Isa in the End Times: How Islamic Eschatology Uses Jesus to Validate Muhammad

April 15, 2025

The Qur’an speaks of Jesus — or ‘Isa — with reverence. Muslims often highlight that he was born of a virgin, performed miracles, and was taken to heaven. Yet despite this apparent honor, Islamic eschatology transforms Jesus into something else entirely:

A supporting actor in Muhammad’s final act.
A messianic messenger who returns — not to fulfill Christian prophecy, but to submit to Islam and confirm Muhammad’s message.

In the Islamic end-times narrative, Isa’s role is not redemptive, but political and theological — and his return serves one ultimate goal:

To vindicate Islam.

---

1. The Qur’an’s Mysterious Exit — and the Hadith’s Reentry

The Qur’an denies Jesus’ crucifixion (Surah 4:157), claiming instead that he was not killed, nor crucified, but was “raised up” to God. It’s vague and leaves readers with unanswered questions:

• Why was Jesus spared?

• What happens next?

• What is his ultimate role?

The Qur’an doesn’t say. But the Hadith literature fills in the blanks — and reshapes Jesus’ return into a prophetic endorsement of Muhammad.

According to Sahih Muslim and other hadith collections:

• Jesus will descend from heaven near the end of time.

• He will break all crosses, kill pigs, and abolish the jizya — the tax on non-Muslims (implying all must convert).

• He will rule by the Sharia of Muhammad, not by the Gospel.

• He will fight the Antichrist (Dajjal) and kill him.

• He will live 40 more years, marry, have children, and be buried next to Muhammad.

This Jesus doesn’t return as the King of Kings.
He returns as a footnote to Muhammad’s legacy.

---

2. From Christ to Caliph: Jesus Becomes a Muslim Prophet

Christianity presents Jesus’ return as the glorious second coming of the Son of God — to judge the living and the dead, to establish a new heaven and earth.

Islam’s version? Isa returns to:

• Correct the Christians

• Submit to Islamic law

• Prove that Muhammad was right all along

His eschatological mission is not to reign, but to reinforce Muhammad’s status as the final prophet.

He does not come to rule as the Messiah, but to serve the Ummah. In fact, he’s explicitly said to pray behind the Mahdi, a figure not even mentioned in the Qur’an.

So the “Messiah” yields to Muhammad’s successors.

---

3. The Polemical Function: Jesus Used Against Christians

Let’s be blunt:
Islam’s Isa is deployed as a theological weapon — against Christianity.

In Islamic eschatology, Jesus:

• Denies the Trinity

• Confirms that he was never crucified

• Destroys the Church’s core symbols (crosses)

• Leads a final war against the non-Muslims

He does not preach salvation. He preaches Islamic supremacy.

In this story, Jesus returns not to save the world, but to settle a score — not with evil, but with Christian theology.

---

4. Why Does Islam Need Jesus at the End?

Because Islam lacks prophetic continuity with the Jewish and Christian scriptures.
To claim finality, it must claim that all prior prophets — including Jesus — were merely forerunners of Muhammad.

And what better way to secure that claim than to rewrite the end of the story?

• By having Jesus return to affirm Muhammad, Islam retroactively rewrites history.

• By having him abolish Christianity, it erases its greatest theological rival.

• By making him die and be buried next to Muhammad, it symbolically subordinates Christ to the Prophet of Islam.

It’s a narrative designed for legitimacy — not for truth.

---

5. The Jesus Who Returned — But Never Rose

The Jesus of Islamic eschatology:

• Returns in glory

• But never rose from the dead

• Rules on earth

• But never reigns as the divine Son

• Lives and dies like any other man

• And gets buried in Medina, not enthroned in heaven

This is not the Lord of history.
This is a borrowed figure, rebranded to serve another prophet’s purpose.

---

Conclusion: A Return Without Redemption

Islamic eschatology does not honor Jesus. It uses him — to affirm Muhammad’s message, to destroy Christian theology, and to rewrite redemptive history.

Jesus’ second coming, according to Islam, is not about salvation, resurrection, or judgment. It’s about religious propaganda.

Islam’s Isa returns to silence the Gospel, not proclaim it.

If this is the climax of the “final revelation,” it exposes a deeper truth:

Islam doesn’t just reinterpret Jesus — it repurposes Him to finish Muhammad’s mission.