5:14 Christianity and Judaism will Persist till the Resurrection?

 

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

In the Name of Allah, the Rahman, the Merciful

الصلاة والسلام عليك يا خاتم النبيين

Prayers and peace be upon you, Seal of the Prophets

Allah says about the Christians and Jews:

فَأَغْرَيْنَا بَيْنَهُمُ الْعَدَاوَةَ وَالْبَغْضَاءَ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ

So We planted among them enmity and hatred till the Day of Resurrection

(Surah 5:14)

The Qadianis and some other foolish people interpret this Ayah to mean that the religions of Christianity and Judaism shall persist till the Resurrection. They cite this Ayah as a proof against the orthodox Sunni Islamic belief that that during the Second Advent of the Messiah all religions shall be eliminated except for Islam, as the Holy Prophet, sall Allahu alayhi wasallam, said:

فَيُقَاتِلُ النَّاسَ عَلَى الإِسْلاَمِ فَيَدُقُّ الصَّلِيبَ وَيَقْتُلُ الْخِنْزِيرَ وَيَضَعُ الْجِزْيَةَ وَيُهْلِكُ اللَّهُ فِي زَمَانِهِ الْمِلَلَ كُلَّهَا إِلاَّ الإِسْلاَمَ

He (Jesus) will fight people for the sake of Islam, and he will break the cross, slay the swine, and abolish the Jizyah. Allah will destroy every religion in his time except for Islam (Sunan Abi Dawud)

Since the false prophet and false messiah of the Qadianis, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, failed to fulfill any of these prophecies despite claiming to represent the Second Advent of Jesus, the Qadianis resort to denying the numerous, authentic Ahadith containing these prophecies. They deny that in the time of the Second Advent Allah will eradicate every religion except Islam and cite the Ayah, 5:14, to argue that Christianity and Judaism are destined to persist till the Resurrection. But the meaning of the Ayah, 5:14, is not that Jews and Christians shall remain on the Earth till the Resurrection literally. “Till the Day of Resurrection” is an expression, as explained by Allamah Shabbir Ahmad Uthmani:

یعنی جب تک وہ رہیں گے یہ اختلاف اور بغض وعناد بھی ہمیشہ رہے گا۔ یہاں قیامت تک کا لفظ ایسا ہے جیسے ہمارے محاورات میں کہہ دیتے ہیں کہ فلاں شخص تو قیامت تک بھی فلاں حرکت سے باز نہ آۓ گا۔ اس کے یہ معنی نہیں ہوتے کہ وہ شخص قیامت تک زندہ رہے گا اور یہ حرکت کرتا رہے گا۔ مراد یہ ہے کہ اگر قیامت تک بھی زندہ رہے تو اس بات کو نہ چھوڑے گا۔ اسی طرح آیت الی یوم القیامۃ کا لفظ آنے سے یہ ثابت نہیں ہوتا کہ یہود و نصاری کا وجود قیامت تک رہے جیسا کہ ہمارے زمانے کے بعض مبطلین نے اپنی تفسیر میں لکھ دیا ہے۔

That is, as long as they exist, this difference, hatred, and enmity will also remain forever. Here, the word “until the Day of Resurrection” is like the one we say in our idioms that such and such a person will not stop doing such and such an act even until the Day of Resurrection. This does not mean that that person will live until the Day of Resurrection and continue to do this act. What is meant is that if he lives until the Day of Resurrection, he will not stop doing this. Similarly, the words “to the Day of Resurrection” in the verse do not prove that the existence of Jews and Christians will continue until the Day of Resurrection, as some of the falsifiers of our time have written in their tafsir (Tafsir Usmani, Dar ul-Isha’at, v.1, p.511)

The interpretive principle that the phrase “till the Day of Resurrection” does not necessitate literal persistence and existence in this world till the Resurrection is supported elsewhere in the Holy Quran,

وَمَنْ أَضَلُّ مِمَّن يَدْعُو مِن دُونِ اللهِ مَن لَّا يَسْتَجِيبُ لَهُ إِلَىٰ يَوْمِ الْقِيَامَةِ وَهُمْ عَن دُعَائِهِمْ غَافِلُونَ

And who is more astray than one who invokes besides Allah one who will not answer him till the Day of Resurrection, and are, of their invocations, unaware

(Surah 46:5)

No one would understand from this Ayah that the idols and false gods that are invoked shall remain in this world till the Resurrection. Many of those idols have already been destroyed.