How Will Jesus Return? Born of a Virgin or From the Sky?
QSalam Alekum, This argument ensued between a cross section of believe and Christian this Sunday and I ll be glad if immediate answer can be supplied. 1.The Christians believed in the second coming of Jesus so some Muslims, can you please tell us succinctly well if Jesus is coming again with Quranic and or Hadith backing. 2. If he is coming, he's going to be birthed or how. 3. If he is not coming, didn't that negate Q 3:185? Awaiting your quick response. Thanks
ANSWER
“We find the expression that Jesus will “descend” among the people. This is repeated in several hadiths. But we do not find the expression that he will be “born” a second time…
Jesus’ second coming will be in the same form as he was at the time when he was raised up. He will appear among the people without anybody noticing him at first as it were, and there is no chance of anyone seeing him descending from the sky either.”
Peace be with you brother. Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
The Second Coming of Jesus Foretold in Hadiths
The belief in the second coming of Jesus is shared by both Christians and Muslims.
The sayings of the Prophet regarding Jesus’ second coming are well known.
Here is just one of many:
There is no prophet between me and him (i.e. Jesus Christ), and he shall descend. So, recognize him when you see him. He is a man of medium height, of ruddy and fair complexion; he will be dressed in two yellow garments; the hair of his head will appear as though water was going to trickle down from it, whereas it will not be wet. He will fight people in the cause of Islam, will break the Cross and kill the swine and will abolish jizyah; and Allah will put an end to all communities in his time except Islam; and he will slay the Antichrist (Dajjal); and he will stay in the world for 40 years; then will die and the Muslims will offer the funeral prayer for him. (Abu Da’ud and Ahmad).
Jesus Will Unite Christians And Muslims as One Ummah under the Banner of Islam
As the hadiths above indicate, Muslims believe that Jesus will return at the end of time and will clear all the confusion prevailing in the world regarding his life and mission.
And on his second coming Jesus will lead the Christians of the world to recognize the truth of Islam and consequently the world of Christianity will merge with the world of Islam as one Ummah.
Thus the True Religion of Islam will emerge as a mighty force defeating and wiping out all remnants of the false religion that misled the lives of various peoples of the world till then.
This is the promise of the Creator, Sustainer, and Sovereign Ruler of the whole universe, and certainly this is how things will come to pass in the end.
The foregoing in a nutshell is the prophecy about the second coming of Jesus as believed in Islam.
The Second Coming Does Not Mean a Second Birth
There is the question whether Jesus will be born again of a virgin mother as part of his second coming.
Such an idea is not warranted by the hadiths where his second coming is predicted.
We find the expression that Jesus will “descend” among the people. This is repeated in several hadiths.
But we do not find the expression that he will be “born” a second time.
Besides we must remember that Jesus was raised up at a critical juncture when he was about to be captured by the Romans.
Thus the belief is that he didn’t die; but alive with Allah Almighty, until the time for his descent comes.
Some commentators on the hadiths given above have suggested that Jesus’ second coming will be in the same form as he was at the time when he was raised up.
He will appear among the people without anybody noticing him at first as it were, and there is no chance of anyone seeing him descending from the sky either.
Mostly because the true message of Jesus was lost with time.
Jesus and Muhammad taught the same basic idea: worship God alone, be a good person, be just and generous and helpful and stand on the side of the oppressed. But over time, his message was corrupted by people like Paul. It’s the Paulified version of Christianity people practice today that’s the issue here.
Prophet Muhammad came to correct the ideas spread by people who weren’t actually following the true teachings of Jesus.
Salam (Peace) Dear Mark,
Thank you for your question and for contacting Ask About Islam.
No negative feelings, but loving pity for the widespread misconception and lack of information on what Islam and its Prophet are all about.
Jesus: For the People of Israel Only. Muhammad: All Mankind
While Jesus (peace be upon him) was sent specifically to the Israelites, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent to all humanity.
According to the Gospels,
“But he [Jesus] answered and said, ‘I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’” (Matthew 15:24)
In contrast, the Quran declares the universal message of Islam.
The Quran says what means:
Say: “O people! surely I am the Messenger of Allah to you all, of Him Whose is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; there is no god but He; He brings to life and causes to die; therefore believe in Allah and His Messenger, the illiterate Prophet who believes in Allah and His words, and follow him so that you may walk in the right way.” (Quran 7:158)
Did Jesus and Muhammad Teach the Same Thing?
Yes and no.
It is true that both Jesus and Muhammad, as well as all true prophets from Adam, Noah, etc. (peace be upon them all), carried essentially the same message.
That message is Islam—monotheism and submission to the will and guidance of God.
However, the details were not identical, but varied to cope with the time and nation addressed.
Also, while the original message of Jesus was distorted and deviated away from monotheism, the message of the final Prophet Muhammad was to stay valid and preserved to the end of time.
While Jesus’s emphasis was on moral salvation and reform of the individual, with only a few rulings on marriage and divorce, etc., the final message of Islam brought a detailed comprehensive code dealing with all aspects of human life.
This includes personal, family, social, economic, political, and international issues.
Jesus stressed purifying the soul; Muhammad was sent to build and maintain the model: individual, society, and nation.
The Original Message Of Jesus
Jesus, a human monotheistic prophet, repeatedly called people to worship God and warned those who ascribed partners to Him:
Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and Him Only.’ (Matthew 4:10)
“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.’” (Mark 12:29)
Jesus emphasized his own humanity:
[As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.] (John 8:40)
[By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear.] (John 5:30)
Moreover, Jesus never claimed to be God, or part of a God. He never mentioned Trinity, nor did he appoint a church to entrust itself with reshaping the faith and re-inventing the law.
The deviation started with Paul and some others—leaders, clergy, and philosophers—centuries after Jesus’s departure.
Christianity Today= Paulianity
Christianity as we know it today was re-formulated with its concepts of:
– Trinity, centered around the prophet Jesus who was thenceforth called God, begotten son of God.
– The sacrosanct Church of Christ, talking and enacting laws in the name of God.
– The story of crucifixion and resurrection from the dead.
– Original sin and atonement.
Read for example, according to Paul (NIV):
“At once he [Paul]began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God.” (Acts 9:20)
“Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel…” (2 Timothy 2:8)
Pauline Christianity Originated in Pagan Beliefs
Most of these distortions were borrowed or coined from earlier pagan creeds.
Close similarities can be found between this Pauline Christianity and Mithraism, Buddhism, and ancient Egyptian polytheist creeds.
During the seventh century CE when Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent, there were only a few groups of followers of the original message and teachings of Jesus.
The Injeel revealed to Jesus no longer existed in any form, as was the case of the Tawrah (Torah) of Moses before him.
They were replaced with the Old and New Testaments written by different human authors selected and sanctioned as holy by the Church ecumenical councils, several centuries after the departure of Jesus.
Therefore, it was high time then to re-establish the eternal guidance of the Creator to all humanity, but this time in a final eternal form, through the Glorious Quran and the detailed teachings and living model of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Jesus prophesied the coming prophet whose universal message will stay forever:
“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ” (John 14:16)
In Islam, the second coming of Christ (PBUH) is not only one of the peculiar signs of The Final Hour, but it is also 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 (deifying Jesus, etc.) that corrupted the teachings of Jesus after his departure. As for Prophet Jesus’ features, the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:
I was shown in a dream in the night that near the Kabah there was a man, fair-complected–fine among the white-complected men that you ever saw. His locks of hair were falling on his shoulders. He was a man whose hair was 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 making a circuit around the Kabah. I said, ‘Who is he?’ They replied, ‘Al-Masih [the Messiah] son of Mary’. (Muslim)
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Asalamu Alaikum Iszman,
Thank you for contacting About Islam with your question.
Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him-PBUH) foretold the second coming of Prophet Jesus (PBUH) as one of the signs and the prelude to The Final Hour.
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)
In this hadith, Jesus (PBUH) breaking the cross refers to him refuting the invented story of his crucifixion and resurrection. And killing the pig means that he will prohibit the eating of its meat again, as it is in Islam and in the original Law of Moses.
And abolishing the jizyah (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), in this hadith, means that this ruling will be abolished, as all Christians will follow Jesus (PBUH) 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 lead people away from the truth of Islam, by showing what appears to be miraculous actions—by the will of Allah—that will deceive only the naïve and unbelievers.
`Abdullah ibn `Amr reported that Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) said:
The Dajjal would appear in my ummah [community] 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 [the Dajjal] and kill him. Then people will live for seven years where there will be no rancor between two persons. (Muslim)
Also the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said:
I was shown in a dream in the night that near the Kabah there was a man, fair-complected–fine among the white-complected men that you ever saw. His locks of hair were falling on his shoulders. He was a man whose hair was 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 making a circuit around the Kabah. I said, ‘Who is he?’ They replied, ‘Al-Masih [the Messiah] son of Mary’. (Muslim)
Apart from that, no other details are given as to what Jesus (PBUH) will look like, what language he would speak, or any other marking features. His face will not be like those portrayed and consecrated by the Christians and their churches. These have 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 (PBUH). Similarly, Jesus (PBUH) will not be mistaken for anybody else, as he will declare himself as a prophet of Islam, coming to correct those who changed his message and to unite all the believers under the banner of Islam.
In Islam, the second coming of Christ (PBUH) is not only one of the peculiar signs of The Final Hour, but it is also 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 (deifying Jesus, etc.) that corrupted the teachings of Jesus after his departure.
The fact that this confrontation will be a major event in human history is stressed and amazingly expressed in the Quran. The Quran repeatedly exposes Christian distortions and warns those who advocate these invented deviations.
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 the fact that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the Seal of the Prophets, through whom the final message and guidance of Allah to humanity has 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.
