interpretations of these verses, the likeness of Jesus was cast upon a substitute (most often one of the apostles), who was crucified in Jesus' stead. However, some medieval Muslims (among others, the writing under the name of al-Mufaddal ibn Umar al-Ju'fi, the Brethren of Purity, various Isma'ili philosophers, and the Sunni mystic al-Ghazali) affirmed the historicity of Jesus' crucifixion. These thinkers held the docetic view that, although Jesus' human form (his body) had died on the cross, his true divine nature (his spirit) had survived and ascended into heaven, so that his death was only an appearance. Nevertheless, to Muslims it is the ascension rather than the crucifixion that constitutes a major event in the life of Jesus. There is no mention of his resurrection on the third day, and his death plays no special role in Islamic theories of salvation. However, Jesus is a central figure in Islamic eschatology: Muslims believe that he will return to Earth at the end of time and defeat the Antichrist (ad-Dajjal) by killing him. According to the Quran, the coming of Muhammad was predicted by Jesus: "And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary, said: 'O children of Israel! I am God's messenger to you, confirming the law (which came) before me, and giving glad tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad'" (Quran 61:6). Through this verse, early Arab Muslims claimed legitimacy for their new faith in the existing religious traditions and the alleged predictions of Jesus. Isma'ili faith According to Qadi al-Nu'man, a famous Muslim jurist of the Fatimid period, Jesus is referred to as the messiah () in the Quran because he was sent to the people who responded to him in order to remove (masaḥa) their impurities, the ailments of their faith; whether apparent () or hidden (). Qadi al-Nu'man, in his work Foundation of Symbolic Interpretation (), talks about the spiritual birth () of Jesus, as an interpretation of his story of physical birth () mentioned in the Quran. He says that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is a metaphor for someone who nurtured and instructed Jesus (), rather than physically giving birth to him. Qadi al-Nu'man explains that Jesus was from the pure progeny of Abraham, just as Ali and his sons were from the pure progeny of Muhammad, through Fatima. Ahmadiyya Islam The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has several distinct teachings about Jesus.