Al-Zajjaj Refuting Interpretation of 4:159

 بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

اللهم صلى على سيدنا ومولانا محمد

وبارك وسلم وصلى عليه

The famed grammarian, Abu Ishaq al-Zajjaj (d. 922 CE), refuted the interpretation of 4:159 that the People of the Scripture (Jews and Christians) will all believe in Jesus before Jesus’s death:

وقال بعضهم إِلَّا لَيُؤْمِنَنَّ بِهِ أي سيؤْمن بعيسى إِذا نزل لقتل المسيح

الدجَّال وهذا بعيدُ في اللغَةٍ لأنه قال وَإِنْ مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ إِلَّا لَيُؤْمِنَنَّ بِهِ قَبْلَ مَوْتِهِ

والذين يبقون إِلى ذلك الوقت إنما هم شرذمة منهم ولكنه يحتمل أنهم كلهم

يقولون إن عيسى الذي ينزل لقتل الدجال نحن نؤمن فيجوز على هذا

واللَّه أعلم بحقيقته

Some of them say: ‘except they will believe in him’ that is, they will believe in Jesus when he descends and kills the Antichrist. But this is far-fetched linguistically, because He said ‘and there is none from the People of the Scripture except will believe in him before his death’ while they who remain at that time will only be a fragment from among them [the People of the Scripture]. But if it means that all of them say ‘Verily, Jesus will descend and kill the Antichrist and we believe in him’ then this [meaning] would be permissible. And Allah knows best its reality (Ma’ani al-Quran; v.2, p.130):

In other words, according to the logical explanation of al-Zajjaj, the idea that 4:159 means the People of the Scripture will believe in Jesus during his second advent when he slays the Antichrist is far-fetched, because 4:159 emphasizes the fact that all of the People of the Book will believe in him, whereas the People of the Book, Jews and Christians, who will presumably be alive during the second advent and believe in Jesus, are only a fraction of the entirety of the People of the Book, the vast majority of whom will have died before Jesus returns.

Add to this the fact that even during the time of the second coming, the Jews who will follow the Antichrist will not believe in Jesus but oppose him and his followers, and as a consequence of that opposition, the Muslim army shall exterminate them.