The phrase wa rāfi‘uka ilayya (and I will raise you to Myself) in verse 54 of Surah Aal-e-Imran has been used to argue that these words prevent tawaffā from being interpreted as death. This argument is based on the notion that, in the case of death, the existence comprising both the soul and the body—upon which the act of elevation (raising) can be applied—no longer remains intact. In such a scenario, the object pronoun ‘ka’ (‘you’) would lose its coherence, as its referent is Jesus (PBUH) himself. While alive, Jesus (PBUH) remains a unified identity. However, in death, this personal identity does not persist in the same form; rather, it divides into distinct components—the soul of Jesus and the body of Jesus. This separation, it is argued, would render the notion of raising ‘you’ to Allah unclear or inapplicable if tawaffā were to imply death in this verse.
This argument is in itself against the norms of language and expression and the convention of the Holy Qur’an. It overlooks the reality that language is about communication, not logic. The intent and meanings conveyed by language are not determined by causal relationships as in mathematics, but are understood based on convention and usage. If well-known and conventional expressions are ignored, language turns into riddles and is unable to perform its fundamental function of communication.
Therefore, if someone presents the words wa rāfi‘uka ilayya (and I will raise you to Myself) from the mentioned verse as evidence to the argument that the object of the verb ‘raf‘’ applies to Jesus, who is a combination of body and soul, hence it is imperative that he was raised alive, then by the same principle, another person could use the words thumma ilayya marji‘ukum (then you shall all return to Me) to argue that the object of the verb ‘raj‘’ includes all the addressees, including Jews and Christians, who are a combination of body and soul and that it proves that all of them shall also return alive.
For better understanding of the subject, here are the sentences within the verse:
وَمَكَرُوْا وَمَكَرَ اللّٰهُ وَاللّٰهُ خَيْرُ الْمٰكِرِيْنَ . اِذْ قَالَ اللّٰهُ يٰعِيْسٰ٘ي اِنِّيْ مُتَوَفِّيْكَ وَرَافِعُكَ اِلَيَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْا وَجَاعِلُ الَّذِيْنَ اتَّبَعُوْكَ فَوْقَ الَّذِيْنَ كَفَرُوْ٘ا اِلٰي يَوْمِ الْقِيٰمَةِ ثُمَّ اِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَاَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ فِيْمَا كُنْتُمْ فِيْهِ تَخْتَلِفُوْنَ.
[This is what happened] and the Israelites started to devise covert schemes [against him] and [in response] God also devised a hidden scheme and, in such scheming, God is the best.
At that time when God said: Jesus, I have decided to give you death and lift you up to Myself and I shall purify you from these who have disbelieved in you and shall grant your followers supremacy over these disbelievers until the Day of Judgement. Then to Me finally you shall all have to return. So, at that time, I shall give verdict on what you have been differing in. (3:54-55)
Javed Ahmed Ghamidi’s position on this discussion is that the meaning of raf‘ (raising) cannot be determined in isolation from the structure and context of the sentence. Similarly, the interpretation of the preceding and following parts of the verse cannot be based on an isolated understanding of raf‘. Instead, the meanings of both parts— Rāfi‘uka ilayya wa mutahhiruka mina alladhīna kafarū (I will raise you to Myself and purify you from those who disbelieve)—must be determined in relation to Innī mutawaffīka (‘Indeed, I will cause you to die’).
Since the meaning of tawaffā is conclusively understood as death, i.e., the taking of the soul, Javed Ahmed Ghamidi asserts that no interpretation of the subsequent words should contradict or deviate from this established meaning. Based on this principle, he interprets the pronoun of address in rāfi‘uka (‘your raising’) as referring to the body of Jesus (PBUH) from which the soul had already been taken. According to him, this special treatment was granted to Jesus (PBUH) so that his pure body could be safeguarded from desecration or insult. He writes:
That is the Almighty after claiming Jesus’s soul will also lift his body to Him so that these evil-doers are not able to desecrate it. Jesus (PBUH) was a messenger of God and about messengers of God as per a law stated by the Qur’ān, the Almighty protects them and until their mission is accomplished none of their enemies is able to harm them in any way. Similarly, the Almighty does not tolerate people showing disrespect to them and people who are bent upon this are given respite to some extent and then He necessarily shields these messengers from their evil. (Al-Bayan 1/359)
As far as the words Wa mutahhiruka mina alladhīna kafarū are concerned, according to Javed Ahmed Ghamidi, they apply to the entire personality of Jesus. The meaning is that Allah will remove him from the impurities of the false beliefs and vile morals of the Jews and take him to His pure world:
The Almighty will separate him from these immoral people who are incriminated with evil concepts and take him to the world of the righteous which has been prepared for them. Meaning, I will separate you from those who are immersed in contaminations of knowledge and intellect and character and take you to the world prepared for the righteous and virtuous ones. (Al-Bayan 1/359)