Appearance
A Discussion of the Narrations
1. Disagreement in Narrations Regarding the Referent of the Pronouns “Him” and “His Death”
From Shahr ibn Ḥawshab who said: Al-Ḥajjāj said to me: There is a verse in the Book of God that has confounded me!(74)
I said: O Commander! Which verse is it? He said: His saying: “There is none among the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death” (4:159). By God! I order a Jew or Christian to be executed, then I watch him(75)
with my own eyes, but I do not see him move his lips until he dies!“(76)
I said: May God set the Commander right! It is not as you have understood it! He said: How is it then? I said: Jesus will descend to the world before the Day of Resurrection, and there will remain no people of any religion, neither Jew nor Christian, except that they will believe in him before his death, and they will pray behind the Mahdi.
He said: Woe to you! How do you know this and where did you get it from? I said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib narrated it to me. He said: By God, you have brought it from a pure source!(77)
From Abū ʿAbd Allāh regarding God’s saying: “There is none among the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death…” (4:159). He said: It is the Messenger of God.(78)
From Abū ʿAbd Allāh regarding God’s saying about Jesus: “There is none among the People of the Book…” (4:159). He said: The belief of the People of the Book is only in Muḥammad.(79)
Note:
a. The first narration appears in general sources with slight differences in the content of the hadith: … Indeed the Messiah whom you claim(80) you killed is God’s servant and His spirit; so they will believe in him when belief will not benefit them. When Jesus descends, their living will believe in him just as their dead believed in him.(81)
b. Regarding reconciling the narrations concerning the referent of the pronoun “him,” it can be said that the apparent context of the verses addresses the matter of the Messiah, therefore the referent of the pronoun “him” is that personage. However, the reports that consider the referent of the pronoun to be the Prophet are of the type of application (jarī) and correspondence (taṭbīq); that is, after the mission of God’s Messenger, the book and law of that personage abrogated the law of Jesus. Consequently, it became obligatory upon the People of the Book to believe primarily in the Prophet and also, through believing in him, to accept the messengership of the Messiah and the previous prophets as well.
On this basis, for the People of the Book who lived after the mission of the Prophet Muḥammad and believed in Messenger, at the time of death when the veils are lifted and the truth is revealed, the truthfulness of Jesus becomes clear through the truthfulness of the mission of the Messenger. In this case, their faith in Messenger is primary and in Jesus is secondary. Therefore, the prophet in whom the People of the Book truly believe and who will be a witness against them on the Day of Resurrection is the Messenger, although the Messiah is also such. Consequently, if the pronoun “him” refers back to the Messiah or to the Prophet, they are not incompatible with each other.(82)
2. Application of the Verse to the Prophet and the Ahl Al-Bayt
From Abū Jaʿfar regarding His saying: “There is none among the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death” (4:159). He said: There is no one from all religions who dies except that he sees the Messenger of God and the Commander of the Faithful truly, from the first and the last.(83)
From al-Mufaḍḍal who said: I asked Abū ʿAbd Allāh about God’s saying: “There is none among the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death” (4:159). He said: This was revealed specifically about us; there is no man from the descendants of Fāṭima who dies and leaves this world without acknowledging the Imam and his leadership (imāma), just as the sons of Jacob acknowledged Joseph when they said: “By God, God has certainly preferred you over us” (12:91).(84)
Note:
a. The first narration is of the type of application (jarī) and correspondence (taṭbīq). A similar content to this hadith has been narrated from Imam ʿAlī who said to al-Ḥārith al-Hamdānī:
O Ḥār of Hamdān, whoever dies will see me Whether believer or hypocrite, face to face His eye will recognize me and I will recognize him By his eye and his name and what he has done(85)
Similarly, it has been narrated from the Prophet: “O ʿAlī! Indeed, there is in you a likeness to Jesus son of Mary. God said:”There is none among the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death; and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them” (4:159). O ʿAlī! Indeed, no man who fabricates lies about Jesus son of Mary dies until he believes in him before his death and speaks the truth about him, though this will not benefit him at all. And you, ʿAlī, are like him: your enemy does not die until he sees you at the time of death, and you will be for him a source of rage and sorrow, until he acknowledges the truth about your affair and speaks the truth about it and acknowledges your authority (wilāya), though this will not benefit him at all. As for your friend (walī), he sees you at the time of death, and you will be for him an intercessor and a bearer of good news and a comfort to his eye.”(86)(87)
From this narration it emerges that the referent of the pronoun “him” is the Messiah and in “his death” it refers to the People of the Book, while other narrations are of the type of Qur’anic application (jarī) and correspondence (taṭbīq). However, the reliability of this exegesis is questionable!
b. What is meant by the People of the Book in this verse are the descendants of Fāṭima, as evidenced by the verse “Then We made heirs to the Book those whom We chose from Our servants”,(88) just as what is meant by “those whom We chose” (muṣṭafīn) in this verse are also them.(89)
3. The Descent of the Messiah at the Time of the Mahdī’s Appearance
The Messenger of God said: How will you be when the son of Mary descends among you while your leader (imām) is from among you?(90)
The Messenger of God said: The son of Mary is about to descend among you as a just ruler. He will kill the Antichrist (dajjāl), kill the pig, break the cross, abolish the poll tax (jizya), cause wealth to overflow, and prostration (sajda) will be one for God, Lord of the worlds. Read, if you wish: “There is none among the People of the Book but will surely believe in him before his death” (4:159) - the death of Jesus son of Mary.(91)
The Messenger of God said: … Indeed, there has been no trial (fitna) on earth since God created the offspring of Adam greater than the trial of the Antichrist (dajjāl), and God has not sent a prophet except that he warned against the Antichrist. I am the last of the prophets and you are the last of the communities (umam), and he will surely emerge among you… Among his trials is that he will command the sky to rain and it will rain, and he will command the earth to sprout…(92)
Umm Sharīk bint Abī l-ʿAkr said: O Messenger of God! Where will the Arabs be on that day? He said: They will be few on that day, and most of them will be in Jerusalem (bayt al-maqdis). Their leader (imām) will have stepped forward to lead them in the dawn prayer when Jesus son of Mary descends upon them. That leader will retreat, walking backwards, so that Jesus may step forward and lead the people in prayer. But Jesus will place his hand between his shoulders and say to him: Step forward.(93)
From the Prophet, who said: A group from my community (umma) will continue to fight for the truth, victorious until the Day of Resurrection. He said: Then Jesus son of Mary will descend, and their commander (amīr) will say: Come! Lead us in prayer! But he will say: Indeed, some of you are commanders over others - an honor from God for this community.(94)
Remember: Just as was mentioned in the exegesis of the previous verse:
The principle of the descent of the Messiah is not problematic.
That personage at the time of descent does not possess the office of prophethood.
That personage not being a prophet at the time of descent is not of the type of stripping prophethood from a prophet, but rather means the expiration of the period of the prophethood of the prophets with the mission of the Messenger.
In this respect there is no difference between the descent and non-descent of the Messiah.