In the interpretation of layu’minanna bihi qabla mawtihī most scholars and commentators believe that the words of Surah An-Nisa, verse 159, wa in min ahli al-kitābi illā layu’minanna bihī qabla mawtihī wa yawma al-qiyāmati yakūnu ‘alayhim shahīdan refer to Jesus (PBUH) and mean that ‘there will be none from the People of the Book who will not believe in him (Jesus) before his death and on the Day of Resurrection, he (Jesus) will be a witness against them.’ The meaning is that every person from the People of the Book will necessarily believe in Jesus (PBUH) before his death. This interpretation is used to affirm the life of Jesus, and thus, according to some scholars, this verse corroborates the narrations about the second coming of Jesus. When the two prospects are combined, the idea of Jesus being alive and his descent is deemed correct.
However, according to Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, Surah An-Nisa was revealed after the Hijra, at a time when a Muslim state had been established in Medina and the Prophet Muhammad was completing his argument of religion over the People of the Book and purifying the Muslims. This surah contains 176 verses, but its subject matter is completed at verse 126. From there on till the end, there is an appendix, which comments on the questions and objections of the addressees. Among these is the demand of the People of the Book included in verse 153, stated as Yas’aluka ahlu al-kitab an tunazzila ‘alayhim kitāban mina as-samāi meaning, ‘The People of the Book are demanding from you (Prophet Muhammad) to bring down a book other than the Qur’an directly from the heavens.’ Before addressing this demand, Allah in a very stern tone, listed the gravest crimes of the Jews, then while responding to the demand, He decreed wa in min ahli al-kitābi illā layu’minanna bihī qabla mawtihī wa yawma al-qiyāmati yakūnu ‘alayhim shahīdan meaning, ‘Every one of them is bound to believe in it (the Qur’an) before his own death, and on the Day of Resurrection, it (the Qur’an) will be a witness against them.’ Ghamidi sees the referent of layu’minanna bihi as the Holy Qur’an and the pronoun in qabla mawtihī as every individual from the People of the Book who was a direct addressee of the Prophet. He considers this the only acceptable interpretation given the theme of the discourse, the arrangement of sentences, and the context of the verse. In his view, the context of the discourse rejects the interpretation of the scholars. However, even if one were to accept the scholar’s interpretation for the sake of argument, there is no defined way to apply or realize it. As a result, it leads to a situation of impossibility, and the contents of the verse no longer remain relevant or plausible.