Firstly let us make it clear that even if the ahadith did mention heavens, which they do not, it would still not prove Isa(as) is alive as we will show from the Quran what it means when something descends from heaven. The Qur’an states:
He it is Who shows you His Signs, and sends down provision for you from heaven; but none pays heed save he who turns to God.(Chapter 40 verse 14)
This ayah has also used heavens for the sending down of provisions and we do not deny this but it is of course not physical as no Muslim believes. Now let us move on to the narrations. There are many narrations today over 100 years after Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) which mention the word heavens or sky, but before we go to this let us teach the anti Ahmadis a lesson on ahadith. They always accuse Ahmadis of using daif hadith but when we look at their narrations they are far more daif then ours and contradict the Qur’an as well. Most of these are not even ahadith of the prophet Muhammad(saw) rather sayings attributed to the companions like Ibn Abbas(ra) which are not authentic at all. As for the ones attributed to the sahaba the main one is from tafsir ibn katheer attributed to Ibn Abbas(ra).
The first attributed statement to ibn Abbas(ra) which he did not say is :
Ibn Abbas said, “When Allah intended to raise ‘Eisa to the heavens, he went to his companions … and ‘Eisa ascended to the Heavens through an opening in the top of the house.”
Now I find it astonishing that the non Ahmadi Muslims have not at all posted the entire saying attributed to the great companion. This gives me the feeling that even they know such a saying as no basis from the Qur’an rather contradicts not just the book of Allah but also his attributes. Firstly Ibn Ishaq on the authority of a Christian convert who is not even narrated with his name has related a similar story but has given the name of the disciple and named him Sergus so this is israliyyat and is not from Islam. There are many contradictions within this narration itself as many have quoted the name tityanus as well. How can we accept such a saying? Now this also mocks at our creator. Firstly it tries to state that the Jews God forbid defeated Allah and his messenger and forced Allah to remove his prophet from his mission because he was unable to handle it. How can a sincere Muslim ever accept this? Secondly this tries to state that Isa(as) did not have faith in Allah and was too scared of the Jews. Was a prophet ever scared enough of his opponents where Allah had to remove his prophet from his mission? Never has this happened. Another important thing to note is that why would Allah let his prophet switch faces and let an innocent die? What was the fault of the innocent? This mocks at Allah as well. The final point refuting this false saying is that in Islam we know Allah has told us to not alter ourselves, how can you attribute it to Allah that he altered a person when this is forbidden in Islam?
Sergus is a name which appears in both Muslim and Christian Arabic accounts which mean an unnamed Christian person which further shows how fabricated this really is. There are many narrations presented by tabari all contradicting each other and all from israliyyat. Some say it was Judas who got the image of Jesus onto him and it was Judas who died. Tabari has given two traditions which support the first opinion of Judas but there is a second tradition where Jesus asked which one wants paradise for his soul today, and a faithful servant said he wants to who was crucified, while Jesus was raised. Then after this it was when tabari used 9 narrations for this second opinion. Clearly these narrations have no basis in Islam and also attack the character of Allah and the Quran
Now let us move on to the next narration which is usually quoted in regards to having the word sky or heavens.
Narrated Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him: Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him, said “What will be your condition when the son of Maryam (i.e. ‘Eisa) will descend amongst you from the heavens…?” (Baihaqi’s Asmaa wal Sifaat 2/432 Hadith 855)
As already stated above from surah al Mumin this does not in any way prove Isa(as) is alive however the writing of this hadith is totally in question as Imam Baihaqi has written right after presenting this fabricated hadith:
“Bukhari has narrated this in his hadith from Yahya bin Bakr. And Muslims have taken this hadith from Yunus for some other reason. What is implied here regarding the descent of Jesus(as) from the sky is that it would take place after his spiritual ascension”(Kitabul Asmai Was Sifat)
Once again this hadith is no where to be found in bukhari rather its in bukhari without the words heaven any where nor skies. Sahih Bukhari is the most authentic book after the Qur’an and does not mention heaven or skies and nor does sahih Muslim, in fact no book from the sahih sitta do. Sadly with the amount of fabrications in todays age, its not hard to find statements from random books which contain this word to spread this false belief. Now when we come to the narrators of this hadith, according to Lisanul Mizan and Tahzibut Tahzib, two of the most influential and famous books when it comes to the biographies of the hadith narrators this hadith is weak. It has stated in regards to Abu Bakr Bin Ishaq and Muhammad Al Naqid that they would forget, and also in regards to Ahmad bin Ibrahim, Yahya bin Abdullah and in regards to Yunus that they are weak narrators. How can a sincere Muslim even try to accept such a fabricated hadith, which is different than what is in reality mentioned in the sahih sitta?
The final hadith when it comes to this discussion is one of kanzul ummal which states:
Ibn Abbas narrated: the Messenger of Allah, on whom be the blessings of Allah, said: ‘And near it(Bait al-Maqdis) will descend from the Heavens my brother ‘Eisa ibn Maryam on Mt. Afiq as a guided leader and a just ruler.’ (Kanzul Ummal 14/619 Hadith 39726)
This also falls into the same category of the hadith mentioned above. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) quoted this hadith years before these Anti Ahmadis even existed and during his time the words heaven were not there. If they were there then why did someone in all those years not come to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) with this question? Clearly it was also an interpolation and was not in all of the kanzul ummal books.
Now let us take a quick insight as to how weak this hadith quoted is.
Firstly one narrator is named Muhammad ibn al Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad al nassasy has even been called evil by abu bakr al barqani and imam dhahabi has called him reprehensible. How can we accept such a narrator? Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal has called him evil.
The next narrator Abu Masud al Maqdisi. He has been rejected by adh Dhahabi and Imam Daruqutni called him a big liar and abandoned him.
Then we move on to uthman ibn ata who an nasai said is not thiqa and imam Muslim said weak ahadith. Imam Bukhari one of the greatest imams said he is nothing.
However surah al muminun applies here as well despite the weakness of this hadith especially because it mentions bait al maqdis which contradicts many locations stated about where the messiah (as) will come.
The first attributed statement to ibn Abbas(ra) which he did not say is :
Ibn Abbas said, “When Allah intended to raise ‘Eisa to the heavens, he went to his companions … and ‘Eisa ascended to the Heavens through an opening in the top of the house.”
Now I find it astonishing that the non Ahmadi Muslims have not at all posted the entire saying attributed to the great companion. This gives me the feeling that even they know such a saying as no basis from the Qur’an rather contradicts not just the book of Allah but also his attributes. Firstly Ibn Ishaq on the authority of a Christian convert who is not even narrated with his name has related a similar story but has given the name of the disciple and named him Sergus so this is israliyyat and is not from Islam. There are many contradictions within this narration itself as many have quoted the name tityanus as well. How can we accept such a saying? Now this also mocks at our creator. Firstly it tries to state that the Jews God forbid defeated Allah and his messenger and forced Allah to remove his prophet from his mission because he was unable to handle it. How can a sincere Muslim ever accept this? Secondly this tries to state that Isa(as) did not have faith in Allah and was too scared of the Jews. Was a prophet ever scared enough of his opponents where Allah had to remove his prophet from his mission? Never has this happened. Another important thing to note is that why would Allah let his prophet switch faces and let an innocent die? What was the fault of the innocent? This mocks at Allah as well. The final point refuting this false saying is that in Islam we know Allah has told us to not alter ourselves, how can you attribute it to Allah that he altered a person when this is forbidden in Islam?
Sergus is a name which appears in both Muslim and Christian Arabic accounts which mean an unnamed Christian person which further shows how fabricated this really is. There are many narrations presented by tabari all contradicting each other and all from israliyyat. Some say it was Judas who got the image of Jesus onto him and it was Judas who died. Tabari has given two traditions which support the first opinion of Judas but there is a second tradition where Jesus asked which one wants paradise for his soul today, and a faithful servant said he wants to who was crucified, while Jesus was raised. Then after this it was when tabari used 9 narrations for this second opinion. Clearly these narrations have no basis in Islam and also attack the character of Allah and the Quran
Now let us move on to the next narration which is usually quoted in regards to having the word sky or heavens.
Narrated Abu Huraira, may Allah be pleased with him: Allah’s Messenger, may Allah bless him, said “What will be your condition when the son of Maryam (i.e. ‘Eisa) will descend amongst you from the heavens…?” (Baihaqi’s Asmaa wal Sifaat 2/432 Hadith 855)
As already stated above from surah al Mumin this does not in any way prove Isa(as) is alive however the writing of this hadith is totally in question as Imam Baihaqi has written right after presenting this fabricated hadith:
“Bukhari has narrated this in his hadith from Yahya bin Bakr. And Muslims have taken this hadith from Yunus for some other reason. What is implied here regarding the descent of Jesus(as) from the sky is that it would take place after his spiritual ascension”(Kitabul Asmai Was Sifat)
Once again this hadith is no where to be found in bukhari rather its in bukhari without the words heaven any where nor skies. Sahih Bukhari is the most authentic book after the Qur’an and does not mention heaven or skies and nor does sahih Muslim, in fact no book from the sahih sitta do. Sadly with the amount of fabrications in todays age, its not hard to find statements from random books which contain this word to spread this false belief. Now when we come to the narrators of this hadith, according to Lisanul Mizan and Tahzibut Tahzib, two of the most influential and famous books when it comes to the biographies of the hadith narrators this hadith is weak. It has stated in regards to Abu Bakr Bin Ishaq and Muhammad Al Naqid that they would forget, and also in regards to Ahmad bin Ibrahim, Yahya bin Abdullah and in regards to Yunus that they are weak narrators. How can a sincere Muslim even try to accept such a fabricated hadith, which is different than what is in reality mentioned in the sahih sitta?
The final hadith when it comes to this discussion is one of kanzul ummal which states:
Ibn Abbas narrated: the Messenger of Allah, on whom be the blessings of Allah, said: ‘And near it(Bait al-Maqdis) will descend from the Heavens my brother ‘Eisa ibn Maryam on Mt. Afiq as a guided leader and a just ruler.’ (Kanzul Ummal 14/619 Hadith 39726)
This also falls into the same category of the hadith mentioned above. Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) quoted this hadith years before these Anti Ahmadis even existed and during his time the words heaven were not there. If they were there then why did someone in all those years not come to Mirza Ghulam Ahmad(as) with this question? Clearly it was also an interpolation and was not in all of the kanzul ummal books.
Now let us take a quick insight as to how weak this hadith quoted is.
Firstly one narrator is named Muhammad ibn al Hasan ibn Muhammad ibn Ziyad al nassasy has even been called evil by abu bakr al barqani and imam dhahabi has called him reprehensible. How can we accept such a narrator? Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal has called him evil.
The next narrator Abu Masud al Maqdisi. He has been rejected by adh Dhahabi and Imam Daruqutni called him a big liar and abandoned him.
Then we move on to uthman ibn ata who an nasai said is not thiqa and imam Muslim said weak ahadith. Imam Bukhari one of the greatest imams said he is nothing.
However surah al muminun applies here as well despite the weakness of this hadith especially because it mentions bait al maqdis which contradicts many locations stated about where the messiah (as) will come.