Does use of the Word Nuzul in the Hadith about the Second coming of Jesus, Son of Mary, mean he will descend from the Heavens?
The Promised Messiah [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian] speaks
The Light (UK), November 2011 Issue (pp. 3–4)
Editor’s note: Muslims generally believe that Jesus was bodily raised to the heavens and he will return to this world and with the Mahdi kill all non-Muslims. This belief is based on some sayings of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which speak of Jesus’ descent and use the Arabic word nazul to describe it. However, the word “heavens” is not used in any hadith. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad proved from the Holy Quran that Jesus died a natural death. The question then is: how is nazul of Jesus to be interpreted. Do we reject all such hadith or find another explanation so that the hadith is brought into line with the Holy Quran. Here the Promised Messiah [Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian] gives an explanation of what nuzul means.
Now, if, in your heart, the words descend near the minaret in Damascus cause doubt then we have proven that it is impossible (for a human) to descend from the Heavens and it is a false (notion) that is not supported by the Quran. On the contrary, it clearly refutes it. Now, if you believe in the Quran and give it precedence over other (books) then believe in the death of Jesus and his not descending from the heavens as you read it in the Divine Converse. The stranger matter is that the phrase descend from heavens is not found in hadith. And, except for the fabricators’ lies, it is nothing else. All ahadith agree that the Promised Messiah shall appear from this ummah [Muslim nation] because prophethood had ended and our Prophet is the khatam-un-nabiyeen [Seal of the Prophets].
In this hadith, nuzūl has been used to mean a traveler, i.e., one who moves from one place to another. Thus, a traveler is called nazīl. If we accept the authenticity of this hadith then this proves that at some time the Promised Messiah or someone from amongst his successors shall travel on this land and appear in Damascus. I do not understand why people cry over the word Damascus because the nazūl of the Promised Messiah near the minaret proves that the country in which the Promised Messiah shall appear shall be a different country and that his nazool in Damascus shall be like a traveler. This is the explanation if we are to accept the hadith word for word. But the objectionable point in this is that ahadith are based on presumptions, except for one part of the ahadith that has been established by the practice of the believers.
If the signs given in Bukhari and other books (of hadith) are authentic like the Holy Quran then their denial is certainly heresy in the same way as it is a heresy to deny the verses of the Holy Quran. Certainly, the learned are not unaware of this fact. If the denial of ahadith makes heresy certain, then all Muslims shall become heretics. This way no one even from among the noblest Muslims and scholars of previous ages shall be salvaged from the affliction of heresy because the disease of rejecting and refuting some ahadith, afflicting jurists, religious leaders and muhadditheen, is common.
Despite the fact that our Prophet (pbuh) is the khatam-un-nabiyeen, then there is no doubt that whosoever believes in the Israelite prophet Jesus’ descent denies that the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) is the khatam-un-nabiyeen. I am sad for those people who say that Jesus will, after the passing away of the Prophet of Allah (pbuh), appear and abrogate some parts of the Quran’s commandments and add some new ones. Apart from that, for forty years revelation shall come to him and he shall be the Last Messenger though the Prophet of Allah (pbuh) has said: after me there is no prophet. Allah named him khatam-ul-anbiya. Thus, after him how can a prophet appear? O party of Muslims, do you not reflect! You unjustly and falsely follow superstition. You consider the Quran to be a thing forsaken and you have become of the untruthful.