Selected Exegesis

All the People of the Book believe in that personage before their death.

Given the extreme disagreement of the People of the Book regarding the Messiah, the possibility of the pronoun “his death” (mawtihi) referring back to the People of the Book seems more preferable. According to this possibility, the People of the Book, with the opening of their spiritual eye (ʿayn malakūtī) during their death throes and at the time of death, their unlearned assumption about Jesus the Messiah is removed and the truth becomes clear to them, and all of them believe in that personage before their death; the Jews in his prophethood (risāla) and the Christians in the fact that that personage is neither God nor the son of God but only the messenger of God.

Given the descent of Jesus the Messiah at the time of the appearance of the Proof (a.s.) and his praying behind him,(54) if the meaning of “They will surely believe in him before his death” (la-yuʾminanna bihi qabla mawtihi) is that the People of the Book who exist on earth at the time of that personage’s descent to earth believe in him, there is no problem whatsoever with the principle of that personage’s descent to earth and also the correct faith of the People of the Book of that era in him. Of course, that personage does not possess the office of prophethood (manṣab al-nubuwwa) at the time of descent; that is, the period of his prophethood has ended, whether he descends or does not descend, because the prophethood of every prophet ended with the mission (mabʿath) of Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdallāh.

According to the apparent context (ẓāhir siyāq) of the verses under discussion, which address the matter of Jesus the Messiah, the referent of the pronoun “him” (bihi) is that personage, not the Prophet, and its reference to Messenger in some narrations(55) is by way of application (jarī) and correspondence (taṭbīq), and the meaning is that after the mission of Prophet and consequently the abrogation (naskh) of the law (sharīʿa) of Jesus, it necessarily became obligatory upon the People of the Book to both primarily believe in the Prophet and also, while believing in him, accept the messengership (risāla) of the Messiah and the previous prophets. For this group of the People of the Book, at the time of death when the veils are lifted, the truth (ḥaqāniyya) of Jesus becomes clear along with the truth of the messengership of Messenger. In this case, their faith in Prophet is primary and in Jesus is secondary, and on the Day of Resurrection Messenger is a witness over them, just as the Messiah is a witness.

In any case, the true followers of Jesus the Messiah and the referent of the verse “And I shall set those who follow you above the faithless until the Day of Resurrection” (3:55) are the People of the Book who became Muslim and the masses of Muslims.

On the Day of Resurrection, every prophet bears witness to the deeds of his community.(56) The Messiah also bears witness in the Hereafter to the deeds of Christians, therefore he is well aware of their worldly actions; because bearing witness on the Day of Resurrection - which is the time for giving testimony - necessitates being a witness to people’s deeds in this world. Of course, the true observer and watcher is God, the Knower of the Unseen,(57) and Jesus is the manifestation of His witnessing and testimony, and in this respect he is a witness and bears witness.