HE BELIEFthat the last prophet, Muhammadsa, has already come and gone and the assertion that Jesusaswould descend to earth as a prophet after him are so inconsistent that they cannot be owned simultaneously. In fact this cocktail of two unrelated issues was made by some Ulema of the late medieval times. At the time of the revelation of the Holy Quran any connection between the two was unthinkable. For the sake of the unfamiliar non-Muslim reader we need to explain the historical background of this issue lest they should fail to understand what the row is all about. The verse ()Khatamun-Nabiyyeenis one of the most fundamental verses of the Quran which is profoundly rich in meaning and contains many possible connotations. But none of its connotations can even remotely be related to the so-called ascent of Jesus Christas. Hence the Mullahs plea that Jesusaswas lifted to the fourth heaven because this verse of finality was to be revealed by God is absolutely ridiculous and melodramatic. This so-called bodily ascent of Jesus has nothing to do with this verse nor with any verse in the Quran. The idea of raising Jesus Christasto heaven had never occurred to God. The entire Quran and the traditions of the Holy Prophetsaabsolve God of this absurdity by a total absence of any such reference to the ascent of Jesusas. For the Mullahs to maintain that God had lifted him to forestall the problem created by this verse is a blatant lie and an unfounded allegation against the Quran. Thus it is the Mullah who is creating the problem himself and resolving it in the name of God. To bind this unfounded conjecture to one of the most fundamental verses of the Quran is an act of abomination. The reasons which motivate the medievalist clergy to do this and the deceptive manner in which they attempt to fuse these absolutely unrelated issues is the main subject of discussion here. Having familiarized the reader with the background, now we proceed to tell the tale of the Mullahs desperation. With this in mind we hope that the reader will fully understand that which follows. ESPITE THE FACTthat the imagined ascent or descent of Jesusashas nothing to do with the independent declaration of the Holy Prophetssafinality, the clergy still assert that there is a definite link between the two. Prophet Jesusas, son of Mary, they insist, will be personally brought back from the heavens because no new prophet can be raised after Prophet Muhammadsa. This ingenious device of bringing an old prophet back to earth instead of raising one from theUmmahto meet the new need may seem highly laudable to the Muslim orthodoxy but their enthusiasm cannot be shared by ordinary humans. No one with an iota of common sense can attribute this cheap act of trickstering to God the Almighty, the All-Wise. Only the Mullahs can and this exactly is what they attempt to do. By connecting the return of Jesusaswith the finality of the Holy Prophetsa, they think that they have rescued God from the consequences of a premature declaration of finality. Thus, the clergy believes that they have saved God from a grave dilemma of contradiction. This has to be the brainchild of a half-wit Mullah to whom it rightly belongs. The promise of finality to any prophet by God, despite His knowledge that it could not be kept, is inconceivable of Him. To make a show of keeping the promise by bringing an old prophet after the demise of the last one is sheer mockery. Thus, judging God by his own standards, the Mullah first attributes a shameful act of contradiction to Him, then comes forward to help Him save His face from it. This blatant attempt is not made without a purpose. To the Mullah it is a great idea having multiple advantages. It saves the life of Jesus from an ignoble death upon the cross and frustrates his enemies attempts to prove him false. Imagine their exasperation at finding Jesus escape their clutches by vanishing into thin air (if there is any air at all in the fourth heaven where he is assumed to have ascended). But this measure must also have created another small problem for God. When and why he should be brought back to earth must have been the question. After all he could not be left abandoned in his heavenly confine till Doomsday. As far as God is concerned the problem does not exist. As far as the Mullah is concerned the problem is created by him to hide his own contradiction of believing in the finality of the Holy Prophetsa, as well as believing in the re-advent of Jesusasas a prophet after him. That is the only reason why he connects the verse ofKhatamun-Nabiyyeenwith the imaginary ascent of Jesusas. He does it with a cunning deceitfulness which cannot be detected by the ordinary Muslim masses. The following is the case he builds: 1.Jesus was lifted to heaven with a purpose and will be brought back finally to earth. 2.The coming of an old prophet after the last one had appeared would not break the seal of his finality. 3.The need for a new prophet in the latter days will be fulfilled without creating any dilemma of contradiction in Gods Decree. There are some who kill two birds with one stone but the orthodoxy seems to know how to kill three with one! In reality however, by shifting the twist of their own mind to that of God, they commit an unpardonable act of blasphemy. We believe that by concocting this mindless exercise and spinning such a bizarre tale the most prominent advantage the Mullah gains, among others, is to escape the possibility of any Divine authority to be ever imposed upon him. Good riddance once and for all from the institution of prophethood and the danger of ever losing his absolute command over the ignorant Muslim masses. The belief that a two thousand year old prophet would come again has the inherent guarantee that no prophet would ever come again. Thus the Mullahs grip on Islam will be perpetuated and he will forever retain his despotic authority over the unsuspecting Muslim masses. The dead never return from their otherworldly abode. Once departed, none has ever paid a second visit to begin mixing with the living. Never has God brought back any dwellers of the past. Those who literally await the return of Jesus may continue to do so till eternity. He will never come, nor will the Mullah ever quit his demagogic command over the Muslim world. Left forever at the mercy of the Mullah, who knows no mercy, the masses are duped to wait in vain for the return of Jesusasbearing a cup of elixir in his hand. Islam will continue to suffer year after year, century after century under the despotic rule of the Muslim clergy. Looking yet again at the same question of Jesus versus finality, the solution proposed by the Mullah is untenable anyway. To borrow an old prophet from the bygoneUmmahof Mosesasfor the completely different requirements of the MuslimUmmahof the latter days can in no way resolve their problems. A borrowed prophet, they fail to understand, will be the one who will violate the sanctity of the Holy Prophetssafinality and not the one who is born and raised within hisUmmahas his spiritual son. Over and above what has been discussed, it must be noted that in the context of the present discussion mere chronology cannot determine whether a prophet is old or new. If a prophet comes again with exactly the same attributes which he had during his first advent then of course his visit could be treated as a repeat visit. But, if before his second advent, he has been radically changed in his physical characteristics and aptitudes and his attitude to his enemies has fundamentally changed, he can in no way be described as an old prophet come again. In addition, the spiritual status he holds, the message he delivers, the miracles he works and the authority he exercises over the whole of mankind has no similarity with the Jesusasof the New Testament. It is also worthy of note that the Jesusaswhose advent was promised by the Holy Prophetsahas a completely different identity from that of the previous Jesusas. The promised Jesusaswould not be a prophet of Israel any more. He will no longer be subordinate to the Torah, or to the Gospels he himself taught. Nor will he be confined to the domain of the House of Israel. If, despite all this, the Mullah must insist that the Promised Jesusasis the same Jesusasof Israel then they must admit that before being brought back to earth he would be completely reconditioned and recommissioned in all the essential features of his prophethood. If that is not the advent of a new prophet, what else is? No Mullah would concede that such a Jesus as the one described could ever be assimilated into Islam without compromising the principle of the Holy Prophetssafinality. What remains for them is only to believe that Jesusaswould return to earth without any change wrought in him. Once here, he would be budded onto the tree of Islam and re-grow as a reformer fit to be called a universal Muslim prophet. We should be permitted to draw the attention of the Mullah that even then, he will remain foreign to Islam, unable to shed his non-Muslim personality of an Israelite. His case would be like that of a bud from a tree of a different species grafted onto the stem of another. If a lotus can be grafted onto a cherry tree, or a blueberry to a pineapple bush, only then can one visualize a pre-Islamic prophet grafted onto Islam. But to what avail. The grafted stem can never lose its identity. What would grow out of Jesus as even when bonded to Islam, would still be a Jesus as of Israelitic identity. ESUSAS, THEREFORE,even if physically transferred to the world of Islam, can never change his true identity. The Quran will continue to describe him merely as a prophet to the children of Israel. Any infuriated Muslim divine could stand up to defy his claim on the basis of this Quranic injunction alone, if he ever returns. He will be roundly denounced as an impostor. By what authority, he will be questioned, did he abrogate the proclamation of the Quran that he was merely a prophet to the House of Israel? As long as the Quran defines him as such, his identity will never be changed; he was and will always remain a prophet to the House of Israel. ... a Prophet to the children of Israel ...1 Ours is an age when the fundamentalists have overexcited the sensibility of the Muslim masses to the issue of blasphemy. Evidently, the life of Jesus will not be safer in the hands of Muslim fanatics than it was in the hands of the Jewish people. Moreover, he will have to face other multifarious dangers which he did not encounter during his first advent. The world of Islam is split into schisms far more sharply and intolerantly than the world of Judaism was at the time of Jesus Christas. The threat to his life will be grave no matter where he lands in a Muslim state—if he ever lands! If his landing strip happens to be in Iran, evidently he will be subjected to a gruelling examination regarding his doctrinal position. Does he believe in the twelve Imams or does he reject them? Does he believe in theKhilafatof Abu Bakr, Umar and Uthman or does he not? Does he believe in the unbroken continuity of succession of Hazrat Ali to the Holy Foundersaof Islam? If he conforms to the Shiite beliefs in answer to these questions, the threat to his life will still not be averted because of the additional problem of the disappearance of the twelfth Imam. It will be demanded of him as to how he dared return to earth alone while theirHolytwelfth Imam (Al-Mahdi) is still in hiding somewhere in space. Without the personal testimony of that Imam to the truth of Jesusas, he will most certainly be stigmatized and penalized for being false. If he is found guilty of endorsing the right toKhilafatof the first three Caliphs, Hazrat Abu Bakr, Hazrat Umar and Hazrat Uthman (may Allah be pleased with them), he will be denounced even more vehemently as an impostor. After this, his being condemned to death would be but a routine procedure of Shiite jurisprudence. However, if he descends in a Sunni territory while holding Shiite views, no sooner will he land than be despatched back to heaven. If on the other hand he holds Sunni views, his life will still not be out of danger because each of the Sunni sects dwelling in that country would require him to testify to the truth of their beliefs, or be rejected as a liar. It is hard to conceive Jesus Christasconverting to theBarelvifaith or becoming a Wahhabi fundamentalist the moment he touches down in their respective countries. Whichever of the two will he claim as his own? Either way it will be tantamount to bargaining for a death warrant issued by the clergy of the other. The reason for this condemnation would not just be his belonging to a different sect; the reason for his condemnation to death would be his imposture as a true prophet of God. No true prophet of God can hold wrong religious views they will argue. Each sect would judge Jesusasby the testimony of their own beliefs; none will judge their beliefs by the testimony of Jesusas. There will also arise the question as to which school of jurisprudence he belongs. Will he belong to the school of Hazrat Imam Malik or that of Imam Abu Hanifa or Imam Shafei or Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal? Having had no experience of such juristic wrangles, he will find himself helplessly trapped in the middle of this rigmarole. How he would wish that he had never ever returned to earth! Even if he is accepted by the sect whose garb he finally decides to wear, he will be strongly rejected by the remaining seventy-one sects. Over and above this will he not continue to confront the danger of rejection by all on the basis of the Quranic verse mentioned above, which declares him to be merelya prophet to the House of Israel? The shout of Go back to where you really belong may be heard from the mouth of any fanatic in the assembled crowd. Take off and re-route your flight to the State of Israel, may well be curtly demanded of him. If you are man enough to face a retrial at their hands, go to the Jewish people and prove your true identity. What shall God do at this new turn of events one wonders. Will He command the angels to hasten to Jesusas rescue once again, lifting him to the same remote celestial abode? Or will he be abandoned by God to shift for himself at the mercy of the Muslim or the Jewish clergy? Whether he will be re-crucified by Israelite soldiers in the state of Israel or whether he will be hung till death by a Muslim hangman, is a question which only the future will tell—if he For more click below alislam.org/library/books/revelation/part_7_section_3.html
Posted on: Thu, 21 Nov 2013 17:17:25 +0000
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