Mention of the Descent of Jesus son of Mary from the lowest heaven to earth at the end of time
Allah, Exalted be He, says:
“And for their saying, ‘We killed the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, the Messenger of Allah.’ Yet they did not kill him, nor did they crucify him, but it was made to appear so to them. Those who differ about the matter are surely in doubt concerning it; they have no knowledge of it except the pursuit of conjecture, and they certainly did not kill him. (157) Rather, Allah raised him up to Himself, and Allah is Ever-Mighty, All-Wise. (158) There is none of the People of the Scripture but will surely believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them. (159)” (al-Nisāʾ 4:157-159).
Ibn Jarir said in his Tafsir: “Ibn Bashar narrated to us; ʿAbd al-Rahman narrated to us; Sufyan narrated to us, from Abu Ḥaṣīn, from Saʿid ibn Jubayr, from Ibn ʿAbbas concerning the verse, ‘There is none of the People of the Scripture but will surely believe in him before his death’—he said: ‘before the death of Jesus son of Mary.’” This chain is sound, and the same wording was transmitted by al-ʿAwfi from Ibn ʿAbbas.
Abu Malik said regarding the same verse: “That will occur when Jesus son of Mary descends; no member of the People of the Scripture will remain without believing in him.”
Al-Hasan al-Basri said: “‘Before his death’—that is, before the death of Jesus. By Allah, he is now alive with Allah, but when he descends they will all believe in him.” Ibn Jarir related this.
Ibn Abi Hatim also narrated from al-Hasan that a man asked him about the verse and he replied: “Before the death of Jesus. Allah raised Jesus to Himself, and He will send him down before the Day of Resurrection in a station where both the righteous and the wicked will believe in him.”
Qatadah, ʿAbd al-Rahman ibn Zayd ibn Aslam, and many others said the same. The matter is established in the two Ṣaḥīḥs on the authority of Abu Hurayrah—as will be cited presently—once as a Companion’s statement and in another wording raised to the Prophet, and Allah knows best.
This, then, is what the Qurʾanic context intends: to inform us that he is presently alive in heaven, contrary to the claim of the ignorant among the People of the Scripture that they crucified him. Rather, Allah raised him to Himself, and He will cause him to descend from heaven before the Day of Resurrection, as the mutawātir hadiths indicate—those dealing with the Dajjal and others still to come. Allah alone is the One whose help is sought.
It has also been reported from Ibn ʿAbbas and others that the pronoun in the phrase “before his death” refers to the individual from the People of the Scripture, meaning that each of them will believe in Jesus before his own death. Even were that authentic it would not contradict the former interpretation. Nonetheless, the sounder view, both in meaning and chain of transmission, is the one we have set forth. I have explained this fully in my Tafsir, which is sufficient for whoever consults it; all praise and favor belong to Allah.
Mention of the hadiths transmitted on this subject
It has already been related in the hadith of al-Nawwas ibn Samʿān, recorded by Muslim, that Jesus will descend upon the white minaret to the east—