The second coming of Jesus
8-7-2004 | IslamWeb
Question:
Is the belief in Second coming of Jesus a part of Iman? The site http:www.renaissance.com.pk/junq997.html claims that the belief in the second coming of Jesus is not the part of Iman. The site claims that Sunnah consists only of practice and not beliefs. Imam Malik's Muwatta didn't mention anything regarding the second coming of Jesus? Is there any record earlier than Bukhari, Muslim where the second coming of Jesus is mentioned? Please explain.
Answer:
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds; and may His blessings and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad and upon all his Family and Companions.
Allaah, The Most High, informed us in the Qur'aan that Isa (Jesus), the son of Mary, may Allaah exalt their mention, will descend from the heavens to earth in the last days. Many narrations of the Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) confirmed this as well, so there is no room for doubt about his descent.
Allaah Says (interpretaion of meaning): "And there is none of the people of the Scripture (Jews and Christians), but must believe in him ['Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), as only a Messenger of Allaah and a human being], before his ['Iesa (Jesus) or a Jew's or a Christian's] death (at the time of the appearance of the angel of death). And on the Day of Resurrection, he ['Iesa (Jesus)] will be a witness against them" (An-Nisa 4:159)
Al-Hasan Al-Basri, said: "This means before he dies, and I swear by Allah that he is alive, and when he will descend, everybody will believe in him." This is also the opinion of Said Ibn Jubair, Al-Dahhak and Ibn Jarir Al-Tabari.
Imam Al-Shawkani said: "It means believing in him when he will descend in the last days, as it is reported by many Ahadith, the narrators of which are impossible to agree on a lie."
Allaah Says in Surah Al-Zukhruf after mentioning Issa, son of Mary, (interpretation of meaning): "And he ['Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary)] shall be a known sign for (the coming of) the Hour (Day of Resurrection) [i.e. 'Iesa's (Jesus) descent on the earth. Therefore have no doubt concerning it (i.e. the Day of Resurrection). And follow Me (Allâh) (i.e. be obedient to Allâh and do what He orders you to do, O mankind)! This is the Straight Path (of Islâmic Monotheism, leading to Allah and to His
Al-Tabari said: "This means that the coming back of Isa is a sign of the coming of the Hour (Day of resurrection)."
Ibn Abbas said 'and he' means the descent of Issa.
Mujahid said: "and he will be a known sign for the closeness Hour, that's to say that one of the signs of the hour is the descent of Issa before the Day of Judgment." This is also the opinion of Al-Hasan, Qatada, Al-Suddy, and Al-Dahhak.
So both the verse of Allaah and the sayings of the interpreters of the Holy Qur'aan; the companions and the pious predecessors indicate that issa (Jesus), may Allaah exdalt his mention, will descend again before The Day of Judgment.
Therefore, it becomes evident that the statements of the said website that the Qur'aan did not mention this, is not correct.
There are also many narrations mentioned in the Sunnah in this regard. Moreover, the Prophet (
) said: "By him in whose hands my soul is, son of Mary (Jesus) will shortly descend amongst you people (Muslims) as a just ruler and will break the Cross and kill the pig and abolish the JIZIAH (a tax taken from the non-Muslims, who are in the protection of the Muslim government), then there will be abundance of money and nobody will accept charitable gifts.” (Reported by Ahmed in his Musnad, Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ibn Hibban and Al-Baihaqi.)
Al Hafiz Ibn Hajar said in Fath Al-Bari: "Many Ahadith state that Al-Mahdi is from this nation and that Issa (Jesus) will pray behind him."
In addition to this, Imam Al-Shawkani entitled a booklet he wrote: "The clarification about the Ahadith, on the Mahdi, the Dajjal and the messiah (Jesus)." He stated: "27 Ahadith were reported about the descent of Isa," then he stated the Ahadith.
The statement of the website that you mentioned that Imam Malik did not mention anything about the descent of Issa is not correct. Indeed Imam Malik reported in Al-Muwatta a Hadith in which the description of Issa and Al-Masih Al-Dajjal are mentioned in the same Hadith; this proves that he believes in their appearance.
Imam Malik reported in Al-Muwatta that Abdullah Ibn Omar narrated that the Prophet () said: "While I was asleep circumambulating the Ka'ba (in my dream), suddenly I saw a man of brown complexion and lank hair walking between two men, and water was dropping from his head. I asked, 'Who is this?' The people said, 'He is the son of Mary.' Then I looked behind and I saw a red-complexioned, fat, curly-haired man, blind in the right eye which looked like a bulging out grape. I asked, 'Who is this?' They replied, 'He is Ad-Dajjal.' The one who resembled to him among the people, was Ibn Qatan." (Al-Zuhri said, "He (i.e. Ibn Qatan) was a man from the tribe Khuza'a who died in the pre-Islamic period.")
The fact that Imam Malik reported the above Hadith is evidence that he believed in the descent of Issa, and the appearance of Dajjal.
That's why Ibn Abd Al- Barr, a Maliki scholar, said in Al-Tamheed, which is a book about the interpretation of Muwatta, when interpretating the above Hadith: "In this Hadith, Allah knows best- there is an evidence that Issa will descend on shrines and will make Tawaf (cirucumbulation) around the Ka'bah." He also said in his book Al-Istidhkar: Ahl Al-Sunnah believe in the descent of Issa."
We conclude from the above that the descent of Issa (Jesus) is mentioned in the book of Allaah, in the Sunnah of the Prophet (), and mentioned in Al-Muwatta, which is before Al-Bukhari and Muslim, and this is also the opinion of Ahl Al-Sunnah of the Maliki school of thought, and others.
As regards the website which is mentioned in the question, after visiting it, we discovered that this site is stating that Islamic creed (belief) is not taken from the Sunnah but from the Qur'aan only. This is a misguidance and complete ignorance.
None of the Muslim Imams said this. Indeed the Sunnah explains the Qur'aan and clarifies it, and the Prophet () did not speak of his own desires. We are bound to believe in what the Prophet (allallahu alayhi wa Sallam) informed us about the Aqeedah (creed).
The Prophet () said: "Indeed I was given the book and something similar to it." (Abu Dawud and others.)
Therefore, the Islamic creed is taken from the Qur'aan and from the Sunnah.
Sheikh Al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said: "The Sunnah interprets, clarifies and explains the Qur'aan. And the authentic Ahadith of the Prophet () in which he describes his Lord, and which the people of knowledge acknowledged received and believed in and passed on to us we have also to believe in them."
Allaah knows best.