After the emergence or the “rising” of the Mahdi, the second most important event among the Major Signs, is the return of Jesus Christ. Christians who love Jesus understandably get quite excited by the prospect that even Muslims are looking for and longing for His return. Unfortunately, the Islamic belief of just who this Jesus is that is coming, and what he does once he has arrived, is drastically different than what Christians believe about Jesus. The first thing that Christians need to understand regarding the Islamic belief about Jesus is that Muslims of course reject the idea that Jesus was or is the Son of God. According to Islam, Jesus is not as the Bible articulates, God in the flesh. Secondly, in Islamic belief, Jesus never died on a cross for the sins of mankind. The Quran specifically denies that Jesus was ever crucified or that He ever experienced death. Muslims believe that after Allah miraculously delivered Jesus from death, he was assumed into heaven alive in a similar fashion to the biblical narrative regarding Elijah. Since then, Muslims believe, Jesus has remained with Allah and has been awaiting his opportunity to return to the earth to finish his ministry and complete his life. As such, to the Islamic mind, Jesus was not in any way a “savior”. To Muslims, Jesus was merely another prophet in the long line of prophets that Allah has sent to mankind. The special title of Messiah, although retained in the Islamic tradition, is essentially stripped of any truly biblically defined Messianic characteristics. According to the sacred texts of Islam, as we are about to see, when Jesus returns, it most certainly will not be to restore the Nation of Israel to the Jewish people. Nor will Jesus’ purpose be to save and deliver his faithful followers from the ongoing persecution of the Antichrist. In order to understand the Islamic concept of Jesus’ return, the first thing that needs to be realized is that when Jesus comes back, he comes back as a radical Muslim! This chapter will outline the Islamic traditions regarding the return of Jesus. Many of the Hadith below that refer to Jesus do not call him by the name Jesus, but rather Isa. Muslims occasionally will refer to Jesus by his English name for our sake, but the name that the Quran gives him, and which most Muslims use is Isa (or Eesa) al-Maseeh (the Messiah). Other common titles that Islam uses when referring to Jesus are Hadrat Isa (Honorable Jesus), Isa bin Maryam (Jesus son of Mary) or Nabi Isa (Prophet Jesus). Some of these titles may be used below. The Return Of The Muslim Jesus According to Islam’s sacred traditions, Jesus’ return is usually described as taking place just outside Damascus: At this very time Allah would send Christ, son of Mary, and he will descend at the white minaret in the eastern side of Damascus wearing two garments lightly dyed with saffron and placing his hands on the wings of two Angels. When he would lower his head, there would fall beads of perspiration from his head, and when he would raise it up, beads like pearls would scatter from it.
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 11:41:12 +0000
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