Don’t the Christians have the right to believe in the crucifixion, as they saw it with their own eyes?

Praise
be to Allah

There is nothing in the Holy Qur’an or in the Prophet’s
Sunnah to condemn the early Christians (i.e., before the sending of our
Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)) as disbelievers
because of their belief that the Messiah (peace be upon him) was killed and
crucified. Rather Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, condemns them as
disbelievers because they regarded the Messiah as a god, and because they
regarded divinity as being three: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the
meaning):

“Surely, they have disbelieved
who say: ‘Allah is the Messiah (‘Eesa (Jesus)), son of Maryam (Mary).’ But
the Messiah (‘Eesa (Jesus)) said: ‘O Children of Israel! Worship Allah, my
Lord and your Lord.’ Verily, whosoever sets up partners in worship with
Allah, then Allah has forbidden Paradise for him, and the Fire will be his
abode. And for the Zalimoon (polytheists and wrongdoers) there are no
helpers.

Surely,
disbelievers are those who said: ‘Allah is the third of the three (in a
Trinity).’ But there is no ilah (god) (none who has the right to be
worshipped) but One Ilah (God -Allah). And if they cease not from what they
say, verily, a painful torment will befall the disbelievers among them”

[al-Maa’idah 5:72-73]. 

There is nothing in the Holy Qur’an that says “surely they
have disbelieved who say that the Messiah was killed and crucified”! 

The reason for that is that Allah caused another man to
resemble ‘Eesa, and his enemies killed him, thinking that he was the
Messiah. Not one of the followers of the Messiah and his disciples was
present in that place, so that they could be certain of the identity of the
one who was crucified, apart from some women who stood some way off, looking
on. Then the news spread that the Messiah had been killed and crucified and
buried, and many people believed that, even some of his followers, because
they did not have knowledge to prove that false, and the Messiah – as he was
a human being – could have been killed, as the Jews had killed other
Prophets before him. 

That was the excuse of those who adopted this false belief. 

Hence we agree with your view that it is natural – as you say
– that the Christians, by whom we mean the early Christians, before the
coming of our Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) would
believe in the crucifixion and the killing of ‘Eesa (peace be upon him). But
after the sending of the Messenger (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) and the revelation of the Qur’an, and the definitive denial of the
killing and crucifixion of the Messiah, whoever believes in the killing and
crucifixion of the Messiah after that is a disbeliever, because he has
rejected what Qur’an says, which definitive evidence and miracles have
proven is the true word of Allah and not the words of any human being. 

Whoever among the followers of the Messiah – before the
Prophethood of our Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon
him) – believed in the Messiah as a Prophet and Messenger, not as a god or
son of God, and followed his teachings, but mistakenly believed that he was
killed and crucified, that person was a believer and a monotheist, and is
excused for that mistaken belief. 

Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

If it is said that the disciples, or some of them, or many of
the people of the Book, or most of them, used to believe that the Messiah
himself was crucified, they were mistaken in that, but this mistake was not
something that would undermine their belief in the Messiah, if they believed
in what he brought, and they are not inevitably doomed to Hell, because the
Gospels that are in the hands of the People of the Book mentioned the
crucifixion of the Messiah.

End quote from al-Jawaab as-Saheeh (2/302) 

But that excuse ceased with the coming of the true facts from
the Lord of the Worlds, in His Book, that the matter was made to appear thus
to the Jews, and that Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, did not give
them power over the Prophet of Allah ‘Eesa in any real sense, and He did not
enable them to kill him or crucify him. As that is the case, there is no
longer any excuse, once the true facts have come. 

Ibn Hazm (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, did not send down any
book before the Qur’an in which it was either affirmed or denied that the
Messiah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) was crucified; rather it
was confirmed in the Qur’an that this never happened, thus is became
required to reject the reports which said that he was crucified.

End quote from al-Fasl fi’l-Milal wa’l-Ahwa’ wa’n-Nihal
(1/57) 

But the facts mentioned in the Holy Qur’an only benefit those
who hear it and receive it on the basis of proof that leaves no excuse, and
those for whom proof is established of the Prophethood of our Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and the truthfulness of his
message. 

Therefore it is appropriate here to call the Jews and
Christians to Islam and to believe in Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah
be upon him) as a Prophet and Messenger from Allah, may He be exalted, and
to believe in the Qur’an as the word of Allah, may He be glorified and
exalted. Whoever submits in Islam to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds, and
believes in His Prophet, and in His holy Book, it becomes to him, on the
basis of rational thinking, to believe in the words of Allah, may He be
glorified and exalted, concerning this matter (interpretation of the
meaning):

“And because of their saying (in
boast), ‘We killed Messiah ‘Eesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), the
Messenger of Allah,’ – but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the
resemblance of ‘Eesa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that
man), and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no
(certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they
killed him not (i.e. ‘Eesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary) )

But
Allah raised him (‘Eesa (Jesus)) up (with his body and soul) unto Himself
(and he is in the heavens). And Allah is Ever AllPowerful, AllWise”

[an-Nisa’ 4:157, 158]. 

What is so hard to believe in what the Qur’an mentions?
Especially since we are speaking about a Prophet and Messenger such as ‘Eesa
(peace be upon him), who used to raise the dead and heal those born blind
and lepers, and who spoke in the cradle, all of which are miracles that are
contrary to the laws governing the universe and human beings. So why would
we find it far-fetched to believe that Allah, may He be glorified and
exalted, would make the man who was crucified resemble ‘Eesa to those who
were present at the crucifixion? What is so impossible about this fact?
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, supports His Messengers, and
protects them by His grace and might, so that ‘Eesa was kept with Allah for
a mission at the end of time. 

Hence the Muslim should not speak to the Christian about the
crucifixion in the first place, and debate with him as to whether it
happened or not, except from the angle of purely historical discussion of
the issue. But with regard to establishing religious proof that Islam is
more deserving of being followed, and that it abrogates what came before it,
then debating the crucifixion is not of any benefit. Rather the journey to
knowledge should begin with reflecting upon the Oneness of Allah, may He be
glorified, then the Prophethood of the final Messenger, Muhammad (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him). Then whoever rejects these two fundamentals
will be more likely and more keen to reject others, and whoever believes in
them will be more keen to believe in what the Qur’an teaches about the
crucifixion. 

If a person believes in the words of Allah, then the Muslim
can look again at the crucifixion from a historical point of view, in the
light of the definitive negation in the Holy Quran of the notion that the
Messiah (peace be upon him) was killed and crucified at the hands of his
enemies. He will discover that talking about having seen things with their
own eyes – as mentioned in question – is subject to further discussion and
investigation. No one possesses any historical texts, supported by solid
chains of transmission or large numbers of reports, that contain accounts
from those who saw the crucifixion with their own eyes, and we do not have
anything to confirm eyewitness reports of the crucifixion. The Qur’an
confirms that someone else was made to resemble him to those who had
conspired against him, but it does not speak of  unbiased eyewitnesses or
say that it was made to appear to the followers of the Messiah (peace be
upon him) that he was crucified. The Gospels that are available in print
nowadays do not mention anything but the testimony of a few women who saw
the scene from afar, not from up close, so it is not far-fetched to say that
the matter was made to appear thus to them too. Such testimony from afar
does not reach the level of reliability that some people think it does. 

Imam as-Sarkhasi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: 

What they quote as evidence of reports from the Jews and
Christians about the killing and crucifixion of the Messiah is an illusion,
because there are no reliable and widely reported accounts concerning that. 

The Christians only narrated that from four individuals who
were with the Messiah in a house, because the disciples had gone into hiding
or scattered when the Jews wanted to kill them. 

The Jews only transmitted that from seven individuals who had
entered the house where the Messiah was, and it is possible that those
people had come to an agreement to tell a lie. It was narrated that they did
not really recognise the Messiah until a man called Judas pointed him out to
them, who had been his companion before that… This is not widely report and
does not reach the level of reliability.

If it is said: The crucifixion was witnessed by a group of
people who it cannot be imagined would ordinarily agree to tell a lie, thus
it is established that the accounts of the crucifixion were widely reported
and reliable, 

Our response is: No, that is not the case. The matter of the
crucifixion was only narrated by a small number of people, then all the
people who narrated it from them said that the one who was crucified was So
and so, but they were looking at him from afar, without looking closely at
him, because naturally people would be averse to looking closely at one who
was being crucified… Secondly, the widely-reported account that speaks of
the killing and crucifixion of a man they called ‘Eesa may reach the level
of certainty, but the man was not ‘Eesa; rather he was caused to look like
him, as Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): “but
the resemblance of ‘Eesa (Jesus) was put over another man”
[an-Nisa’ 4:157]. It is narrated that ‘Eesa (peace be upon him) said to
those who were with him: Whoever among you would like to meet Allah, he will
be made to resemble me and be killed, and Paradise will be his. A man said:
I will do that. So Allah caused him to resemble ‘Eesa and he was killed, and
‘Eesa was taken up into heaven.

End quote from Usool as-Sarkhasi (1/285-286)

Conclusion:

The Christians may have been excused for their belief in the
killing and crucifixion of the Messiah, before the sending of our Prophet
Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him). But after his sending
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) and the establishment of proof
and miracles to confirm his truthfulness and Prophethood, there is no excuse
for those against whom proof is established, and whom the message of Islam
and the Quran have reached, for going against anything that the Messenger of
Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) brought.

We have not discussed this answer at length, as what we have
mentioned previously in fatwas no. 224199 and
225709 is sufficient.

And Allah knows best.