Please, check you facts and prepared a 20 page report to present to the class on why this was so wrong a question.

I know a lot of people believe that Jesus died on the cross, though it is hard to say that most do, especially since there is a growing number of people that are merely religious, and don't really believe the Bible literally. What is more, a lot of people are agnostic, meaning they don't know, deists, merely believing in a general God (possibly verging on the metaphysical), and even atheistic. As for the Muslims, they change things to suit their fancy. They changed the Biblical story of Cain killing Abel over the sacrifice issue to believing that Cain killed Abel because they were competing for a certain sister. Technically, it was incest, but there were no other options, and our DNA is at least 99% corrupt, and theirs was maybe 1% corrupt.

You might start by looking up what Muslims believe happened to Mohammad in the Dome of the Rock.

well lets be honest here over the years people have change the truth into their own truth...your main question should be "what is the truth?"

I don't know if I'd agree that "most people think Jesus died on the cross," since "most people" aren't Christians, and in fact "most people" probably don't know any more about Jesus than I know about Lord Vishnu (which is basically not a damn thing). However, Muslims DO believe that Jesus was perhaps the greatest prophet, with the possible exception of Muhammad, and Allah loved him so much that Jesus could not be allowed to suffer on the cross. His soul was therefore taken from his body on the cross, so technically yes they do believe that he died on the cross, but not by crucifixion. Personally I don't know if the part about God taking Jesus' soul is actually Qur'anic, or if it is just a myth that Muslims pass on through oral tradition. It is true that Muhammad held Jesus in high regard, but my personal opinion is that denying that Jesus completed the crucifixion was a way to piss off Christians and deny that Jesus ever suffered on the cross for ANYTHING, let alone their sins. It's a theological middle-finger salute.

For a lot of reasons. But briefly, Muslims believe that Jesus was just another prophet-not God incarnate. To believe that Jesus died and resurrected would mean that there is no Allah and the prophet Mohammed has no message. This is a very short answer to a very loaded question.

And their saying: Surely we have killed the Messiah, Isa son of Marium, the apostle of Allah; and they did not kill him nor did they crucify him, but it appeared to them so (like Isa) and most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it, but only follow a conjecture, and they killed him not for sure. Nay! Allah took him up to Himself; and Allah is Mighty, Wise. (Surah 4:157-158)1 Being rather vague and open to interpretation, these Qur’an verses take the form of an unsolvable mystery in the hands of Muslim apologists who ironically contribute to their obscurity through their differing and puzzling comments. This kind of a disagreement concerning the true meaning of the verses quoted above condemns the Qur’an into a chain of paradoxes that subsequently undermine the validity and credibility of the Islamic hypothesis about Jesus’ crucifixion. The first paradox is based on the allegation that “the ones bragging about crucifying and killing Jesus the Messiah” are followers of a conjecture as they do not know anything about this incident. These verses most likely address the Jews and designate them as ignorant people who did not know what had actually happened at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. However, the same verses somehow fail to explain to mankind all the supposed mysteries of the crucifixion as they do not allow even Muslims to comprehend how and why Jesus was saved from the cross. Thus, Muslims and non-Muslims alike are deprived of the divine knowledge, without which their opinions remain as conjecture awaiting authorization from above. The second paradox, derived from the erroneous argument that disagreements prove doubt as well as inadequate knowledge, is embedded in the following statement that ascribes ignorance to people who are said to have differing views about Jesus’ crucifixion: … most surely those who differ therein are only in a doubt about it; they have no knowledge respecting it… (Surah 4:157) Apparently, either there is a problem with the linguistic structure of this particular verse or it contains a logical fallacy. In the first place, Muslims cannot be exempt from the charges of doubt and ignorance since they absolutely dissent from Christians and Jews when they deny Jesus’ crucifixion. Second, the quoted verse does not narrow the content and form of disagreement, confirming the idea that Jewish or Christian groups do not know anything about Jesus’ crucifixion because they disagree among themselves. If we suppose that one group dissented from the other by denying Jesus’ death, even that certain group would be condemned to following speculations despite the fact that they concurred on the denial presented in the Qur’an. As a result, the Islamic scripture surprisingly teaches that whoever denies Jesus’ crucifixion as a matter of disagreement has nothing else than doubt! The third paradox is related to the following Qur’an verse: And when Allah said: O Isa, I am going to terminate the period of your stay (on earth) and cause you to ascend unto Me and purify you of those who disbelieve and make those who follow you above those who disbelieve to the day of resurrection; then to Me shall be your return, so l will decide between you concerning that in which you differed. (Surah 3:55). In this verse Allah supposedly speaks to Jesus and promises to cleanse Him from all His disbelieving adversaries. The striking feature of this alleged statement is that it refers to Jesus’ ascension, which occurs also in Surah 4:155-158, where the negation of Jesus’ crucifixion and death are strengthened through His relevant ascension to Allah. The meaning of the Arabic word “waffa” occurring in this verse is still disputed among Muslims apologists2 as to whether Jesus experienced a physical death prior to His ascension or not, but this does not change the fact that the Qur’an considered Jesus’ ascension the termination of His earthly life and prophetic mission. This conclusion begets the question why Jesus’ physical departure from this world had to coincide with the Jewish resistance and disbelief. A similar question is why Allah would ever let the Jewish disbelief result in the forced end of Jesus’ prophetic ministry. When we analyze the aftermath of Jesus’ alleged ascension in the Qur’an, we can see that this incident has a disappointing result for Jesus, who is targeted by a disbelieving community. This is merely because the inevitable end of Jesus’ mission in the form of a bodily departure and isolation from this world signifies His foes’ salvation from Him more than His own rescue from their hands. More to the point, those who disbelieve and plan to take Jesus out of their lives are absolutely grateful to the god of Islam, who takes Jesus out of this world before they bother to punish Him and shed His blood. Thus, it surprisingly becomes impossible for the god of Islam to blame some Jews of Jesus’ time for crucifying and killing Him. As there is no victim, there is neither guilt nor accusation. However, some Islamic groups deem it necessary to reinterpret Surah 3:55 as they are not pleased with the idea of Jesus’ physical death prior to His ascension. This they can achieve through the symbolic parallelism they draw between death and sleep, which finds support in another Qur’an verse likening sleep at night to the state of death3. Their relevant conclusion is that Jesus was taken up alive, and that He will die after His second coming4. This approach to the form of Jesus’ ascension – which is the result of an attempt to harmonize the tension between the verses of the Islamic scripture – aims to radically distinguish the Islamic tenet concerning Jesus’ glorification from the basic Christian tenet binding Jesus’ glorification to His passion and death. St. Paul the apostle stresses the relation between Jesus’ passion and exaltation when he writes that Jesus’ humility became manifest in His incarnation and culminated in His surrender to death on a cross5. Thus, in Christian theology of salvation, Jesus’ glorification is preceded by and cannot be separated from His physical death. The literal interpretation of the verb “cause to die/end one’s life” in Surah 3:55 is thus discarded by some Muslim apologists who want to evade any thematic or linguistic affinity between the means of Jesus’ exaltation in Christianity and in Islam. Nevertheless, the symbolic interpretation of Jesus’ bodily departure from our world in Surah 3:55 paradoxically becomes more troublesome for its adherents. The assertion that Jesus did not experience a physical death prior to His ascension makes Him a figure that was granted eternal life before Mohammad, which contradicts a Qur’an verse: And We did not ordain abiding for any mortal before you. What! Then if you die, will they abide? (Surah 21:34) Besides, Jesus’ infancy narrative in the 19th Surah of the Qur’an contains some statements that make Jesus equal to a messenger named Yahya (John the Baptist) in terms of physical death and resurrection: And peace on him on the day he was born, and on the day he dies, and on the day he is raised to life. (Surah 19:15) And peace on me on the day I was born, and on the day I die, and on the day I am raised to life. (Surah 19:33) Another Qur’an verse implies that ALL the messengers/prophets before Muhammad passed away: And Muhammad is no more than an apostle; the apostles have already passed away before him; if then he dies or is killed will you turn back upon your heels? (Surah 3:144) According to the Qur’an, every human must experience death: Every soul must taste of death and We try you by evil and good by way of probation; and to Us you shall be brought back. (Surah 21:35) At this point, Muslim scholars are torn between making Jesus exempt from death through their symbolic interpretation of Surah 3:55 and making Jesus subject to death because of the verses quoted above. In order to find a way out of this paradox, they make use of Jesus’ second coming at the end of times, which is a purely Christian concept compatible with the apocalyptic doctrines of Jesus’ universal Kingdom and divine authority as the Judge of the mankind6. Consequently, bringing Jesus down from the sky just before the Day of Judgment signifies for some Muslim scholars the only way of terminating Jesus’ long life so that He can be adapted to the former messengers and prophets of the Qur’an, all of whom are said to have passed away.