but the one who died was Simon of Cyrene, who was forced to carry the cross instead of Him, so that the latter, whose form was changed by Him, would be thought to be Jesus, who was crucified through ignorance and mistake. As for Jesus Himself, He took the form of Simon, and since He was present among them, as He was a non-corporeal power and the Mind of the Unbegotten Father, He was able to change His form as He wished. Thus, He ascended to the One who sent Him, and was mocking them since they could not catch Him, as He was invisible to all. 1
At the time when the human body of Jesus was hanged on the cross of Golgotha2, John was inside a cave on the side of the mountain, talking with the Messiah, who said to him: "O John, in the sight of the people in Jerusalem, I am being crucified and nailed, pierced with a spear, and given vinegar and gall to drink. But here I am talking to you, so listen to my saying, that I did not suffer anything that they will say I suffered."3
There is a second group that denied the crucifixion of the Messiah, which is the Basilideans, who are the followers of a person named Basilides. The biggest wonder is that the one who transmitted this is the same person who denied Islam's rejection of the crucifixion of the Messiah, and he became defiant and demanded a single person who denied the issue of the crucifixion of the Master Christ, may his glory be exalted.
Abdul Masih Basit says, defensively shouting that no one said that a likeness of the Messiah was crucified except Basilides. He says: "No one said, other than one person, who is Basilides only, and those who followed him, that a substitute for the Messiah was crucified, and that is because of his belief that the Messiah is one of the many conflicting gods."4
This is a weak comment from Abdul Masih Basit, for Basilides was not the only one who held this view. These texts are mentioned in the prohibited Apocrypha with them, but they deny them and make them contrary to their religion. How similar is the state of the outwardly-focused Christians to the Shi'a who fall short, when they deny the Hadith of the Esoteric Shi'a!