The Essence of Islam – Volume III — Page 204
204 Essence of Islam-III living and self-subsisting in heaven, and affirm the death and burial upon earth of the Chief of the Prophets (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)! The Holy Qur'an records the testimony of Jesus to the effect: مُبَشِّرًا بِرَسُولِ يَأْتِي مِنْ بَعْدِي اسْمُةٌ أَحْمَدُ 171 That is: 'I give glad tidings of a Messenger who will come after me (i. e. , after my death,) whose name will be Ahmad. ' Hence, if Jesus is still bodily alive, it follows that the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has not yet appeared on earth. [Ā'īna-e-Kamālāt-e-Islām, Rūķānī Khazā'in, vol. 5, pp. 41-42]. It is absolutely wrong to say that Jesus (peace be on him) has ascended bodily to heaven. There is no proof of this in the Holy Qur'an nor in Ahādīth, nor can reason accept it; indeed the Qur'an and the Hadith and reason all three reject it. The Holy Qur'an has clearly said that Jesus (peace be on him) has died, and the Hadith narrating the Me'rāj [Spiritual Ascent] of the Holy Prophetsa informs us that Jesusas has joined the souls of the departed Proph- ets (peace be on them), and has cut asunder completely from the earth. Reason tells us that it is not the way of Allah that a mortal body should ascend to heaven and, discarding all the characteristics of earthly life like eating and drinking etc. , should join the souls who have suf- fered bodily death and have arrived in the hereafter. Rea- son can furnish no such instance. Moreover, as the belief that Jesus (peace be on him) ascended bodily to heaven is inconsistent with the Holy Qur'an, so is the doctrine of his bodily descent inconsistent with the Holy Qur'an. 171 Al-Şaff, 61:7 [Publisher]