Realization, not descending from Heaven
A
CCORDING
TO ONE
tradition, the Prophet once observed about
the appearance of Christ that he would certainly come. And
when he appears, people should recognize him. This tradition
of the Prophet shows that recognizing him will be based not on
“his descending from heaven but on his personality.” Had his
recognition depended upon his physical descent accompanied
by angels, he would have been instantly recognised. But,
according to the Hadith, the actual issue was simply the
recognition of the Messiah without any reference to his
miraculously descending from the heavens.
According to a tradition one sign of the Messiah would be
that in his time, “God will destroy all the religious groups.”
(Sunan Abi Dawood,
Kitab al Malahim
chapter ‘Khurooj Ad-
Dajjal’.)
This does not mean the physical destruction of all other
religious groups; it refers rather to the destruction of their
distorted ideologies. All the evidences of nature favouring the
true religion will be revealed through scientific argument at the
time of the appearance of the Messiah. And the realities which
will come to light as a result of the comparative study of religion
will discredit the supposedly logical base of other religions.
This opportunity will be in terms of potential, that is, the
religious base of other communities or religious groups will not
be destroyed on their own because of these newly discovered
evidences. Rather some individual will be required to avail of
these evidences, turning the potential into actuality. According
to a tradition, this task will be performed uniquely by
Masih
,
whereas others will find themselves helpless to perform this task.
This will be proof of the identity of
Masih
.
There is a hadith which possibly refers, in symbolic language,
to the coming of Christ in the age of aviation (Sahih Muslim,
Kitab Al Fitan
). It says that he will descend near a “white tower”
– possibly the control tower of an airport – after which he will
enter the city.
