A little before the end of time the majority of the world’s people will enter the true religion, that is, Islam. There has, however, been reported a tradition that the Day of Resurrection will not come as long as there exist some on the earth who recite the Name of God. How will then people apostatize after an almost universal conversion?

 

Those whose faith in the pillars of the religion is weak regard it as almost impossible that Jesus, upon him be peace, will return to the world before the end of time, practice the Islamic Law, and kill Dajjal (the Antichrist), all of which is predicted in an authentic hadith. What is meant by this and other similar Prophetic Traditions about Jesus’ return, Sufyan (another Dajjal who will appear in the Muslim world) and the Mahdi is this:

There will appear two trends of unbelief before the end of time:

• A terrible person who disguises himself under the veil of hypocrisy will appear in the Muslim world. He will lead the hypocrites and, denying the Messengership of the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, will try to destroy the Shari‘a. Fortunately, a blessed person from the descendants of the Prophet‘s family will come up against him and, at the head of the people of sainthood and spiritual perfection, will eradicate this trend of hypocrisy.
• The second trend of unbelief is an absolute atheism, a consequence of the philosophies of naturalism and positivism, strengthened by the materialist philosophy. Just as a wild, primitive man who does not recognize the King, and therefore does not recognize the different orders in the King’s army, from private to general, will have to attribute to each member of this army a sort of independent kingship and sovereignty; in the same way, each follower of this atheist trend will inevitably come to appropriate for himself some kind or degree of divinity. As a result, the man who will come to lead them, supported by some material and psychic means like spiritism and ‘hypnotism’ through various ways, will go so far as to deify himself. This man was referred to as Dajjal in the Prophetic traditions. How stupid it is of a human being to claim divinity when he is so powerless that he could not make the wing of a gnat and can be defeated by a fly or even a microbe. The religion of Jesus will gain momentum in its pristine, uncorrupted original form when this trend of atheism is at its peak. That is to say, the religion of Islam will come to spread in the Western world and Christianity, in response, will be purified of all the pagan elements which have found a way into it since its beginning and will convert to and so unite with Islam. Thus, the religion will gain great strength from this union and, as a result, will come out victorious in its struggle against atheist trends. How then can it be denied that the Exalted and All-Wise will ‘return’ Jesus to the world before the end of time? And do so for an important purpose related to His religion just as He frequently sends certain of His angels to the world for certain purposes, and sometimes sends them in the form of human beings? (The Archangel Jibril (Gabriel), for example, sometimes came to the Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings, in the form of one of his companions, Dihya.) God makes some spiritual beings appear in this world in the form of human beings, and He even dispatches to the world the souls of some dead saints in their energy ‘envelopes’. It is also worth pointing out here that Jesus is in the nearest heaven with his ’refined’ corporeal body and enjoying a particular degree of life—as expounded in the First Letter. If he had ‘completely’ died and gone to the farthest corner of the other world, it would even then be in conformity with the Divine Wisdom that God should resurrect him and return him to the world for a very important purpose. God promised this and He will certainly carry out His promise, and the Truthful Reporter, upon him be peace and blessings, foretold all this on the basis of that promise. When Jesus comes again, not everyone is expected to recognize him. Only those who are nearest to him will recognize him through the light of faith.

 

This article has been adapted from Risale- i Nur Collection.