Islam

Apocalyptic Expectation
Orthodox Islam beleives that Jesus will return to the earth and establish Islam as the religion of the Earth.

Jesus' Denial of Incarnation

The Quran speaks of a future meeting between Jesus and God in the following words:

"And when Allah will say, 'O Jesus, son of Mary, didst thou say to men, 'Take me and my mother for two gods beside Allah?' he will answer, 'Holy art THOU, I could never say that which I had no right. If I had said it, Thou wouldst have surely known it. Thou knowest what is in my mind, and I know not what is in Thy mind. It is Thou alone Who art the Knower of all hidden things;

(Quran, Chapter 5, vs.117)

Islam - Imam Shaltut's Fatwa

Perhaps the single largest threat to the orthodox Islamic view of Jesus from its own community is from Imam Shaltut a deep and powerful Islamic scholar who became the highest Islamic authority of the most prestigious Muslim school on earth, Al-Azhar University. In October, 1958, he became Rector of Al-Azhar University. His religious and scholastic credentials within the world of Islam were impeccable. He issued a “fatwa” (decree) stating that God promised Jesus a natural death.

The full text of the Fatwa can be downloaded here. Below is a summary of Imam Shaltut’s fatwa:

1. The Holy Quran and Sacred sayings of the Prophet of Islam do not support the belief that Jesus is alive in heaven now.

2. The Quranic verses show that God had planned for Jesus to die a natural death and not die at the hand of those trying to crufify him

3. Anyone not believing Jesus to be alive in heaven is not contravening any Islamic belief.

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Ahmadiyya Sect
There presently exists only one religious group that holds survival from the cross and the natural death of Jesus Christ as fundemental to its belief. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

Al-Azhar University, Cairo Egypt