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Reading the Quran, I used to often wonder, besides performing the basic function that a nabih/rasool does, which is to deliver a message to mankind, what was the essential function or outcome of Isa (A)'s mission? I do not think it is wrong to discuss this issue or conjecture because I am not passing a fatwa as I have no authority to do so. However, I will offer some theory here that may help provide some answers.
If you analyze Isa (A)'s mission from a success standpoint and compare it to Musa (A) and Muhammad (S), the amount of success it had on leaving behind an unadulterated message was not as profound as the latter two Prophets. In fact that is likely why when Musa was told that a Prophet like him would follow, Muhammad (S) was more representative of Musa's success as his mission set up the stage for an empire governed by the laws of Allah. Within decades of Isa (A)'s death, his original message had been fairly splintered and Saint Paul had created Pauline Christianity. Subsequently, Constantine played no small role in altering Christianity permanently. Moreover, the lack of worldly success of Isa (A) mission can be evidenced in utter confusion that was left behind after his mission, both amongst his supposed followers and amongst his admirers of other faiths.
With this in mind, what then could be said about the purpose of Isa (A) mission? He was called Messiah by the Quran because he was chosen by Allah for a particular role that his predecessors in Bani Israel were not. The question is: what was he chosen/annointed for? I propose that Isa (A) was sent to not only warn and inform mankind, but also to serve as a final and crucial evidence against Bani Israel for shutting the door of prophethood on their people. This in turn would give perfect justification to transfer Prophethood to the line of Ismail and end the convenent with Isaac (A)'s nassl(lineage).
If one reads the Old Testament and one reads the charges leveled in the Quran against the Yahud regarding their response to Allah's message and to their Prophets, a theme becomes apparent:
"We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of apostles; We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you an apostle with what ye yourselves desire not, ye are puffed up with pride?- Some ye called impostors, and others ye slay!" (2:87)
The Quran notes and the Bible confirms that the Bani Israel asked for miracle upon miracle from the messengers that were sent to them. In fact, Isa (A) was asked by his disciplines with the following:
"Behold! the disciples, said: "O Jesus the son of Mary! can thy Lord send down to us a table set (with viands) from heaven?" Said Jesus: "Fear Allah, if ye have faith." (5:112)... "Allah said: "I will send it down unto you: But if any of you after that resisteth faith, I will punish him with a penalty such as I have not inflicted on any one among all the peoples (5:115)."
Earlier they had said to Musa:
"They said: 'O Moses! while they remain there, never shall we be able to enter, to the end of time. Go thou, and thy Lord, and fight ye two, while we sit here (and watch).' He said: 'O my Lord! I have power only over myself and my brother: so separate us from this rebellious people!'
Allah said: 'Therefore will the land be out of their reach for forty years: In distraction will they wander through the land: But sorrow thou not over these rebellious people."
When we examine Isa (A)'s mission, it is unique in that Allah gives the people everything that they ask for. They even ask Isa (A) to raise the dead and he does this for them by Allah's leave. His miracles numbered many.
YET, it is the response to Isa (A) that was the most fascinating thing of all. For even though he gave them all that they asked for, miracle after miracle to the point of raising of the dead, the response that they attempted on him was the most malignant of all the responses given to the Prophets. They killed his mentor Yahya (though this was done by Herod for other reasons); they abused and heaped up insults on his person; and finally, they sough to have him executed in a humiliating way.
Remember, Allah governs based on free will. That is why he allows man to receive more and more rope based on the execution of more and more free will. Then in his court, the man has ensared himself in his own acts and cannot case blame on Allah, the merciful and the glorious for the acts that his own deeds were caused by.
This then sealed the fate of Bani Israel in regard to carrying the message forward. That is why since the time of Isa (A) no prophet has come since after Isa (A) from both amongst the Bani Israel from Daud (A)'s house or from amongst the followers of Isa (A). They were scattered and cannot any longer prove lineage to David as Isa could.
By comparison, the unlettered Arabs, descendents of Ismail, and free from the corruptions of Bani Israel fought to lay claim to their Prophet Muhammad (S). This was evident in that the Ansaar and the Muhijireen both argued with eachother over where Muhammad (S) would stay and who was truest to representing him after his passing. As a proof of the readiness that Allah saw in the companions of the Prophet as new standard bearers of his message to mankind, see the words the companions spoke to Muhammad (S) during their turmoil:
From Sahih Bukhari, Al Miqdad (R) a sahabaa states at the outset of the daunting Battle of Badr:
On the day of Badr, Al-Miqdad said, "O Allah's Apostle! We do not say to you as the children of Israel said to Moses, 'Go you and your Lord and fight you two; we are sitting here, but (we say). "Proceed, and we are with you." That seemed to delight Allah's Apostle greatly.
Contrast this behavior just and elevated behavior of the honorable and beloved Sahabaah of the Rasullullah (S) with that which was given to Moses and which is detailed above in the Quranic ayaah. In fact the Bible confirms the Quran's allegation against the Bani Israel in regard to their disobedience and offensiveness to Moses in Deuteronomy:
"26 But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. 27 You grumbled in your tents and said, “The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’”
29 Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. 30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, 31 and in the wilderness. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.” 32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, 33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go."
Moreover, many schools of thought note that the Prophet Muhammad (S) sole major miracle was the kitaab we have in our hands, the Quran. This confirmed in some way by the Quran itself when it notes the requests of the idolators when they asked for angels to descend:
"If We had made it an angel We should have sent him as a man and We should certainly have caused them confusion in a matter which they have already covered with confusion."
Contrast the response with the behavior of the Sahabaa when they were told about miraaj but could not witness it:
Abu Bakr said, if my friend (Muhammad (S)) said it happened, then it happened.
Finally, contrast this response of Abu Bakr and the prominent companions of Muhammad (S) with the sahabaah of Isa (A). Is this not amazing, that the companions of Isa (A) are asking for tables from the heavens, but the companions of Muhammad stick by his side through the losses of battles like Uhud and take him at his word, not once asking to see Allah or witness a miracle?
Therefore, I propose this theory, namely that the mission of Isa (A) and the reason he was the Messiah, was to herald the coming of the Prophet Muhammad and seal the door on the prophethood rights of the Children of Israel. His mission, where he afforded the Bani Israel with all that they asked for and the treatment they attempted to inflict on him was crucial to the shifting of the line of Prophethood from Bani Israel to Bani Ismail. This important outcome would reverberate through the eras that followed him and shows that the earthly failure of his mission was actually a massive spiritual success so that a new unlettered people, untouched by hellenic civilization, untouched by Alexander or Chosroes, would now carry the banner of God.
If you analyze Isa (A)'s mission from a success standpoint and compare it to Musa (A) and Muhammad (S), the amount of success it had on leaving behind an unadulterated message was not as profound as the latter two Prophets. In fact that is likely why when Musa was told that a Prophet like him would follow, Muhammad (S) was more representative of Musa's success as his mission set up the stage for an empire governed by the laws of Allah. Within decades of Isa (A)'s death, his original message had been fairly splintered and Saint Paul had created Pauline Christianity. Subsequently, Constantine played no small role in altering Christianity permanently. Moreover, the lack of worldly success of Isa (A) mission can be evidenced in utter confusion that was left behind after his mission, both amongst his supposed followers and amongst his admirers of other faiths.
With this in mind, what then could be said about the purpose of Isa (A) mission? He was called Messiah by the Quran because he was chosen by Allah for a particular role that his predecessors in Bani Israel were not. The question is: what was he chosen/annointed for? I propose that Isa (A) was sent to not only warn and inform mankind, but also to serve as a final and crucial evidence against Bani Israel for shutting the door of prophethood on their people. This in turn would give perfect justification to transfer Prophethood to the line of Ismail and end the convenent with Isaac (A)'s nassl(lineage).
If one reads the Old Testament and one reads the charges leveled in the Quran against the Yahud regarding their response to Allah's message and to their Prophets, a theme becomes apparent:
"We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a succession of apostles; We gave Jesus the son of Mary Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you an apostle with what ye yourselves desire not, ye are puffed up with pride?- Some ye called impostors, and others ye slay!" (2:87)
The Quran notes and the Bible confirms that the Bani Israel asked for miracle upon miracle from the messengers that were sent to them. In fact, Isa (A) was asked by his disciplines with the following:
"Behold! the disciples, said: "O Jesus the son of Mary! can thy Lord send down to us a table set (with viands) from heaven?" Said Jesus: "Fear Allah, if ye have faith." (5:112)... "Allah said: "I will send it down unto you: But if any of you after that resisteth faith, I will punish him with a penalty such as I have not inflicted on any one among all the peoples (5:115)."
Earlier they had said to Musa:
"They said: 'O Moses! while they remain there, never shall we be able to enter, to the end of time. Go thou, and thy Lord, and fight ye two, while we sit here (and watch).' He said: 'O my Lord! I have power only over myself and my brother: so separate us from this rebellious people!'
Allah said: 'Therefore will the land be out of their reach for forty years: In distraction will they wander through the land: But sorrow thou not over these rebellious people."
When we examine Isa (A)'s mission, it is unique in that Allah gives the people everything that they ask for. They even ask Isa (A) to raise the dead and he does this for them by Allah's leave. His miracles numbered many.
YET, it is the response to Isa (A) that was the most fascinating thing of all. For even though he gave them all that they asked for, miracle after miracle to the point of raising of the dead, the response that they attempted on him was the most malignant of all the responses given to the Prophets. They killed his mentor Yahya (though this was done by Herod for other reasons); they abused and heaped up insults on his person; and finally, they sough to have him executed in a humiliating way.
Remember, Allah governs based on free will. That is why he allows man to receive more and more rope based on the execution of more and more free will. Then in his court, the man has ensared himself in his own acts and cannot case blame on Allah, the merciful and the glorious for the acts that his own deeds were caused by.
This then sealed the fate of Bani Israel in regard to carrying the message forward. That is why since the time of Isa (A) no prophet has come since after Isa (A) from both amongst the Bani Israel from Daud (A)'s house or from amongst the followers of Isa (A). They were scattered and cannot any longer prove lineage to David as Isa could.
By comparison, the unlettered Arabs, descendents of Ismail, and free from the corruptions of Bani Israel fought to lay claim to their Prophet Muhammad (S). This was evident in that the Ansaar and the Muhijireen both argued with eachother over where Muhammad (S) would stay and who was truest to representing him after his passing. As a proof of the readiness that Allah saw in the companions of the Prophet as new standard bearers of his message to mankind, see the words the companions spoke to Muhammad (S) during their turmoil:
From Sahih Bukhari, Al Miqdad (R) a sahabaa states at the outset of the daunting Battle of Badr:
On the day of Badr, Al-Miqdad said, "O Allah's Apostle! We do not say to you as the children of Israel said to Moses, 'Go you and your Lord and fight you two; we are sitting here, but (we say). "Proceed, and we are with you." That seemed to delight Allah's Apostle greatly.
Contrast this behavior just and elevated behavior of the honorable and beloved Sahabaah of the Rasullullah (S) with that which was given to Moses and which is detailed above in the Quranic ayaah. In fact the Bible confirms the Quran's allegation against the Bani Israel in regard to their disobedience and offensiveness to Moses in Deuteronomy:
"26 But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. 27 You grumbled in your tents and said, “The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. 28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made our hearts melt in fear. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.’”
29 Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. 30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, 31 and in the wilderness. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.” 32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God, 33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go."
Moreover, many schools of thought note that the Prophet Muhammad (S) sole major miracle was the kitaab we have in our hands, the Quran. This confirmed in some way by the Quran itself when it notes the requests of the idolators when they asked for angels to descend:
"If We had made it an angel We should have sent him as a man and We should certainly have caused them confusion in a matter which they have already covered with confusion."
Contrast the response with the behavior of the Sahabaa when they were told about miraaj but could not witness it:
Abu Bakr said, if my friend (Muhammad (S)) said it happened, then it happened.
Finally, contrast this response of Abu Bakr and the prominent companions of Muhammad (S) with the sahabaah of Isa (A). Is this not amazing, that the companions of Isa (A) are asking for tables from the heavens, but the companions of Muhammad stick by his side through the losses of battles like Uhud and take him at his word, not once asking to see Allah or witness a miracle?
Therefore, I propose this theory, namely that the mission of Isa (A) and the reason he was the Messiah, was to herald the coming of the Prophet Muhammad and seal the door on the prophethood rights of the Children of Israel. His mission, where he afforded the Bani Israel with all that they asked for and the treatment they attempted to inflict on him was crucial to the shifting of the line of Prophethood from Bani Israel to Bani Ismail. This important outcome would reverberate through the eras that followed him and shows that the earthly failure of his mission was actually a massive spiritual success so that a new unlettered people, untouched by hellenic civilization, untouched by Alexander or Chosroes, would now carry the banner of God.
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