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"He is a Sign of the Hour..."
When the angels said: “Mary, your Lord gives you good news of a Word from Him. His name is the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, of high esteem in this world and the Hereafter, and one of those brought near.” (Surah Al ‘Imran, 3:45)
In Surat az-Zukhruf, we are informed of Jesus' return and some other facts, as follows:
When an example is made of the son of Mary [Jesus], your people laugh uproariously. They retort: "Who is better then, our gods or him?" They only say this to you for argument's sake. They are indeed a disputatious people. He is only a servant on whom We bestowed Our blessing and whom We made an example for the tribe of Israel. If We willed, We could appoint angels in exchange for you to succeed you on Earth. (Surat Az-Zukhruf, 43:57-60)
The next verse states that Jesus is a sign of the Day of Judgment:
He [Jesus] is a Sign of the Hour. Have no doubt about it. But follow me. This is a straight path. (Surat Az-Zukhruf, 43:61)
Ibn Juzayy says that the first meaning of this verse is that Jesus is a sign or precondition of the Last Hour. We can confidently say that this verse indicates his return at the End Times, because he lived six centuries before the Qur'an's revelation. Therefore we cannot consider his first life as a sign of the Day of Judgment. The verse says that Jesus will return toward the end of time or, in other words, during the last period of time before the Day of Judgment. In that context, his return is a sign of the Hour's imminent arrival. (God knows best.)
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By Him Whose Hand is my life, the son of Mary (Jesus) will certainly invoke the name of God for Hajj or for Umrah, or for both, in the valley of Rawha. (Sahih Muslim)
"It [the Day of Judgment] will not come until you see ten signs," and [in this connection] he mentioned the smoke, the Dajjal, the Beast, the rising of the Sun from the west, the descent of Jesus son of Mary… (Sahih Muslim)
By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary [Jesus] will shortly descend amongst you people as a just ruler. (Sahih al-Bukhari)
Jesus son of Mary would then descend and their [Muslims'] commander will invite him to come and lead them in prayer, but he would say: No, some amongst you are commanders over some [amongst you]. This is the honor from God for this Ummah [nation]. (Sahih Muslim)
How will you be when the some of Mary (i.e. Jesus) descends amongst you and he will judge people by the Law of the Qur'an? (Sahih al-Bukhari)
Islamic Scholars Consider Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) Coming as a Matter of Aqidah (Faith)
In almost all works that dwell on the essence of faith of the followers of Sunnah, there is reference to Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) coming to Earth before the Last Day, his struggle against Dajjal and his killing him, and the pervasion of the morality of true religion over the Earth. Assessing the evidence from the Qur'an and the news provided by hadiths altogether, Islamic scholars have adopted faith in Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) return as an important tenet of faith. The related explanations are as follows:
1. In verse 157 of the Surat an-Nisa', God commands, "...They did not kill him and they did not crucify him but it was made to seem so to them...." This verse, together with many others, reveal that Prophet Jesus (pbuh) is alive in God's sight and indicates that he will come to Earth for a second time. Reaching to consensus on this issue, Islamic scholars state that advocating a contrary suggestion is by no means possible. For instance in his commentary of this verse, Ibn Hazm stresses that someone who says Prophet Jesus (pbuh) is murdered would revert back from Islam or become a disbeliever.
2. The fact that the hadiths pertaining to Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) second coming are mutawatir, that is, so clear as to be immune to any doubts, is a great evidence for Muslims. Furthermore, there exists not a single different hadith that maintains otherwise - that is, any hadith that suggests that Prophet Jesus (pbuh) will not return.
3. Another evidence used by Islamic scholars is the hadith narrated by Jabir Ibn Abdullah which says, "Anyone who denies Mahdi's coming has denied what was revealed to Prophet Mohammed (may God bless him and grant him peace). Anyone who rejects Prophet Jesus' (pbuh), son of Maryam, coming has become a disbeliever. Anyone who does not accept Dajjal's appearance has also become a disbeliever."
There is reference to this hadith in very important Islamic resources such as, Fasl al-Khitab by Khwaja Parsa Bukhari, Maani al-Akhbar by Muhammed ibn Ibrahim Kalabadhi, Al-Rawd Al-Unuf by Suhayl, Arf-ul-wardi-fi Akhbar Mahdi by Jalaluddin Suyuti. This aside, Sheikh Abu Bakr has explained the chain of people who narrated this hadith. It is as follows (from the last person to the first): Muhammad Ibn Hasan, Abu Abdullah al-Hussein Ibn Muhammad, Isma'il Ibn Abi Uways, Malik Ibn Abas, Muhammad Ibn Munkadir, Jabir Ibn Abdullah.20
4. The abundance of narrators who reported the hadiths related to Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) coming and their trustworthiness is another issue to which Islamic scholars draw attention. Some of the narrators who reported these hadiths are: Abu'l Asas as-Sanani, Abu Rafi, Abul Aliyya, Abu Umama al-Bahili, Abu'd Darda', Abu Hurayra, Abu Malik al-Hudri, Jabir Ibn Abdullah, Hudhayfa Ibn Adis, Safina, Abu Qatada, Uthman Ibnul 'Aas, Nafi' Ibn Kaysani, Al Walid Ibn Muslim, Ammar Ibn Yathir, Abdullah Ibni Abbas...
As a result of all this information, Islamic scholars have considered faith in Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) return to Earth and the pervasion of the morality of the true religion as an important essence of faith.
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