allah for saving His Prophet? The blame falls on those who tried to harm Jesus, not on Allah who protected him. Moreover, this question is also connected to the idea of free will. Allah gave people the ability to choose between good and evil. Therefore, someone might ask, “Why did God let Hitler have power when He knew he would do bad things?” But the answer is that people are responsible for their choices. Allah gave them the freedom to choose, and they are judged and will be requited by what they choose to do. Also, the idea that Jesus was crucified does not cause any problem for the real followers of Jesus at his time. Muslims believe that true followers of Jesus were actually Muslims, because they submitted to God who commanded them to follow their prophet at the time, which would be Jesus (Peace and Blessings be upon him). Even if they thought Jesus died, that would not stop the true followers of Jesus from their salvation entering Paradise, because they still believed in God and followed the truth they knew. The real problem comes in later Christian beliefs, which attached a big package to the crucifixion, like original sin and that Jesus died to forgive everyone’s sins. But these ideas, namely Jesus dying to forgive everyone’s sins, were added later by Paul, who claimed he saw a vision of Jesus, and Muslims believe that they were not part of Jesus’s original message.
Additionally, Muslims were not the first group of people to believe Jesus wasn’t crucified. It is clear from history that there were very early Christian writings and Christians that believed Jesus was a Prophet and didn’t believe that he had died. For example, the Ebionites (years 30-80 C.E.), who were among the very earliest Christian people, believed that Jesus was just a Messiah and Prophet of God, and that the one true God is The Father. In fact, the earliest claim to say that Jesus wasn’t crucified is not Islam, rather, this claim came as early as early 2nd century from Basilides, who claimed that Simon of Cyrene was made to look like Jesus and Jesus was made to look like Simon. Some others thought that it was Judas who was on the cross and not Jesus, as mentioned in the Gospel of Judas. So saying that Allah helped start the religion of Christianity is a baseless claim, as many early Christians who believed in the true teachings of Jesus Christ knew who he was only a Prophet (it was not until hundreds of years later in 325 C.E. that the Council of Nicea officially voted and agreed that Jesus was co-equal to God), and those who tried to kill Jesus (Peace and Blessings be upon him) were already disbelievers. To add on to all of this, even if there was a Christian at that time who thought his Prophet Jesus actually did die and was unaware, this wouldn’t affect his or her salvation at all. They would still go to Paradise as long as they follow Jesus as their Prophet and followed the Gospel and Worshipped God as He wants to be worshipped. All of the claims that surround the crucifixion is what came after, such as raising Jesus to the divine level, the trinity, believing that Jesus died for everyone’s sins, etc. In fact, in the first 300 years of Christianity, there is not a single church father that believed in the trinity, not a single one, but after that they did start disputing the divinity of Jesus in the 4th century and that’s why they had to form more than one council. This argument is paramount to blaming Allah because He created the sun and the moon and the stars because the pagans worship them. Or why God created hitler knowing he will kill millions of people. God does whatever He does, and He has Infinite Wisdom, and He gives people free will so they can either choose The Right Path or choose misguidance. So to conclude, there are many Wisdoms behind the decisions of Allah that people can’t comprehend, but it is very clear that this action was the fault of those Jews who tried to kill Jesus (Peace and Blessings be upon him), and Allah protected his Prophet from the disbelievers.
And Allah knows best.