of space that they cause the occurrence of solar and lunar
eclipses. These can be predicted by mathematical calculation
and are clearly visible to the human eye.
The second coming of
Masih
I
T
IS
GENERALLY
understood that Jesus Christ is alive in the
heavens and that he will physically come to the earth during the
last days and then kill
Dajjal
. This is believed by the majority of
Muslims. But this version is not based on the Quran and Hadith.
In different authentic books of Hadith there are about two
dozen traditions regarding the coming of Christ. But what should
be noted is that in no tradition is it stated that
Masih
will
physically come down to earth from the heavens.
These traditions use the words
nuzul
(coming) and
baath
(sent
down). But these words do not prove that Christ will come down
from heaven to earth in physical form. In the Arabic language
nuzul
simply means ‘coming’ and not ‘coming from heaven’. This
is why a guest is called
nazil
that is, ‘one who comes’. Similarly,
the word
baath
does not denote ‘coming down physically from
heaven’ but rather ‘rising’ or ‘appearing’.
The coming of the role of
Masih
T
HE
TRUTH
IS
that the ‘second coming of the
Masih
’ means that
during the last stage of human history, when
Dajjal
will appear,
a person from the Muslim community will rise and fulfill the
role of Christ, i.e. he will meet the challenges of
Dajjal
and
defeat him. The Hadith mentions the killing of
Dajjal
, but this
does not mean physical killing. Rather, it is the ‘killing’ of the
deceptions of
Dajjal
by arguments.
There is nothing new about this. A sizeable number of
Muslim religious scholars have accepted the viewpoint — and a
number of books have been written in support of this — that
Masih
will not physically come down from heaven. Some of the
46
The alarm of Doomsday
