Page 29 - The Signs of Prophet Jesus' (pbuh) Second Coming

God’s Promise:
Prophet Jesus (pbuh) Will Return

over them. You are the Witness of all things." (Surat al-
Ma’ida, 5:117)
In Arabic the word that is translated in some translations of this
verse as "You have caused me to die" is tawaffa and comes from the
root wafa – to fulfil. Tawaffa does not actually mean "death" but the act
of "taking the self back" either in sleep, in death or as in the case of
Jesus being taken back into the presence of God. From the Qur'an
again, we understand that "taking the self back" does not necessarily
mean death. For instance, it can mean "taking back the self while one
is asleep," as indicated in the following verse:

It is He Who takes you back to Himself [yatawaffaakum] at night,
while knowing the things you perpetrate by day, and then wakes
you up again, so that a specified term may be fulfilled. (Surat al-
An‘am, 6:60)
The word used for "take back" in this verse is the same as the one
used in Surah Al ‘Imran 55. In other words, in the verse above, the
word tawaffa is used and it is obvious that one does not die in one's
sleep. Therefore, what is meant here is, again, "taking the self back." In
the following verse, the same word is used like this:
God takes back people's selves [yatawaffaa] when their death
[mawtihaa] arrives and those who have not yet died, while they
are asleep [lam tamut]. He keeps hold of those whose death
[mawt] has been decreed and sends the others back for a specified
term. (Surat Az-Zumar, 39:42)

As this verse clarifies, God takes back the self of the one who is
asleep, yet He sends back the selves of those whose deaths have yet
not been decreed. In this context, in one's sleep one does not

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