The Islamic Antichrist by Joel Richardson Read Free Book Online Page A

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    Based on the relevant hadith, Islamic scholars seem to be in universal agreement that the Mahdi will ask Jesus to lead the prayers. Jesus will then refuse this request and will defer instead to the Mahdi to lead the prayer:
The Messenger of Allah said: A section of my people will not cease fighting for the truth and will prevail until the day of resurrection. He said: Jesus son of Mary would then descend and their [Muslims’] commander [the Mahdi] would invite him to come and lead them in prayer, but he would say: No, some amongst you are commanders over some. 3
    The important element to stress here is that Jesus will then pray behind the Mahdi as a direct statement regarding Jesus’ inferiority of rank to the Mahdi:
Jesus Christ will decline the offer and invitation of Imam Mahdi to come and lead the Muslims in prayer, and say his prayer behind Imam Mahdi. 4
Jesus (peace be upon him) will come and will perform the obligatory prayers behind the Mahdi and follow him. 5
[Jesus] will be following the Mahdi, the master of the time, and that is why he will be offering his prayers behind him. 6
    JESUS THE FAITHFUL MUSLIM
    After Jesus returns, in keeping with His identity as a faithful Muslim, He will perform the ritual pilgrimage to Mecca called hajj :
The Prophet said: Verily Isa ibn Maryam shall descend as an equitable judge and fair ruler. He shall tread his path on the way to hajj [pilgrimage] and come to my grave to greet me, and I shall certainly answer him! 7
    JESUS WILL INSTITUTE ISLAMIC LAW
    While the Mahdi, as the caliph (vice regent) and imam (leader) of the Muslims is clearly superior to Jesus in Islam, Jesus remains a leader of the Muslim community. According to theIslamic traditions, Jesus’ primary purpose will be to oversee the institution and the enforcement of Islamic shariah law all over the world:
Ibn Qayyim mentioned in Manar al-munif that the leader…is the Mahdi who will request Jesus to lead the Muslims in prayer. Jesus will remain on the earth, not as a prophet, but as one of the community [ ummah ] of Prophet Muhammad. Muslims will follow him as their leader. According to Shalabi, the Mahdi will lead the Muslims in prayer, and Jesus will rule the Muslims according to the divine law [ shariah ]. 8
Jesus, the son of Mary will descend and will lead them judging amongst them according to the holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad. 9
    JESUS: THE GREATEST MUSLIM EVANGELIST
    Islamic tradition teaches that because Jesus will declare Himself to be a Muslim, He will lead many Christians to convert to Islam. Regarding those who do not convert to Islam, the Qur’an states that Jesus will be a witness against them on the Day of Judgment:
There is not one of the People of the Scripture [Christians and Jews] but will believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them. (Sura 4:159)
    Commenting on this verse, Mufti Muhammad Shafi and Mufti Mohammad Rafi Usmani in their book, Signs of the Qiyama [the final judgment] and the Arrival of the Maseeh [the Messiah], explain that the phrase “will believe in him before his death” means that Christians and Jews will:
…confirm that he is alive and has not died and he is not God or the Son of God but [merely] His [Allah’s] slave and Messenger, and Isa [Jesus] will testify against those who had called him son of God, the Christians, and those who had belied him, the Jews. 10
    Sheikh Kabbani, chairman of the Islamic Supreme Council of America, clearly articulates the Islamic perspective regarding Jesus’ evangelistic role when He returns:
Like all prophets, Prophet Jesus came with the divine message of surrender to God Almighty, which is Islam. This verse shows that when Jesus returns he will personally correct the misrepresentations and misinterpretations about himself. He will affirm the true message that he brought in his time as a prophet, and that he never claimed to be the Son of God.