"Stunt Doubles, Only!"

"We are not in the situation of poor Alexander the Great, who wept, as well indeed he might, because there were no more worlds to conquer." - Washington Irving, Salmagundi : Or, The Whim-whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq. and Others (1835)

 This is not the exact book that David St. Hubbins lists as being in his "Namesake [Sequence] of Cassettes" as being read by Julius Erving (or, "Dr. J", as they call him in his team's town of Philadephia - coincidentally, the town from which Virgil Tibbs hails, IIRC ...) but which has just made my Namesake Sequence of MP3s.

From Wikipedia's entry on Islamic Views of Jesus's Death, "Muslims believe He [Jesus] was raised to Heaven without being put on the cross and God transformed another person to appear exactly like Jesus who was crucified instead of Jesus. Jesus ascended bodily to Heaven, there to remain until his Second Coming in the End Days." There is no Islamic consensus on who precisely took Jesus's place on the cross, but here is one popular theory:

Ibn Abbas said, "Just before Allah raised Jesus to the Heavens, Jesus went to his disciples, who were twelve inside the house. When he arrived, his hair was dripping with water (as if he had just had a bath) and he said, 'There are those among you who will disbelieve in me twelve times after you had believed in me.' He then asked, 'Who among you will volunteer for his appearance to be transformed into mine, and be killed in my place. Whoever volunteers for that, he will be with me (in Paradise).' One of the youngest ones among them volunteered, but Jesus asked him to sit down. Jesus asked again for a volunteer, and the same young man volunteered and Jesus asked him to sit down again. Then the young man volunteered a third time and Jesus said, 'You will be that man,' and the resemblance of Jesus was cast over that man while Jesus ascended to Heaven from a hole in the roof of the house. When the Jews came looking for Jesus, they found that young man and crucified him."
  - Al-Nasa'i, Al-Kubra, 6:489

I like to believe that this is the correct theory, and that this man's name was Alexander, and that, when he is reunited with Jesus in Paradise, he too will "[weep], as well indeed he might, because there [are] no more worlds to conquer."

Update 10/26/2013: Well, maybe one world left to conquer