Answer
In The Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
1- The Second Coming of Jesus is clearly established from the Quran and authentic Sunnah. We Muslims should not have any doubt about this matter.
2- Jesus will not come to add or subtract anything from Islam. He will not claim himself to be a new Prophet or Messenger.
In his response to the question, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, Former President of the Islamic Society of North America, states the following:
First of all, let me briefly explain the teachings of the Quran and Sunnah on the Second Coming of Jesus.
Jesus in the Quran
Concerning Jesus, Allah says in the Quran:
{And when the son of Mary is quoted as an example, behold! the folk laugh out. And say: Are our gods better, or is he? They raise not the objection save for argument. Nay! but they are a contentious folk. He is nothing but a slave on whom We bestowed favor, and We made him a pattern for the Children of Israel.} (Az-Zukhruf 43:57-60)
What Did the Sunnah Tell about the Second Coming of Jesus?
Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) quoted the Prophet as saying:
“By Him in Whose Hands my soul is, son of Mary (Jesus) will shortly descend amongst you people (Muslims) as a just ruler and will break the Cross and kill the pig and abolish the jizyah (a tax taken from the non-Muslims, who are in the protection, of the Muslim government). Then there will be abundance of money and nobody will accept charitable gifts.”
Then, Abu Hurairah said: ‘Read if you wish, “There is not one of the People of the Scripture but will believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them.” (An-Nisaa 4:159)
Imam Muslim has reported that the Prophet said, “How (happy) will you be when the Son of Mary will come down among you and your Imam will be from amongst you.” (Al-Bukhari)
In another Hadith, we read:
“A group of my Ummah will continue fighting for the truth and will be victorious until the Day of Resurrection. Then Jesus son of Mary will come down and their (Muslim’s) leader will say, ‘Come and lead our prayer’, but he will say, ‘No, you have your leaders among you. This is the honor of Allah for this Ummah.” (Muslim)
Imam Muslim reported that Jesus will fight the Dajjal (Antichrist) and will kill him at the gate of Ludd near the city of Jerusalem.
What Will Jesus Do?
The Second Coming of Jesus is clearly established from the Quran and authentic Sunnah. We Muslims should not have any doubt about this matter. The Prophetic Hadiths make it very clear that:
1- Jesus will descend and will not be born. Thus anyone who will be born and will grow up in front of the eyes of his contemporaries and then will claim that he is the Promised Messiah, will be misusing these Hadiths and misleading the people.
2- Jesus’ coming will be “a sign of the approaching Day of Judgment”. If anyone made a claim of being the Messiah, while the portents of the Day of Judgment in which Jesus will appear did approach, neither in his life nor soon after him, then it is proved that he was a false pretender and not a true Messiah.
3- Jesus will not come to add or subtract anything from Islam. He will not claim himself to be a new Prophet or Messenger. He will not even lead a prayer of Muslims, he will follow in prayers the Ameer or Imam of Muslims.
If anyone claimed to be the Messiah and led the prayers of Muslims then that person, according to the Hadiths, will not be a true Messiah.
4- Jesus will be a just judge. He will make right judgment between the truth and falsehood. He will break the cross, kill the pig and will remove the jizyah.
This means that he will correct the false doctrines and beliefs that are spread about him and about his teachings among his followers and many of them will follow him. Thus the followers of the Prophet Muhammad and Prophet Jesus (peace and blessings be upon both of them) will be united into one Ummah and there will be no need for jizyah.
5- Jesus will fight the Dajjal and will kill him near Jerusalem. He will not say that fighting is abolished and is not necessary any more.
We do not know when Jesus will come, but he will surely come. It is important to believe whatever Allah has said in the Quran, and whatever is explained in the authentic Sunnah of the Prophet. May Allah keep us on the right path.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.