Name of Questioner
Iszman - Singapore
Title
The Second Coming of Jesus
Date
21/Jul/2004
Question
As-salamu `alaykum.
We Muslims believe in the second coming of Prophet Isa (Jesus). When he descends to earth, the world will change drastically. Muslims and Christians will unite as one ummah (nation) and wealth will be in abundance.
My question is, how does we recognize Prophet Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) when the time comes? How does he look like? What language will he speak? What is his obvious characteristics?
Topic
Faith & Practice
Name of Counselor
Answer
Salam, Iszman.
Thank you for your question.
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) foretold the second coming of Prophet Jesus (peace and blessings be upon him) as one of the signs and preludes of the Hereafter.
Abu Hurayrah narrated: Allah’s Messenger said, “The Hour will not be established until the son of Mary [Jesus] descends among you as a just ruler. He will break the cross, kill the pigs, and abolish the jizyah tax. Money will be in abundance so that nobody will accept it (as charitable gifts)” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).
Breaking the cross refers to refuting the invented story of Jesus’s crucifixion and resurrection. Killing the pig means prohibiting its meat again, as in Islam and in the original Law of Moses. Jizyah is a tax paid by non-Muslims instead of the zakah (obligatory charity) paid by Muslims, in return for the equal rights, protection, and services they enjoy in a Muslim state. This ruling will be abolished, as all Christians will follow Jesus in his second coming and become Muslims.
However, his coming will be preceded by the appearance of the Antichrist (the Dajjal, the Imposter), who will come to intrigue people away from the truth of Islam, by showing what appears to be miraculous actions—by the will of Allah— that deceive only the naïve and unbelievers.
`Abdullah ibn `Amr reported that Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “The Dajjal would appear in my ummah and he would stay [in the world] for 40—I cannot say whether he meant 40 days, 40 months, or 40 years. And Allah would then send Jesus son of Mary, who would resemble `Urwa ibn Mas`ud. He (Jesus Christ) would chase him and kill him. Then people would live for seven years that there would be no rancor between two persons” (Muslim.)
It is narrated on the authority of `Abdullah ibn `Umar that one day the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) mentioned Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal (the Dajjal) in the presence of people. He said, “Verily, Allah (hallowed be He and High) is not blind of one eye. Behold, but Al-Masih Ad-Dajjal is blind of the right eye as if his eye is like a swollen grape.” Also the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “I was shown in a dream in the night that near the Ka`bah there was a man fair-complexioned, fine among the white-complexioned men that you ever saw, his locks of hair were falling on his shoulders. He was a man whose hair were neither too curly nor too straight, and water trickled down from his head. He was placing his hands on the shoulders of two persons and amidst them was making a circuit around the Ka`bah. I said, ‘Who is he?’ They replied, ‘Al-Masih son of Mary’” (Muslim).
Apart from that, no other details are given as to how Jesus would look like, what language he would speak, nor any other marking features. His face will not be as that portrayed and consecrated by the Christians and their churches. This has been visualized, from imagination, several centuries after his departure.
However, true believers will first know the Antichrist by his deeds as narrated by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). Similarly, Jesus will not be mistaken for anybody else, as he will declare himself as a prophet of Islam, coming to correct his message and to unite all the believers under the banner of Islam.
In Islam, the second coming of Christ is not only one of the peculiar signs of the Hereafter, but is a glorious conclusion of the history-long confrontation between tawheed (monotheism) of all genuine prophets on the one hand, and the multitude of polytheist deviations that infiltrated the teachings of Jesus after his departure, until it gradually engulfed almost all Christian creeds. These led to deifying Jesus, making him the son of God, and one part of a triune god, the same as in many other deviated or invented religions.
That this confrontation will be a major aspect of human history is stressed and amazingly expressed in the Qur’an. The Qur’an repeatedly exposes Christian distortions and warns those who advocate these invented deviations. Such a major history-long set of deviations that spread among considerable and influential segments of the world population, will naturally end toward the end of time with a decisive proclamation of truth. This proclamation will justly come through the same prophet who was misunderstood most, whose message was most sinfully tampered with, and whose personality was disfigured in such a way as to deceive generations of people and to corrupt the pure monotheistic belief he carried.
The second coming of Christ does not contradict with the fact that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is the Seal of the Prophets, by whom the messages and guidance of Allah to humanity have been completed. The return of Jesus is not a new phase of divine messages of Allah, but a final reaffirmation and revival of the message of Islam, the eternal call of all prophets and messengers.
Hope this answer is satisfactory. Thank you and please keep in touch.
Salam.
Useful Links:
The Story of Jesus
Is Jesus Dead or Alive?
Armageddon and the End Times
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