“None of the People of the Book will fail to believe in him before his death” (al-Nisaʾ 4:159).

In other words, every Jew and Christian will affirm faith in the Messiah before he dies, namely when he descends to earth. At that moment no Jew or Christian will remain; only the religion of Islam will prevail. Indeed, this feature is already found in the descriptions preserved by the People of the Book themselves.

Yet the Christians imagined that his return would be after the Day of Resurrection, and that he is God—an error like the one they committed regarding his first coming, when they likewise supposed him to be God. The Jews, conversely, denied his first mission, assumed that the one who had been foretold was someone else and that he is not the figure who will appear at the end of time, so they continue to wait for another. In truth, he was first sent to them and they rejected him; he will come to them a second time, and every Jew and Christian alive on the face of the earth—save those who are killed or who die beforehand—will believe in him. He will thereby expose the falsehood of those who repudiated him and hurled slander at his mother, alleging that he was born of fornication, just as he will expose the falsehood of those who went to extremes about him and proclaimed him to be God.

Because the Messiah, peace be upon him, will descend among the community of Muhammad—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—there will arise between him and Muhammad a unique bond not shared with anyone else. For this reason the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said in an authentic hadith: “The person who has the strongest claim to the son of Mary is I; indeed, there is no prophet between him and me.”