The Essence of Islam – Volume III — Page 208
208. Essence of Islam-III they believed that Jesus as had died. That is why when. Haḍrat Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him), perceived at the time of the death of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that some people were in doubt concerning his death, he emphatically affirmed that all Prophets had died and no one of them was alive. He recited the verse: قد خَلَتْ مِن قَبْلِهِ الرُّسُلُ 180. Not a single person questioned his statement. Then there is Imam Mālik, a great Imam, a reputed scholar of the. Qur'an and Ḥadīth and a righteous one; he believed that. Jesus as had died. So did Imam Bin Ḥazam whose high status is well known, and so did Imam Bukhārī whose compilation of Aḥādīth is known as the truest book after the Book of God. In the same way, the learned Muḥaddathin and commentators Ibn-e-Taimiyyah and Ibn-eQayyim, who were the Imams of their respective ages, believed that Jesus as had died. The Chief of the Sufis,. Sheikh Moḥy-ud-Din Ibn Al-'Arabi very clearly stated in his commentary that Jesusas had died. The same has been the case with leading scholars, Muḥaddathin and commentators. All the Imams and scholars of the Mu'tazila held the same view. It would, therefore, be a daring invention to say that the bodily ascent of Jesus as to heaven and his expected descent has been a matter of consensus. . These are the beliefs of the people of the time when thousands of innovations had found their way into Islām. . These were the middle ages which are described by the. Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) 180 'Verily, all Messengers have passed away before him. 'Al-e-Imran, 3:145 [Publisher]