A169
Surah: 003 - Ayah: 169
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3:169
It should be known that God considers those martyrs, who are slain in the path of God as alive (3:169) and considers as dead some people who are as yet alive (16:21). Do such events not have two aspects? Does not this mean that martyrs are dead with respect to body, but with respect to soul they are alive, and those who are considered dead by God are alive physically but are dead spiritually. Thus it should be understood that Jesus was martyred physically on the cross, but spiritually he was alive in the presence of God. For he was the Spirit of God and all the Prophets and Imams are in the same position. Then who can harm the Spirit of God? This is the gist of the Qur'anic verses regarding Jesus. For further details see the article referred to above.
However, they crucified his body, therefore, it appeared to them that they slew him, just as the common people think that martyrs are slain, but the Qur’ᾱn forbids them to think so, saying; “Think not of those who are slain in the way of Allah, as dead. Nay, they are living. With their Lord they have provision” (3:169).
In physical jihad a mu'min can be either a ghazi (warrior) or shahid (martyr), but spiritual jihad is a great miracle in which the same shahid is also a ghazi. The reason and great wisdom of this is: "And do not reckon those who are slain in the way of God to be dead. Nay, they are alive with their Lord receiving provision." (3:169). Both physical martyrdom and spiritual martyrdom are mentioned in this verse. The sign of physical martyrs is that they die bodily, but spiritually they become eternally alive. That of the spiritual martyrs is that they die with respect to the carnal soul and attain the great rank of fana' fi'llah or annihilation in God and therefore, they have sublime sustenance, i.e. the given knowledge. It should be noted that "with their Lord" means annihilation in God. This is because duality cannot remain in the world of oneness, just as a particle of iron either adheres to a magnet or remains far away from it, but cannot remain separated whilst close to it.
This verse has been referred 3 times.