the Reality of the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ

Who was really crucified at Golgotha? Did Jesus die on the cross, or did the events unfold in a way very different from what humanity has remembered?

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is one of the most debated events in religious history.

For Christians, it holds a central place in the mystery of salvation. In Islam, the Quran presents a different understanding of the events.

But how can these divergences be explained?

In the twelfth Door of The Goal of the Wise, Abdullah Hashem Aba Al-Sadiq (From Him is Peace) proposes an interpretation that draws on the canonical Gospels, the Quran, Gnostic manuscripts and teachings attributed to Ahmed Al-Hassan (From Him is Peace).

This Door leads us to the heart of a mystery: the difference between the one whom people saw suffer and the true spiritual identity of Jesus.

1. Two traditions facing the crucifixion

The accounts of the New Testament describe the arrest, the trial and the crucifixion of Jesus.

The Gospel according to Mark, chapter 15, mentions in particular Simon of Cyrene, pressed into service to carry the cross, then the arrival at Golgotha.

The majority Christian tradition teaches that Jesus died on the cross and that he rose again.

The Quran, in Surah An-Nisa, verse 157, presents another perspective: the adversaries of Jesus would have neither killed him nor crucified him as they claimed.

The book then raises a fundamental question: could these accounts be understood on the basis of a distinction between the physical body and the soul?

2. The Gnostic manuscripts and the mystery of the cross

The twelfth Door examines the Second Treatise of the Great Seth, a text preserved in the Nag Hammadi library.

In this manuscript, Jesus speaks of an apparent suffering and distinguishes his true identity from the one who undergoes certain acts of violence.

The author connects this account with the Quranic verse concerning the crucifixion.

According to his interpretation, the witnesses would have seen a real crucifixion on the physical level, without fully understanding the identity of the one who was crucified.

This reading seeks to reconcile the Christian and Muslim traditions through a spiritual conception of the event.

It should be noted, however, that the Gnostic writings represent particular ancient traditions and are not recognized as undisputed historical accounts of the crucifixion.

3. The role of Simon of Cyrene

Simon of Cyrene appears in the Gospels as the man forced to carry the cross of Jesus.

But in the interpretation developed by The Goal of the Wise, his role could be far more important.

The author examines Gnostic passages that speak of a substitution and establish a distinction between Jesus and the one who undergoes the physical violence.

The chapter connects these accounts with the notion of the transmigration of the soul, studied in Door 10.

If a soul can leave one body and enter another, as the doctrine of the book maintains, then the crucifixion could be understood differently.

The author thus presents Simon as a central figure in his explanation of the mystery.

4. The living Jesus and the crucified body

Another text studied is the Apocalypse of Peter, also from the Nag Hammadi library.

This account distinguishes the living Jesus from a bodily figure subjected to crucifixion.

For the author, this distinction is in line with the teaching that spiritual identity is not limited to the physical body.

From this perspective, the visible suffering of a body does not necessarily imply that the soul of Jesus remained in that body until its death.

The crucifixion then becomes an event with several levels of understanding.

5. Transmigration as a key to interpretation

Door 10 had presented transmigration as the passage of a soul into another body that is already living.

The twelfth Door applies this doctrine to the account of the crucifixion.

The author maintains that the events of Golgotha must be examined by distinguishing the identity of the body from that of the soul.

He also reports conversations with Ahmed Al-Hassan concerning the Gnostic texts and the ability of certain souls to inhabit different bodies.

These teachings form the foundation of the interpretation proposed in the book.

6. The spiritual meaning of the crucifixion

Beyond the question of the identity of the crucified one, this Door invites reflection on the meaning of sacrifice.

Why would a messenger accept to suffer?

Why would God allow people to think they had triumphed over His envoy?

From the chapter's perspective, the events of the crucifixion cannot be understood solely through the violence inflicted by men.

They are also part of a spiritual history in which appearances can conceal a deeper reality.

7. Can the Gospels and the Quran be reconciled?

One of the author's aims is to show that the differences between the texts might not be irreconcilable.

The Gospels report the crucifixion.

The Quran disputes that the adversaries of Jesus truly killed him as they claimed.

The Gnostic writings introduce the distinction between the living Jesus and the body subjected to suffering.

The book brings these elements together to propose an explanation founded on the soul and its manifestations.

This synthesis represents a particular theological interpretation, different from the majority Christian and Muslim doctrines.

Conclusion — Who was really on the cross?

The twelfth Door of The Goal of the Wise proposes to reconsider the crucifixion of Jesus in the light of the teachings on the soul, transmigration and the Gnostic texts.

It presents Golgotha as an event whose spiritual reality would have been misunderstood.

What if the real question were not only to know which body was crucified, but to understand where the soul of Jesus really was?

The next Door continues this exploration with another fundamental mystery: the resurrection of Jesus Christ.