The Belief in the Finality of Prophethood and the Descent of Jesus (peace be upon him)
“If the descent of Jesus (peace be upon him) near the Day of Judgment is accepted, then it necessarily follows that Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, is not the Seal of the Prophets. And if it is said that Jesus (peace be upon him) will not come as a prophet, then it would mean denying prophethood to a prophet.”
The “intellectuals” who examine the Quran and Hadith according to their self-made principles repeatedly raise this objection with great insistence. The purpose of this objection is to negate the belief in the finality of prophethood by acknowledging the descent of the Messiah. Therefore, according to these “intellectuals,” the solution to this “contradiction” is to deny the authentic and established hadiths regarding the descent of Jesus (peace be upon him), which are narrated in books like Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim, and are accepted by the Muslim Ummah.
Just as the belief in the finality of prophethood is established by the Quran and numerous authentic hadiths, similarly, the descent of Sayyiduna Jesus (peace be upon him) near the Day of Judgment is also established.
(1) The conclusion is that Jesus (peace be upon him) will come, but since the Shariah of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, will remain until the Day of Judgment, he (Jesus) will come in submission to the Muhammadan Shariah. This is an easy solution for those who align their views with the Quran and Hadith. The difficulty will certainly be for those who are busy trying to fit divine laws into the molds of their artificial theories. To end the mental turmoil of these people, some discussion on both aspects of this objection is presented here. For detailed arguments, study the articles of the scholars contained in this treatise.
The descent of Jesus is not contrary to the belief in the finality of prophethood:
The prophethood of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, will remain until the Day of Judgment. The advent of Jesus, peace be upon him, will not cause any change in your ﷺ Shariah. For clarification, consider a well-reasoned excerpt from Fath al-Bari by Hafiz Ibn Hajar, may Allah have mercy on him, which is an analysis of the words of the hadith regarding the descent of Jesus:
وَإِمَامُكُمْ مِنْكُمْ
(Jesus, peace be upon him, will descend while the Imam for prayer will be one of you).
Regarding these mentioned words, Ibn Hajar, may Allah have mercy on him, writes:
Abu Dharr al-Harawi says that some earlier scholars narrated from our Sheikh al-Jawzi that the meaning of وإمامکم منکم is that Sayyiduna Jesus, peace be upon him, will enforce the rulings of the Qur’an and not those of the Gospel. Allama Ibn Tain, in his explanation of these words, writes that (at the time of the descent of Jesus, peace be upon him, praying behind a member of the Muhammadan Ummah is an indication that) the Muhammadan Shariah will continue until the Day of Judgment. Allama Ibn al-Jawzi says that if Jesus, peace be upon him, leads the prayer at that time, the question arises whether he has come as a deputy of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, or if he has become an Imam to enforce another Shariah. To avoid this confusion, he, peace be upon him, will pray behind a member of the Muhammadan Ummah so that no doubt remains regarding the statement of Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ:
لانبی بعدی (انتهى ملخصاً)
Similarly, the information that Jesus, peace be upon him, will abolish the jizya tax has been given by the Praiseworthy Prophet ﷺ. Therefore, it cannot be argued that Jesus, peace be upon him, will abolish the jizya and change a permanent ruling of the Muhammadan Shariah ﷺ. It means that near the Day of Judgment, the abolition of the jizya will be by your ﷺ command.
In Following the Shariah of Muhammad, Jesus (peace be upon him) Will Not Be Deprived of Prophethood:
Does the abrogation of a prophet’s Shariah mean the loss of his prophethood? If the answer to this question is negative, then the issue is resolved. But if you answer affirmatively, it means that since the Muhammadan Shariah has abrogated all previous Shariahs, all previous prophets have lost their prophethood?? However, no believer can adopt such a view and tarnish their faith because believing in the prophethood of all prophets is an essential part of faith. We accept Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, as the Seal of the Prophets and believe in the prophethood of all prophets from Adam عليه السلام to Jesus عليه السلام. Yes! The Shariah of the Seal of the Prophets has abrogated all previous Shariahs, including the Christian Shariah.
Similarly, the Quran has abrogated the Torah and the Gospel, but you cannot say that the Torah and the Gospel are not divine scriptures.
You might wonder why the Shariah of previous prophets was abrogated after their death, while the Shariah of Jesus عليه السلام is being abrogated during his lifetime?
It is stated that the second part of the life of Sayyiduna Jesus عليه السلام is a miracle, departing from the natural law, so we cannot apply the general natural life to this second part. The first part of his life was according to the natural law, which ended when he was taken up to the heavens. Therefore, his ascension to the heavens is equivalent to death for the first part of his life. In this sense, we can say that the Shariah of Jesus عليه السلام was abrogated after the end of his natural life.
contains the prophecy of Sayyiduna Jesus عليه السلام: “یاتی من بعدی“. If you consider the word “Ba’di” (after), it is not difficult to understand this. If you do not accept our explanation, then we have the right to ask you what evidence you have that no other prophet can come during the life of a prophet and abrogate his Shariah? Whereas the Quran supports the opposite position:
وَ اِذْ اَخَذَ اللّٰهُ مِیْثَاقَ النَّبِیّٖنَ لَمَاۤ اٰتَیْتُكُمْ مِّنْ كِتٰبٍ وَّ حِكْمَةٍ ثُمَّ جَآءَكُمْ رَسُوْلٌ مُّصَدِّقٌ لِّمَا مَعَكُمْ لَتُؤْمِنُنَّ بِهٖ وَ لَتَنْصُرُنَّهٗؕ-قَالَ ءَاَقْرَرْتُمْ وَ اَخَذْتُمْ عَلٰى ذٰلِكُمْ اِصْرِیْؕ-قَالُوْۤا اَقْرَرْنَاؕ-قَالَ فَاشْهَدُوْا وَ اَنَا مَعَكُمْ مِّنَ الشّٰهِدِیْنَ
“When Allah took a covenant from the prophets: ‘Whatever I give you of the Scripture and wisdom, then a messenger will come to you confirming what is with you. You must believe in him and support him.’ He said, ‘Are you witnesses to this?’ They said, ‘We are witnesses.’ He said, ‘Then bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.'” (Translation by Maulana Muhammad Junagarhi, may Allah have mercy on him)
In the exegesis of this verse, the great scholar of the Ahl al-Hadith school, Hafiz Salahuddin Yusuf, may Allah preserve him, writes:
“This means that every prophet was given the promise that if another prophet comes during his life and prophethood, it will be necessary to believe in him and support him. If the prophet himself must believe in the new prophet who comes during his lifetime, then it is even more necessary for their communities to believe in this new prophet. Some commentators have interpreted ‘رسول مصداقی‘ as meaning ‘الرسول‘ (a specific messenger), i.e., the promise was taken from all prophets regarding Muhammad ﷺ that if he comes during their time, they must end their prophethood and believe in him. But in reality, the second meaning naturally arises from the first.”
Similarly, Sayyiduna Musa عليه السلام requested during his lifetime to transfer some responsibilities of prophethood to his brother Harun عليه السلام, which was fulfilled:
وَ اجْعَلْ لِّیْ وَزِیْرًا مِّنْ اَهْلِیْ(29)هٰرُوْنَ اَخِی(30)اشْدُدْ بِهٖۤ اَزْرِیْ(31)وَ اَشْرِكْهُ فِیْۤ اَمْرِیْ(32)كَیْ نُسَبِّحَكَ كَثِیْرًا(33)وَّ نَذْكُرَكَ كَثِیْرًاﭤ(34)اِنَّكَ كُنْتَ بِنَا بَصِیْرًا(35) قَالَ قَدْ اُوْتِیْتَ سُؤْلَكَ یٰمُوْسٰى(36) (سورة طه)
And in Surah Ya-Sin, Allah Almighty says:
وَ اضْرِبْ لَهُمْ مَّثَلًا اَصْحٰبَ الْقَرْیَةِۘ-اِذْ جَآءَهَا الْمُرْسَلُوْنَ(13)اِذْ اَرْسَلْنَاۤ اِلَیْهِمُ اثْنَیْنِ فَكَذَّبُوْهُمَا فَعَزَّزْنَا بِثَالِثٍ فَقَالُوْۤا اِنَّاۤ اِلَیْكُمْ مُّرْسَلُوْنَ(14)
It is clear that when two messengers were sent simultaneously to a town and the people rejected them, Allah sent a third messenger during their lifetime to support them.
Tell me, was the responsibility of prophethood not divided among these three prophets? If the responsibility of prophethood can be partially transferred or divided to another prophet during the life of one prophet, then why cannot it be completely abrogated by the coming of a new prophet? Especially when the verse mentioned from Surah Al-Imran clearly supports this position.
تِلْكَ الرُّسُلُ فَضَّلْنَا بَعْضَهُمْ عَلٰى بَعْضٍۘ
Among this group of messengers, Allah has given some superiority over others. To object to Allah’s action is a great audacity.
The summary of our discussion is that Sayyiduna Jesus عليه السلام will come as a prophet and follow the Muhammadan Shariah. Therefore, there is no contradiction between the belief in the Finality of Prophethood and the belief in the descent of Jesus عليه السلام. If we prioritize the Quran and Hadith over our personal and inherited opinions, such objections will not arise within us.
