When will 'Eesaa (Jesus), may Allaah exalt his mention, come back? What are the signs? And is there any other Messenger who will come back?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

We have already issued a Fatwa about the descent of 'Eesaa (Jesus) and provided evidence from the Qur'an and the Sunnah about it, so please refer to Fataawa: 88216, 87745 and 82052.

As regards when he will descend, it would be near the end of time, Allaah says (which means): {And he ['Eesaa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary)] shall be a known sign for (the coming of) the Hour (Day of Resurrection) [i.e. 'Eesaa's (Jesus) descent on the earth.}[Qur'an 43:61]. That's to say his coming is a sign for the Hour. The Prophet said: "The Hour will not happen until you see ten signs…" and he mentioned among them the descent of 'Eesaa . [Muslim]

As regards the signs of the second coming of Jesus the answer is the narration reported by Muslim that the Prophet said: "…and it will be at this very time that Allaah will send `Eesaa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary) who will descend at the white minaret in the eastern side of Damascus, wearing two garments lightly dyed and placing his hands on the wings of two angels. When he lowers his head, there would fall drops of water from his head, and when he raises it up, drops like pearls would scatter from it. Every disbeliever who will smell his (i.e., `Eesaa's) scent will die and his scent will reach as far as he will be able to see…" So, 'Eesaa will descend in the eastern side of Damascus, wearing two very beautiful and fascinating garments and placing his hands on the wings of two angels.

With regard to whether or not there would be another Prophet, the answer is that all the Prophets, may Allaah exalt their mention, died except 'Eesaa . Whoever dies from this world, will never return to it. Jaabir Ibn 'Abdullaah narrated that the Prophet said: "Allaah has decreed that they will not return to it."

So no person would come back to this life after his death, be him a Prophet, a Messenger, or anybody else. The only person who would come back is 'Eesaa (Jesus) [because he was taken up to the heavens and did not yet die], so he will return and then die as everyone else and the Muslims will pray on him.

Allaah knows best.