Malfuzat – Volume I — Page 47
Malfuzat - Volume I يُعِيسَى إِنِّي مُتَوَفِّيْكَ وَرَافِعُكَ إِلَى O Jesus, I will cause thee to die a natural death and will exalt thee to Myself Then He states: فَلَمَّا تَوَفَّيْتَنِي كُنْتَ أَنْتَ الرَّقِيْبَ عَلَيْهِمْ 47 But since Thou didst cause me to die, Thou hast been the Watcher over them. The argument that tawaffi means something else is completely false. Ibni Abbas and even our Perfect Guide, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, have already defined this word to mean 'death. ' Even those who oppose us, define the word to mean death or to take one's soul. In every instance, the Quran has also defined this word in the same way and so, no one can prove otherwise. Hence, when it stands proven that the Messiah of Nazarethas has died, it necessarily follows that the one who is to appear as Jesusas, should be from this ummah. The Hadith (He will be your Imam from among you) also expounds the same. Naturalists are fortunate as they are immune from this predicament because they already believe in the death of Jesusas. Moreover, the Promised Messiah (as) is mentioned so frequently in narrations that it is impossible for one to turn a blind eye in this respect. Furthermore, Quranic testimonies also allude to the person who is to appear. Hence, an intelligent individual cannot reject the fact that the Messiah will appear. What Special Relation Does the Messiah Possess with This Age? Indeed, there are some who are justified in raising the question as to why the Messiah possesses a particular relationship with this age. The answer is that the Holy Quran clearly and markedly draws a parallel between the successorship of both the Israelite and Ishmaelite dispensations. This is apparent from the following verse: وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوْا مِنْكُمْ وَعَمِلُوا الصَّلِحَتِ لَيَسْتَخْلِفَنَّهُمْ فِي الْأَرْضِ كَمَا اسْتَخْلَفَ الَّذِينَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِمْ 3 Allah has promised to those among you who believe and do good works that He will surely make them Successors in the earth, as He made Successors from among those who were before them. 1 Aal-e-Imran, 3:56 2 al-Ma'idah, 5:118 An-Nur, 24:56