JESUS (‘alaihi al-Salaam) WILL RETURN - JERUSALEM IN THE QUR’AN

JESUS (‘alaihi al-Salaam) WILL RETURN

The Qur’an emphatically declared that Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salaam) did not die (i.e., he was neither killed, nor was he crucified). It further declared that he was raised unto Allah, the Most High. And since the Qur’an declared that every soul (including Jesus) must taste death (Maut), it follows that Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salaam) must return and experience death like every other human being.  

But the Qur’an also delivered an ominous warning when it spoke about the death of Jesus. The warning was that Jews and Christians would all have to believe in Jesus (i.e., as the Qur’an has established Jesus’ status and position as the Messiah and as a Prophet of Allah) before ‘Jesus’ dies. This verse therefore clearly established the Divine plan that Jesus would one day return and that this event would occur prior to his death:

“And there is none from the People of the Book (i.e., not a single Jew who rejects Jesus as the Messiah and Prophet of Allah, and not a single Christian who insists that Jesus must be worshipped as God and as son of God) but must believe in him (Jesus) before his death (i.e., before the death of Jesus). And on the Day of Judgment he (Jesus) will be a witness against them.”

(Qur’an, al-Nisa, 4:159)  

Hence on that day every Jew will have to accept Jesus as the Messiah and believe in him, and every Christian will have to abandon belief in Jesus as the ‘son of God’ and the third person in a divine trinity.  

Prophet Muhammad (‘alaihi al-Salaam) has declared as emphatically as it is possible for anyone to declare, that Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salaam) will return:

“Narrated Abu Hurairah: Allah’s Messenger said: ‘By Him in Whose Hand is my soul (I swear that) the son of Mary will shortly descend amongst you as a just ruler. He will break the cross and kill the pigs and abolish Jizyah (a punitive tax imposed upon Jews and Christians resident in the territory of Islam). Then there will be abundance of money and nobody will accept charitable gifts.’ ”  

(Sahih, Bukhari)

Indeed the return of Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salaam) is one of the ten major Signs of the Last Day mentioned by the Prophet (‘alaihi al-Salaam):

 

“Narrated Hudhayfah ibn Usayd Ghifari:

Allah’s Apostle (‘alaihi al-Salaam) came to us all of a sudden as we were (busy in a discussion) He said: What do you discuss about? (The Companions) said: We are discussing about the Last Hour. Thereupon he said: It will not come until you see ten signs before and (in this connection) he made a mention of the smoke, Dajjal, the beast, the rising of the sun from the west, the descent of Jesus son of Mary (‘alaihi al-Salaam), Gog and Magog, and landslides in three places, one in the east, one in the west and one in Arabia at the end of which fire would burn forth from Yemen, and would drive people to the place of their assembly.

(Sahih, Muslim)

Thus the ten Signs are as follows: (Please note that these Signs are not necessary listed in chronological order of their happening)

•      the release of Dajjal – the False Messiah,

•      the release of Gog and Magog,

•      the return of Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salaam) – the True Messiah,

•      the appearance of dukhan (smoke),

•      the emergence of d’abbatul ard (a creature of the Land, i.e., Holy Land),

•      the sun would rise from the West,

•      a landslide or movement of the earth in the East,

•      another one in the West,

•      a third one in Arabia,

•      a fire comes out of Yemen and drives people to their place of assembly.

The Qur’an affirmed the return of Jesus as the ‘Sign of all Signs’ of the Last Day:

“And surely he (i.e., Jesus) is the Sign of the Hour”.

(Qur’an, al-Zukhraf, 43:61)

Jesus himself gave a list of signs to look for at the time when he is to return:

Ø  men would arise calling themselves Messiah, but they would be false,

Ø  there would be wars and rumors of wars,

Ø  there would be an outbreak of unprecedented global famine,

Ø  plagues would sweep the world,

Ø  there would be a great increase in lawlessness and inhumanity to man,

Ø  earthquakes would increase in intensity and frequency.

We now have the explanation for the two conflicting portraits of the Messiah in the scriptures – the first a meek and humble Messiah who would suffer immensely, and the other a mighty conqueror. When Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salaam) returns he would fulfill the second portrait of him. 

But Prophet Muhammad (‘alaihi al-Salaam) went on to reveal that prior to the return of  Jesus (‘alaihi al-Salaam) Allah Most High would rele ase a False Messiah (al-Masih alDajjal) into the world in the Last Age.

Source: Jerusalem in the Qur'an by Imran N. Hosein

to be continued....

Jews, Christians, and ‘Jerusalem in the Qur’an'

Jews, Christians, and ‘Jerusalem in the Qur’an’

Finally, while the subject of ‘Jerusalem in the Qur’an’ is important to Muslims, we were particularly interested in reaching out to Jews and Christians with the Holy Qur’an. As time passes, and the Last Hour draws nearer, it is becoming more and more difficult for Christian and Jewish scholarship to respond to the Qur’an and Ahadith as they deal with the subject of this book, as well as with Gog and Magog, the (False) Messiah, and the Return of Jesus (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). The evidence that confirms the truth of the Qur’an continues to increase. 

Muslims have a duty to present this subject to Jews and Christians, and we have done so in this book.

 This book made a distinction between two different Jews. There are those Israelite-Jews who traced their ancestry to Father Abraham (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). They are a Semitic people whose racial affinity to the Arabs is quite clear. On the other hand, there are blue-eyed blond-haired Europeans who converted to Judaism once upon a time and who share no such descent from Abraham (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam). The opinion of this writer, and Allah Knows best, is that the original Gog and Magog are definitely located somewhere within the ranks of such European Jews. Gog and Magog overturned Christian European civilization and transformed it into the present godless civilization. Gog and Magog established the Zionist movement and the State of Israel.

There can be no question of the fact that this book would be psychologically shocking to Western, Christian, Jewish and even to some Muslim readers. But let us make it plain and clear that we have not written this book to offend such a reading audience. The ‘internal reality’ of the world today, as understood through the Qur’an, is quite different from the ‘external appearances’ on the basis of which such people form judgments. There is a world of difference in the perception of those who see with two eyes, the external and internal, and those who see with only one eye (because they are internally blind). Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) warned that the age of Dajjal, the False Messiah, would be an age in which ‘appearance’ and ‘reality’ would be completely different from each other. None can see ‘internally’ and penetrate ‘reality’ in the Last Age save those who faithfully follow Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).

   We feel confident that there would be some Jews at least who, upon reading in this book the Qur’anic explanation of the events which are unfolding in the Holy Land, would, Insha Allah, be convinced of the Truth in the Qur’an and would consequently accept Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) as a true Prophet of the God of Abraham.

Source: Jerusalem in the Qur'an by Imran N. Hosein

to be continued....

No Punishment Because of Coercion - Mankind and Satan

No Punishment Because of Coercion

Among the signs of the Endless Mercy of Allah upon His servants is the fact that He remits any deed man may commit under coercion, for the justice of judgment. Consequently, on the Day of Judgment man will not be called to account for whatever he is forced to do against his will, in conformity with the Saying of Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, (which means):

“Whoever disbelieves in Allah after his belief… except for one who is forced (to renounce his religion) while his heart is secure in faith.” [An-Nahl, 16: 106]

Hence, the one who is forced to declare disbelief, while his heart is a believer, will not be called to account for this. Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, has made the domain of accountability – which is what the heart believes – impossible to yield to any coercion. For you can force a man to do what you want against his will, but you can never force his heart to show you love, while it hates you, neither can you compel a heart to believe in what it rejects to believe in.

Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, informs us that the devil has no sway whatsoever over man, for sway can either be a coercive one, meaning to force man into doing something against himself by force, or it can be the sway of persuasion, where he can prevail on man to do something, so he does it voluntarily. But the devil holds neither the sway of coercion nor the sway of persuasion, he rather – as we have previously said – sneaks to man from the points of his weakness, thus adorning to him what the self yearns to, till he falls into sin. The glorious Ayah says:

“I cannot be called to your aid, nor can you be called to my aid.” [Ibrahîm, 14: 22]

Satan says that he does own the power to eliminate the reasons behind their screaming out of torture, to which he himself together with them is going. Then he disowns those who disbelieved because of his seduction, he tries to shirk his responsibility, saying as the Noble Qur’an relates, what means:

“Indeed, I deny your association of me (with Allah) before.” [Ibrahîm, 14: 22]

Hence, the first among Satan’s soldiers is ego, which makes man think he can achieve what he desires independently, and makes him worship himself, his mind, or means, or he thinks that he is more capable of legislating than Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, thereof he abandons the Doctrine of Allah, thus making his own laws, which they call positive law and so forth. We should know that Satan has material soldiers, who are Shayâtin (devils) from among mankind and jinn. They are those who have followed Satan, and adopted his doctrine, fighting for the sake of falsehood, combating sedtruth, and deriding the believers. Concerning those people, Allah, all praise and glory is to Him, says (what means):

“Satan has overcome them and made them forget the remembrance of Allah. Those are the party of Satan. Unquestionably, the party of Satan – they will be the losers.” [Al-Mujâdilah, 58: 19]

The party of Satan are those who try to spread atheism, resisting any call of truth, standing against Divine Messages, shunning people away from them, to the extent of waging war, and this in conformity with the Saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, (which means):

“Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah, and those who disbelieve fight in the cause of Tâghut So fight against the allies of Satan. Indeed, the plot of Satan has ever been weak.” [An-Nisâ’, 4: 76]

As we have said there are devils from among mankind and jinn, as for those among mankind, they are the ones whom Satan has become their companion, that is to say closely associated with man. When Satan is close to a man and is adhering to him, it is a sign that this man has reached the utmost degree of sinning, and as long as the devil becomes an intimate companion to a person, he will never push him to goodness, but rather he will always push him towards evil, for he is an evil companion.

Such is the case with all evil companions, they aid one another and prop up each other’s heart to commit iniquity. One sees them unite in sinning, gather each night in a house where they drink liquors, commit adultery and all what incurs the Anger of Allah. Sinning binds them together with a firm bond in worldly life, but in the Hereafter things alter, and they turn enemies to one another.

Source: (Book) Mankind and Satan