What do Muslims believe Jesus’ purpose was as Allah’s prophet, since they don’t believe in the Incarnation or Resurrection?
To warn the Children of Israel of Allah’s coming judgment, to affirm the same truth that Abraham and Moses spoke (belief in one God), to foretell the coming of Muhammad.
According to Ibn Kathir:
Jesus was sent to ‘reform’ Judaism at that time - which was heavily corrupted. There are accounts of money-lending and commercial activities taking place in the Temple, which Jesus was opposed to and tried to stop. Jesus was also there to stop the priests from exploiting their power, which they were doing at that time.
Jesus was also sent to teach the Children of Israel the ‘true’ meaning and significance of the Sabbath, which the Jews of the time had forgotten and instead practiced it blindly without it’s true spiritual meaning.
Jesus was a ‘sign’ from God - a man who was born without a father, who could do miraculous things, and who stood up for the truth and tried to reform what needed to be reformed.
The Jews rejecting Jesus as their Messiah and Prophet signed their fate as having lost the title of the ‘Chosen People’ and as having the broken their Covenant with Allah.
Most importantly, Muslims believe that Jesus was the ‘Messiah’. Messiah meaning, ‘Anointed One’.
(Interestingly, in the Hadith, Muhammad sees Jesus, along with the Anti-Christ in a dream. Jesus is described as having his head wet and ‘water’ or ‘liquid’ dripping down from his hair.)
According to Muslim belief, Jesus is supposed to return to Earth at some point in the future to destroy the Anti-Christ, then later stop the Gog and Magog, and usher in an age of peace.
Actually, correct me if I’m wrong. I think Muslims DO believe Jesus ascended into heaven,Mohammad did NOT. BUT, Muhammad is more important to them and STILL in a grave. Hard to understand that , but.
We don’t actually believe that Jesus ascended to Heaven literally. The Quran states that Jesus was raised to Allah. No mention of him being literally being placed in Heaven. I think the correct Islamic belief is to believe he is in ‘occultation’. He’s not dead, but he’s not here on Earth among us either. We don’t know where he is, all we know is that he isn’t dead and will come back at some point in the future.
Muhammad DID ascend to Heaven and even entered the Empyrean (but it was more of a tour thing). It is called the Mi’raj (ascension). One of the core parts of Islamic belief.