According to the Gospel of John, the legs of Jesus (as) were not broken because he was already dead. Yet Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (as), the Promised Messiah, writes in his book Jesus in India that Jesus (as) came down from the cross alive. How do these fit together?

It is true that his legs were not broken. But it does not follow that he was dead. If one looks at everything that happened before, during and after the crucifixion, everything points to Jesus (as) still being alive.

One must not look at a single moment on the cross alone. One has to consider the whole course of events, and according to the very same Gospels.

Beforehand Jesus (as) announced that his generation would be given only the sign of Jonah. Jonah was three days in the belly of the fish, yet alive, and came out again alive, as the verse above says. A dead man in a tomb would be no sign of Jonah. Then Jesus (as) prayed all night in tears that God would let the bitter cup pass from him. Such a prayer of a prophet does not go unanswered.

On the cross itself he hung for only a few hours. The crucifixion took place on Friday after midday, and the bodies had to be taken down before the Sabbath began at sunset. Yet death on the cross usually took much longer. When his side was pierced, blood and water flowed out. In medical terms this is a sign of life, for a dead body does not bleed in this way.

Why, then, were his legs not broken? Pilate was well disposed towards Jesus (as) and did not really want to condemn him. Joseph of Arimathea, a respected follower, asked for the body. It is likely that Jesus (as) was deliberately spared.

Afterwards the disciples saw him alive, and he showed himself only in secret. He then went away to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel, as he had promised. In this way all the pieces fit together, and the Holy Qur’an confirms it: he did not die on the cross.