Salam, I appreciate you allowing all people the forum to ask questions and respond to them in very humble, non judgemental fashion.
My three questions to you would be:
1st
you do not accept any prophet after the the Holy Prophet (saw) and you do not believe in the descent of Hadrat Isa from heaven. then what is your belief in regards to the latter days and where in the Quran could you refer to find these answers.
2nd
many sunni believe hadrat Isa ( peace be upon Him ) will return towards the end of time and will be a prophet, does this not then contradict the finality of prophethood, as he will be last prophet to live on the Earth, no matter that he bring no new law and is to be a muslim on is return.
3rd
why do most Muslim scholars not interpret chapter 3 verse 54
Ya Isa, inni mutawaffika wa rafi’uka ilaiya
Meaning: “O Isa! I shall cause you to die and I shall exalt you towards me…..”
but they translate it as raise you to myself
but in chapter 3: 193 and many other verses translate the same word “wafat” is taken to mean death or to die but not in the verses realted to Hadrat isa (pbuh)
Answer
There is no mention of the arrival of Jesus or Imam Mahdi before the Day of Judgment in the Quran. On the other hand, the Quran doesn’t even encourage to be too curious to know when the Day of Judgment is likely to come.
The only thing the Quran seems to describe is that close to the Judgement Day Gog and Magog (Yajujo Majuj) will dominate the world and cause immense mischief on earth (21:96). What is going to be the reality of it is something we cannot know exactly. As for Jesus, alaihissalaam, the Quran tells us that those who follow him (or are attached to him) will dominate the people who rejected him till the Day of Judgement. In other words the Christians would dominate the Jews till the last day. Had there been a possibility of him returning close to the Judgement Day, the passage under discussion should have been the most appropriate occasion to mention it. One can safely say that the Quran refuses to mention anything about the return of Jesus in the passage which was most appropriate for the purpose.
I quite agree with you that if Jesus was to return close to the Day of Judgment, it would contradict the Quranic understanding of the finality of prophethood. If ana khatamanabiyyin la nabiyya ba’di is true then there can be no Nabi coming after the last prophet. The explanation that Eesaa, alaihissalaam, will come as an ummati and not as a Nabi is a strange argument.
Most Muslim scholars translate the verb tawaffa differently on different occasions because they are influenced by the hadith while they translate the Quran. They strongly believe that the Quran should be understood in the light of hadith. Their understanding is that the Quran is not as clear as the hadith is and therefore the less clear text should be interpreted in the light of what is more clear. I on the other hand am inclined to say na’uzu billah (I seek refuge in Allah from the evil of this thought) on mentioning this view.