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2nd Coming of Jesus (pbuh)
By Mohammad Shafi Aga
In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful
Assalaamu alaykum,*
There is a belief among Muslims that Jesus (peace be upon him) was bodily
lifted by Allah Ta'ala, and that he is due to come back to this world
again. Let us find out whether the Qur'aan corroborates this belief.***
Let us first ponder over Qur'aanic Verses **5.116 & 5.117:*
*[5.116] And when Allah will say, "O Jesus, son of Mary! Did you tell
mankind to take you and your mother as two gods besides Allah?" He will say,
"Glory be to You! I could not 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 do
not know what is in Your mind. You are indeed the Knower of the things that
are unseen."
[5.117] "I told them nothing except what You commanded me with - that they
should worship Allah, my Lord and their Lord. And I was a witness over
them so long as I was among them, but when You caused me to die, You were
the Watcher over them, and You are Witness over all things." (emphasis
added)*
*The above is a conversation between Allah and Jesus that is to take place
on the Judgement Day. Take particular note of the underlined part of
Jesus'response to Allah. This part does clearly show that Jesus was unaware
that he and his mother were deified by his so-called followers after his
departure from this world. If Jesus were to come back again to this world,
how could he be unaware of this deification!? *
**
*Moreover, the Arabic term used for what is translated as 'You caused me to
die' in the above quote, is tawaffaitani. The Arabic term is derived from
the tri-letter root word wafi. This root word has the basic meaning of 'to
complete' or 'to fulfill' and a derived meaning is 'to die after completing
one's life-term in this world'. Another derived meaning, used in the
Qur'aan, is for one's soul to be taken up after death by angels (Verse 6.61).
In Verse 5.117 too, the word is used in the same meaning of Allah causing
Jesus' soul to go up unto Him after his (Jesus') physical death here. There
is therefore no warrant in the Qur'aan for the word to have the meaning of
Jesus having been bodily lifted up to Heaven from this earth. *
**
*Other Verses that need to be pondered over in this context are:*
*
[4.157] And their saying, "We killed the Messiah Jesus, son of
Mary, Messenger of Allah." And they killed him not; nor did they crucify
him, but it appeared so to them. And indeed, those who differ therein are
only in a state of doubt about it. They have no knowledge thereon, but
follow only conjecture. And they killed him not for sure.
[4.158] Allah, on the contrary, raised him to Himself. And Allah is
Almighty, Wise.
The Arabic term used in Verse 4.158, for what is translated above as 'raised
him', is rafa'a hu. The use of this term here is taken by some commentators
of the Qur'aan as the evidence for Jesus having been bodily lifted up to the
Heavens. But Verse 3.55 tells us categorically that Jesus was made to die
and raised up to Allah. It was Jesus' soul that was raised up, like any
other human soul, at his natural death (not by crucifixion).
There is, therefore, nothing in the Verses quoted above - nor is there
anything in any other Verse of the Qur'aan - to support the myth of the 2nd
coming of Jesus, son of Mary, peace be upon him.
Wassalaam,
Mohammad Shafi
Assalaamu alaykum,
Ya Mohammad Shafi Aga, as a sincere brother from America, who is still
learning his religion, who is attempting to find the truth, I find that you
are giving misinformation to all these people. You are missing a very
important part of Islamic Law, a very important part of Islamic sources,
the ahadith, sayings of the Prophets (peace by upon him): Bukhari, Muslim,
and other authentic sources of ahadith. You cannot make judgment based on
Qura'aan only. You cannot give your own opinion. The people that give
tafsir in the Islamic world would look at the ahadith to find the reason
of revelation. The 2nd coming of Isa ibn Maryam is a firm belief every
Muslim should have. I have some sources for you:
Did Jesus come back to Earth or after he was taken up or not?
<http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=3221&ln=eng&txt=jesus>
A brief look at Jesus (peace be upon him)?
http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=10277&ln=eng&txt=jesus>
The Muslims' beliefs concerning the Messiah 'Eesa ibn Maryam?
<http://islamqa.com/index.php?ref=43148&ln=eng&txt=jesus>
As for your interpretation of the arabic of "*mutawaffeeka*" :
*
"And (remember) when Allaah said: 'O Eesa (Jesus)! I will take you and
raise you to Myself and clear you [of the forged statement that 'Eesa (
Jesus) is Allaah's son] of those who disbelieve, and I will make those
who follow you (monotheists, who worship none but Allaah) superior to those
who disbelieve [in the oneness of Allaah, or disbelieve in some of His
Messengers, or in His Holy Books] till the Day of Resurrection. Then you
will return to Me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you
used to dispute."[Aal 'Imraan 3:55]
*
Ibn Jareer, may Allaah have mercy on him, explained that the word "*
mutawaffeeka*" [which usually refers to death and is translated here as
"raise" – Translator] refers to his being taken up, but most of the
scholars said that the meaning here is sleep, as Allaah says elsewhere in
the Qur'aan (interpretation of the meaning):
*
"It is He, Who takes your souls [yatawaffaakum] by night (when you are
asleep)…"[al-An'aam 6:60]
"It is Allaah Who takes away [yatawaffaa] the souls at the time of their
death, and those that die not during their sleep…"[al-Zumar 39:42]
*
When he got up from sleeping, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) would say, "*Al-hamdu Lillaah illadhi ahyaanaa ba'da maa
amaatanaa wa ilayh il-nushoor *(Praise be to Allaah Who has brought us
back to life after causing us to die, and unto Him is the resurrection)."
(Reported by al-Bukhaari, 6312; Muslim, 2711)
His 2nd coming is confirmed in the Authentic Books: Bukhari and Muslim:
We believe that he will come back down at the end of time, and will
disprove the claim of his enemies the Jews that they killed him, and
will disprove the claim of the Christians that he is God or the son ofGod, and he will not accept anything from them but Islam.
Al-Bukhaari (2222) and Muslim (155) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may
Allaah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allaah (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "By the One in Whose hand is my
soul, soon the son of Maryam will descend among you [according to
another report: the Hour will not begin until the son of Maryam descends
among you] as a just judge . He will break the cross, kill the pigs and
abolish the jizyah, and money will become abundant until no one will accept
it."
"Soon" means it will inevitably happen quickly.
"will descend among you" means among this ummah.
"A just judge" means that he will come down and rule according to this
sharee'ah, and that this sharee'ah will remain and not be abrogated, rather
'Eesa will be one of the rulers of this ummah.
"He will break the cross and kill the pigs" means he will declare as
false the religion of the Christians by breaking the cross in a real
sense and proving false the Christians' claims and veneration of the
cross.
"and he will abolish the jizyah":
al-Nawawi said:
The correct view concerning this is that he will not accept it, and he
will not accept anything from the kaafirs but Islam. If any of them
offer the jizyah that will not make him stop fighting them. Rather he will
not accept anything but Islam or death. This is the view of Imam Abu
Sulaymaan al-Khattaabi and other scholars (may Allaah have mercy on them).
End quote.
"Money will become abundant" – the reason for this abundance will be the
descent of blessings and the spread of goodness because of justice and
the absence of oppression or wrongdoing. At that time the earth will
bring forth its treasures, and desire to keep money will decrease because
they will know that that Hour is at hand.
Then he will die and the Muslims will offer the funeral prayer for him
and bury him.
Ahmad (9349) narrated from Abu Hurayrah that the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: "I am the closest of people to
'Eesa ibn Maryam because there was no Prophet between him and me…" Then he
mentioned his descent at the end of time. Then he said: "And he will
remain for as long as Allaah wills he should remain, then he will die and
the Muslims will offer the funeral prayer for him and bury him." Classed as
saheeh by al-Albaani in *al-Silsilah al-Saheehah* (2182).
These ahadith are authentic ahadith, which means there is not a drop ofdoubt that they came from the mouth
of the messenger. If I heard Rasul personally say to me -- I would
believe, If I heard his most trusted Sahabah, companion say it -- I would
believe it, if I heard a most trusted student of the Sahabah say it -- I
would believe it. And this is what Bukhari and Muslim did.
So Brother, My dear brother in Islam, please for the sake of increasing
knowledge and scholarship, lets try to ask those who know before coming to
our own conclusions.
JazakAllah Khayr, BarakAllah Feekum, wa
Assalaamu alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuhu
*Wa alaykum-as-salaam, Brother!*
**
*Thank you for bringing out yet another instance from the Qur'aan wherein
it (the Qur'aan) itself helps further clarification of the meaning of the
words used in the divine text. Verses 6.60 and 39.42 , quoted by
you, conclusively prove that the tri-letter root word wafi, with its various
grammatical forms, is used for taking away only the soul, and not the body,
of a human being. In sleep, as in death, the body remains here and the soul
goes up. *
*So it is more clear now that the Qur'aan used that word, in regard to
Jesus, to denote the ascention of his soul, and not of his body*.
*Brother! My deen is to believe absolutely in the Qur'aan, which
satisfactorily explains things, as in the matter we are discussing
here. My deen
is to believe absolutely in all that the Qur'aan says. And the Qur'aan,
inter alia, says that the Allah-approved Religion of Islam is perfect. There
is no room for any doubts and uncertainties in it. It says that all
necessary things are fully and variously explained in the Qur'aan itself for
easy understanding of all those who are pious and Allah-fearing. It says
that the Book is divine and is divinely protected. It says that it is a Book
of Allah's Guidance for mankind. It says that Allah's Guidance is the only
true and sufficient guidance. *
**
*But, apparently, you do not believe in such a deen. In your deen, the
man-influenced, mistake-prone ahaadeeth have equal - nay, more - importance
than the Allah-given and Allah-protected Qur'aanic Verses. I say 'more'
because it is a hadeeth - as in the case of determining the end or
begininning of a lunar month - mostly, which is given precedence over
anything that the Qur'aan may say in any matter.*
*Lakum deenukum waliya deen, Brother!*
*Wassalaam,*
*Mohammad Shafi*
-------------------------------------
In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful*
*My dear Readers,*
**
*Assalaamu alaykum! May Allah Ta'ala guide us to the Truth and to His
Straight Path. Amen!*
**
*Sometime back I had sent you my message on the subject above. You may
access that message again by clicking the link
http://www.islam-n-interest.com/jesus.html
**
*During the subsequent correspondence with some of my readers, certain other Qur'aanic Verses were brought to my notice, which allegedly give indications of Jesus' 2nd coming to this world. Let us consider now those other Verses too. *
*6.60: And He it is Who takes your souls at night (in sleep), and He knows
what you acquire in the day, then He raises you up therein that an appointed
term may be fulfilled; then to Him is your return, then He will inform you
of what you were doing. *
*39.42: Allah takes the souls at the time of their death, and those that
die not during their sleep; then He withholds those on whom He has passed
the decree of death and sends the others back till an appointed term; most
surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect.(Translations by
M.H.Shakir)*
*One Brother cites the above two Verses to prove his point that the root
word wafi and its variants (used in the original Arabic for words underlined
above) also mean 'to take up', since souls are taken up to Allah, whether in
sleep or in death. But the Brother forgets that the Arabic word is used in
the above two Verses to denote the taking up of the souls, and not the
bodies! So these two Verses cannot be cited to prove that Jesus was bodily
lifted up. His soul it was that was raised, like that of any other human
being.*
43.61: And most surely it is a knowledge of the hour, therefore have no
doubt about it and follow me: this is the right path. (Translation by
M.H.Shakir)
In this translation, the Arabic pronoun hu has been rendered as 'it', obviously making the third person singular Arabic pronoun to refer to the Qur'aan. But there are other translators who think that the pronoun refers to Jesus, and one such other translator renders this Verse as, "...he
(Jesus) ... shall be a known sign for (the coming of) the Hour ..."
This other translator has changed the well-known meaning of ilm (knowledge)
as 'known sign' to bring this Qur'aanic Verse in tune with the ahaadeethinforming us about the 2nd coming of Jesus. Neither the preceding Verse 43.60, nor the following (43.62), refer to Jesus. And in Verse 43.59, Jesus is referred to as an example for the Children of Israel only. There is therefore no warrant for the pronoun hu in Verse 43.61, to denote to Jesus.
Moreover, in the light of Verse 7.187, the knowledge of the Hour is exclusively with Allah, and no one else can predict it.
Wassalaam,
Mohammad Shafi*
<http://www.islam-n-interest.com/jesus.html>
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