As-Salamu `Alaykum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuh akhi,
He did not mislead anybody. I think his family and friends all knew that Allah, the Almighty and Sublime, saved him. The Bible was changed like a zillion times. FF Bruce, a former Christian and currently an atheist, as well as one of the biggest Bible scholars, says in every single on of his books that they do not have a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of any of the original manuscripts of the Bible. People mislead people. If Allah, the Most Glorified and Exalted, willed to mislead all the people by doing so, He would have not descended the Glorious Qur'an and mentioned therein that he was not killed. In addition, the Bible contradicts itself with regards to the crucifiction. Those verses do not necessarily have to correspond to the Islamic interpretation.
This is what I sent a Christian while debating with her, "Muslims believe that Jesus (peace be upon him) was never crucified but a look alike of him was instead. Hence, we do not believe that he rose three day later. We believe that God the Almighty raised him up to Himself and before the Day of Judgement, as our Prophet (peace be upon him) prophesized, God will make him reappear and all people would follow one religion. I did not want to make the status too long because many people would not read it but I have more to add. No misinderstandings though, for I swear I love and respect Jesus (peace be upon him) more than you do. Just from reading your message one could differ that you are one that understands in religion and had read the Bible.
Firstly, although it is one of the six pillars of faith for us to believe in all holy books that God had descended, we Muslims do not believe in the Bible we have nowadays as it had been changed and fabricated many times. This is not my opinion by the way. A man named FF Bruce, a Bible scholar, mentions in all of his books: "We do not have a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of a copy of any of the original manuscripts of the Bible." Not just the Bible, but the holy book of the Jews, the Torah, as well as all other holy scriptures save the Noble Qur'an have experienced a great number of fabrications and alliterations. Thus, we Muslims only rely on the Noble Qur'an and consider it to be the exact and unchanged Word of God ever since it's revelation. Proof is that ever since the Noble Qur'an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), a large sum of Muslims have memorized the Noble Qur'an, resulting to if anybody were to try and change even a single letter in the Noble Qur'an, it would be clearly noticeable. And in case you were wondering, yes, throughout the years, many have tried and failed to forge and change the Noble Qur'an. Nowadays, approximately 10 million Muslims worldwide know the whole Qur'an by heart. On the other hand, not a single Christian or Jew have memorized their holy scripture. Anyway, back to the subject.
So I will, God willing, give you evidence from the Bible itself that Jesus (peace be upon him) could not have been crucified or killed. Keep in mind that anything I might draw out of the Bible is not necessarily the Muslim perspective. The Noble Qur'an states, "That they (the wrong-doers) said (in boast), 'We killed the Christ Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah (God)';- but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but so it was made to appear to them [or it appeared so unto them], and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not: Nay, Allah (God) raised him up unto Himself; and Allah (God) is Exalted in Power, Wise." [4:157]
The word "crucify" means to put to death by nailing or binding on to a cross or crucifix. In other words, a person must die on the cross to be crucified, if so does not occur, then he was not crucified. A writing that describes the life, ministry, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus (peace be upon him) is called a Gospel. Judas, being the most trusted disciple doing the will of Jesus (peace be upon him), made the Christian Gnostic (Knowledge) Gospel describing the true life of Jesus (peace be upon him) which tell us that Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) was never crucified. However, it was burned by the Church Fathers in the year 325 at the Council of Nicaea and they claimed that Judas was a betrayer. This gospel was rediscovered in the Egyptian town of Naj Hammadi by a peasant in 1945.
If Jesus (peace be upon him) was not crucified and had not died then there could not have been any resurrection. A famous scholar also agreed that there was no evidence of crucifixion in the Gospel. He stated, "If you are looking for texts that depict the act of nailing persons to a cross you will not find any in the Gospels." In addition, according to Gunnar Samuelsson of Gothenburg University, the story of Jesus' execution is based on Christian traditions and artistic illustrations, and not antique texts. This is mentioned in doctoral thesis under the name of "Crucifixion in Antiquity - An Inquiry into the Background of the New Testament Terminology of Crucifixion". "The problem is descriptions of crucifixions are remarkably absent in the antique literature," said Samuelsson in an interview with the UK Daily Telegraph. "The sources where you would expect to find support for the established understanding of the event really don't say anything."
Now let us discuss with regard to proofs from the Bible.
As mentioned before, to be crucified, one must die on the cross. Jesus (peace be upon him) was put on the cross and brought down in only 3 hours. Only 3 hours is almost impossible for any person to die on a cross. Therefore, Jesus (peace be upon him) was alive. In addition, when he was bought down from the cross, his two cross mates were alive proving that Jesus (peace be upon him) was alive too. Also the legs of Jesus (peace be upon him) were not broken. What use is a broken leg to a dead man? Proving that he was alive. The stone was removed and the winding sheets were unwound proving that Jesus (peace be upon him) was alive. Keep in mind that Jesus (peace be upon him) was disguised as a gardener because he was trying to be saved from the Jews. This too indicates that he was alive at the time.
When Mary Magdalene went to touch Jesus (peace be upon him), he said, "Touch me not". He was alive but in pain. The disciples had even heard from Mary Magdalene that Jesus (peace be upon him) was alive. Jesus (peace be upon him) said, "I have not yet ascended unto my father." That means he was not dead. In the upper room Jesus (peace be upon him) showed his hands and feet to prove that he was not a spirit and that he was alive. The disciples were all overjoyed to see him as they thought that he was dead and in the spirit form. There were all happy to see him because he was alive. Jesus (peace be upon him) consumed broiled fish and honeycomb to prove that he was alive. All these points are from the Bible proving that Jesus (peace be upon him) had not been crucified. These are not just random statements taken out of context."
