Question
How can you be so sure from the Holy Quran that Hazrat Isa (sws) has indeed passed away and died a natural death? What is meant by “bul rafa’ah Allahu ‘ilayhi “? Please clarify that how can you reject all the ahadith concerning the coming of Imam Mahdi? How can (or will He) Jesus Christ (sws) return after death? Qadianis say that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani came to settle the issue of the contradictory Ahadith regarding the Imam Mahdi etc. What is your take on this?
Answer
“How can you be so sure from the Holy Quran that Hazrat Isa (sws) has indeed passed away and died a natural death?”
The Qur’an itself has informed us very clearly that Jesus (as) was given death before his body was taken to heaven. We read in Al-i Imran 3:55:
إِذْ قالَ اللَّهُ ياعيسى إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيكَ وَ رافِعُكَ إِلَيَّ وَ مُطَهِّرُكَ مِنَ الَّذينَكَفَرُوا وَ جاعِلُ الَّذينَ اتَّبَعُوكَ فَوْقَ الَّذينَ كَفَرُوا إِلى يَوْمِالْقِيامَةِ ثُمَّ إِلَيَّ مَرْجِعُكُمْ فَأَحْكُمُ بَيْنَكُمْ فيما كُنْتُمْ فيهِتَخْتَلِفُونWhen God said: “Jesus, I give you death and lift you up to me and I shall purify you from these who have disbelieved and shall grant your followers supremacy over these disbelievers till the Day of Judgement. Then to Me you shall all return. So at that time I shall give verdict on what you have been differing in. (3:55)
“Mutawafik” in Arabic, by default, means to cause death. In the Qur’an we have similar use of other forms of the same root in the same meaning (i.e. death), among many please look at 4:97, 6:61, 16:28, 16:32.
– “What is meant by “bul rafa’ah Allahu ‘ilayhi”?”
This means lift your body up. Just as in 71:17, 18 and 80:21 the reference to the person is in fact referring to the person’s body.
– “please clarify that how can you reject all the ahadith concerning the coming of Imam Mahdi?”
Before considering Ahadith we need to appreciate that there is absolutely no reference to Mahdi in the Qur’an. This itself is enough to conclude that either there is no truth about the story of Mahdi, or that as Muslims we are not obliged to believe in coming of Mahdi, that is, such belief does not have any effects on our religion (surely when ever a just ruler appears and intends to revive the true Islam and to restore the power of Muslims, then it is the duty of any Muslim to support such a leader, no matter if his coming was predicted or not). .
As for the Ahadith about Mahdi, first, it is very strange that one of the most important books of Hadith (al-Muatta by Imam Malik) that was compiled before the books of Bukhari and Muslim has not mentioned any Hadith about Mahdi. Second, you can see that what is considered as the most reliable books of Hadith, i.e. the book of Bukhari, does not have any explicit references to Mahdi (Given the importance of such report, the argument that “the book of Bukhari was not supposed to cover everything” does not seem to be reasonable). Third, some of the great scholars of the past like Ibn Khaldoon have studied the ahadith of Mahdi and have concluded that they are all weak (please refer to the al-Muqaddama by Ibn Khaldoon, Vol 4, Part 53).
– “How can (or will He) Jesus Christ (sws) return after death?”
Again, the Qur’an has not informed us about the return of Jesus (as). In places in the Qur’an where almost the full story of Jesus (as) is given there is no mention about this. Even when the dialogue between the Almighty and Jesus (ra) in the hereafter is revealed in the Qur’an there is no mention of Jesus’ (as) return (5:116-118). This could have been the most suitable place in the Qur’an to inform Muslims of such an important news.
– “Qadianis say that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani came to settle the issue of the contradictory Ahadith regarding the Imam Mahdi etc. What is your take on this?”
First, as mentioned above, research shows that the Ahadith of Mahdi have not reached us through reliable sources. Second, if Muslims were supposed to get benefit of a divinely guided leader in future, this important news should have been given to them explicitly by the Qur’an (that is the book of clear guidance and clarification for every thing and the criteria and the scale for the truth).
My dear brother, please note that all the beliefs that have deviated from the true beliefs of Islam have one thing in common: they are not established in the Qur’an.
Answered by: Farhad Shafti
Date: 2015-02-13
