The Descent of 'Eesa at The End of Time

The Ahadeeth have been reported through a large number of chains of narrators (tawaatur) on the descent of 'Eesa at the end of time:

As far as the descent of 'Eesa the son of Maryam (peace be upon him) at the end of time is concerned, it occurs in Qur’anic verses. In widely reported hadeeth[1] of the Prophet (peace be upon him) comes the news of his (peace be upon him) descent such as reports that he ('Eesa) shall slay the Dajjaal, and he will be an upright judge among the Muslims and a righteous Imaam. This is reported in many statements of the Sahaabah and the following generation, and some of them mention agreement of the Sahaabah (may Allah be pleased with them on his descent. None of the scholars of shari’ah[2] differed on this matter. On the contrary, it is denied only by heretical philosophers whose dissent is not even considered as legitimate. All this again is cited enough in Ithaaf Al-Jama'ah.

The Descent of 'Eesa (peace be upon him) is a reality confirmed in the Qur’an:

As for what comes under the first heading [i.e. of Al-Khateeb's article]: Is what is related on the descent of 'Eesa (peace be upon him) at the end of time an actuality that is confirmed by the Qur’an or is it a matter that is in fact incompatible with Islam?

The answer: On the contrary, the descent of 'Eesa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him) at the end of time is an actuality confirmed by the Qur’an itself. Allah Most High says in characterizing His Messenger (Muhammad peace be upon him). "He does not speak from his whim; Verily it is [his speech] nothing but an inspired revelation.”[3] It is also widely reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) spoke of the coming of 'Eesa (peace be upon him) at the end of time and it is therefore incumbent to believe in it according to the words of Allah Most High. “And what the Messenger brings you take it.”[4]

Proof from the Qur’an on the descent of 'Eesa (peace be upon him):

There are two verses of the Qur’an on this matter. One in which Allah Most High says “There is none of the People of the Book except who must believe in him before his death.”[5] On this Ibn Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) has said: “Before the death of 'Eesa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him).” As related by Ibn Jareer with an authentic chain.

Al Haakim related in Al-Mustadrak from Ibn Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) regarding this verse that he said, “The appearance of 'Eesa ibn Maryam.” Al-Haakim has said this report is authentic according to the criterion of the two shaykhs (Al-Bukhaari and Muslim) and supported by Adh-Dhahabi in At-Talkhees.

Abu Bakr Al-Aajurri relates in his book Ash-Sharee'ah from Ibn Abbaas on this verse as having said: “It means that a group from the People of the Book will recognize ‘Eesa upon his appearance and by that believe in him.” Ibn Mardawiyyah reports that Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) has made statements similar to that of Ibn Abbaas about this verse and this statement is the correct explanation of the verse. It was considered so by Ibn Jareer (At-Tabaree) as well as Ibn Katheer. It is also supported by Abu Maalik, Al- Hasan, Qataadah, Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Zaid ibn Aslam and others. Al-Hasan said: “By Allah he is alive now in the presence of Allah, but when he descends, they will all believe in him.” Narrated by Ibn Jareer.

As far as what else has been said by the commentators that the pronoun in the verse "...before his death”[6] is in reference to the person Jew or Christian - there is no contradiction of what has been presented before in that though they may believe at their time of passing that 'Eesa (peace be upon him) is a slave of Allah and His Messenger, his belief will be at that time of no use. Whereas those who believe in him after his descent at the end of time their belief shall in fact benefit them and Allah knows best.

 In the second verse Allah Most High says “And he (Jesus) shall be a known sign for the Hour ( the Day of Resurrection)” “wa innahu la 'ilmun lis-saa'ah”,[7]  and in the recitation of Ibn Abbaas, Abu Hurairah, Qataadah and Al-A'maash “wa innahu la 'alamun lis-saa'ah”, that is, an indication and a sign of the nearness of the Final Hour. Ibn Abbaas, in explaining this verse said “It is the coming of 'Eesa ibn Maryam before the day of Resurrection” as related by Imaam Ahmad, Sa’eed ibn Mansour, ‘Abd ibn Hameed, Ibn Abi Haatim, At-Tabaraani, and Al-Haakim in Al-Mustadrak; he and Adh- Dhahabi both call it authentic.

Ibn Hibbaan in his Saheeh and Al-Haakim relate in a hadeeth of Ibn 'Abbaas (may Allah be pleased with him) from the Prophet (peace be upon him) on this verse "And verily he is a sign of the Hour…” that he said “The descent of 'Eesa ibn Maryam before the Day of Resurrection”. Reported as authentic by AI-Haakim and Adh-Dhahabi. Similar sayings to that of 'Ibn Abbaas have also been related by Abu Hurairah, Mujaahid, Al-Hasan, Qataadah, Abu Al-'Aaliyyah, Abu Malik, 'Ikrimah, and Ad-Dahhaak.

With all that has been presented through Qur’anic verses and con-firmed ahadeeth from the Prophet (peace be upon him) concerning the descent of 'Eesa ibn Maryam (peace be upon him) at the end of time; along with the statements of Ibn 'Abbaas, Abu Hurairah and others from amongst the salaf[8] on the tafseer[9] of the verses from Soorah An-Nisaa’ and Az-Zukhruf; one must know that the descent of 'Eesa (peace be upon him) is true and the truth is never incompatible with Islam. Whoever claims that his (peace be upon him) descent is incompatible with Islam is of those whose Islam is doubtful because he has not fulfilled his declaration that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah. It is necessary for its fulfillment to absolutely affirm all that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) has informed us about regarding matters of the unseen that have passed and that shall occur in the future.

The rebuttal against those who claim the ahadeeth about the de-scent of 'Eesa (peace be upon him) are spurious and forged:

As far as the statements of the false accusers, namely that “The ahadeeth transmitted about the descent of 'Eesa (peace be upon him) are all spurious and unacceptable to the rational.”

The reply to this is to say that this type of arrogant obstinacy could not come from any man with the least inkling of brains or religion! If the mind of a man is corrupted there is no doubt that he would see false-hood as truth. More than fifty ahadeeth attributed to the Prophet (peace be upon him) have been related on the subject of the descent of 'Eesa (peace be upon him) most of which are saheeh[10] with the majority of the remainder being hasan.[11] Therefore, anyone who would claim that all of them are spurious is undoubtedly of unsound mind and religion!

Rebuttal against those who claim the descent of 'Eesa (peace be upon him) defies reason and logic:

Regarding the false statement that: “The descent of 'Eesa cannot be accepted by logic.”, the reply is thus: In so far as sound logic and the unimpaired mind that inclines toward the truth wherever it turns, it will not abstain from the acceptance of what comes from the Book of Allah Most High or from what is widely reported (mutawaatir) from the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) about the descent of 'Eesa at the end of time. Whereas deviant logic, and the corrupted mind; However of no consequence is such deviant logic and its people [who espouse or accept it].

Rebuttal against those who say the descent of 'Eesa (peace be upon him) is impossible:

Regarding the statement that “'Eesa's return is impossible because Muhammad is the last of the Prophets according to Qur’anic text.”

The answer is: When 'Eesa (peace be upon him) descends at time's end he will not come with a new law, nor will he judge according to the Injeel,[12] rather, he will judge according to the Book of Allah and the sunnah of Muhammad (peace be upon him). He will be one among this nation of Muslims as transmitted by Imaam Ahmad, Al-Bukhaari, and Muslim from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) who said “The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "How will you be when 'Eesa ibn Maryam descends upon you and there will be an Imaam from amongst you?”

In Muslim's transmission "How will you be when Ibn Maryam descends upon you and will be your Imaam?” Waleed ibn Muslim said “I said to Ibn Abi Dhi'b that Al-Awzaa'i told us from Az-Zuhri from Naaf'i from Abu Hurairah “...and there will be an Imaam from amongst you.” Ibn Abi Dhi'b said “Do you know what ‘...leads from amongst you’ is?” I said “Inform me” and he said “He will lead you according to the Book of your Lord the Blessed and Most High and the sunnah of your Prophet (peace be upon him).” Abu Dharr Al-Harawi said: “Jowzaqi reporting from some of the earlier (scholars) said “The meaning of ‘...an Imaam from amongst you’ is that he (peace be upon him) will rule according to the Qur’an not by the Injeel.” Ibn At-Teen said of the Prophet's (peace be upon him) statement, "...an Imaam from amongst you” is that “the Muhammadan law, shall remain till the Day of Resurrection and in every generation (century) there shall be a group of people with knowledge.”