Will Jesus Return? For What?
by Dr. Aslam Abdullah
There is a statement attributed to Prophet Muhammad by Jabir ibn 'Abdullah: "He who
denies the appearance of the Mahdi is inevitably blaspheming against what was
revealed to the Prophet. He who denies the appearance of Jesus, the son of
Mary has become an unbeliever. Someone who denies that the Antichrist will
appear is also inevitably an unbeliever." This statement is also reported in
Muhammad Parisa's Fusul-i Sitta , Ibn Ishaq's Kitab al-Ta`aruf li
Madhhab Ahl al-Tasawwuf, Imam Suhayli's al-Rawd al-Unuf, and Imam
Suyuti's Alamat al-Mahdi.
Based on these
reports, the website http://al-shia.org/html/eng/history/others/01/11.htm concludes: “Given this, Islamic scholars
regard belief in Jesus' second coming and his causing true religious moral
values to prevail as major articles of faith.” There are many other scholars
from Sunni, Shias, Zaydis, Ibadi sects who consider the idea of the second coming
of Jesus as part of Iman.
The Quran described faith or Iman differently as it focuses
on five fixed articles. “It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces towards
east or West, but it is righteousness- to believe in Allah and the Last Day,
and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers.” (2:177). The Quran does not
make the acceptance of Mahdi or the second coming Jesus as articles of faith.
Iman( Faith) is defined by none other than Allah and even a prophet is not given the permission to edit the
articles of faith as defined by Allah. It is He alone who has the prerogative
to define Iman. Addressing the Prophet, Allah says: “And
thus, too, [O Muhammad,] have We revealed unto you a life-giving message,
[coming] at Our behest. [ Before this message came unto you,] you did not know
what revelation is, or what faith [implies]: but [now] We have caused this
[message] to be a light, whereby We guide whom We will of Our servants: and,
verily [on the strength thereof] you, too, shall guide [men] onto the straightway . The way that leads to God, to whom all that is in the heavens and all that
is on earth belongs. Oh, verily with God is the beginning and the end of all
things!” (42:52-53) Obviously, mattes of Iman are not left to speculations and
the Quran has specified them clearly.
However, with such a strong statement about the Mahdi and
the second coming of Jesus attributed to Prophet Muhammad and reported by so
many scholars of Islam, who could dare to question the second coming of Jesus. Yet at the risk of being called unbelievers or deniers of
some ahadith on the second coming of Jesus, many Muslim scholars have either challenged the
idea of the physical ascension of Prophet Jesus to heaven throughout Islam’s
intellectual history or cast doubts on the reports related to the second coming
of Jesus.
Mahmud Shaltut, the former Mufti of
Egypt and ex-Rector of the world-famous al-Azhar
University, Cairo was one of them. He wrote: “There is no authority in the Quran
or the Sunna which can satisfy the heart upon the belief that Jesus was taken
up to heaven with his body and that he is still alive there and that he shall
descend therefrom to earth in the last days.” (Al-Fatāwā, published
by Al-Idara al-‘Ama lil -Saqafat al-Islamiyya bil -Azhar, pp. 52-58)
“The
Quranic verses in this connection indicate that Allah had promised Jesus that
He would cause him to die at the appointed time, and elevate him to Himself,
and protect him from the disbelievers. This promise has been fulfilled. His
enemies could not kill him or crucify him; instead, Allah caused him to die at
the end of his appointed term and elevated him to Himself.” (Ibid.)
How
should a lay Muslim look at this issue? Should he/she consider the second
coming of Jesus as part of faith or should he/she consider it mere
speculation or wishful thinking built around the Christian concept of the
return of Jesus?
The issue has created a body of Islamic literature that lead a great majority of
Muslims to believe that change would ultimately come in our world when Prophet Jesus
would reappear. What is often ignored in this literature is a reference to the
Quranic message that "Because Allah will never
change the grace which He has bestowed on a people until they change what is in
their (own) souls: and verily Allah is He Who hears and knows (all things).”
(8:53) or “Verily never will Allah change the condition of a people until they
change it themselves (with their own souls)” (13:11)
The popular view among Muslim scholars on Jesus is as
follows: When Jews were about to crucify Jesus Allah took him up to
heaven alive in his physical body, and he is alive there. He will descend at
the age of forty and will fulfill the responsibilities of the prophet (some
scholars believe that he will be removed from the rank of Prophethood). His
mission will be to kill the pig, break the cross and abolish the jizya,
initiating a worldwide reformation that would create absolute peace.
If
only the return of Jesus would bring about the desired change in the society,
then why should any be bothered about changing the world and until his return
we should not even focus on the above-mentioned verses of the Quran commanding
us to work toward changing our conditions on our own.
Many
Muslim scholars have challenged this idea of the return of Jesus on the basis
of their understanding of the Quran and the sayings of the Prophet. Their an alternative perspective is often ignored or dismissed by those who believe in
the popular version.
The Quranic Perspective on Death
No
one is immortal except Allah. The Quran repeats the eternal law of evolution
and life and death for everything and every being created by Allah. No one is
an exception. Not even Jesus, because if this was the case, Allah would have
definitely mentioned in the Quran.
The
Quran reminds Prophet Muhammad and through him the humanity at large that every one that came before he left this world and died. The Quran emphasizes
that none of the prophets that preceded Prophet Muhammad were alive.
“Therein
(i.e. On the earth or physical world) shall you live, and therein shall you
die, and therefrom shall you be raised.” (7:25)
“And
there is for you in the earth an abode and a provision.” (7: 4)
“Have
We not make the earth draw to itself the living and the dead?” (77: 25, 26)
“From
it (i.e. the earth) We created you, and into it We shall return you, and from
it raise you a second time.” (20:55)
“Say:
Glory to my Lord! Am I anything but a mortal messenger?” (17:93)
“Muhammad
is not the father of any man from among you, but he is the Messenger of Allah and
the one to end the prophets.” (33:40)
“We
did not send before you (O Muhammad) any messenger, but they surely ate food.”
(25:20)
“We
did not give them (i.e. The prophets) bodies not eating food.” (21:8)
“And
We granted abiding forever to no mortal before you (O Muhammad). If you die,
will they abide” (21:34).
“They
(i.e. The prophets) did not abide forever.” (21:8).
“Allah
is He Who created you from a state of weakness, and then gave you strength
after weakness, then ordained weakness and hoary hair after strength.”(30:54)
“Of
you is he who is brought back to the worst part of life (i.e. old age) so that
after knowledge he knows nothing.” (22:5)
“And
whomsoever We cause to live long, We reduce to an abject state in creation. Do
they not understand?” (36:68)
“The
Messiah, son of Mary, was only a messenger; messengers before him had indeed
passed away.” (5:75)
“And
Muhammad is only a messenger — messengers have already passed away before him.
If, then, he dies or is killed, will you turn back upon your heels?” (3:143)
“Those
are a people that have passed away.” (2:134)
“… before
which other nations have passed away.” (13:30)
“… among
nations that have passed away before them.” (46:18)
“Such
has been the way of Allah with those who have passed away before.” (33:38)
“And
those whom they call on besides Allah created nothing, while they are
themselves created. Dead (are they), not living. And they know not when they
will be raised.” (16:20-21)
Certainly
they disbelieve who say: ‘Allah, He is the Messiah, son of Mary’.” (5:72)
Jesus
said: I am a servant of Allah: He has given me the Book and made me a prophet,
and made me blessed wherever I maybe .” (19:30-31)
“O
Jesus, I will cause you to die, and exalt you to My presence, and clear you of
those who disbelieve and make those who follow you above those who disbelieve
till the Day of Judgment.” (3:55)
They charged Mary with a grave
calumny. They boasted that they had murdered Jesus, son of Mary, Rasool of Allah; although the fact is that they neither murdered him nor
crucified him. What they took for reality was merely something which appeared
to them as such. On the other hand, those who differ from Jews
(i.e. Christians) are also in doubt about the matter. Their knowledge is no
more than a surmise. It is certain that they (i.e. Jews) did not murder Jesus.
The Jews say that by crucifying him they had inflicted a degrading death upon
him. Allah has raised Jesus very high
in His ranks. He had power enough to protect Jesus from his enemies and He did
so with great sagacity The Christians are so firm in their belief that each one
confesses before his death that Jesus was crucified and atoned for their sins.
On the Day of Reckoning, Jesus himself will bear witness against them
(4:156-159)
And
when Allah will say: ‘O Jesus, did you say to men, Take me and my mother for
two gods besides Allah?’ He will reply: ‘Glory be to You! It was not for me to
say what I had no right to say. If I had said it, You would indeed have known
it. You know what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Your mind. Surely,
You are the great Knower of the unseen. I said to them naught save as You did
command me: Serve Allah, my Lord, and your Lord; and I was a witness
of them so long as I was among them, but when you did cause me to die
You were the Watcher over them. And You are Witness of all things’.”
(5:116,117)
Thus
the Quranic verdict about Jesus is very clear. He is a mortal from among
mortals. He is a prophet of Allah from among the prophets. Some people worship
him as a deity. He is not alive and he was not raised in physical form. Rather, Allah explained that those who wanted to inflict a humiliating death upon him
failed in their attempts as Jesus was granted a higher rank.
The
Quran used a similar expression about Prophet Idrees.
Also (O Rasool!), mentioned in this
Book is the story of Idrees. He too was a very truthful person;
and a Nabi. And We had exalted him to a high position (19:56-57)). Moreover, addressing the Prophet, the Quran
further explained the issue of mortality. “We have not made before you (O
Muhammad) any mortal to abide forever. If you die, will they (the opponents)
abide?” (21:34) “Dead (are they), not living. And they know not when they will
be raised.” (16:21)
Prophet’s Statements on the death of Jesus
There
are several statements attributed to Prophet Muhammad where the death of
Prophet Jesus was asserted.
“It
is reported from Ibn Abbas that the Holy Prophet said in a sermon: O people!
You will be gathered to your Lord (on the Day of Judgment) … and some people
from my Umma will be taken and dragged towards hell. I shall say: ‘O
Lord, but these are my people’. It will be replied: ‘You do not know what they
did after you’. Then I shall say as did that righteous servant of Allah (i.e.,
Jesus) say: ‘I was a witness of them so long as I was among them, but
when You did cause me to die You were the Watcher over them’ … ” (Bukhari,
Kitab al-Tafsir, under Surah Ma’idah.)
The
Prophet said that during the ascension to heaven he saw “Adam is in the first
heaven … Joseph is in the second heaven, and his cousins Yahya (John the
Baptist) and Jesus are in the third heaven, and Idris is in the fourth heaven.”
(Kanz al-‘Ummāl, vol. vi , p. 120
“Then
the Holy Prophet descended on Jerusalem,
along with all the other prophets. At the time of prayers, he led them all in
prayer.” (Tafsir Ibn Kathir, Urdu ed ., vol. iii , p. 23)
The
Prophet said: “O people! I have heard that you fear the death of your Prophet.
Did any prophet before me live on so that I should be expected to live on
amongst you? Listen! I am about to meet my Lord, and so will you. So I bid you treat well the early muhajirs .” (Al-anwār-ul -Muhammadiyya
min al-Muwāhib al- Ladinya, Egypt, p. 317)
The
Prophet said, “There is no one alive today, but will be dead before a hundred
years have passed over it.” (Muslim, Kitab al- Faza’il; Kanz al-‘Ummāl,
vol. 7, p. 170)
“Ayesha,
the mother of the believers said that, in his illness in which he died, the
Holy Prophet said: ‘Every year Gabriel used to repeat the Holy Quran with me
once, but this year he has done it twice. He has informed me that there is no
prophet, but he lives half as long as the one who preceded him. And he has told
me that Jesus lived a hundred and twenty years, and I see that I am about to
leave this world at sixty’.” (Hujjaj al-Kirāmah, p. 428; Kanz
al-‘Ummāl, vol. 6, p. 160, from Fatima; and Mawāhib
al-Ladinya, vol. 1, p. 42)
The Prophet
Muhammad said: “Had Moses or Jesus been alive, they would have had to follow
me.” (Al-Yawaqit wal -Jawahir, p. 24; Fath al-Bayan, vol. 2, p.
246; Tafsir Ibn Kathir, under verse 81 of Al-i Imran)
“Had
Jesus been alive he would have had to follow me.” (Sharh Fiqh Akbar, Egyptian
ed ., p. 99)
The Prophet
said: “May the curse of Allah be upon the Jews and the Christians who made the
graves of their prophets into places of worship.” (Bukhari, Kitab as-Salat, chapter:
‘Should the graves of the idolaters of the Jahiliyya be dug up and
mosques take their place?’)
Statements
of the Companions of the Prophet on the death of Jesus
The first Caliph Abu Bakr said the following
in his speech:
‘I
would give my father for you, O Prophet of Allah; Allah would never give you
two deaths and you have died of the death that Allah had ordained for you.’
Abu
Salmah says: Ibn Abbas told me that Abu Bakr came out, and Umar was talking to
the people. He told him to sit down, but he refused. He told him again, and he
still refused. Abu Bakr then recited the Kalima Shahada, and the
people turned their attention to him, leaving Umar.” (Bukhari, Kitab
al-Jana’iz, chapter 3; Kitab al- Maghazi, chapter: ‘Illness
of the Holy Prophet’) Caliph Abu Bakr then announced: “Whoever among you
worships Muhammad, Muhammad has indeed died; but whoever worships Allah, Allah
lives on forever, never dies. Allah says: ‘Muhammad is only a messenger; messengers
before him have indeed passed away...’ (the Quran, 3:144).” (Bukhari, reference
as above.)
In Sahih Bukhari it is recorded:
“By
Allah, it was as if the people did not know that Allah had revealed this verse
until Abu Bakr recited it. Then (it was as if) the people had learned it from
him, and whomever one heard, he was reciting this verse (i.e. ‘Muhammad is only
a messenger; messengers before him have indeed passed away...’)” (Bukhari, reference
as above.)
The
second Caliph Umar related:
“I
was so shocked that my feet could not support me and I fell to the ground when
I heard him recite it (i.e. the verse) that the Holy Prophet had indeed died.”
(Bukhari, Kitab al-Maghazi, chapter cited above.). Companions agreed on death, of all prophets.
Caliph Umar’s contention that the Prophet had only gone to visit the Lord, and would be returning, was
refuted by Caliph Abu Bakr, proving
that all previous prophets had died — and consequently also the Holy Prophet. Had Caliph Umar or any other companion believed that Jesus was
alive in heaven, he would certainly
have spoken out against Abu Bakr’s reference of the verse that all previous prophets were dead. This shows
that none of the companions even
imagined that Prophet Jesus or any other
prophet was still alive and had not died.
Caliph
Abu Bakr Siddiq, Allah be pleased with him, said: “Where is Moses, where is
Jesus, where is Yahya, where is Noah, [i.e., they have all died], So you, O
sinner Siddiq, repent to your Glorious Lord.”
Caliph
Ali, Allah be pleased with him, said: “Death spares not the father, nor
the son; it is the path that cares not for anyone. He (the Prophet) was a
prophet, yet he did not remain with his Umma forever, Had anyone
before he lived forever, he (Prophet) too would have lived forever.”
The
mother of the believer, Ayesha relates from the Prophet Muhammad:
“Jesus,
son of Mary lived to the age of 120 years.” (Hujjaj al-Kirāmah, p.
428)
The
daughter of the Prophet Fatima relates from the Prophet: “Jesus, son of
Mary lived to the age of 120 years.” (Kanz al-‘Ummāl, vol. vi ,
p. 120)
The
grandson of the Prophet, Hasan ascended the pulpit after the martyrdom of Caliph
Ali and said: “O people! This night there has died a man whose status
cannot be reached by the earlier or later generations. The Messenger of Allah
used to send him to battle, so on his right would be Gabriel and on his left
Michael and he would not return without victory. He died on the night on which
the soul of Jesus, son of Mary, was taken up, that is the twenty-seventh of Ramadan.”
(Tabaqat Kabir, vol. iii , p. 26)
Explaining
the Quranic verse, “O Jesus, I will cause you to die, Ibn Abbas is recorded as
saying: “mutawaffī-ka means ‘I will cause you to die (mumītu-ka)’.”
(Bukhari, Kitab al-Tafsir, on verse 5:110).
“In
the Mustadrak (a Hadith collection) it is reported from Ibn Umar that
Jesus lived to the age of 120 years. It is likewise also in the Asābah.”
(Tafsir Kamalain).
The
companion-poet Hasan Ibn Thabit sang: “If any people of the world could
exist forever, certainly, the Messenger of Allah would have lived forever in
it.” “You (O Prophet) were the pupil of my eye, with your death my eye lost its
sight, whoever remains after you, let him die since I was afraid only of your
passing.”
Imam
Mālik, one of the four imams of jurisprudence believed that Jesus had died.:
“While
most people believe that Jesus did not die, Mālik said that he died.” (Majma‘
Bih_ār al-Anwār, vol. i , p. 286) “In the ‘Utbiyya it
is written that Mālik said that Jesus, son of Mary, died.” (Ikmāl
al-ikmāl, Commentary of Muslim, vol. i , p. 265)
Imam Ibn Hazm wrote: “Jesus, peace be
upon him, was neither killed nor crucified, but Allah caused him to die and
then raised him. The Almighty has said: ‘They did not kill him or crucify him’;
and ‘I will cause you to die and exalt you’; and ‘I (Jesus) was a witness of
them so long as I was among them, but when You did cause me to die. You were
the Watcher over them’ and ‘Allah takes the souls at the time of death’. Thus, there
are two kinds of wafāt: sleep and death. Jesus in his words ‘When
You did cause me to die was not referring to sleep, but it is correct that by wafāt
he meant death.” (Mahalli fil -Fiqh, p. 23)
“Imam Ibn Hazm adopted the apparent
significance of the verse, and believed in his (Jesus’) death.” (Jalālain,
under verse 3:55)
Abul Hasan Ali Hajwairi (Data Ganj Bakhsh) writes:
“The
Messenger of Allah said that, on the night of the Mi‘raj, he saw Adam,
Joseph, Moses, Aaron, Jesus and Abraham, in the heavens. Assuredly it was their
souls.”
(Kashf
al-Mah_jūb, Chapter al-Kalām fir-rūh, p.
204).
Shaikh al-Akbar Muhayy-ud-Din Ibn Arabi in his Quranic
commentary writes:
“The
raising (raf‘ ) of Jesus means that, at the time of separation, his soul
was raised from the lower world to the higher world. And his being in the
fourth heaven signifies that the source of his soul’s benefit is the
spirituality of that sun’s sky, which resembles the heart of the world, and
towards that is his place of return. That spirituality is a light which
illumines that heaven with its love, and the shining of the rays upon his soul
is done by its stimulation. And as Jesus’ place of return is towards its real
place of rest, and cannot attain its true development, his (Jesus’) descent in
the latter days will be in a different body.” (Commentary upon verse ‘Allah
raised him to Himself’, p. 65)
Taqi-ud-Din
Abul-Abbas Ahmad ibn Abdul Hakim ibn Abdus-Salam, known as Imam Ibn
Taimiyya, writes:
“Allah
has informed, in regard to the Messiah, that he told people only to worship
Allah, ‘my Lord and your Lord’; and he was a witness of them so long as he was
among them, but after his death (wafāt) only Allah was the
Watcher over them. So if some people have misreported him, or misinterpreted
his words, or deliberately altered the religion he brought, the Messiah cannot
be held responsible for it, for he was only a messenger whose duty was just the
delivery of the message.” (Al-Jawwāb as-S_ah_īh_ li -man
baddala dīn al-Masīh, vol. ii , p. 280)
Hafiz Ibn Qayyim Shams-ud-Din Abu
Abdullah Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr, known as wrote: “As for what is related about the Messiah that he was raised up
to heaven at the age of 33 years, there is no sound authority for this which
one could turn to.” (Zād
al-Ma‘ād, vol. i , p. 20) And: “With the exception of the Holy
Prophet Muhammad, a person attains to heaven with his spirit only after death
and separation from the body, so the spirits of all prophets went to heaven
only after death and separation from the body.” (ibid., p. 304)
Allama Jubā’I He said: “The verse shows that Allah caused Jesus to die (amāta) and brought
about his death (tawaffā-hu ), and then raised him to Himself.”
(Commentary Majma‘ al-Bayān, vol. I, under verse falammā tawaffaita -nī)
Imam
Asir-ud-Din Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Ali al-Andalasi, known as Abu Hayyan
Nahwi, writes: “This verse shows that Allah made Jesus die (tawaffāhu
wafāt al-maut ) before raising him.” (Bah_r al-Muh_īt_,
vol. iv , p. 4)
Imam
Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn Abdullah, known as Allama Shaukani, has
written: “It is said that this verse shows that Allah caused Jesus to die
before raising him.” (Fath_ al-Qādir Qalmī, p. 4)
Allama Abdul Rahman Sa‘di In his Quranic commentary, writes: “Allah honoredJesus by causing his disciples to
spread in the world, in his lifetime and after his death (mamāt).”
(Tafsīr al-Manān, published in Makka)
Allama Abdul Rahman Sa‘di In his Quranic commentary, writes: “Allah honored
Muhammad Asad in The Message of the
Quran translates verse 3:55 of
the Quran in the following English words:
“Lo! God said: O Jesus! Verily, I shall cause thee to die, and exalt thee unto
Me.” Verse 5:117 is rendered as:
“And I bore witness to what they did as long as I dwelt amongst them; but since
Thou hast caused me to die, Thou alone hast been their keeper. For You are a witness unto everything”. In the
footnote to verse 4:157 he explains:
“Thus
the Quran categorically denies the story of the crucifixion of Jesus. There
exist, among Muslims, many fanciful legends telling us that at the last moment
God substituted for Jesus a person closely resembling him (according to some
accounts, that person was Judas), who was subsequently crucified in his place.
However, none of these legends finds the slightest support in the Quran or in
authentic traditions, and the stories produced in this connection by the
classical commentators of the Quran must be summarily rejected.” The next
footnote contains the statement:
“Nowhere
in the Quran is there any warrant for the popular belief of many Muslims that
God has ‘taken up’ Jesus bodily into heaven.”
The
famous Egyptian reformist Mufti Muhammad Abduh believed that Jesus had died:
“In
the Tafsīr al-Manār, the teacher and Imam (Muhammad
Abduh), after taking the apparent meaning of the verse, has stated that tawaffā
bears its obvious significance, i.e., causing to die. The raising (raf‘ )
comes after that, and it is spiritual elevation.” (Qas_as_ al-Anbiyā
by Abdul Wahab al-Najar, p. 428) “Tawaffā here means causing to die, as
in the obvious and comprehensible significance.” (Al-Manār)
Rashid Raza, the famous disciple of
Mufti Muhammad Abduh writes: “Hence
Jesus’ escape to India
and his death in that country is not against reason and sense.”
(Quranic
Commentary by Al-Sayyid Rashid Raza, part vi , pp. 42, 43)
Dr Ahmad Zaki Abu Shadi in his article
Hal al-Qur’ān Mu‘jiza (‘Is the Quran a miracle?’), he writes:
“It
is a well-known teaching of Islam that Allah is everywhere, and that He is the
light of heaven and the earth. So the words ‘He raised him (Jesus) to
Himself ’ do not have the physical meaning that He lifted him up to heaven, as
is the Christian belief. … Raf‘ here means to rescue and to honor, as
opposed to a degraded death on the cross in the manner in which criminals are
executed. Other interpretations that some Muslim commentators have adopted are
more akin to poetry than to sound logic, and the reliability of these
commentators’ scholarship is rather limited.” (Al-Mawāhib Āzār,
Argentina, March 1955)
This
renowned nineteenth-century Muslim educationist, social reformer, religious scholar
and founder of the Aligarh
Muslim University,
Sir Syed Ahmad Khan wrote:
“Now
we must turn to the Holy Quran to see what it says. The Quran makes mention of
Jesus’ death in four places … Firstly, in Sūra Āl ‘Imrān,
secondly, in Sūra Mā’ida, … thirdly, in Sūra
Maryam … fourthly, in Sūra Nisā’. Jesus was not
killed by the Jews, either by stoning or by crucifixion, but he died his
natural death, and God raised him in rank and status … From the first three
verses, it is clear that Jesus died a natural death.
However,
as the Ulama of Islam had followed the Christians in accepting that
Jesus had gone up to heaven alive, before looking at the Quran, so they have
tried to interpret some of the words in these verses to accord with their
unsound belief.” (Tafsīr Ah_madī by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan,
vol. ii . Referring to the expression ‘in this’ (Arabic: bi-hi) in
the verse: ‘And there is none of the People of the Book but will believe in
this before his death’ (4:159), which is generally taken to mean in him (i.e.
in Jesus), Sir Syed writes:
“This
points to the words ‘And their saying: we have killed the Messiah’ [4:157], and
to their saying, and not to the Messiah. So this means: ‘All the People of the
Book, before their death, will believe that Jesus was killed’. After this it is
said: ‘And on the day of Judgment he, i.e., Jesus, will be a witness against
them’. The word ‘alā [‘against’] is used to indicate loss or harm. So
the meaning is that on the Day of Judgment Jesus will be a witness against
their belief.” (Maktūb Sir Syed, No. 2, p. 48)
“Jesus
spent his early life migrating from one place to another. His later life was
not very long, for he was 33 years of age when he died, and at that time there
were only 70 people who believed in him.” (The Aligarh Magazine, Intikhab No.
1971, p. 48)
Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi wrote: “Mutawaffī-ka means mumītu-ka
[I will cause you to die] and what generally prevails amongst the public
about Jesus’ life is a Jewish and Sabean fable … It is not a concealed matter
that the source of Islam is the Quran, and in it, there is not even one verse
proving explicitly that Jesus did not die, and that he is alive and shall come
down. These are only the deductions and explanations of some people and are
not free from doubt and uncertainty. How, then, can it be taken to be
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, one of the most
prominent Islamic scholars of India expresses his view as follows:
“The
death of Jesus is mentioned in the Quran itself. ( Malfūzāt-i
Azad, compiled by Muhammad Ajmal Khan, Maktaba Mahaul, Karachi, pp. 129,
130)
Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal writes in a
poem:
“Is
the son of Mary dead, or does he live? Are Divine attributes separate from God,
or one with His Person? Is the Coming one the Nazarene, Jesus, or a Mujaddid
having the son of Mary’s qualities? Are the Divine words created, or pre-existing
from eternity, In which belief does lay the salvation of the Ummah?
Are
not sufficient for the Muslims today, These Lāt and Manāt
[idols] carved out by theology.” (Armaghan Hijaz, p. 227) ii .
In a letter he wrote:
“I
can only tell you what I believe. I consider the Hadith reports about the
Mahdi, the coming Messiah, and mujaddidiyya , to be derived from Persian
and non-Arab conceptions. They have no connection with Arab concepts or the
true spirit of the Quran.” (Iqbal Nama, ‘Collection of the Letters of
Iqbal’, Part II, letter to Chaudhary Muhammad Ahsan, p. 231)
In
another poetic verse he writes:
“Look
for the descent of God upon the minaret of your own heart,
And
give up waiting even for the Mahdi or Jesus.” (Baqiyat Iqbal, p. 451).
“Jamal-ud-Din Afghani, Allama Iqbal, and many
other thinkers believe that no Mahdi or Messiah will now descend from heaven.” (Zamindar,
Lahore, 27 July 1952)
Maulana Sayyid Sulaiman Nadawi, the great
modern Muslim scholar from India
wrote::
“Looking
at the birth of Jesus, his death and the doctrine of Trinity, some American
critics and rationalists now believe that Jesus has just been a mythical figure.” (Khutbāt
Madrās, p. 42, Sermon No. 2, published by the Lahore Academy, 205
Circular Road, Lahore)
“It
appears from this that even before Sir Syed [Ahmad Khan] some Ulama held the
same viewpoint as his on this question [of Jesus’ death]. People today who make
this issue a standard for determining belief or disbelief in Islam are
indulging in extremism.” (Mu‘āraf, March 1930, p. 171)
In a
letter from a high ranking Pakistan Government official, published by Maulana
Abdul Majid Daryabadi in his newspaper S_idq-i-Jadīd of
Lucknow (India), the following is recorded about Maulana Sayyid Sulaiman
Nadwi’s view of the “descent” of Jesus: “The Maulana said: ‘I do not hold this
belief myself and consider the Hadith reports about it to be unsound.’ The
Maulana had disclosed this view of his to Maulana Ihtasham-ul-Haq, but had
added that since to oppose this belief gives rise to much trouble, he refrained
from expressing it, and also because this belief did not relate to the
fundamentals of Islam.” (S_idq-i Jadīd, Lucknow, 28 October
1955)
In
his famous book Tazkira, after discussing historical testimony relating
to the death of Jesus, Allama Inayatullah Mashriqi, the founder of Khaksar
Movement in India and a great scholar of the Quran wrote: “It is clearly proved
today that the prophets were great experts in the laws of nature, and very
knowledgeable in the sciences. To be so well-informed is not only true
prophethood but also conveys the exemplary lesson that Jesus’ death too was
according to the Divine law regarding which the Quran says: ‘You will not find
any change in the law of Allah’ (Sūra Al-Fātir).” (Tazkira,
vol. i, footnote, pp.16-17)
Abdullah
Yusuf Ali in the first edition of his English translation and
commentary of the Holy Quran, he rendered verse 3:55 as: “I will take thy soul
and raise thee to Myself.” In the footnote at this point in the first edition,
he wrote: “Read this along with 4:157 where it is said that the Jews neither
crucified nor killed Jesus, but that another was killed in his likeness. The
guilt of the Jews remained. But Jesus completed his life and was when he died
taken up to God.”
Maulana Amin Ahsan Islahi, the former
deputy head of the Jama‘at-i Islami writes: “The meaning is that Muhammad
(peace be upon him) too is a messenger of Allah, just as there had been many
other messengers [of Allah] in the world. He too may have to face the same kind
of trials and tribulations that they encountered. Just as all messengers (tamām
rasūl) had had to pass through the stage of death, he too would die
one day. His being a messenger [of Allah] does not mean that he would not die
or cannot be killed.”
(Tadabbar
Quran, vol. i , p. 287, under verse 3:144, published in Lahore, 1967)
Sayyid Abul ‘Ala Maudoodi, the
founder of Jamat Islamic wrote:
“The
most appropriate course of action according to the Quran is to refrain from
giving further details of raf‘ jismānī (bodily ascension) and of maut
(death) …
In
fact, one should consider Jesus’ ascent to be an extraordinary manifestation of
Divine power, and leave its exact nature in brief terms as Allah Himself has
left it brief.”
(Maulana
Maudoodi par i‘trāzāt kā ‘ilmī jā’iza, by
Maulvi Muhammad Yusuf, Part I, p. 169)
“I
think that this issue is among the mutashābihāt (unclear
verses), for we cannot comprehend the exact nature of Jesus’ ascent, his
staying alive somewhere, and his subsequent descent at some future date.
What we have been taught about the mutashābihāt is
that we should not investigate them further, but merely believe in
however much has been told to us. To undertake an investigation of the mutashābihāt,
and to be indifferent to the muh_kamāt (explicit
verses), is clear sign of perversity.” (Letter dated 1 January
1951, ref: 760/71, Ichhra, Lahore)
In
answer to a letter, Sayyid Abul ‘Ala Maudoodi had his reply written by Mr.
Naeem Siddiqi as follows: “As to what I have understood from the Holy Quran
regarding the death of Jesus … I have already explained it, and you can read
it. As to Jesus’ second coming, I cannot put it higher than a possibility
because the Quran gives no explanation of it, and the basis of firm faith
cannot be laid upon Hadith. It could be that Allah may send Jesus to earth
again, and if He so wishes there cannot be any bar against it. In any case,
this point is not part of Islamic doctrine.” (Rukh Kardār by
Chaudhary Habibullah, p. 243)
“The
Quran does not explicitly state that Allah raised up Jesus, body, and soul, from
earth to heaven. Nor does it clearly say that he died a natural death on earth and that only his soul was raised up. Thus, on the basis of the Quran, neither
of these views can be definitely rejected or confirmed.” (Tafhīm
al-Qur’ān by Maulana Maudoodi, p. 240)
Thus it is evident from the divine message,
the statements of the Prophet and the opinions of serious scholars that every
individual tastes and has tasted death and Jesus is not an exception. The idea
of his second coming is influenced by Biblical perspectives and folklores that
can be found in almost every religious traditions of the world. This idea is
not part of Iman. By taking an alternative position, a person cannot be accused
of renouncing his/her faith.
