Imam Malik (RH): Isa (AS) has died

Introduction

Imam Malik (R.H) is the earliest scholar of Islam and the founder of the Maliki Fiqh in Islam. He was born in 711 A.D, just 70 years after the death of Muhammad (S.A.W) and he believed that Isa (A.S) has died. This is mentioned and quoted by multiple scholars in their works.

1) al-Imām Abū al-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd al-Jadd al-Qurtubī (d. 520 AH)

قال مالك : كان عيسى بن مريم يقول: يا ابن الثلاثين مضت الثلاثون فماذا تنتظر ؟ قال: ومات ابن ثلاث وثلاثين سنة

فيكون قول مالك على هذا ’ومات وهو ابن ثلاث وثلاثين سنة‘ على الحقيقة لا على المجاز

Malik said: Isa (Jesus) son of Mary used to say, “O son of the thirty, it has passed thirty (years), so what are you waiting for?” He [Malik] said: “He (Isa) died at the age of thirty-three.”

The statement of Mālik on this ‘and he died when he was 33 years old’ is literal and not a metaphor.”

[al-Bayān at-taḥṣīl wa-t-tawjīh wa-t-taʻlīl fī masā’il al-mustakhrajah. Bayrūt, Lubnān: Dār al-Gharb al-Islamī, p. 448-449]

2) al-Qāḍī Abū Muḥammad ʻAbd al-Ḥaqq ibn Ghālib ibn ʻAṭīyah al-Andalusī al-Muḥāribī (d. 542)

وقال مالك في جامع العتبية: مات عيسى وهو ابن ثلاث وثلاثين سنة.

“And Mālik said in Jami‘ al-‘utbiyyah: Jesus died when he was 33 years old.“

[Tafsīr Ibn ʻAṭīyah, al-Muḥarrir al-wajīz fī tafsīr al-Kitāb al-ʻazīz. Bayrūt: Dār Ibn Ḥazm, p. 308]

3) al-Imām Abī ʻAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Khalīfah al-Washtānī al-Ubbī al-Mālikī (d. 827 AH)

وفي العتبية قال مالك: مات عيسى ابن ثلاث وثلاثين سنة. قال ابن رشد: يعني موته: خروجه من عالم الأرض إلى عالم السماء. قال: ويحتمل أنه مات حقيقة، ويحيا في آخر الزمان، إذ لا بدّ من نزوله لتواتر الأحاديث بذلك.

“And it is in al-‘Utbiyyah that Mālik said: Jesus died when he was 33 years old. Ibn Rushd [al-Jadd] said: By this he meant his death: His emergence from the earthly world to the heavenly world. He said: And it is likely that he died a proper death and that he will be revived in the latter days, for there is no doubt about his descension (nuzūl), because of the successiveness (tawātur) of the traditions (ahādīth) on it.“

[Ikmāl ikmāl al-muʻallim. Miṣr: Maṭbaʻat al-Saʻādah, p. 265]

4) ash-Shaykh Muḥammad Ṭāhir ibn ‘Alī aṣ-Ṣiddīqī al-Fattanī al-Hindī al-Kujrātī (d. 986 AH)

وقال مالك: مات وهو ابن ثلاث وثلاثين سنة. ولعله أراد رفعه إلى السماء، أو حقيقته ويحيى آخر الزمان لتواتر خبر النزول.

“And Mālik said: He died when he was 33 years old. And He may have intended to raise him to the sky or [He may have caused] his proper [death] and he will be revived in the latter days, because of the successiveness (tawātur) of the traditions (khabar) on the descension (nuzūl).”

[Majmaʻ biḥār al-anwār fī gharāʼib at-tanzīl wa-laṭāʼif al-akhbār. Lakʹhnaw: Nawal Kishawr, p. 286.]

Refutations

1) No Isnad/Chain of Narrators?

Even after we show the above quotes proving that multiple scholars have written on this belief of Imam Malik (R.H), some still doubt its authenticity by saying that there is no Isnad (chain of narrators) for it.

Ibn Rushd

The chain is explicitly mentioned in Ibn Rushd’s Bayān published by Dār al-Gharb al-Islāmī in 1988.

Mālik -> Ashhab (d. 204 AH)/Ibn Nāfi‘ (d. 186 AH) -> Saḥnūn (d. 240 AH)

[Al-Bayan Wa-al-Tahsil wa-al-Tawjih, pg 221]

Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr

This same narration and Isnad are also confirmed by the Mālikī scholar Ibn ‘Abd al-Barr, also known as the “Bukhari of the West” (d. 463 AH):

وأخبرني أن عاش عشرين ومائة سنة ، وفي سماع اشهب وابن نافع من مالك ـ في كتاب العتبي ، اال مالك : كان عيسى بن مريم يقول: يا ابن الثلاثين مضت الثلاثون فماذا تنتظر ؟ قال : ومات وهو ابن ثلاث وثلاثين سنة

[at-Tamhīd limā fi l-Muwaṭṭa’ mina l-ma‘ānī wa-l-asānīd, pg 200.]

It is also well-known that al-‘Utbī traveled and took knowledge from Saḥnūn b. Sa‘īd directly as mentioned Tārīkh ‘ulamā’ al-Andalus by Ibn al-Faraḍī (d. 403 AH).

Non-Muslim scholars confirm

Not only do we have classical scholars confirming this report of Imam Malik (R.H) along with its isnad, but we also have non-Muslim scholars confirming this.

1. Ana Fernández Félix mentions the same chain in her PhD dissertation.
2. Miklós Murányi also verified that the quotations in al-‘Utbiyyah are all authentic and verbatim when compared with the surviving manuscripts. This is the scan of his research.

2) Not a literal death?

Many Anti-Ahmadis claim that the death mentioned by Imam Malik is not literal but a metaphorical death i.e sleep etc. However, many great Maliki scholars have clarified that Imam Malik (RH) is referring to the literal death.

1) Ibn Rushd (d. 520 AH)

ويحتمل أن يكون معنى قوله: {بل رفعه الله إليه} أي رفع روحه إليه بعد أن مات ويحييه في آخر الزمان فينزله إلى الأرض على ما جاءت به الآثار، فيكون قول مالك على هذا ’ومات وهو ابن ثلاث وثلاثين سنة‘ على الحقيقة لا على المجاز.

“And it is likely that the meaning of ‘On the contrary, Allāh exalted him to Himself’ is the exaltation of his soul to Him after he had died and He will revive him in the latter days. Thus, He will cause him to descend to the earth according to what the traditions (āthār) came along with. The statement of Mālik on this ‘and he died when he was 33 years old’ is literal and not a metaphor.”

[al-Bayān at-taḥṣīl wa-t-tawjīh wa-t-taʻlīl fī masā’il al-mustakhrajah. Bayrūt, Lubnān: Dār al-Gharb al-Islamī, p. 449]

2) Muhammad al-Ṭāhir ibn ʿĀshūr (d. 1393 AH)

Therefore, Ibn Abbas and Wahb ibn Munabbih said that it means actual death, and this is the apparent meaning. Malik said in Al-Muwatta, “Jesus died when he was thirty-one years old.” Ibn Rushd said in Al-Bayan wa Al-Tahsil, “It is possible that his statement ‘died when he was thirty-one’ is meant literally, not metaphorically.

[Tafsir at-Tahrir wa at-Tanwir, ]

3) Messiah will perform Hajj?

The Anti-Ahmadis further claim that even if Imam Malik (RH) believed that Isa (AS) has died, he did narrate that Isa ibn Maryam will perform Hajj in the following hadith:

Firstly, this argument is rather pathetic as Ahmadis believe that Ibn Maryam will indeed descend and have no problem with this hadith. Moreover, Ahmadis have proven that the Messiah that performs Hajj/Umrah is not the same as the Ibn Maryam of Bani Israel as the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) describes the physical traits of both of them completely differently. (Add Different description article)

Secondly, this in no way negates the literal statement of Imam Malik (RH) where he explicitly says that Isa (AS) has died. They are trying to create a contradiction where none exists. Read more here.

Thirdly, this hadith cannot be taken literally as in Bukhari, Masih AS is shown circulating the Kaaba along with Dajjal. By their logic, Dajjal will be able to enter Mecca and perform Umrah/Hajj.¹Sahih al-Bukhari 3439

Fourthly, the same hadith they are quoting refers to many other metaphors like breaking the cross and killing pigs. Thus, it does not make sense to consider one aspect literal while others as metaphors.

Conclusion

In summary, Imam Malik (R.H) believed in the death of Isa (A.S) and he was not any random scholar. Rather, he is from the Salaf and the founder of the school of fiqh in Sunni Islam. He was also a teacher of Imam Shafi’i (R.H), who himself was the founder of another school of fiqh in Sunni Islam. The belief in the death of Isa (A.S) is a Quranic belief and is supported by Ahadith, Sahaba, and the other Salaf-us-Saliheen.