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The ruling on one who claims that Isa was not raised up or that he will not descend
Original (Arabic): https://binbaz.org.sa/fatwas/29/حكم-من-زعم-ان-عيسى-لم-يرفع-او-انه-لن-ينزل
Question: All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and the final outcome is for the God-fearing, and blessings and peace be upon His servant and Messenger and His chosen one
Of His creation, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and upon his family and companions, and those who followed his path and were guided by his guidance until the Day of Judgment. To proceed:
A question has reached me from Pakistan, signed by the brother in Allah, Sheikh Manzoor Ahmad, president of the Arabic University of Jhenida in West Pakistan, and this is the text of the question: (What is the ruling of the honorable scholars regarding the life of our master Isa, peace be upon him, and his being raised up to heaven with his noble physical body, then his descent from heaven to earth near the Day of Resurrection, and that this descent is among the signs of the Hour; and what is the ruling on one who denies his descent near the Day of Resurrection, and claims that he was crucified and did not die thereby, but rather emigrated to Kashmir (India) and lived there for a long time and died there a natural death, and that he will not descend before the Hour but rather one resembling him will come; give us a ruling, may you be rewarded?) End.
Of His creation, Muhammad ibn Abdullah, and upon his family and companions, and those who followed his path and were guided by his guidance until the Day of Judgment. To proceed:
A question has reached me from Pakistan, signed by the brother in Allah, Sheikh Manzoor Ahmad, president of the Arabic University of Jhenida in West Pakistan, and this is the text of the question: (What is the ruling of the honorable scholars regarding the life of our master Isa, peace be upon him, and his being raised up to heaven with his noble physical body, then his descent from heaven to earth near the Day of Resurrection, and that this descent is among the signs of the Hour; and what is the ruling on one who denies his descent near the Day of Resurrection, and claims that he was crucified and did not die thereby, but rather emigrated to Kashmir (India) and lived there for a long time and died there a natural death, and that he will not descend before the Hour but rather one resembling him will come; give us a ruling, may you be rewarded?) End.
Answer: In Allah is the help sought, and upon Him is the reliance, and there is no power and no strength except by Allah. The evidence from the Book and the Sunnah has come together in abundance to establish that Isa ibn Maryam, the servant of Allah and His Messenger, upon him be peace, was raised to the heaven with his noble body and soul, and that he did not die, was not killed, and was not crucified, and that he will descend at the end of time and will kill the Dajjal, break the cross, kill the pig, and abolish the jizyah, accepting nothing but Islam. It is established that this descent is among the signs of the Hour.
It is upon this that the scholars of Islam whose statements are relied upon have reached ijma, and they only differed regarding the "taking in full" mentioned in the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic: regarding two sayings: one of them being that what is meant by that is death, because this is what appears evident from the verse to one who does not reflect on the rest of the evidences, and because this has been repeated in the Noble Qur'an with this meaning, such as His saying, the Most High:And His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He. In other verses, tawaffi has been mentioned meaning death, and according to this meaning, the verse contains an inversion of order.
The second view: its meaning is "seizing" (al-qabd), which Ibn Jarir transmitted in his tafsir from a group of the salaf, and he chose it and preferred it over other views. Accordingly, the meaning of the verse would be: I am seizing you from the world of the earth to the world of heaven while you are alive, and raising you up to Me.
This meaning is also found in the saying of the Arabs: "I received in full my wealth from so-and-so," meaning I took possession of all of it in full.
The third view: that what is meant by this is the death of sleep, because sleep is called a death, and the evidences have indicated that he, peace be upon him, did not die; so the verse must be interpreted as referring to the death of sleep, in order to reconcile between the evidences, as in His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He:And His saying, Mighty and Sublime is He:.
The last two opinions are more correct than the first opinion. In any case, the truth to which the clear evidences point, and upon which the proofs converge, is that he, may the salah and peace be upon him, was raised up to the heaven alive, and that he did not die; rather he, peace be upon him, remains alive in the heaven until he descends at the end of time and carries out the task entrusted to him, as explained in authentic hadiths from Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺthen he dies afterward the death which Allah has decreed for him. From this it is known that interpreting "tawaffi" as death is a weak, outweighed opinion, and even granting its correctness, what is meant by that "tawaffi" is the one that occurs after his descent at the end of time, so its mention in the verse before "the raising" would be from the category of what is placed first in wording though delayed in meaning, since "and" (al-waw) does not necessitate sequence, as the people of knowledge have pointed out. And Allah is the Grantor of success.
As for whoever claims that he was killed or crucified, the explicit text of the Qur'an refutes and invalidates his claim. Likewise, the claim of whoever says that he was not raised up to heaven, but rather emigrated to Kashmir, lived there for a long time, and died there a natural death, and that he will not descend before the Hour, and that only someone resembling him will come — such a claim is manifestly false. Rather, it is among the gravest fabrications against Allah, the Most High, and a lie against Him and against His Messenger. ﷺ.
For the Messiah, upon him be peace, has not descended up to this time of ours, and he will descend in a future time, as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ informed ﷺFrom what has preceded, the questioner and others may know that whoever says that the Messiah was killed or crucified, or says that he migrated to Kashmir and died there a natural death and was not raised to heaven, or says that his like has already come or will come, and that there is no Messiah who will descend from heaven, has committed a grave fabrication against Allah; rather, he is one who denies Allah and His Messenger. ﷺand whoever denies Allah and His Messenger has committed kufr. It is obligatory that whoever says statements like these be asked to repent, and that the evidences from the Book and the sunnah be made clear to him; if he repents and returns to the truth, well and good, otherwise he is to be killed as a kafir.
And the evidences for this are numerous and well known, among them His saying, Glory be to Him, concerning Isa, upon him be peace, in Surah An-Nisa: And among them is that concerning which the hadiths from the Messenger of Allah have come in abundance ﷺ that he, upon him be peace, will descend at the end of time as a just ruler, and will kill the Antichrist of misguidance, break the cross, kill the swine, abolish the jizyah, and accept nothing but Islam — these being mutawatir hadiths, definitively established in their authenticity from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ And the scholars of Islam are agreed upon receiving them with acceptance and belief in what they indicate, and they have mentioned them in the books of aqidah. So whoever denies them, clinging to the claim that they are solitary reports (ahad) that do not yield certainty, or interprets them to mean that what is intended is that people at the end of time will adhere to the character of Christ, peace be upon him, in mercy and compassion, and that people will take hold of the spirit of the Shariah and its objectives and essence rather than its outward texts — then such a statement is manifestly false, contrary to what the imams of Islam hold, indeed it is an explicit rejection of the established, mutawatir texts, an offense against the radiant Shariah, a shameful affront against Islam and against the reports of the infallible one, upon him be blessing and peace, a submission to conjecture and whim, and a departure from the path of truth and guidance. No one who has a firm footing in knowledge of the Shariah and sincere iman in the one who brought it, and who reveres its rulings and texts, would venture upon such a thing.
The claim that the hadiths concerning the Messiah are solitary reports (ahad) that do not yield certainty is a claim whose corruption is manifest, for these are numerous hadiths, recorded in the authentic collections, the Sunan works, and the Musnads, with varied chains of transmission and routes, and multiple points of origin, such that the conditions of tawatur have been fully met in them. How, then, could it be permissible for anyone possessing even the slightest insight into the Shariah to say that they should be discarded and not relied upon?
And even if we concede that these are solitary reports (akhbar al-ahad), not all solitary reports fail to yield certainty. Rather, the correct position held by the verifying scholars among the people of knowledge is that solitary reports, when their chains of transmission are multiple, their isnads are sound, and they are free from any opposing counter-evidence, do yield certainty. The hadiths on this matter are of this description, for they are hadiths whose authenticity is definitively established, with multiple chains and sources of transmission, and there is nothing in this matter that contradicts them. They therefore yield certainty, whether we consider them solitary reports or mutawatir. By this, the questioner and others will know the falseness of this specious doubt, and the deviation of the one who voices it from the path of truth and correctness. And more heinous than that, and greater in falseness and in audacity against Allah, Glorified is He, and against His Messenger ﷺ the saying of one who interprets it away from what it indicates has combined both the denial of the texts and their invalidation, and the lack of belief in what they indicate, namely the descent of Isa, upon him be peace, and his judging among the people with justice, and his killing of the Dajjal, and other matters mentioned in the hadiths, and the attributing to the Messenger ﷺ who is the most sincere of people towards them and the most knowledgeable among them of the shari'ah of Allah, of resorting to deception and equivocation and intending other than what is apparent from his speech and what his wording indicates - and this is the utmost degree of falsehood, fabrication, and deceit toward the nation, which the station of the Messenger must be exalted above ﷺ This saying resembles the saying of the atheists who attributed to the messengers, upon them be peace, the use of illusion and deception for the benefit of the general public, and that they did not intend by what they said the actual reality.
The people of knowledge and iman have refuted them and nullified their statements with the utmost clarity and manifest proof. We seek refuge in Allah from deviation of the hearts, confusion of affairs, misguiding trials, and the incitements of Shaytan, and we ask Him, Mighty and Majestic, to protect us and the Muslims from obeying desire and Shaytan; indeed He is over all things competent. There is no might and no power except with Allah, the Most High, the Most Great. We hope that what we have mentioned will be sufficient for the questioner and a clarification of the truth. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah's blessings and peace be upon His servant and messenger Muhammad ﷺ, and upon his family and companions altogether.[1].
It is upon this that the scholars of Islam whose statements are relied upon have reached ijma, and they only differed regarding the "taking in full" mentioned in the saying of Allah, the Mighty and Majestic:
إِذۡ قَالَ ٱللَّهُ يَٰعِيسَىٰٓ إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ وَمُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ وَجَاعِلُ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱتَّبَعُوكَ فَوۡقَ ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُوٓاْ إِلَىٰ يَوۡمِ ٱلۡقِيَٰمَةِۖ ثُمَّ إِلَيَّ مَرۡجِعُكُمۡ فَأَحۡكُمُ بَيۡنَكُمۡ فِيمَا كُنتُمۡ فِيهِ تَخۡتَلِفُونَ
And (remember) when Allah said: "O 'Iesa (Jesus)! I will take you and raise you to Myself and clear you [of the forged statement that 'Iesa (Jesus) is Allah's son] of those who disbelieve, and I will make those who follow you (Monotheists, who worship none but Allah) superior to those who disbelieve [in the Oneness of Allah, or disbelieve in some of His Messengers, e.g. Muhammad, 'Iesa (Jesus), Musa (Moses), etc., or in His Holy Books, e.g. the Taurat (Torah), the Injeel (Gospel), the Quran] till the Day of Resurrection. Then you will return to Me and I will judge between you in the matters in which you used to dispute."
Qur'an 3:55 — trans. Hilali & Khan
۞ قُلۡ يَتَوَفَّىٰكُم مَّلَكُ ٱلۡمَوۡتِ ٱلَّذِي وُكِّلَ بِكُمۡ ثُمَّ إِلَىٰ رَبِّكُمۡ تُرۡجَعُونَ
Say: "The angel of death, who is set over you, will take your souls, then you shall be brought to your Lord."
Qur'an 32:11 — trans. Hilali & Khan
وَلَوۡ تَرَىٰٓ إِذۡ يَتَوَفَّى ٱلَّذِينَ كَفَرُواْ ٱلۡمَلَٰٓئِكَةُ يَضۡرِبُونَ وُجُوهَهُمۡ وَأَدۡبَٰرَهُمۡ وَذُوقُواْ عَذَابَ ٱلۡحَرِيقِ
And if you could see when the angels take away the souls of those who disbelieve (at death), they smite their faces and their backs, (saying): "Taste the punishment of the blazing Fire."
Qur'an 8:50 — trans. Hilali & Khan
The second view: its meaning is "seizing" (al-qabd), which Ibn Jarir transmitted in his tafsir from a group of the salaf, and he chose it and preferred it over other views. Accordingly, the meaning of the verse would be: I am seizing you from the world of the earth to the world of heaven while you are alive, and raising you up to Me.
This meaning is also found in the saying of the Arabs: "I received in full my wealth from so-and-so," meaning I took possession of all of it in full.
The third view: that what is meant by this is the death of sleep, because sleep is called a death, and the evidences have indicated that he, peace be upon him, did not die; so the verse must be interpreted as referring to the death of sleep, in order to reconcile between the evidences, as in His saying, Glorified and Exalted is He:
وَهُوَ ٱلَّذِي يَتَوَفَّىٰكُم بِٱلَّيۡلِ وَيَعۡلَمُ مَا جَرَحۡتُم بِٱلنَّهَارِ ثُمَّ يَبۡعَثُكُمۡ فِيهِ لِيُقۡضَىٰٓ أَجَلٞ مُّسَمّٗىۖ ثُمَّ إِلَيۡهِ مَرۡجِعُكُمۡ ثُمَّ يُنَبِّئُكُم بِمَا كُنتُمۡ تَعۡمَلُونَ
It is He, Who takes your souls by night (when you are asleep), and has knowledge of all that you have done by day, then he raises (wakes) you up again that a term appointed (your life period) be fulfilled, then in the end unto Him will be your return. Then He will inform you what you used to do.
Qur'an 6:60 — trans. Hilali & Khan
ٱللَّهُ يَتَوَفَّى ٱلۡأَنفُسَ حِينَ مَوۡتِهَا وَٱلَّتِي لَمۡ تَمُتۡ فِي مَنَامِهَاۖ فَيُمۡسِكُ ٱلَّتِي قَضَىٰ عَلَيۡهَا ٱلۡمَوۡتَ وَيُرۡسِلُ ٱلۡأُخۡرَىٰٓ إِلَىٰٓ أَجَلٖ مُّسَمًّىۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَأٓيَٰتٖ لِّقَوۡمٖ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ
It is Allah Who takes away the souls at the time of their death, and those that die not during their sleep. He keeps those (souls) for which He has ordained death and sends the rest for a term appointed. Verily, in this are signs for a people who think deeply.
Qur'an 39:42 — trans. Hilali & Khan
The last two opinions are more correct than the first opinion. In any case, the truth to which the clear evidences point, and upon which the proofs converge, is that he, may the salah and peace be upon him, was raised up to the heaven alive, and that he did not die; rather he, peace be upon him, remains alive in the heaven until he descends at the end of time and carries out the task entrusted to him, as explained in authentic hadiths from Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah ﷺthen he dies afterward the death which Allah has decreed for him. From this it is known that interpreting "tawaffi" as death is a weak, outweighed opinion, and even granting its correctness, what is meant by that "tawaffi" is the one that occurs after his descent at the end of time, so its mention in the verse before "the raising" would be from the category of what is placed first in wording though delayed in meaning, since "and" (al-waw) does not necessitate sequence, as the people of knowledge have pointed out. And Allah is the Grantor of success.
As for whoever claims that he was killed or crucified, the explicit text of the Qur'an refutes and invalidates his claim. Likewise, the claim of whoever says that he was not raised up to heaven, but rather emigrated to Kashmir, lived there for a long time, and died there a natural death, and that he will not descend before the Hour, and that only someone resembling him will come — such a claim is manifestly false. Rather, it is among the gravest fabrications against Allah, the Most High, and a lie against Him and against His Messenger. ﷺ.
For the Messiah, upon him be peace, has not descended up to this time of ours, and he will descend in a future time, as the Messenger of Allah ﷺ informed ﷺFrom what has preceded, the questioner and others may know that whoever says that the Messiah was killed or crucified, or says that he migrated to Kashmir and died there a natural death and was not raised to heaven, or says that his like has already come or will come, and that there is no Messiah who will descend from heaven, has committed a grave fabrication against Allah; rather, he is one who denies Allah and His Messenger. ﷺand whoever denies Allah and His Messenger has committed kufr. It is obligatory that whoever says statements like these be asked to repent, and that the evidences from the Book and the sunnah be made clear to him; if he repents and returns to the truth, well and good, otherwise he is to be killed as a kafir.
And the evidences for this are numerous and well known, among them His saying, Glory be to Him, concerning Isa, upon him be peace, in Surah An-Nisa:
(157) وَقَوۡلِهِمۡ إِنَّا قَتَلۡنَا ٱلۡمَسِيحَ عِيسَى ٱبۡنَ مَرۡيَمَ رَسُولَ ٱللَّهِ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ وَمَا صَلَبُوهُ وَلَٰكِن شُبِّهَ لَهُمۡۚ وَإِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ٱخۡتَلَفُواْ فِيهِ لَفِي شَكّٖ مِّنۡهُۚ مَا لَهُم بِهِۦ مِنۡ عِلۡمٍ إِلَّا ٱتِّبَاعَ ٱلظَّنِّۚ وَمَا قَتَلُوهُ يَقِينَۢا (158) بَل رَّفَعَهُ ٱللَّهُ إِلَيۡهِۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ عَزِيزًا حَكِيمٗا
(157) And because of their saying (in boast), "We killed Messiah 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), the Messenger of Allah," - but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but the resemblance of 'Iesa (Jesus) was put over another man (and they killed that man), and those who differ therein are full of doubts. They have no (certain) knowledge, they follow nothing but conjecture. For surely; they killed him not [i.e. 'Iesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary)]: (158) But Allah raised him ['Iesa (Jesus)] up (with his body and soul) unto Himself (and he is in the heavens). And Allah is Ever All-Powerful, All-Wise.
Qur'an 4:157-158 — trans. Hilali & Khan
The claim that the hadiths concerning the Messiah are solitary reports (ahad) that do not yield certainty is a claim whose corruption is manifest, for these are numerous hadiths, recorded in the authentic collections, the Sunan works, and the Musnads, with varied chains of transmission and routes, and multiple points of origin, such that the conditions of tawatur have been fully met in them. How, then, could it be permissible for anyone possessing even the slightest insight into the Shariah to say that they should be discarded and not relied upon?
And even if we concede that these are solitary reports (akhbar al-ahad), not all solitary reports fail to yield certainty. Rather, the correct position held by the verifying scholars among the people of knowledge is that solitary reports, when their chains of transmission are multiple, their isnads are sound, and they are free from any opposing counter-evidence, do yield certainty. The hadiths on this matter are of this description, for they are hadiths whose authenticity is definitively established, with multiple chains and sources of transmission, and there is nothing in this matter that contradicts them. They therefore yield certainty, whether we consider them solitary reports or mutawatir. By this, the questioner and others will know the falseness of this specious doubt, and the deviation of the one who voices it from the path of truth and correctness. And more heinous than that, and greater in falseness and in audacity against Allah, Glorified is He, and against His Messenger ﷺ the saying of one who interprets it away from what it indicates has combined both the denial of the texts and their invalidation, and the lack of belief in what they indicate, namely the descent of Isa, upon him be peace, and his judging among the people with justice, and his killing of the Dajjal, and other matters mentioned in the hadiths, and the attributing to the Messenger ﷺ who is the most sincere of people towards them and the most knowledgeable among them of the shari'ah of Allah, of resorting to deception and equivocation and intending other than what is apparent from his speech and what his wording indicates - and this is the utmost degree of falsehood, fabrication, and deceit toward the nation, which the station of the Messenger must be exalted above ﷺ This saying resembles the saying of the atheists who attributed to the messengers, upon them be peace, the use of illusion and deception for the benefit of the general public, and that they did not intend by what they said the actual reality.
The people of knowledge and iman have refuted them and nullified their statements with the utmost clarity and manifest proof. We seek refuge in Allah from deviation of the hearts, confusion of affairs, misguiding trials, and the incitements of Shaytan, and we ask Him, Mighty and Majestic, to protect us and the Muslims from obeying desire and Shaytan; indeed He is over all things competent. There is no might and no power except with Allah, the Most High, the Most Great. We hope that what we have mentioned will be sufficient for the questioner and a clarification of the truth. All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah's blessings and peace be upon His servant and messenger Muhammad ﷺ, and upon his family and companions altogether.[1].
- Majmu' Fatawa wa Maqalat Mutanawwi'ah li al-Shaykh Ibn Baz (1/429).