In answer to the video "Jesus is The Messiah of The Muslims - Tawhid Dilemma Ep 14"
Jesus taken to Allah doesnt mean in God's physical presence. An entity going back to God means to where He commands it to be, and for the achievement of a specific purpose. Like a summoning, and it doesnt need to be a few inches away. It gives a sense of exclusivity to God only, complete control, dominion over that thing. It is used both in an abstract and concrete sense, for matters pertaining to both this world and the next 2:156,281,3:109,154,180,8:44etc.
Jesus' gathering back to God, to be under His complete control, fits perfectly the context of Jesus' tawfiya in 3:55. It is usually translated as "causing to die" but lexically means "to receive fully". It is used multiple times for Jesus and many others 10:104,16:70,22:5,5:117. The Quran here isnt using such word haphazardly. It emphasizes Jesus' preservation and honouring, contrary to the disgraceful description made of him in the NT.
Further, Jesus had no power to influence his ascension to Allah. He remained in God's grasp in the process, as he was since his miraculously conception and throughout his life. No matter how one views the process by which Allah made Jesus to ascend, whether he was made to die or not in the process, Jesus, like every creature will eventually taste death prior to his resurrection on the day of judgement
19:33"And peace is on me the day I was born and the day I will die and the day I am raised alive".
It is interesting to note that the Quran, consistent as it always is in its concepts, similarly describes the prophet Muhammad as God's slave during his miraculous ascent throughout space and time 17:1.
The Quran unambiguously states that Jesus 3:45 like the angels is from those who are muqarrabin/brought near and yet
4:172"The messiah will never be proud to be Allah's servant, nor the angels who are near to Him, and whoever disdains His service and is proud, He will gather them all together to Himself".
Jesus' nearness to God, just like the angels' nearness doesnt hint in anyway to divinity. In fact the nearer a creature like Jesus, the angels or any other 21:19 is to God the more eager it/he becomes to bow down in servitude to the mighty King. Here again, the gathering to Himself, just as in 5:18 and many other places, does not mean a few inches away. It means in a place where Allah commands them to be, and where they are entirely in God's control, exclusively in His possession. This control can either be for the purpose of judging them, protecting them, punishing them, disposing of them as He deems fit, etc.
Jesus in fact didnt even have to wait to be raised up to heaven, to be in Allah's presence. The Quran describes him and others as among those near Allah while on earth 3:45. In Quranic usage, being near to Allah, as is used throughout the book implies several things and none of them hinting to physical nearness. It can be honoring, both in this world and the next 3:45,4:172,5:35,54:55,56:11,88,83:28,89:28etc. or it can imply to receive God's attention and care 2:186,11:61 or it conveys the sense of God's deep, intimate knowledge of His creation 50:16.
Finally, everything in the heavens and the earth, whether hypothetically close to the Divine Being or far, are ultimately perishing save His Glorious Self 28:88. This takes away any hint at independence, intrinsic power and will to any creature that ever existed and that ever will.
5:17"Certainly they disbelieve who say: Surely, Allah-- He is the Messiah, son of Marium. Say: Who then could control anything as against Allah when He wished to destroy the Messiah son of Marium and his mother and all those on the earth? And Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth and what is between them; He creates what He pleases; and Allah has power over all things"
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