http://www.islamawareness.net/Mib/
Muhammad (PBUH) in the Bible
6.1: Three distinct prophesies
6.2: Foretells the story of the chapter of "Al-Alak"
6.3 A "Paraclete" like Jesus p1
6.3 A "Paraclete" like Jesus p2
6.4: The emigration (The Hijra)
6.5: Isaiah's vision
6.6: Truthfulness of Muhammad (pbuh)
6.7: Moses foretells of Muhammad's coming
6.8: Legitimacy of Hagar and Ishmael p1
6.8: Legitimacy of Hagar and Ishmael p2
6.9: A rod out of the stem of Jesse
6.10: Reference to moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (pbut) in that order
6.11: God did not kill Muhammad (pbuh) for speaking in His name
6.12: Glorifies Jesus(pbuh)
6.13: The rejected stone
6.14: Other Prophesies
Muhammad (PBUH) in the Bible
"Those who
follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet whom they find written in the
Torah and the Gospel with them. He enjoins upon them that which is right and
forbids for them that which is evil. He makes lawful for them all things that
are good and prohibits for them all that is foul and he relieves them from
their burden and the fetters that they used to wear. Then those who believe
in him, honor him, assist him, and follow the light which is sent down with
him: they are the successful"
The noble Qur'an, Al-A'araf(7):157.
"And when there came to them a messenger from Allah,
Confirming what was with them, a party of the people of the book threw away
the book of Allah behind their backs as if (it had been something) they did
not know"
The Qur'an, Al-Bakarah(2): 101
"And because of their breaking of their covenant, We have
cursed them and made hard their hearts. They change the words from their
places and they forget a portion thereof"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Maida(4): 13.
Before starting this topic, let me first clear up a common
misconception. Many Christians require of all Muslims to either accept all of
the Bible or to reject all of the Bible. Therefore, they sometimes find a
Muslim's attitude towards the Bible bewildering. For this reason, I will
explain how a Muslim is commanded to deal with the Bible.
Muslims are told that Allah Almighty sent down an
"Injeel" upon Jesus (pbuh). The Qur'an then goes on to describe how
mankind later changed this "Injeel" and altered it's original
message to them. For this reason, Muhammad (pbuh) told all Muslims to deal
with the Bible with respect since it started out as the true word of God.
Muhammad (pbuh) told his followers that if they were to reject the whole
book, then they might be rejecting words that remain the true word of God. He
told them that the Qur'an had been sent down to "bear witness over"
that which was changed by mankind in the Bible and to return it to the
original teachings of God through it's own guardianship. We read this in the
Qur'an:
"And unto you (O Muhammad) have We revealed the Scripture
(Qur'an) with the truth, confirming that which was before it of the
Scripture, and a watcher/corrector over it. So judge between them by that
which Allah has revealed, and follow not their desires away from the truth
which has come unto you.."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Maidah(5):48.
The actual word used in this verse was the Arabic word
"Muhaimin" which means
"Guardian/warden/overseer/watcher/protector." For this reason,
Muhammad (pbuh) commanded them to accept only that which is verified by the
Qur'an and to reject that which contradicts the Qur'an.
Muslims have recorded that the "people of the book" at
the time of Muhammad (pbuh) had been expecting a new prophet to be coming
soon. There are many historical reports to this effect. We are told that the
Jews of Yathrib (Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah) were constantly threatening it's
Arab citizens with his impending arrival and that they would follow him and
slaughter them in a similar manner as A'ad and Iram where slaughtered, and
this was one of the major reasons that the Arabs of Yathrib followed Muhammad
(pbuh) so quickly. To beat the Jews to him. There are also other similar
stories, such as the story of Salman Al-Farisi, the story of the monk Bahira,
and the story of Al-Najashi, the king of Ethiopia among many others.
There are many predictions of the coming of Jesus (pbuh) in the
Old Testament. Many Christians have even told us that the Bible has predicted
much of what has occurred after the time of Jesus (pbuh) including the Pope
and Israel. Unlike the Jews, Muslims do not contest the claimed prophesies of
the coming of Jesus (pbuh) since the Qur'an commands them to believe in him.
We have also seen in the verse which was presented at the very beginning of
this chapter how the Qur'an tells us that both the Torah of Moses as well as
the Injeel (Gospel) of Jesus both contain prophesies of Muhammad However, if
we ask the Christians whether they can find any mention of Muhammad (pbuh) in
the Bible, their immediate response is an emphatic "No!" But if the
Bible has predicted all of these other things then we must ask: why does it
have absolutely nothing at all to say about the man who single-handedly
convinced many billions of people over the ages to believe in the miraculous
birth of Jesus (pbuh), his message, the piety and chastity of his mother Mary
(pbuh), the miracles of Jesus (pbuh), and the fact that he was one of the
greatest messengers of God for all time?
There is not a single prophesy in the Old Testament that mentions
Jesus (pbuh) by name.
Messiah, translated "Christ" is not a name. It is a description, a title. It means "the
anointed one." Even "Jesus" is not Jesus' true name.
"Jesus" is a Latinized version of the Hebrew name
"Yeshua," which itself is the shortened form of
"Yehoshua" - God Saves. When the Christians claim that a verse
professes the coming of Jesus (pbuh) what they have done is to compare the description found in that verse to Jesus (pbuh)
and if it fits him then they say that it speaks of him. Using the Christian's
same system we claim that there is indeed not one, but more than TEN verses in
the Bible that speak of the coming of Muhammad (pbuh) as God's last
messenger, but that previous commentators have misunderstood them (just as
the Christians tell us that the Jews have done with the Old Testament
prophesies of Jesus, pbuh). The reader will notice that in what is to follow
the verses are explained very simply, using the obvious meanings of the words
themselves without having to resort to forced abstract and metaphysical
meanings for these verses. These verses speak about majorevents, locations, and
milestones in Islamic history as well as the characteristics of both Islam
and Muhammad (pbuh).
Now the prophesies:
"Those unto whom We gave the Scripture recognize him
(Muhammad) as they recognize their sons. But verily, a party of them conceal the
truth while [well] they know it"
The noble Qur'an, al-Baqarah(2):146
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6.1: Three distinct prophesies
In the Bible we read of the test that the Jews applied to Jesus
(pbuh) in order to ascertain his truthfulness. The Jews had a prophecy that
required Elias to come before Jesus (pbuh):
"Elias verily cometh first"
Mark 9:12
(also John 3:28). They had not seen Elias yet so they doubted the
claim of Jesus (pbuh). Jesus, however, responded to them that Elias had
already come but that they did not recognize him. In Matthew we read:
"But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they
knew him not.........Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of
John the Baptist."
Matthew 17:12-13
John, however refutes the claims of Jesus (pbuh). This is one of
the Christian's "dark sayings of Jesus" that their scholars have
tried to reconcile for centuries. We will leave this matter for them to work
out among themselves (This matter is resolved in the Gospel of Barnabas.
Please see chapter 7 for more).
Now, in John we read
"And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests
and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou? And he confessed, and
denied not; but confessed, I
am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith,
I am not. Art thou that
prophet? And he answered,
No."
John 1:19-21
We notice that there are three distinct prophecies here: 1) Elias,
2) Jesus, 3) That prophet. The Jews were not waiting for two prophecies, but three. This can be further
clarified by reading John:
"And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou
then, if thou be:
a) not that Christ,
b) nor Elias,
c) neither that prophet?"
John 1:25
If "that prophet" were Jesus (pbuh) wouldn't the third
question in both verses be redundant? Further, we must remember that
"That prophet" can not apply to any prophet before the time of
Jesus (pbuh) because at the time of Jesus (pbuh) the Jews were still waiting for all three.
Notice how when we let the Bible speak for itself, without forcing the holy
spirit or other supernatural meanings on it in the commentary, or forcing
three questions to be only two, how clear these verses become. For much more
evidence in this regard, please read chapter 7 regarding the Dead Sea Scroll
prophesies of "two messiahs"
and how the Jews who wrote the scrolls and who were waiting for the coming of
Jesus (pbuh) clearly state in these scrolls that they were waiting for not
one, but TWOmessiahs,
the first of which would be announced by an eschatological prophet.
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6.2: Foretells the story of the chapter of "Al-Alak"
"And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a
book that is sealed, which [men] deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read
this, [I pray thee]: and he saith, I cannot; for it [is] sealed: And the book
is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, [I pray thee]:
and he saith, I am not learned. Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this
people draw near [me] with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but
have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by
the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work
among this people, [even] a marvelous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of
their wise [men] shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men
shall be hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the
LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who
knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the
potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or
shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?
[Is] it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a
fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? And in
that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind
shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness."
Isaiah 29:11-18
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was illiterate. His entire life he never learned
to read nor write. The exact circumstances of this first revelation were as
follows: It was the habit of Muhammad (pbuh) to frequently remove himself
from the midst of his fellow Arabs and their heathenistic actions and spend
many days secluded in the cave of "Hiraa" in the mountains of
Makkah where he would pray to God according to the religion of Abraham
(pbuh). After many years of this, and having reached the age of forty
(610AD), the angel Gabriel suddenly appeared before him and ordered him to "Iqra!"(read,
recite, repeat, proclaim). Muhammad (pbuh), in his terror thought he was
being asked to read, so he stammered: "I
am unlettered." The
angel Gabriel again ordered him to "Iqra!"Muhammad
(pbuh) again replied: "I
am unlettered." The
angel Gabriel now took a firm hold of him and commanded him "Iqraa in the name of Allah
who created!". Now Muhammad (pbuh) began to understand that he was
not being asked to read, but to recite, to repeat. He began to repeat after
him, and Gabriel revealed to him the first verses of the Qur'an, those at the
beginning of the chapter of Al-Alak(96):
"Read(Iqraa): In the name of your Lord who created, Created
man from a clot. Read(Iqraa): And your Lord is the Most Bounteous, Who
teaches by the pen, Teaches man that which he knew not."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Alak(96):1-5
As mentioned above, the actual word angel Gabriel used to address
Muhammad (pbuh) was the Arabic word "Iqra." It is derived from the
Arabic root word "qara". However, if we were to go back to the
original Hebrew form of the verses of Isaiah 29:11, we would find that the
actual word which is translated into English as "Read this [I pray
thee]" is the Hebrew
word qara', {kaw-raw'}. Is it not an amazing coincidence that the Hebrew text
used not only a word with the same meaning, but the exact same word itself ?
Verse 11 of Isaiah tells us that the final book (the Qur'an) was
revealed to previous prophets, however, they could not read it. It was
"sealed" for them because it was meant for the last prophet, and
until the last prophet's time came, the people would not yet be able to
"bear" this message (John 16:13). It was also sealed for them
because it was revealed in Arabic.
"A Book whereof the verses are explained in detail; a Qur'an
in Arabic for people who have knowledge"
The noble Qur'an, Fussilat(41):3
"Had We made this as a Qur'an (in a language) other than
Arabic, they would have said: 'Why are not its verses explained in detail?
What! An Arab and non Arabic?' Say: 'It is a Guide and a Healing for those
who believe; and for those who disbelieve, there is a heaviness (deafness) in
their ears, and it is a blindness upon them: They are as those who are called
from a place far distant (so they neither hear nor understand)'"
The noble Qur'an, Fussilat(41):44
For more details on why the Arabic language was selected as the
language of the Qur'an, please read chapter 13.
Indeed, the Qur'an was revealed to a man who could neither read
nor write so that it might be apparent to mankind that he could not have
received it from the writings of man, but only from God Almighty.
"Neither did you (O Muhammad) read any book before it, nor
did you write any book with your right [hand]. In that case, indeed, the
followers of falsehood might have doubted Nay, it is but clear signs in the
breasts of those endowed with knowledge: and none but the unjust reject Our
signs."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Ankaboot(29):48-49.
As we see in the above verses of Isaiah, by the time Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) received this book from God, mankind will have been reduced
to worshipping God in words alone, while their hearts shall be far removed
from true belief. They will have forsaken the true belief in God in favor of "the precept of men" (the laws of men). We have already
seen the confirmation of this in chapter one where we learned how "St.
Paul" managed to totally replace the message of Jesus (pbuh) with his
own message, and how the later followers of Paul believed that they were
justified in using force to get the first Christians to accept their gospels.
We also saw how they burned Gospels that were accepted as authentic in the
first centuries CE, and killed all Christians who did not
"convert." Finally, we also saw how St. Paul managed to reduce the
message of Jesus (pbuh) to mere "words" of "faith" with
no concrete actions or commandments required of them (i.e. Romans 3:28).
Verse 14 now goes on to explain how when mankind accepts this
situation, then the wisdom of the wise men shall perish and all that shall be
left is mankind's corruption. Once again, we have seen this in chapter one,
where we learned the historical details of how the followers of Jesus (pbuh)
and the apostles were murdered and their books destroyed.
This is indeed the same situation described by Muhammad (pbuh) in
one of his sayings. In Sahih Al-Bukhari we read that Abdullah ibn Amr ibn
Al-'As said:
"I heard Allah's Apostle (pbuh) saying, 'Allah does not take
away the knowledge, by taking it away from (the hearts of) the people, but
takes it away by the death of the religious learned men till when none of
them remain, people will take as their leaders ignorant persons who when
consulted will give their verdict without knowledge. So they will go astray
and will lead the people astray.'"
In verse 15, we are told that there will remain among those
corrupt individuals those who shall know the truth but shall strive to hide
it from becoming known. Once again, we have seen this in chapters, one, and
two. For more, see chapter 7. Once again, when the Qur'an was revealed, it
confirmed this situation, we read:
"Those unto whom We gave the Scripture recognize (this
prophet) as they recognize their sons. But lo! a party of them conceal the
truth which they themselves know."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Baqara(2):14
"And whether you hide your word or publish it, He certainly
has (full) knowledge, of the secrets of (all) hearts."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Mulk(67):13
Verses 16 goes on to tell us how this treachery, concealment of
the truth, and "overturning" of verses, laws, and obligations shall
be exposed, and the wicked shall be held accountable for their deeds. Yet
again, in the Qur'an we read:
"That Day shall We set a seal on their mouths. But their
hands will speak to us, and their feet bear witness, to all that they used to
do"
The noble Qur'an, Ya-seen(36):65
"And (remember) the day that the enemies of Allah shall be
gathered to the Fire so that they will (all) be collected there. Till, when
they reach it, their hearing and their eyes and their skins will testify
against them as to what they used to do. And they will say to their skins
'Why did you testify against us?' They will say: 'Allah has caused us to
speak, [for He is] the One who caused all things [which He willed] to speak,
and He created you the first time, and unto Him you are returned".
The noble Qur'an, Fussilat(41):19-21.
"O People of the Scripture! Now has Our messenger come unto
you, revealing to you much of that which you used to hide in the Scripture,
and forgiving much. Now has come unto you light from Allah and plain
Scripture,"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Maidah(5):15
"They did not estimate Allah with an estimation due to Him
when they said: "Nothing did God send down to man [by way of
revelation]" Say: "Who then sent down the Book which moses
brought?- a light and guidance to man: But you make it into [separate] sheets
for show, while you conceal much [of its contents]: and [by which] you were
taught that which you knew not yourselves nor [did] your fathers [know
it]?." Say: 'Allah [sent it down]': Then leave them to plunge in vain
discourse and trifling."
The noble Qur'an, Al-An'am(6):91
Finally, we read in Isaiah 18 that when this final message is
revealed to this "unlettered" prophet, those who have been lost in
darkness and ignorance through the work of the corrupt shall be brought out
of their ignorance and their darkness and shall be returned to the true
message of God.
"Wherewith God guides all those who seek His good pleasure
unto paths of peace. He brings them out of darkness unto light by His decree
and guides them unto a straight path."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Maidah(5):16
"And that those who have been given knowledge may know that
it is the truth from thy Lord, so that they may believe therein and their
hearts may submit humbly unto Him. Lo! Allah verily is guiding those who
believe unto a right path."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Hajj (22):54
As we saw at the very beginning of this chapter, this very
prophesy was mentioned quite clearly in the Qur'an:
"Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered Prophet whom
they find written in the Torah and the Gospel with them. He enjoins upon them
that which is right and forbids for them that which is evil. He makes lawful
for them all things that are good and prohibits for them all that is foul and
he relieves them from their burden and the fetters that they used to wear.
Then those who believe in him, honor him, assist him, and follow the light
which is sent down with him: they are the successful"
The Qur'an, Al-A'araf(7):157.
The complete story is narrated by Aisha (pbuh) in Sahih
Al-Bukhari:
"The commencement of the Divine Inspiration of Allah's
Apostle was in the form of good dreams which came true like bright daylight,
and then the love of seclusion was bestowed upon him. He used to go in
seclusion in the cave of Hira where he used to worship (Allah alone) continually
for many days before wishing to see his family. He used to take with him
provisions for the stay and then come back to (his wife) Khadeejah to eat his
food again as before.
One day suddenly the Truth descended upon him while he was in the
cave of Hira. The angel came to him and asked him to read. The Prophet (pbuh)
replied, "I do not know how to read." The Prophet (pbuh) added,
"The angel caught me (forcefully) and pressed me so hard that I could
not bear it any more. He then released me and again asked me to read and I
replied, "I do not know how to read." Thereupon he caught me again
and pressed me a second time until I could not bear it any more. He then
released me and again asked me to read but again I replied, "I do not
know how to read (or what shall I read)?" Thereupon he caught me for the
third time and pressed me, and then released me and said, "Read in the
name of your Lord, who has created (all that exists), created man from a
clot. Read! And your Lord is the Most Generous.'"(96):1-3.
Then Allah's Apostle (pbuh) returned with the Inspiration and with
his heart trembling. He went to Khadeejah the daughter of Khuwaylid (his
wife) and said, "Cover me!" She covered him until his fear
subsided. After that he told her everything that had happened and said,
"I fear that something may happen to me." Khadeejah replied,
"Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you. You keep good relations
with your kith and kin, help the poor and the destitute, serve your guests
generously and assist the deserving people afflicted with calamities."
Khadeejah then accompanied him to her cousin Waraqah ibn Nawfal
ibn Asad ibn AbdulUzza, who, during the pre-Islamic period became a Christian
and used to write in the Hebrew alphabet. He would write from the Gospel in
Hebrew as much as Allah wished him to write. He was an old man and had lost
his eyesight.
Khadeejah said to Waraqah, "Listen to the story of your
nephew, O my cousin!" Waraqah asked, "O my nephew! What have you
seen?" Allah's Apostle described that which he had seen. Waraqah said,
"This is the one who keeps the secrets (angel Gabriel) whom Allah had
sent to Moses. I wish I were young and could live until the time when your
people will turn you out." Allah's Apostle asked, "Will they drive
me out?" Waraqah replied in the affirmative and said, "Anyone (man)
who came with something similar to that which you have brought was greeted
with hostility; and if I remain alive until the day when you will be turned
out then I should support you strongly."
But after a few days Waraqah died (see section 6.4 and chapter 10
for the confirmation of this prophesy of Muhammad, pbuh, being 'driven out')
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6.3 A "Paraclete" like Jesus p1
In the Bible we can find the following four passages wherein Jesus
(pbuh) predicts a great event:
John 14:16 "And
I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may
abide with you for ever"
John 15:26 "But
when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even]
the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of
me"
John 14:26 "But
the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my
name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
John 16:7-14 "Nevertheless
I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him
unto you. And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of
righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment,
because the prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say
unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth,
is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself;
but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you
things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall
shew [it] unto you." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNRPosnxXog
In these four verses, the word "comforter" is translated
from the word "Paraclete" ("Ho Parakletos" in Greek). Parakletos in Greek is interpreted as "an
advocate", one who pleads the cause of another, one who councils or
advises another from deep concern for the other's welfare (Beacon Bible
commentary volume VII, p.168). In these verses we are told that once Jesus
(pbuh) departs, a Paraclete will come. He will glorify Jesus (pbuh), and he
will guide mankind into all truth. This "Paraclete" is identified
in John 14:26 as the Holy Ghost.
It must be pointed out that the original Greek manuscripts speak
of a "Holy pneuma."
The word pneuma {pnyoo'-mah}
is the Greek root word for "spirit." There is no separate word for
"Ghost" in the Greek manuscripts, of which there are claimed to be
over 24,000 today. The translators of the King James Version of the Bible
translate this word as "Ghost" to convey their own personal
understanding of the text. However, a more accurate translation is "Holy Spirit." More faithful
and recent translations of the Bible, such as the New Revised Standard
Version (NRSV), do indeed now translate it as "Holy Spirit." This
is significant, and will be expounded upon shortly.
All Bibles in existence today are compiled from "ancient
manuscripts," the most ancient of which being those of the fourth
century C.E. Any scholar of the Bible will tell us that no two ancient
manuscripts are exactly identical. All Bibles in our possession today are the
result of extensive cutting and pasting from these various manuscripts with
no single one being the
definitive reference.
What the translators of the Bible have done when presented with
such discrepancies is to do their best to choose the correct version. In
other words, since they can not know which "ancient manuscript" is
the correct one, they must do a little detective work on the text in order to
decide which "version" of a given verse to accept. John 14:26 is
just such an example of such selection techniques. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toWCM3eqQp0
John 14:26 is the only verse of the Bible which associates
theParakletos with the
Holy Spirit. But if we were to go back to the "ancient manuscripts"
themselves, we would find that they are not all in agreement that the
"Parakletos" is the Holy Spirit. For instance, in the famous the
Codex Syriacus, written around the fifth century C.E., and discovered in 1812
on Mount Sinai by Mrs.Agnes S. Lewis (and Mrs. Bensley), the text of 14:26
reads; "Paraclete, the
Spirit"; and not "Paraclete,
the Holy Spirit.".
Is this just knit picking? "Spirit" or "Holy
Spirit," what's the big deal? Obviously they both refer to the same
thing. Right? Wrong! There is a big difference. A "spirit,"
according to the language of the Bible simply means "a prophet" See
for instance:
"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits
whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the
world,"
1 John 4:1-3:
(also see 1 John 4:6), or an inspired human, for example read 1
Corinthians 2:10, 2 Thessalonians 2:2, ...etc.
We have already exhibited in chapters one and two many documented
cases of deliberate modification of the Biblical text by members of the
Christian clergy themselves, as well as deliberate large scale projects to
"correct" the Bible, and the writings of "the early fathers,"
(such as the deliberate insertion of the verse of 1 John 5:7 which is now
universally discarded). It is, therefore, possible that either:
1) The word "Holy" could have been dropped by a careless
copyist., or
2) Someone could have inserted the word "Holy" to convey
his personal understanding of the text.
Which was it? In order to arrive at
the answer we must follow the same path of detective work the Biblical
scholars themselves do. We must study the characteristics of the
"Paraclete" and compare them to both the "Holy Spirit"
and to a "Spirit." Muslims believe that Muhammad (pbuh) was the one
intended and not the Holy Ghost. In the Christian's own "Gospel of
Barnabas" Muhammad is mentioned by name (see below short clip). The Trinitarian church,
however, has done it's utmost to obliterate all existing copies of "The
Gospel of Barnabas," and to hide it from the masses or to label it a
forgery (see chapter 7). For this reason, it becomes necessary to show that
even the Gospels adopted by Paul's church also originally spoke of Muhammad
(pbuh).
1) Christian scholars see evidence of tampering:
In the famous "Anchor Bible" we find the following
quote:
"The word parakletos is peculiar in the NT to the Johnannine
literature. In John ii Jesus is a parakletos (not a title), serving as a
heavenly intercessor with the Father ... Christian tradition has identified
this figure (Paraclete) as the Holy Spirit, but scholars like Spitta,
Delafosse, Windisch, Sasse, Bultmann, and Betz have doubted whether this
identification is true to the original picture and have suggested that the
Paraclete was once an independent salvific figure, later confused with the
Holy Spirit."
The Anchor Bible, Doubleday & Company, Inc, Garden City, N.Y.
1970, Volume 29A, p. 1135
We are about to see some of the
evidence that goes to prove this position.
2) Does the Holy Spirit "speak" or "inspire":
The Greek word translated as "hear" in the Biblical
verses ("whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak") is
the Greek word "akouo" {ak-oo'-o} meaning to perceive sounds. It
has, for instance, given us the word "acoustics," the science of
sounds. Similarly the verb "to speak" is the Greek verb
"laleo" {lal-eh'-o} which has the general meaning "to emit
sounds" and the specific meaning "to speak." This verb occurs
very frequently in the Greek text of the Gospels. It designates a solemn
declaration by Jesus (pbuh) during his preachings (For example Matthew 9:18).
Obviously these verbs require hearing and speech organs in order to
facilitate them. There is a distinct difference between someone
"inspiring" something and him "speaking" something. So
the Paraclete will "hear" and "speak," not
"inspire."
Muhammad (pbuh), as seen above, did indeed fulfill this prophesy.
Whatsoever he "HEARD" from Gabriel (The Qur'an), the same did he physically
"SPEAK" to his followers. In the Qur'an we read:
"(God swears) By the star when it falls!: Your comrade
(Muhammad) errs not, nor is he deceived; Nor does he speak of (his own)
desire. It is naught save a revelation that is revealed (unto him)."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Najm(53):1-4
3) The Holy Ghost was already with them:
In the above verses we read "if
I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will
send him unto you." The
comforter can not be the Holy Ghost because the Holy Ghost (according to the
Bible) was "with" them already (and even quite active) long before
the coming of Jesus (pbuh) himself and then throughout his ministry. Read for
example.
Genesis 1:2 "And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the waters."
1 Samuel 10:10 "And when they came thither to the hill,
behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him,
and he prophesied among them."
"And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those
tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly."
1 Samuel 11:6
"Then he remembered the days of old, moses, and his people,
saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of
his flock? where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?"
Isaiah 63:11
"For he (John the Baptist) shall be great in the sight of the
Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled
with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb."
Luke 1:15
"And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee."
Luke 1:35
"And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the
salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled
with the Holy Ghost"
Luke 1:41
"And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and
prophesied, saying,"
Luke 1:67
"And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was
Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of
Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him."
Luke 2:25
"And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost (Simeon),
that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ."
Luke 2:26
"And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove
upon him (Jesus), and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my
beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased."
Luke 3:22
"Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my
Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he
breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost."
John 20:21-22
Did they or did they not already
receive the Holy Ghost? Was Jesus (pbuh) not still with them when they received the Holy Ghost?
Was the Holy Ghost not with Simeon, Mary, Elisabeth and Zacharias before the
birth of Jesus (pbuh)? Was the Holy Ghost not with Moses (pbuh) when he
parted the seas? There are many more similar verses to be found in the Bible.
In the above verses, we are told that if Jesus (pbuh) does not depart then
the "parakletos" will not come. Thus, the "Holy Ghost"
cannot be the one originally intended since it was already with them. The
contradiction is quite obvious.
4) Selective translation: Jesus (pbuh) too is a Paraclete:
The word "Paraclete" is applied to Jesus (pbuh) himself
in 1 John 2:1
"My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye
sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate(parakletos) with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous."
1 John 2:1
Notice how the translators have managed to translate this exact same word one way (advocate) in reference to
Jesus (pbuh) and another (comforter) with regard to the coming
"parakletos." Why would they want to do such a thing? The reason is
that the translators did not want the Christians, after reading
"we have an advocate(parakletos) with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous"
to then read
"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
advocate(parakletos)."
Can we see why this would make them nervous?
Well, what was Jesus (pbuh)? He was a prophet! Read:
"...This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee."
Matthew 21:11
and "..Jesus
of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all
the people"
Luke 24:19:
...etc. (see more in section
1.2.3.12).
Muhammad (pbuh) was also a prophet
of God. We have already demonstrate in chapter one how the verses of the
Bible themselves prove quite conclusively that Jesus (pbuh) was neither a god
nor part of God Almighty, but an elect messenger of God. The concept of his
divinity was concocted by Paul and his ministry during the first three
centuries after the departure of Jesus (pbuh) and is explicitly refuted by
the Bible itself and Jesus' apostles (see section 1.2.5).
5) "Another" Paraclete:
Now go back to John 14:16 and notice the words "another Paraclete." If the comforter is the Holy Ghost
then how many Holy Ghost's are there? The word "another" is
significant. We have already seen how this term is applied to Jesus (pbuh)
himself. In English, "another" may mean "One more of the same kind" or "one more of a different kind." If the latter were the
one intended then the current Christian interpretation might bear some merit.
However, if "One more of the same kind" was what was intended then
this is positive proof that the coming Paraclete would be just like Jesus
(pbuh), a human being and a prophet, not a ghost. The actual Greek word
used was the word "allon" which is the masculine accusative form of
"allos" {al'-los}: "Another of the SAME kind." The Greek word for
"another of a different kind" is "heteros" {het'-er-os}.
Prof. Abdul-Ahad Dawud (formerly Rev. David Benjamin Keldani,
Bishop of Uramia)* says:
"The adjective 'another' preceding a foreign noun for the
first time announced seems very strange and totally superfluous. There is no
doubt that the text has been tampered with and distorted."
Muhammad in the Bible, Prof. Abdul-`Ahad Dawud, p. 211
"The Paraclete is a parallel figure to Jesus himself; and
this conclusion is confirmed in the fact that the title is suitable for both.
It is clear from 14:16 that the source thought there were sendings of two
Paracletes, Jesus and his successor, the one following the other"
The Gospel of John a Commentary,
Rudolf Bultmann, p. 567
6) "Parakletos" or "Periklytos"?:
Some scholars believe that what Jesus (pbuh) said in his own Aramaic
tongue in these verses represents more closely the Greek word
"Periklytos" which means the admirable or glorified one. This word
corresponds exactly to the Arabic word "Muhammad" which also means
the "admired one" or "glorified one." In other words, "Periklytos"
is "Muhammad" in Greek. There are several similar documented cases
of similar word substitution in the Bible. It is also quite possible that
both words were contained in the original text but were dropped by a copyist
because of the ancient custom of writing words closely packed, with no spaces
in-between them. In such a case the original reading would have been: "and He will give you
another comforter(Parakletos), the admirable one(Periklytos)"(See
examples of many similar cases in the Biblical text in "The Emphatic Diaglott").
In his book "Muhammed in the Bible", Professor
`Abdul-Ahad Dawud, formerly Rev. David Benjamin Keldani, Roman Catholic
Bishop of Uramiah, submits a much more eloquent and scholarly presentation in
defense of these assertions, far beyond the limited abilities of this humble
author. For those who which to read a truly scholarly study of this matter,
you may obtain a copy of that book. The following is a very brief quotation
from that book:
"The 'Paraclete' does not signify either 'consoler' or
'advocate'; in truth, it is not a classical word at all. The Greek
orthography of the word is Paraklytos which in ecclesiastical literature is
made to mean 'one called to aid, advocate, intercessor' (Dict.
Grec.-Francais, by Alexandre). One need not profess to be a Greek scholar to
know that the Greek word for 'comforter or consoler' is not 'Paraclytos' but
'Paracalon'. I have no Greek version of the Septuagint with me, but I
remember perfectly well that the Hebrew word for 'comforter' (mnahem) in the
Lamentations of Jeremiah (I. 2, 9, 16, 17, 21, etc.) is translated into
Parakaloon, from the verb Parakaloo, which means to call to, invite, exhort,
console, pray, invoke. It should be noticed that there is a long alpha vowel
after the consonant kappa in the 'Paracalon' which does not exist in the
'Paraclytos.' In the phrase (He who consoles us in all our afflictions)
'paracalon' and not 'Paraclytos' is used. (I exhort, or invite, thee to
work). Many other examples can be cited here. There is another Greek word for
comforter or consoler, i.e. "Parygorytys' from 'I console'.....The
proper Greek term for 'advocate' is Sunegorus and for 'intercessor' or
'mediator' Meditea"
Muhammad in the Bible, Prof.
Abdul-`Ahad Dawud, pp. 208-209
7) "He" not "It":
Notice the use of "he" when referring to the Paraclete and
not "it." If we read John 16:13, we will find
no less than SEVEN occurrences of the masculine pronoun "He" and
"Himself." There is not another verse in the 66 books of the
Protestant Bible or the seventy three books of the Catholic Bible which
contains seven masculine pronouns, or seven feminine pronouns, or even seven
neuter genders. So many masculine pronouns ill befits a ghost, holy or
otherwise. The word "Spirit" (Greek, pneu'ma), is of a neutral
gender and is always referred to by the pronoun "it."
Mr. Ahmed Deedat says:
"When this point of seven masculine pronouns was mooted by
Muslims in India in their debates with the Christian missionaries, the Urdu
(Indian) version of the Bible had the pronouns presently changed to SHE, SHE,
SHE! so that the Muslims could not claim that this prophecy referred to
Muhammad (pbuh) - a man! This Christian deception I have seen in the Bible
myself. This is a common trickery by the missionaries, more specially in the
vernacular. The very latest ruse I have stumbled across in the Afrikaans
Bible, on the very verse under discussion; they have changed the word
"Trooster" (Comforter), to "Voorspraak" (Mediator), and
interpolated the phrase - "die Heilige Gees" - meaning THE HOLY
GHOST, which phrase no Bible scholar has ever dared to interpolate into any
of the multifarious English Versions. No, not even the Jehovah's witnesses.
This is how the Christians manufacture God's word."
"Muhammad, the natural successor to Christ," Ahmed
Deedat, p. 51
8) He will guide you into all truth:
In the above verses Jesus (pbuh) is quoted as saying "I have yet many things to
say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of
truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth." What does Jesus (pbuh) mean by "ye cannot bear them
now"? If we were to read the Bible, we would find many verses
throughout the Bible wherein Jesus (pbuh) bemoans the lack of understanding
he was constantly greeted with from his disciples throughout his ministry:
"And he(Jesus) saith unto them(the disciples).....O ye of
little faith."
Matthew 8:26
"...and (Jesus) said unto him(Peter), O thou of little
faith."
Matthew 14:31
"he (Jesus) said unto them(the disciples), O ye of little
faith."
Matthew 16:8
"And he(Jesus) said unto them(the disciples), Where is your
faith?"
Luke 8:25
Notice that these are not common Jews who he is saying these words
to, but his own elect disciples. The Bible vividly illustrates how he is
constantly going out of his way to simplify matters for them and to speak to
them as one speaks to little children. However, even at that, they still
misunderstand. He is finally driven to frustration and made to say:
"And Jesus said, Are ye even yet without understanding?"
Matthew 15:16
and "And
Jesus answering said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I
be with you, and suffer you?"
Luke 9:41
We are even told that his own people did not accept him:
"He came unto his own, and his own received him not."
John 1:11
Jesus (pbuh) had "all
truth," but he could
not give it to them because they were not fit to receive it. Therefore, he
told them that another would come after him who shall guide them into "all truth" which they could not receive from
him. He tells us that the one who will come will "teach you all things." This one who will guide them into "all truth" is described as "The spirit of truth." We have already seen how the word
"spirit" in the Bible is synonymous with the word
"Prophet." Muhammad (pbuh), even before he became the prophet of
Islam was known among his people as "Al-sadik Al-amin," which means
"The truthful, the trustworthy." Thus, it becomes apparent that
Muhammad was indeed "the
spirit of truth." Since
the departure of Jesus (pbuh) and to this day, the "Holy Ghost" has
not taught mankind a single new truth not revealed by Jesus
(pbuh) himself.
It is important to notice the words "ALL truth" and "MANY things.""Many"
and "All" means more than one. What new and innovative teachings
has the Holy Ghost given mankind which were not taught by Jesus (pbuh)? The
Qur'an says:
"O mankind! The messenger
(Muhammad) hath come unto you with the truth from your Lord. Therefore
believe; (it is) better for you. But if ye disbelieve, still, lo! unto Allah
belongeth whatsoever is in the heavens and the earth. Allah is the
All-Knower, the All-Wise."
9) He shall glorify me:
The Paraclete "shall
glorify me" and will "testify of me." Muhammad (pbuh) did indeed testify
of Jesus (pbuh) and did indeed glorify him and raise him and his mother to
their well deserved stations of honor and piety and even made it an article
of faith for every Muslim to bear witness to this. Just one of the many
examples of this is:
"And the angles said 'O Mary, Allah gives you glad tidings of
a Word from Him, his name is Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, High honored in this
world and the next, of those near stationed to Allah."
The noble Qur'an, A'al-Umran(3):40.
Nobody seems to recognize this fact as being at all extraordinary.
People generally look upon the Jews as true worshippers of God and followers
of a legitimate faith, even if they do consider them misguided by not
following Jesus (pbuh) but killing him. Their book is even incorporated into
the Bible as the faultless word of God. On the other hand, Muslims are looked
down upon as followers of a false prophet and as savage blood thirsty
terrorists or barbarians. However, if we were to look at the Jewish opinion
of Jesus (pbuh) we would find that an early reference in the Babylonian
"Talmud" says that "Jeshu ha-Nocri" was a false prophet
who was hanged on the eve of the Passover for sorcery and false teaching.
They further claim that he was a bastard son of a Roman adulterer among many
other allegations.
Mr. Josh McDowell is a Biblical scholar who has researched the
topic of the Jewish Talmud's view of Jesus. The Talmud, of course, is the
ultimate authoritative body of Jewish tradition, comprising the Mishnah and
Gemara. In Mr. McDowell's book, "Evidence that demands a verdict,"
he quotes extensively from the Jewish Talmud with regard to the official
Jewish view of Jesus (pbuh). The following is a small sampling from this
book:
"Tol'doth Yeshu. Jesus is referred to as 'Ben Pandera'."
Note: 'Ben Pandera' means 'son of Pandera'. He was a Roman soldier the Jews allege
to have raped Mary to produce the illegitimate son Jesus (God forbid).
Yeb. IV 3;49a: "Rabbi Shimeon Ben Azzai said (regarding
Jesus): 'I found a genealogical roll in Jerusalem wherein was recorded,
such-an-one is a bastard of an adulteress."
Joseph Klausner adds:
"Current editions of the Mishnah, add: 'To support the words
of Rabbi Yehoshua' (who in the same Mishnah says: What is a bastard? Everyone
who's parents are liable to death by the Beth Din), that Jesus is here
referred to seems to be beyond doubt."
The Jews had adopted in their ancient references a system of
referring to Jesus with code names when heaping upon his person allegations
of evil and blasphemy. One good reference on this topic is "The Jewish
Encyclopaedia," in twelve volumes. The following information is obtained
from that book.
Under the heading of "Jesus in Jewish legend" (Vol. VII,
page 170-173), we are told that Jesus is referred to in Jewish references by
such code names as "that man," "that anonymous one,"
"Yeshu," "bastard," "son of Pandera," "son
of Stada," "Balaam," (destroyer of the people) etc. Most
allegations which are associated with Jesus (peace be upon him and his
mother), concern themselves either with belittling the person of Jesus, ascribing
to him illegitimate birth, ascribing to his mother Mary (pbuh) acts of
whoredom, attributing to Jesus acts of black magic through the vain use of
the given name of God, and attributing to him a shameful death as well as
severe and denigrating punishment in the afterlife.
These references to Jesus in Jewish records and law claim that
Jesus was born to a well known adulteress named "Mary," who
conceived him through adultery with a Roman soldier who was named either
"Pandera" or "Stada." Jesus is then claimed to have
traveled to Egypt and entered into the service of magicians, he lusted after
a woman and was excommunicated, he set up a brick as his god and led all of
Israel into apostasy. He is claimed to have cut his magic formulas into his
skin, by having taken a parchment containing the "declared name of
God" and cut it into his skin in order to steal it from the Temple. All
of his miracles were then performed through this stolen parchment which was
later forcibly retrieved from him. It was Judas Iscarlot who volunteered to
retrieve it from Jesus. An arial battle ensued between Judas and Jesus. Judas
found that he could in no way touch Jesus so he "defiled" him.
Judas emerged victorious and Jesus fled. Forty days before the condemnation
of Jesus, a herald called upon anyone who could say anything in Jesus' favor.
Not a single person came. The scholars of Israel then bound him to a pillar,
however, his disciples attacked them and freed him. He disguised himself and
rode an ass into Jerusalem, however, Judas saw through his disguise and
exposed him.
We are told that Jesus was then taken to be hung on the tree as
the law required, however, he had conjured all of the trees with his black
magic and none of them would receive him. Finally they hung him up on a large
cabbage stalk which received him. After Jesus' body was placed in the tomb it
disappeared and his disciples tried to claim that he had risen, however, it
was later discovered that "Judas the gardener" had taken Jesus'
body and used it as a dam to hold back the water in his garden. Jesus' body
was then retrieved and flung before the Queen. In this manner the lies of the
apostles were silenced and there was great rejoicing throughout the land.
This same encyclopaedia aleges that the Qur'an "alludes to" the
insult delivered to the body of Jesus in the streets of Jerusalem. A claim
that is not only preposterous and unfounded, however, the authors are hereby
publicly challenged to produce the text of the Qur'an that "alludes
to" such evil claims against Jesus, peace be upon him and his mother
Mary.
|
6.3 A "Paraclete" like Jesus p2
The Jewish encyclopaedia goes on to inform us that Jewish legend
has "the pupils of the
recantant Balaam inherit Hell." As
one of the three most evil enemies of Judaism, a sorceress is claimed to have
later recalled Jesus and the other two from hell and asked them who were the
closest people to God. Jesus allegedly informed the sorceress that
"Israel" were the highest of God's creatures in stature and warned
her not to harm them, for to seek to harm the Jews was to seek to harm "the apple of God's
eye." (For more on
this topic you may purchase the book "The Plot Against
Christianity," by Elizabeth Dilling)* .
Grolier's encyclopedia tells us that
"...the reliable Jewish sources tell us that he(Jesus) was a
Jewish teacher who was put to death for sorcery and false prophecy and that
he had a brother named James.."
Mr. H. Abdul Al-Dahir relates on page 76 of his book
"Mohammed A Prophesy Fulfilled," that the Jewish Talmudic book
Sanhedrin states:
With each new allegation which issued forth from the mouths of the
Jews with regard to the alleged corruption and blasphemy of Jesus, the
Christians countered with an equal but opposite elevation of his status to
lofty new hights. Slowly but surely, Jesus was elevated from being an elect prophet
of God to being the highest of God's creation for all time, to being equal to
the angels, to being the Son of God, and finally to being God Himself,
manifest in the flesh, and the third face of God's claimed Triune nature.
This resulted in mankind being given only one of two choices: Either Jesus
was the most wicked, evil, and blasphemous false prophet and magician ever to
take the name of God in vain, or else he was God Himself in the flesh, having
descended from heaven to walk among us and sacrifice himself for our sins.
The Qur'an, however, was sent by God in order to show us that the truth lies
at neither extreme. Allah Almighty tells us in the Qur'an:
"O people of the book (Jews and Christians)! Do not go to
extremes in your religion: nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ Jesus
the son of Mary was [no more or less than] a messenger of Allah, and His
Word, which he bestowed upon Mary, and a spirit preceding from Him: so
believe in Allah and his messengers. Say not "Three": desist!, it
is better for you, for Allah is one god, Glory be to Him, Far exalted is He
above having a son. To Him belong all things in the heavens and the earth.
And enough is Allah as a disposer of affairs."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Nissah(4):171.
God Almighty further revealed the following verses of the Qur'an
regarding the Jews: "Then because of their breaking of their Covenant
and their rejection of the signs of Allah and their slaying of the Prophets
wrongfully and that they said "Our hearts are the wrappings [which preserve
Allah's Word; we need no more]"; nay but Allah hath set the seal on
their hearts for their rejection, so they believe not save a few. And because
of their disbelief and of their speaking against Mary a horrendous
fabrication."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Nissa(4):155-156.
So tremendous a sin is this lie considered with Allah, that it is
not even repeated in the Qur'an. The closest the Qur'an ever comes to
actually reproducing their words is:
"Then she (Mary) brought him (Jesus) to her own folk,
carrying him. They said: O Mary! You have come with a most atrocious thing.
Oh sister of Aaron! Your father was not a wicked man nor was your mother a
harlot"
The noble Qur'an, Maryam(19):27-28.
"And when the angels said: O Mary! Verily! Allah has chosen
you, and purified you, and preferred you above (all) the women of
creation.."
The noble Qur'an, Aal-Umran(3):42.
10) Sin, righteousness, and error
The coming Paraclete, we are told, will demonstrate the error of
the world regarding sin, righteousness, and judgment "he will
reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." This is indeed what Muhammad (pbuh)
did. He came to the world to show them how they had been misguided in
"sin" by believing that mankind can inherit sin (see last quarter
of chapter one, and Ezekiel 18:19-20) and that someone's sin can be forgiven
by the sacrifice of others. He also showed them how they had been misguided
in "righteousness" by believing that a righteous person is one who
has "faith" in the crucifixion and does nothing else (Romans 3:28),
or who believes that another man's death will make him a righteous person
(Romans 5:19). And they were misguided in "judgment" by believing
that they will be judged by "faith" and other people's deeds and
not their own deeds (Mark 16:16), or that God's "judgment" was to
punish all mankind for the sin of one man (Romans 5:16, 5:18).
Muhammad (pbuh) taught that the
unscrupulous had altered the words of Jesus (pbuh). He taught that no one
will be held accountable by God for anyone else's sin. He emphasized that God
has made this a life of work and the next life one of reward and no work. He
also revealed that mankind will be judged individually according to their own
individual faith and actions and no one else's.
11) That he may abide with you for ever:
In these verses, Jesus (pbuh) is quoted as saying that the coming
Paraclete will "abide with you forever." What does he mean by this?
In order to understand this statement, let us read
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, If a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.
Then said the Jews unto him, Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is
dead, and the prophets; and thou sayest, If a man keep my saying, he shall
never taste of death. Art thou greater than our father Abraham, which is
dead? and the prophets are dead: whom makest thou thyself? Jesus answered, If
I honor myself, my honor is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of
whom ye say, that he is your God: Yet ye have not known him; but I know him:
and if I should say, I know him not, I shall be a liar like unto you: but I
know him, and keep his saying."
John 8:51-55
and also
"And I (Jesus) give unto them (the believers) eternal life;
and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."
John 10:28
and "and
my servant David [shall be] their prince forever."
Ezekiel 37:25.
and "The
king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD ... He asked life of thee, [and] thou
gavest [it] him, [even] length of days for ever and ever."
Psalm 21:1-4
... etc.
Jesus (pbuh) is quoted many times in the Bible as telling his
followers that they will never taste death. However, there is not a single
one of them alive to this day. Was he lying? Of course not! As seen above,
Jesus' (pbuh) was not telling mankind that his followers would never grow old
nor die, rather he was speaking about their second life in the hereafter. He
was telling them that the life that we hold so dear and spend so much time
fretting over and striving to improve is all but insignificant if compared to
the true life, the afterlife. So much so that life and death on this earth is
unworthy of consideration. Everything in his estimation revolved around an
eternal striving for the reward of the afterlife and this was the yardstick
by which all matters were to be measured.
In a similar manner, when king David is described as being a
prince forever, this did not mean that he would never die but remain immortal
for ever and ever as a prince to Israel. Rather, his teachings, name, and
guidance shall remain as a shining beacon to mankind even after his death. In
this manner, Jesus (pbuh) lives among us through his faith and teachings,
prophet Abraham (pbuh) lives on among them and us through his faith and
teachings, and so too, the coming Paraclete will live eternally with us through
his faith and teachings.
The Paracletos will be the last prophet, because he will "abide with you
forever" and "he will guide you into all
truth" (Greek
"into the whole truth") and "he
shall teach you all things," so
there will be no need for any further prophets. In the Qur'an we read:
"Muhammad is not the father of any man among you, but he is
the messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets; and Allah is Aware of
all things."
The noble Qur'an, , al-Ahzab(33):40
And "This
day have I (God) perfected your religion for you (mankind) and completed My
favor unto you, and have chosen for you as religion Islam(the
submission)."
The noble Qur'an, al-Maidah(5):3
So the religion of Islam is the last message to mankind and it, as
well as the Qur'an, will abide with them forever. To this day, Muhammad
(pbuh) abides with us through his teachings. Muhammad (pbuh) indeed remains
alive and well among us in the vast collection of over 9,500 quotations
recorded from him during his lifetime in a broad range of topics. This
collection of quotations is named the "Hadeeth." To this day,
whenever a Muslims wishes to perform any action no matter how trivial, he
does not advance a single step before first consulting Allah/God (in the
Qur'an), and then prophet Muhammad (pbuh) (in the Hadeeth). Be it a question
on how and what to eat or drink, how to perform marriages, how to pray, what
sort of trade or commerce is permissible or prohibited, or what sort of
clothes to wear, no Muslim presumes to undertake any action before first obtaining
the approval of God then His prophet. Muhammad (pbuh) truly is alive and well
among us.
Jesus (pbuh) had "the whole truth" and had many things he longed to
teach his disciples but he could not give it to them because they"cannot
bear them now." These
matters would only be revealed six centuries later by God through the agency
of Muhammad (pbuh). What new truths has the Holy Spirit guided us into after
the departure of Jesus (pbuh) which Jesus (pbuh) had no say in?
12) He shall not speak of himself:
"For he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall
hear, [that] shall he speak:" This too is an interesting statement. It reminds us of the verses
of Deuteronomy 18:18-19 which shall be discussed soon, specifically:
" I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren,
like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto
them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, [that]
whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I
will require [it] of him."
It is also interesting to read the words of the Qur'an:
"Nor does he (Muhammad) speak of his own desire. It is but an
Inspiration that is inspired [unto him]"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Najm(53):3-4
13) He shall bring all things into your remembrance:
The prophesy of this coming Paraclete requires that he shall
remind mankind of the words of Jesus. Jesus is speaking here not to those who
disbelieved, but to his own followers. He is telling his followers that the
Paraclete shall "remind" them of the message of Jesus. However, if
the followers of Jesus already know and remember all that Jesus taught then
how shall the Paraclete "remind" them of something which they
already remember? Obviously, the coming Paraclete shall come in a time when
the teachings of Jesus have been forgotten and require one to
"remind" Jesus' followers of them. Indeed, the Qur'an does in fact
confirm this same situation. We read:
"And from those who said: "We are Christians," We
took their covenant, but they forgot a good part of the message which was
sent to them. Therefore We have stirred up enmity and hatred among them till
the Day of Resurrection, and Allah will inform them of what they used to do.
O people of the Scripture! Now has Our messenger (Muhammad) come to you,
explaining to you much of that which you used to hide in the Scripture, and
forgiving much. Indeed, there has come to you a light from Allah and a plain
Scripture. Wherewith Allah guides him who seeks His good pleasure unto paths
of peace. He brings them out of darkness by His will into light, and guides
them to a straight path."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Maidah(5):14-16
It is further important to note that one of the names of the
Qur'an is "Al-Thikr" (The Reminder). For example:
"Verily, it is We who have sent down 'The Reminder' and it is
We who shall preserve it"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Hijr(15):9
(also see Al-Sajda(41):41, and
Al-Qalam(68):51)
14) He will show you things to come:
There were many prophesies made in the Qur'an and in the Sunnah
(tradition) of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) himself. For instance, in the
opening verses of the chapter of al-Room (The Romans), we read:
"The Romans have been defeated. In the lowest/closest land,
and they, after their defeat will be victorious. Within ten years. Allah's is
the command in the former case and in the latter and in that day the
believers will rejoice. In Allah's support to victory. He helps to victory
whom He will. He is the Mighty, the Merciful. It is a promise of Allah. Allah
fails not His promise, but most of mankind know not. They know only some
appearance of the life of the world, and are heedless of the Hereafter"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Room(30):2-6
When Islam was still in it's infancy and it's followers were being
severely persecuted, tortured, and killed by the pagan idol worshipers of
Arabia (Quraish), there were two "Superpowers" near by. They were
the Romans and the Persians. The pagans of Arabia used to like to see the
Persians victorious against the Romans because the Persians were pagans like
them. However, the Muslims liked to see the Romans victorious because they
were "people of the book." About this time, the Romans suffered a
resounding defeat to the Persians that seemed to signal the end of the Roman
empire. The pagans of Arabia were ecstatic. They went out of their way to
hold this defeat over the heads of every Muslim they would encounter. They
said: "Just as the Christians in Rome have been crushed by the pagans of
Persia, so shall we crush you." This was psychological warfare against
the Muslims which they were adding to the physical torture they were
subjecting the Muslims to. It was at this time that these verses were
revealed to Muhammad (pbuh) consoling him and the Muslims in general that
matters were not as they seemed, and that the Romans would come back and
defeat the Persians within "Bidh'u" years. "Bidh'u" is an
Arabic word that means "between three and nine." This prophesy did
indeed come true and the Romans were once again victorious against the Persians,
at the same time, the Muslims achieved their first strategic victory against
the pagans of Arabia in the battle of Badr. Mr. Abdullah Yusuf Ali, in his
commentary on the Qur'an narrates the following explanation of the above
verses:
"The remarkable defeats of the Roman Empire under Heraclius
and the straits to which it was reduced are reviewed in Appendix No. 6 (to
follow this Sura). It was not merely isolated defeats; the Roman Empire lost
most of its Asiatic territory and was hemmed in on all sides at its capital,
Constantinople. The defeat, "in a land close by" must refer to
Syria and Palestine, Jerusalem was lost in 614-15 AD, shortly before this
Sura was revealed.
The Pagan Quraish of Makkah rejoiced at the overthrow of Rome by
Persia. They were pro-Persian, and in their heart of hearts they hoped that
the nascent movement of Islam, which at that time was, from a worldly point
of view, very weak and helpless, would also collapse under their persecution.
But they misread the true Signs of the times. They are told here that they would
soon be disillusioned in both their calculations, and it actually so happened
at the battle of Issus in 622 (the year of Hijrat) and in 624, when Heradius
carried his campaign into the heart of Persia (see Appendix No: 6) and the
Makkan Quraish were beaten off at Badr.
Bidh'un in the text means a short period-a period of from three to
nine years. The period between the loss of Jerusalem (614-15) by the Romans
and their victory at Issus (622) was seven years, and that to the penetration
of Persia by Heraclius was nine years. See last note.
The battle of Badr, battle of (2 A.H. = 624 AD) was a
real time of rejoicing for the Believers and a time of disillusionment for
the arrogant Quraish, who thought that they could crush the whole movement of
Islam in Madinah as they had tried to do in Makkah, but they were singly
repulsed."
There were many other prophesies made by the Qur'an which, without
exception, all came true. Some Christians whom I have the pleasure of
speaking to on this topic have attempted to trivialize this and other
prophesies of prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which such words as:
"I want a list of [prophet Muhammad's] prophesies and I hope
they are not easy prophesies such as a prediction of the outcome of a war
which have almost 50-50 chances, but actual supernatural revelation which no
man can predict unless he is told by God himself."
Such statements are a result of a general unfamiliarity with the
details of these prophesies and the situation surrounding them. For example,
regarding the above prophesy, when this verse was first revealed to Muhammad
(pbuh) by the Almighty, the Roman Empire was at that time believed by
everyone to be on the verge of utter collapse before the advancing Persian
forces. After the Persian's final crippling moral and physical defeat of the
Romans wherein they took from them the very capital of their faith, all
onlookers believed it to be the beginning of the end for the Romans. It was
at this time that this verse was revealed wherein the whole message of Islam
and the truthfulness of prophet Muhammad (pbuh) were placed in the balance.
Not only did this verse directly oppose what everyone else believed, however,
it even specified the timeframe when this prophesy was to occur.
This was not the only prophesy made by the final messenger of God,
Muhammad (pbuh), rather there were many more such as the time when 10,000 of
the troops of the pagan army of Quraish were advancing upon his city to
utterly destroy him and his followers (in 'The Battle of the Trench'* ) and he and about 3000 of his
followers were preparing as best they could to stave off this attack by
digging a trench. While prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was digging with them he made
a number of prophesies including the Muslim's capture of Al-Yemen, Al-Sham
(Jerusalem, Iraq, etc.), Morrocco, Persia, and the Eastern countries. All of
this was said by him while many of the Muslims were expecting to be totally
destroyed at any minute by the advancing army which vastly outnumbered them
and was much better armed.
Another example would be that of Al-Israa(17):7. Then there was
also the prophesy made by Muhammad a couple of years before his death that
before he would die Makkah, the capital of pagan Arabia, would be captured by
the Muslims. This prophesy too came true. On another occation, the prophet
was sitting in a garden. Uthmaan ibn Affan walked in and the prophet asked
Abu Musa Al-Ashari to give him glad tidings that he shall be of the people of
Paradise and to further inform him that the people would mutiny against him.
This prophecy was fulfilled many years after the death of the prophet (pbuh)
when Uthman became the third Caliph and was murdered shortly therafter when a
party of the citizens rose against him and slew him.
Ali ibn Abi Talib, the fourth Caliph, had also been informed by
the Prophet of his assassination in such detail that he knew the man who was
going to kill him, and identified him pointing him out to the people. They
asked Ali why he did not kill the man and he replied: "Then who will
kill me?" The night preceding his assassination Ali came out, gazed at
the sky and said: "By Allah the prophet (pbuh) never told a lie, nor was
a lie ever told to him." The next day the same man killed Ali, as the
prophet had predicted.
Safinah narrated that the Prophet (pbuh) said: The Caliphate of
Prophecy will last thirty years; then Allah will give the rule of His Kingdom
to whomever He wills." (narrated by Abu-Dawood). This was indeed the
length of the Caliphate after the death of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). After
that, the rule of monarchies replaced the rule of the Caliphate.
The Prophet also predicted the division of the Muslims into many
sects, and how some people would do to Ali what the Christians did to Jesus.
This clearly refers to the Shi'its, who exaggerate the love and praise of Ali
to such a degree that one of their sects, Al-Nusaria, actually worship him as
the manifestation of Allah.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) further predicted the capture of Egypt,
and commanded his followers when this were to occur that they should treat
the people well. He further prophesied that the Muslims would overthrow the
Persian Empire and seize the treasures of the their Emperor Choseros. He also
told one of the companions by the name of Suraqa bin Malik that he would be
given the bracelets of Caesar. Many years after the death of the prophet,
these bracelets fell into the possession of Umar ibn Al-Khattab and he called
upon Suraqa and placed the bracelets on his arms, reminding him of the
prophet's words.
Awf ibn Malik narrated in Sahih Al-Bukhari:
"I went to the Prophet (pbuh)
during the battle of Tabuk while he was sitting in a leather tent. He said, 'Count six signs that
indicate the approach of the [final] Hour: 1) My death; 2) The conquest of
Jerusalem; 3) A plague that will afflict you (and kill you in great numbers)
as the plague that afflicts sheep; 4) The increase of wealth to such an
extent that even if one is given one-hundred Dinars, he will not be
satisfied; 5) Then an affliction which no Arab house will escape; 6) And then
a truce between you and Banu al-Asfar (i.e. the Byzantines, or Christians)
who will betray you and attack you under eighty flags. Under each flag will
be twelve thousand soldiers.'"
The prophesies are many and varied. Some of them deal with what
the financial situation of the Muslims shall be after him, some deal with
what their moral and religious situation shall be, some deal with upcoming
battles, some deal with trials and the anti-Christ and the coming of Gog and
Magog. Some deal with the second coming of Jesus (pbuh), and many other
issues which can not be dealt with here. However, I shall leave it up to the
interested student to research this topic in order to verify it's
authenticity. Two useful references on this topic are:
15) The most knowledgeable Christians recognize the Paraclete as
Muhammad:
"And if you (Muhammad) are in doubt concerning that which We
have revealed unto you, then ask those who read the Scripture (that was)
before you. Verily the Truth has come unto you from your Lord, so do not be
among those who waver."
The noble Qur'an, Yunus(10):94
Throughout history, there have been a number of Christian scholars
who have come to recognize the truth of the prophesy of Jesus (pbuh) and that
it originally referred to prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Anselm Turmeda, a priest
and Christian scholar was one such person. After recognizing the last prophet
of God and embrasing Islam he wrote a famous book titled "Tuhfat al-arib fi
al-radd 'ala Ahl al-Salib." In
the introduction to this work he relates his history:
"Let it be known to all of
you that my origin is from the city of Majorca*, which is a great
city on the sea, between two mountains and divided by a small valley. It is a
commercial city, with two wonderful harbours. Big merchant ships come and
anchor in the harbour with different goods. The city is on the island which
has the same name - Majorca, and most of its land is populated with fig and
olive trees. My father was a well respected man in the city. I was his only
son. When I was six, he sent me to a priest who taught me to read the Gospel
and logic, which I finished in six years. After that I left Majorca and
traveled to the city of Larda, in the region of Castillion, which was the
centre of learning for Christians in that region. A thousand to a thousand
and a half Christian students gathered there. All were under the
administration of the priest who taught them. I studied the Gospel and its
language for another four years. After that I left for Bologne in the region
of Anbardia. Bologne is a very large city, it being the centre of learning
for all the people of that region. Every year, more than two thousand
students gather together from different places. They cover themselves with
rough cloth which they call the "Hue of God." All of them, whether
the son of a workman or the son of a ruler wear this wrap, in order to make
the students distinct from others. Only the priest teaches controls and
directs them. I lived in the church with an aged priest. He was greatly
respected by the people because of his knowledge and religiousness and
asceticism, which distinguished him from the other Christian priests.
Questions and requests for advice came from everywhere, from Kings and
rulers, along with presents and gifts. They hoped that he would accept their
presents and grant them his blessings. This priest taught me the principles
of Christianity and its rulings. I became very close to him by serving and
assisting him with his duties until I became one of his most trusted
assistants, so that he trusted me with the keys of his domicile in the church
and of the food and the drink stores. He kept for himself only the key of a
small room were he used to sleep. I think, and Allah knows best, that he kept
his treasure chest in there. I was a student and servant for a period of ten
years, then he fell ill and failed to attend the meetings of his fellow
priests. During his absence the priests discussed some religious matters,
until they came to what was said by the Almighty Allah through his prophet
Jesus in the Gospel: "After him will come a Prophet called
Paraclete." They argued a great deal about this Prophet and as to who he
was among the Prophets. Everyone gave his opinion according to his knowledge
and understanding; and they ended without achieving any benefit in that
issue. I went to my priest, and as usual he asked about what was discussed in
the meeting that day. I mentioned to him the different opinions of priests
about the name Paraclete, and how they finished the meeting without
clarifying its meaning. He asked me: "What was your answer?" I gave
my opinion which was taken from interpretation of a well known exegesis. He
said that I was nearly correct like some priests, and the other priests were
wrong. "But the truth is different from all of that. This is because the
interpretation of that noble name is known only to a small number of well
versed scholars. And we posses only a little knowledge." I fell down and
kissed his feet, saying: "Sir, you know that I traveled and came to you
from a far distant country, I have served you now for more than ten years;
and have attained knowledge beyond estimation, so please favour me and tell
me the truth about this name." The priest then wept and said: "My
son, by God, you are very much dear to me for serving me and devoting
yourself to my care. Know the truth about this name, and there is a great
benefit, but there is also a great danger. And I fear that when you know this
truth, and the Christians discover that, you will be killed
immediately." I said: "By God, by the Gospel and He who was sent
with it, I shall never speak any word about what you will tell me, I shall keep
it in my heart." He said: "My son, when you came here from your
country, I asked you if it is near to the Muslims, and whether they made
raids against you and if you made raids against them. This was to test your
hatred for Islam. Know, my son, that Paraclete is the name of their Prophet
Muhammad, to whom was revealed the fourth book as mentioned by Daniel. His
way is the clear way which is mentioned in the Gospel." I said:
"Then sir, what do you say about the religion of these Christians?"
He said: "My son, if these Christians remained on the original religion
of Jesus, then they would have been on God's religion, because the religion
of Jesus and all the other Prophets is the true religion of God. But they
changed it and became unbelievers." I asked him: "Then, sir, what
is the salvation from this?" He said "Oh my son, embracing
Islam." I asked him: "Will the one who embraces Islam be
saved?" He answered: "Yes, in this world and the next." I
said: "The prudent chooses for himself; if you know, sir the merit of
Islam, then what keeps you from it?" He answered: "My son, the
Almighty Allah did not expose me to the truth of Islam and the Prophet of
Islam until after I have become old and my body weakened. Yes, there is no
excuse for us in this, on the contrary, the proof of Allah has been
established against us. If God had guided me to this when I was your age I
would have left everything and adopted the religion of truth. Love of this
world is the essence of every sin, and look how I am esteemed, glorified and
honoured by the Christians, and how I am living in affluence and comfort! In
my case, if I show a slight inclination towards Islam they would kill me
immediately. Suppose that I was saved from them and succeeded in escaping to
the Muslims, they would say, do not count your Islam as a favour upon us,
rather you have benefited yourself only by entering the religion of truth,
the religion that will save you from the punishment of Allah! So I would live
among them as a poor old man of more than ninety years, without knowing their
language, and would die among them starving* . I am, and all praise is due to
Allah, on the religion of Christ and on that which he came with, and Allah
knows that from me." So I asked him: "Do you advise me to go to the
country of the Muslims and adopt their religion?" He said to me:
"If you are wise and hope to save yourself, then race to that which will
achieve this life and the hereafter. But my son, none is present with us
concerning this matter , it is between you and me only. Exert yourself and
keep it a secret. If it is disclosed and the people know about it they will
kill you immediately. I will be of no benefit to you against them. Neither
will it be of any use to you if you tell them what you heard from me
concerning Islam, or that I encouraged you to be a Muslim, for I shall deny
it. They trust my testimony against yours. So do not tell a word, whatever
happens." I promised him not to do so. He was satisfied and content with
my promise. I began to prepare for my journey and bid him farewell. He prayed
for me and gave me fifty golden dinars. Then I took a ship to my city Majorca
where I stayed with my parents for six months. Then I traveled to Sicily and
remained there five months, waiting for a ship bound for the land of the
Muslims. Finally a ship arrived bound for Tunis. We departed before sunset
and reached the port of Tunis at noon on the second day. When I got off the
ship, Christian scholars who heard of my arrival came to greet me and I
stayed with them for four months in ease and comfort. After that I asked them
if there was a translator. The Sultan in those days was Abu al-Abbas Ahmed.
They said there was a virtuous man, the Sultan's physician, who was one of
his closest advisors. His name was Yusuf al-Tabeeb. I was greatly pleased to
here this, and asked where he lived. They took me there to meet him
separately. I told him about my story and the reason of my coming there;
which was to embrace Islam. He was immensely pleased because this matter
would be completed by his help. We rode to the Sultan's Palace. He met the
Sultan and told him about my story and asked his permission for me to meet
him. The Sultan accepted, and I presented myself before him. The first
question the Sultan asked was about my age. I told him that I was thirty-five
years old. He then asked about my learning and the sciences which I had
studied. After I told him he said. "Your arrival is the arrival of
goodness . Be a Muslim with Allah's blessings." I then said to the
doctor, "Tell the honourable Sultan that it always happens that when
anyone changes his religion his people defame him and speak evil of him. So,
I wish if he kindly sends to bring the Christian priests and merchants of
this city to ask them about me and hear what they have to say. Then by
Allah's will, I shall accept Islam." He said to me through the
translator, "You have asked what Abdullah ibn Salam asked from the
Prophet when he-Abdullah came to announce his Islam."* He then sent for the priests and
some Christian merchants and let me sit in an adjoining room unseen by them.
"What do you say about this new priest who arrived by ship?", he
asked. They said: "He is a great scholar in our religion. Our bishops
say he is the most learned and no one is superior to him in our religious
knowledge." After hearing what the Christian said, the Sultan sent for
me, and I presented myself before them. I declared the two testimonies that
there is no one worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad is His
Messenger, and when the Christians heard this they crossed themselves and
said: "Nothing incited him to do that except his desire to marry, as
priests in our religion can not marry." Then they left in distress and
grief. The Sultan appointed for me a quarter of a dinar every day from the
treasury and let me marry the daughter of Al-Hajj Muhammed al-Saffar. When I
decided to consummate the marriage, he gave me a hundred golden dinars and an
excellent suit of clothes. I then consummated the marriage and Allah blessed
me with a child to whom I gave the name Muhammed as a blessing from the name
of the Prophet."
Let us conclude this section with the following quotation from the
Gospel of John. Please keep in mind while reading the following all that we
have learned so far in previous chapters:
"These things have I spoken unto you, that ye should not be
offended. They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh,
that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. And these
things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, ye may
remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the
beginning, because I was with you. But now I go my way to him that sent me;
and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou? But because I have said these
things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the
truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness,
and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness,
because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto you, but
ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he
will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but
whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things
to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew
[it] unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I,
that he shall take of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you."
John 16:1-15
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6.4: The emigration (The Hijra)
"God (his guidance) came from Teman, and the Holy One from
mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of
his praise."
Habakkuk 3:3
The wilderness of Paran
is where Abraham's wife Hagar and his eldest son Ishmael, the father of the
Arabs, settled (Genesis 21:21) in the Arabian desert. Specifically, Makkah
(Please see Map 1, page 440). Makkah is, of course, the capital of Islam in
Arabia and the birthplace of Muhammad (pbuh). Indeed, it was Hagar and
Ishmael themselves who transformed a barren patch of desert into what is now
the capital of Islam, "Makkah." Mount Paran is the chain of mountains in that
same region which the Arabs call the "Sarawat mountains."
According to J. Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible, Teman is an Oasis just North of
Madinah. Muhammad (pbuh) did indeed come from Paran. About 622 AD, he and his
followers were forced to migrate from Makkah (Paran) to Madinah (Teman) where
he spent the rest of his prophetic life teaching it's people the guidance of
God (the Qur'an). These two cities, Makkah and Madinah, are such critical
importance to a Muslims faith that every single chapter of the Qur'an is
classified as either "Makkia" (revealed in Makkah) or "Madaniyyah"
(revealed in Madinah).
When someone describes someone as having "come from" a
certain town, this is usually interpreted as meaning that that person was
born in that town. In other words, that town is this man's "home
town." However, when one reads the words "God came from…," the
meaning is quite different. It is quite obvious that the verse is not
implying that a given location is God's "home town." Jews,
Christians, and Muslims all affirm that God Almighty is Omnipresent*and
Eternal. So, if this is the case, then we can not say that God Himself
"came" or "went" to a given place since that would imply
that there are times and places where God's knowledge and supervision is NOT
present, and thus, it is possible to hide from God since I could go to a
place where God has not "come" and is not present in His knowledge.
So if God is Omnipresent (present in knowledge everywhere at the
same time), then we begin to realize that it is not God "Himself"
that is "coming" from a given place, rather it is God's guidance and
mankind's recognition of God that is being established in a given location.
In other words, in a place where the true worship of God and the true
knowledge of His message were absent, God blesses them with knowledge of
Himself and His message. In this way, they become "acquainted" with
God, and "meet" or "learn of" Him. In this fashion,
although God Almighty was ever present in His knowledge, with them and all of
His creation, they are only now beginning to comprehend His presence.
Once we understand that the people of Mount Paran and Teman are
described as becoming aware of the message of God and His guidance, and we
realize that Paran and Teman are to Islam what Jerusalem is to Judaism or
Christianity, then we begin to see the emergence of a prophesy of the coming
of the final message of God. This is because Muhammad (pbuh) first received
the prophethood of Islam in the cave of "Hira'a" located in the
highest part of the mountains of Paran (see section 6.2). Jesus (pbuh) never
in his life traveled to Paran nor Teman. Muhammad, however, was born in
Paran, he became the prophet of Islam there, and it was the capital of the
Islamic religion in that day and this. No man from Paran, throughout history,
has had his praise sung in so many nations as has Muhammad (pbuh). The name
"Muhammad" itself literally means in Arabic "The praised
one." Through the teachings of Muhammad, God is now being praised by
over one billion Muslims around the world.
However, if we were to look more closely at this verse we would
find even greater detail of this coming message. The word which has been
translated here as "Holy One" is the Hebrew word
"qadowsh" {kaw-doshe'} which has the multiple meaning of
"sacred, holy, Holy One, saint, set apart." In this specific verse
the translators judgment drove them to translate it as "Holy One"
(notice the capitals), thus, they understood this verse to simply mean "God came from Teman and God
came from mount Paran." However,
if this was the intended reading then why did God choose to use the word
"God" in one place and "Holy One" in the other? There
must be a reason for this specific wording. Actually, there is.
If we were to read Exodus 19:6 we would find that the same
translators of the Bible have translated this same Hebrew word as "holy
nation." In Exodus 29:31 it is translated as "holy place," and
in Zec. 14:5 they translated it as "saints." Thus, we see that
according to the witness of these same translators of the Bible, this verse
of Habakkuk 3:3 could (or more correctly, should) be translated as"and
the saint from mount Paran," or "and the holy one from mount
Paran" (no capitals).
This is important, why?
If we were to accept everything these Biblical translators are
teaching us and to accept that the word "qadowsh" can be translated
as "Holy One," or as "holy one," or as "saint,"
or as "holy," etc. based upon the meaning most appropriate for the
chosen verse, then we realize that although it would be completely
appropriate to interpret the coming of Islam from the mountains of Makkah as
"the Holy One" coming from "mount Paran," still, it would
be more precise to say that "the holy one" (or "the
saint") came from "mount Paran." This is because Muhammad
(pbuh) was born on Paran (Makkah) and first received the message of Islam in
the mountains of Makkah.
So why does the first part of this verse say "God came from
Teman" and not "The Holy One came from Teman"? Well, the
reason for this is that Islam was indeed first revealed to Muhammad (pbuh) in
Makkah, however, he and his followers remained persecuted and in constant
fear of death from the pagans of Arabia while they resided in Makkah (see
chapter 10). This continued for a period of thirteen years. During this
period, the Muslims were beaten, starved, tortured, and killed. This
situation was hardly conducive of the Muslims openly preaching the message of
God to all of mankind. For this reason, the knowledge of the persecution that
one must endure upon acceptance of Islam prevented many from openly accepting
it or preaching it to others.
However, this all changed in the beginning of the fourteenth year.
That is when God Almighty commanded Muhammad (pbuh) to emigrate with his
companions to Teman (Madinah). Although the pagans escalated their
persecution of the Muslims into all-out warfare at this point, still, within
the boundaries of the city of Madinah they had begun to enjoy a measure of
freedom and autonomy. This freedom manifested itself in their ability to not
only preach the message of God within the city itself, but they also began to
send delegations to the surrounding cities inviting them to Islam. In other
words, the message of Islam did not truly begin it's "global" phase
until it reached "Teman" or Madinah. This is why the verse says "God came from Teman, and
the holy one from mount Paran" In
fact, just as the Christian calendar starts with the presumed date of the
birth of Jesus (pbuh), so does the Islamic "Hijra" calendar start
with the year in which the Muslims emigrated to Madinah.
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6.5: Isaiah's vision
Isaiah saw a vision of two riders.
"And he saw a chariot [with] a couple of horsemen, a chariot
of asses, [and] a chariot of camels .."
Isaiah 21:7
Who was the rider upon the ass? Every Sunday school student will
tell us that this was a prophecy of Jesus (pbuh), as stated in John:
"And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it
is written,"
John 12:14
but who is the promised prophet who would ride the camel? If it is
not Muhammad (pbuh) then this prophecy has yet to be fulfilled. Let us read
on...
"And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, [with] a couple
of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all
the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground."
Isaiah 21:9
Babylon did indeed fall before Islam and the Islamic nation under
the guidance of Muhammad (pbuh) did indeed succeed in eradicating the worship
of idols from Babylon replacing it with the worship of God alone. In fact,
the Muslims were the only believers in the God of Isaiah to ever succeed in
fulfilling this prophesy (see chapter 10). Continuing ...
"The burden upon Arabia ..."
Isaiah 21:13
What does the word "burden" mean? Let us ask the
Scofield Study Bible:
"…which also means an oracle is a word sometimes used in the
prophetical writings to indicate a divine message of judgment"
Scofield Study Bible New King James Version, note 1, p. 792
So the Muslims of Arabia (and subsequently Muslims everywhere)
would be assigned the burden of God's message.
"The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him
that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled. For they
fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from
the grievousness of war"
Isaiah 21:14-15
Tema, according to John McKenzie's
dictionary of the Bible is
"a place name and tribal name of Arabia; a son of Ishmael....
The name survives in Teima, an oasis of the part of the Arabian desert called
the Nefud in N Central Arabia."
This word, Tema, is the name of the ninth son of Ishmael (the
father of the Arabs), in Genesis 25:13-15 we read:
"And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their
names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth;
and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam, And Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, Hadar,
and Tema, Jetur,
Naphish, and Kedemah"
Strong's concordance tells us that this name was also applied to
the land settled by Tema the son of Ishmael. It goes on to explain how this
word is "probably of
foreign derivation". Indeed, this word, Teima, is an Arabic word which means "Barren desert". It
remains the name of a city in the Arabian peninsula just north of
"Al-Madinah Al-Munawarah," or "Madinah" for short (Please
see Map 1, page 440). Muhammad (pbuh) and his companions were given sanction
to migrate. They departed Makkah during the night and left all of their
possessions behind. Upon reaching Madinah they were greeted by it's citizens
with open arms and Muhammad (pbuh) assigned each one of the Muhajireen
(citizens of Makkah) to one of the Ansar (citizens of Madinah) to house and
feed them until they could strike out on their own. This became the first
year of the Arab "Hijra" (Emigration) calendar used in Islamic
countries to this day.
"For thus hath the LORD said unto me, Within a year,
according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail.
And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of
Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken
[it]."
Isaiah 21:16-17
Kedar* is
the second son of Ishmael, the father of the Arabs:
"And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their
names, according to their generations: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebajoth;
and Kedar, and Adbeel, and Mibsam."
Genesis 25:13
Kedar is also synonymous with all of Arabia in general, as in
Ezekiel:
"Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar."
Ezekiel 27:21
The Arabs of Makkah, the capital of the paganistic tribes of
Arabia of the day, were indeed defeated by the Muslims in the second year
after their forced immigration from Makkah to Madinah (The Hijra). This
victory signaled the turning point for Islam and a transition from a position
of weakness to one of power and victory (for more, please read chapter 10).
It should be pointed out here that, as mentioned at the beginning
of this chapter, the children of Israel, from the tribe of Levi, were
distinctly aware of this prophesy. Indeed this is the very reason why they
had begun to immigrate from the lush and fertile pastures of their holy land
of Israel to the barren parched deserts of Arabia, specifically to Madinah
and the surrounding areas of Khaibar, Tema, and others. Because they knew
that this is where the final prophet would appear. As mentioned above, these
children of the Jews were constantly threatening the Arab inhabitants of
Madinah (the tribes of Al-Aws and Al-Kazraj) with his impending arrival and
how they would follow him and, through his leadership, they would utterly
destroy these Arabs. They had hoped that this prophet would be from their
tribe and that their presence in this location might facilitate this hope.
When their awaited prophet finally did come, they rejected him.
They wanted a Jewish prophet from their own tribe and not an Arab from the
sons of Ishmael. Thus, they allowed their pride to come between them and the
truth which they recognized. However, their efforts were not totally in vain.
So continuous were their efforts in threatening the inhabitants of Madinah
with the final prophet's imminent arrival that when Muhammad (pbuh) finally
did come, the inhabitants of Madinah immediately recognized him and hastened
to follow him before the Jews. These inhabitants of Madinah would later
become among those very first followers of Muhammad (pbuh) who would one year
later go on to fulfill the prophesy of Isaiah by defeating the "mighty
men of Kedar" in the very first battle of the Islamic nation, the battle
of Badr.
As the prophesy requires, one year after prophet Muhammad (pbuh)
and his followers escaped from the torture and persecution of the people of
Kedar and emigrated to Madinah, the men of Makkah decided to once and for all
put an end to Muhammad (pbuh) and his followers. They assembled an army
consisting of 750 footmen and 200 horsemen, all of their very best fighters,
and all very well armed. The leaders of this army consisted of the majority
of the leaders of Kedar (see chapter ten). They were confident of victory and
bragged that after this massacre they would be feared throughout all of
Arabia.
The Muslims heard of this amassing of troops and prepared as best
they could. They collected 313 footmen with two horses and seventy camels.
The Muslims fought long and hard with the men of Kedar and were finally
granted victory. This battle ended in the death of these leaders of Kedar and
a resounding victory for the Muslims.
In this battle, only fourteen Muslims and seventy pagans from
Kedar were killed. Twenty four of those who died from Kedar were their
leaders. In addition, seventy others from Kedar were taken as prisoners and
later ransomed back to their people (for more see chapter ten).
This was the great turning point for the Islamic nation. This
battle could be said to have been the beginning of the end for the reign of
idolatry and paganism within the land of Arabia. This Muslim nation would
then go on to expand to many other nations until it spread from Spain to
China, fulfilling many more prophesies in the Bible, including Daniel 2:44,
Genesis 15:18-21, and many others.
An unfortunate misconception which has managed to creep into many
Western beliefs is that Islam was only spread through force and the sword.
Today, however, this notion is beginning to be recognized for the absurdity
that it was. A Christian missionary, Sir Thomas W. Arnold says:
"...of any organized attempt to force the acceptance of Islam
on the non-Muslim population, or of any systematic persecution intended to
stamp out the Christian religion, we hear nothing. Had the caliphs chosen to
adopt either course of action, they might have swept away Christianity as
easily as Ferdinand and Isabella drove Islam out of Spain, or Louis XIV made
Protestantism penal in France, or the Jews were kept out of England for 350
years. The Eastern Churches in Asia were entirely cut off from communion with
the rest of Christendom throughout which no one would have been found to lift
a finger on their behalf, as heretical communions. So that the very survival
of these Churches to the present day is a strong proof of the generally
tolerant attitude of Mohammedan [sic] governments towards them"
The Preaching of Islam, A History of the Propagation of the Muslim
Faith, Sir Thomas W. Arnold, Westminster A. Constable & Co., London,
1896, p. 80.
"Against unbelievers he (Muhammad) enjoined his followers to
undertake a holy warefare, but only when attacked. The earlier Moslem[sic]
leaders did not try to impose their faith upon other nations"
The History of Christianity in the Light of Modern Knowledge, A
Collective Work, Harcourt Brace and co., p. 520
Muslims did indeed wage many wars, just as many Jews and
Christians did both before and after this. Muslims waged their wars in
self-defense or in order to abolish idolatry, tyranny, slavery, and
oppression. Muslims were commanded to not attack those who did not attack them,
to not cut down a fruit tree, to not kill the animals, to not take the
people's property, to not harm women or children or old people so long as
they did not fight with them, and to not burn crops.
When they were victorious, the Muslims were commanded not to
destroy the churches nor the synagogues, nor to force the people to convert
to Islam. The people were allowed to continue to practice their religion
without persecution or being forced to convert (Compare for example with
Numbers 31, and Deuteronomy 20. Please also compare with the great Spanish
inquisitions).
"There is no compulsion in religion. The right path is
henceforth distinct from misguidance"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Bakarah(2):256.
If Islam was indeed spread by the sword and not by it's spiritual
appeal, then how do we explain, for example, the fact that Islam is the
religion of the majority of the people of the country of Indonesia even
though no Muslim army ever set foot on their land and they can by no stretch
of the imagination be labeled as Arabs? The only contact these people ever
had with Islam was through Muslim traders who passed through their lands.
If the truth were to be known, in almost every single battle the
Muslims ever participated in, they were almost always vastly outnumbered. For
example, when the Muslims finally overthrew the pagan Byzantine superpower in
the battle of Al-Yarmook of the year 636 C.E., the Muslim army consisted of
40,000 fighters verses 200,000 solders in the Byzantine army. So although
many historians may like to attribute the fall of this superpower to any
number of factors such as claiming that they were taxed and weary from
previous battles with the Romans, (while not claiming that the Muslims were
taxed and weary from their previous battles), and although they refuse to
believe that this victory could have come from the Almighty, still, one needs
to wonder if this victory were not through divine intervention then how do we
explain the fact that an ill-equipped army of Bedouin sheep herders who were
outnumbered more than four to one could so resoundingly defeat one of the two
"superpowers" of their age?
"The extinction of race consciousness as between Muslims is
one of the outstanding achievements of Islam and in the contemporary world.
There is, as it happens, a crying need for the propagation of this Islamic
virtue."
The Genuine Islam, Vol. 1, George Bernard Shaw, No. 81936.
"I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high
estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which
appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of
existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him-the
wonderful man and in my opinion far from being an anti-Christ, he must be
called the Savior of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to
assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its
problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I
have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to
the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of
today."
Hamilton Gibb, Whither Islam, London, 1932, p. 379.
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6.6: Truthfulness of Muhammad (pbuh)
"And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word
which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the
LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that [is] the thing which
the LORD hath not spoken, [but] the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously:
thou shalt not be afraid of him."
Deuteronomy 18:21-22
So if the statements made in the Qur'an were not true then this
would prove that it is not the word of God. However, there is not a single
claim made in the Qur'an that has been scientifically and objectively refuted
as false. Quite the contrary, there is not one, but tens of scientific and
historical statements to be found in the Qur'an which have just begun to be
scrutinized by modern scientists and historians and which, according to many
non-Muslim world renowned, pioneering scientists of the United States,
Germany, Canada, Japan, Taiwan, India and many other nations, could not have
been known by an illiterate man of the desert fourteen hundred years ago (see
chapter 13). They themselves have only discovered these facts through the use
of microscopes, telescopes, satellites, and various other scientific
equipment that was not available to Muhammad (pbuh). These statements range
over the fields of Embryology, Oceanography, Geology, Astronomy, Anatomy,
Physics, and many others. Some of them have only been discovered during the
last twenty years. These facts could not even have been copied from the Bible
because many of them are either completely missing from the Bible or totally
oppose similar verses in the Bible. If Muhammad (pbuh) had plagiarized the
Bible, then did he also selectively correct incorrect scientific statements
in it? It is also interesting to note that Christian scholars readily
acknowledge that the Bible was not translated into Arabic until at least the
eighth century AD, long after the death of Muhammad (pbuh) in 632C.E. You may
get a side-by-side comparison of the Biblical vs. the Quranic versions of
many scientific facts by referring to Dr. Maurice Bucaille's books: "The
Bible, the Qur'an, and Science."
I also highly recommend the following books: "Qur'an and
modern science Correlation Studies," by Keith L. Moore, Abdul-Majeed A.
Zindani, Mustafa A. Ahmed, and "The developing Human," By Dr. Keith
Moore. These books speak about embryology in the Qur'an, and other topics.
|
6.7: Moses foretells of Muhammad's coming
"I (God) will raise them up a Prophet from among their
brethren, like unto thee (moses), and will put my words in his mouth; and he
shall speak unto them all that I shall command him."
Deuteronomy 18:18
There are many verses in the Old Testament that predict the coming
of Jesus (pbuh). This one, however, is not one of them. This can be clearly
seen from the following four points:
a) Like unto moses
Muslims believe in all of the previous prophets. They make no
distinction between them, nor do they place one above the others in piety.
However, they are all human, and as humans they differ from one another in
their characteristics. Let us compare these characteristics:
1) Both Christians and Muslims agree that both Moses and Muhammad
(pbut) had fathers and mothers. They both also believe that Jesus (pbuh) had
only a mother and no father. Therefore, Muhammad is like Moses, but Jesus is
unlike Moses.
2) Both Moses and Muhammad (pbut) married and begat children.
Jesus (pbuh) never married nor had any offspring. Therefore, Muhammad is like
Moses, but Jesus is unlike Moses.
3) Moses (pbuh) was accepted by the Jews and to this day, as a nation, they accept him
as their prophet. Muhammad (pbuh) was accepted by his people, and as a nation, over one billion
Muslims around the world accept him as the prophet of Allah. Jesus (pbuh),
however, was rejected by his people (the Jews) as stated in the Christian's
own Bible: "He (Jesus)
came unto his own, but his own received him not" (John 1:11) Therefore, Muhammad is
like Moses, but Jesus is unlike Moses.
4) Both Moses and Muhammad (pbut) were kings on Earth in the sense
that they had the ultimate power of government, the power to inflict capital
punishment. When the Jews brought before Moses (pbuh) the Israelite who
had been caught collecting firewood on the Sabbath, Moses had him stoned to
death (Numbers 15:36). Muhammad (pbuh) had similar authority. When a woman
came before him confessing (with no witnesses) to having committed adultery,
he gave her a chance to consider the severity of her claim and the punishment
she would receive. When she insisted, he ordered her stoned to death and
ordered his companions to respect her for her sincere repentance. Jesus
(pbuh), however, explicitly
refuted the claim that he
had a kingdom on earth. When he was dragged before the Roman Governor
Pontious Pilate with a charge of sedition he said: (John 18:36) "Jesus
answered, My kingdom is not
of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants
fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now ismy kingdom
not from hence." Jesus
(pbuh) would not resort to lying to save his skin. Thus, he had no earthly
kingdom. Further, in John 8:1-7 we read the story of the woman who was taken
in adultery by the Jews and brought before Jesus (pbuh). They were hoping to
trap him by either having him contradict the laws of Moses (pbuh) by not
stoning her, or by placing him in a bad position with the Roman empire by
taking the law into his own hands and ordering her stoned. Jesus cleverly
extracted himself from this predicament by commanding them: "He that is without sin
among you, let him first cast a stone at her." So the woman was set free.
Therefore, Muhammad is like Moses, but Jesus is unlike Moses.
5) Both Moses and Muhammad (pbut) came with a new and
comprehensive set of laws for their people. The law brought by prophet Moses
was named the Judaic Law, and the law brought by prophet Muhammad was named
the Shari'ah. Jesus (pbuh) however, as witnessed by Matthew, claimed to have
not introduced any new laws, but to have come to renew the law of Moses
(pbuh) and to have neither added nor subtracted from it. In Matthew 5:17-18
we read: "Think not
that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy,
but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no
wise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled." Therefore, Muhammad is like Moses,
but Jesus is unlike Moses.
6) Moses lead his people in a secret mass exodus from their
hometown to Median in an attempt to flee the persecution of their enemies.
Muhammad (pbut) too emigrated with his followers from their home town to
Madinah in secret in order to flee the torture of their enemies. Jesus,
however, never led his followers in a any sort of mass exodus from their
hometowns . Therefore, Muhammad is like Moses, but Jesus is unlike Moses.
7) Moses was victorious over his enemies both morally as well as
physically. Pharaoh was defeated by Moses and all of his army were drowned in
the sea. Muhammad (pbuh) too met his enemies in battle and defeated them all.
This too was a moral as well as a physical victory. Jesus (pbuh) on the other
hand is claimed in the Bible to have been crucified by his enemies. Thus, his
victory was only a moral one. Therefore, Muhammad is like Moses, but Jesus is
unlike Moses.
8) Both Moses and Muhammad (pbut) died natural deaths. Jesus
(pbuh), is claimed by the Christians to have died violently on the cross.
Therefore, Muhammad is like Moses, but Jesus is unlike Moses.
9) Both Moses and Muhammad (pbut) lie buried in the ground. Jesus
(pbuh), however, is claimed by the Christians to abide in heaven. Therefore,
Muhammad is like Moses, but Jesus is unlike Moses.
10) Most Christians claim that Jesus (pbuh) is God. No Christian
or Muslim, however, claims that Moses or Muhammad (pbut) was God. Therefore,
Muhammad is like Moses, but Jesus is unlike Moses.
11) Both Moses and Muhammad (pbuh) began their prophetic missions
at the age of forty. The Bible tells us that Jesus (pbuh) began at thirty.
Therefore, Muhammad is like Moses, but Jesus is unlike Moses.
12) Christians claim that Jesus (pbuh) was resurrected after his
death. Neither Muslims nor Christians claim that Moses or Muhammad was
resurrected. Therefore, Muhammad is like Moses, but Jesus is unlike Moses.
There are many additional points that could be mentioned but we
will suffice with these for now.
b) Cannot be a Jew
Well, is Muhammad (pbuh) the only prophet who is "Like unto
Moses"? For example, what about Jesus (pbuh)? Well, we should then
notice that Jesus (pbuh) was a Jew,
"Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that
thou (Jesus), being a Jew,
askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?"
John 4:9
and the Bible specifically denies that this awaited prophet will
be a Jew. We are told that in Deuteronomy:
"And there arose NOT a prophet since in Israel LIKE unto
Moses."
Deuteronomy 34:10
This awaited prophet, however, must be "LIKE unto thee (Moses)."So he
will come from OUTSIDE of Israel.
c) Is from the BRETHREN of the Jews
If this prophet can not be a Jew, then what is left? In this
verse, God speaks to Moses (pbuh) about the Jews as a racial entity. The
awaited prophet is claimed to not be "from the Jews" or "from
among themselves" but rather "from
among their (the Jew's) brethren." Who
are the brethren of the Jewish nation? The Jews are the sons Jacob, the son
of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Isaac's older brother was Ishmael, the father
of the Arabs. Thus, the brethren of the Jewish nation is the nation of the
Arabs. This statement is further reinforced by the following definition of
"Brethren" in the Hebrew
Dictionary of the Bible:
"personification of a group of tribes who were regarded as
near kinsmen of the Israelites."
Muhammad in the Bible, Jamal Badawi, p. 16
Please compare this expression with that of the Qur'an:
"Indeed Allah has conferred a great favor upon the believers
(Muslims) when He sent among them a messenger from among themselves,
reciting unto them His verses, purifying them and teaching them the Book and
wisdom; although before that they were in manifest error."
The noble Qur'an, Aal-Umran(3):164
There has come unto you (O Muslims) a messenger from among
yourselves (Muhammad, pbuh). It grieves him that you should receive any
injury or difficulty, full of concern for you, for the believers [he is] full
of pity, kind and merciful.
The noble Qur'an, Al-Tawba(9):128
d) Put my words in his mouth
If we were to read the Qur'an we would find that it contains many
verses stating "I am
your Lord, so worship Me" (Al-Anbia:
92, Al-Muminoon: 52), "Verily,
I am Allah" (Taha: 14,
Al-Namil: 9, Al-Qasas: 30), "I
am thy Lord" (Taha:
19). These verses are not preceded by "I heard God say.....," or
"And God said....," or similar statements which would be the words
of a man transmitting the words of God, rather, their form is that of the
first person who speaks of himself. Neither Muhammad (pbuh) nor any Muslim
ever claimed that Muhammad (pbuh) was God, therefore, Muhammad (pbuh) was
speaking with his mouth the words of God. Similarly, we can find in the
Qur'an more than four
hundred verses of the form"Say
(O Muhammad) : ........" In
other words God Almighty is putting His words into Muhammad's (pbuh) mouth
and commanding him to speak them.
We also find in the Qur'an verses which command Muhammad (pbuh) to
perform a certain action, such as the opening verses of Al-Muzzamil(73), or
which even go so far as to reproach Muhammad (pbuh), such as the chapter of
Al-Tahreem(66) or the chapter of Abasa(80).
Christians claim that the Bible has many "authors," and
that while the "inspiration" is from God, still, the words are those of mortal men.
Dr. W Graham Scroggie of the Moody Bible institute, Chicago, says
on page 17 of his book "It is human, yet divine":
"...Yes, the Bible is human, although some out of zeal which
is not according to knowledge, have denied this. Those books have passed
through the minds of men, are written in the language of men, were penned by
the hands of men and bear in their style the characteristics of men...."
Kenneth Cragg, the Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, says on page 277
of his book, "The call of the minaret":
".....Not so the New testament....... There is condensation
and editing; there is choice reproduction and witness. The Gospels have come
through the mind of the church behind the authors. They represent experience
and history....."
(Both quotes have been obtained from the books of Ahmed Deedat)
The Qur'an, however, is the book of God in both word and meaning.
An example of this is a teacher who sends two students to teach what they
have learned from him. The first is told to "teach them what I taught
you." While the second is given a textbook written by this teacher and
told to read verbatim from this book and say nothing of his own accord. The
first will convey the thoughts of the teacher. The second will convey both
his thoughts and his words.
Sir William Muir says:
"There is probably in the world no other book which has
remained twelve centuries (at the time of this quote) with so pure a
text"
Life of Muhammad from original sources, Sir William Muir,
Edinburough, J. Grant, p. xxii-xxiii
This matter becomes clearer when studying for example the personal
greetings and salutations of Paul and his friends at the ends of Titus
(3:15), 2 Timothy (4:19), 1 Thessalonians (5:26) ..... etc. These words are
not the word of God but the personal greetings of Paul and his friends. There
are many such examples to be found in the Bible. The Qur'an contains no such
verses from Muhammad (pbuh). The words of Muhammad (pbuh) are collected in a
completely separate reference from the Qur'an called "The Sunnah"
(or the "Hadeeth"). We notice from all this that even the Church
itself does not claim that the Bible is the actual word of God, but His
"inspiration" (his teachings) through the words of men. The Qur'an, however, is the
actual word of God.
"And (remember) when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the
foundations of the House (the Ka'aba in Makkah), [praying]: Our Lord! Accept
from us [this service]. Verily! You, [only You,] are the Hearer, the Knower.
Our Lord! And make us submissive unto You and of our offspring a nation
submissive unto You, and show us our ways of worship, and relent toward us.
Verily! You, [only You,] are the Relenting, the Merciful. Our Lord! And send
among them a messenger from among them who shall recite unto them Your
verses, and shall instruct them in the Book and in wisdom and shall purify
them. Verily! You, [only You,] are the Mighty, the Wise. And who desires
other than the path of Abraham except he who befools himself? Truly, We chose
him in this world, and Verily! In the Hereafter he shall be among the
righteous. When his Lord said unto him: Surrender! (literally: 'Be a
Muslim!') he said: I have surrendered (Literally: 'I have become a Muslim')
to the Lord of creation."
The noble Qur'an,
Al-Baqarah(2):127-131
e) Grave Warnings for all who do not follow him:
So what shall we say to those who say: "Jesus has redeemed
us. We have no need to follow any future prophets."? After the above
verse of Deuteronomy, God himself threatens severe retribution against all
those who do not follow this awaited prophet. In Deuteronomy we read:
"And it shall come to pass, [that] whosoever will not hearken
unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require [it] of
him." (in some translations: "I will be the Revenger")
Deuteronomy 18:19
Well, do Muslims read the word of God (The Qur'an) in His name?
The answer is: Yes. Muhammad (pbuh) never in his lifetime claimed that the
Qur'an was his words, but the words of God it is only the West which claims
that it is his words. Further, when a Muslim reads a verse or chapter of the
Qur'an, you will find that they have been taught to always start their
recitation with the words: "In
the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful." The Qur'an contains 114 Chapters. If
we were to follow them on down we would find that the first chapter, second
chapter, third chapter, and so on all begin with the words "In the name of God, Most
Gracious, Most Merciful."(there is one exception). So not only
Muhammad (pbuh), but all Muslims in general recite the words of God in His
name. Indeed, the Qur'an does even confirm this same warning of Deuteronomy:
"And whosoever seeks other than Islam as their religion it
will not be accepted from him, and he shall be in the hereafter among those
who have lost"
The noble Qur'an, A'al Umran(3):85
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6.8: Legitimacy of Hagar and Ishmael p1
Many Christians and Jews mistakenly believe that Abraham's descendants
through Ishmael (Muhammad and his ancestors, as seen in Fig. 3) were excluded
from God's covenant with Abraham (pbuh) because Ishmael's mother, Hagar, was
not a legitimate wife of Abraham, thus, her son Ishmael (the father of the
Arabs) was not a legitimate son of Abraham. Therefore, they conclude that
Ishmael(pbuh) and his descendants were not included in God's covenant with
the sons of Abraham (pbuh) and that this covenant was exclusive to Abraham's
second son, Isaac, the father of the Jews.
In what follows we will disprove each of these claims, in addition
to showing evidence of human tampering with the text of the Biblical verses.
The story of Ishmael according to the Bible is as follows: Abraham
married Sarah (pbut). Sarah was a barren woman and bore him no children
(Genesis 16:1). God then made a great promise to Abraham even before any
children were born to him.
"And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless
thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless
them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all
families of the earth be blessed."
Genesis 12:2-3
Not long after, Sarah gave Abraham her handmaid, Hagar, to be his
wife according to the legal Jewish custom of polygamous marriages (customary
in the Bible among Israelites and many of their prophets).
"And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian,
after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her
husband Abram to be his wife.."
Fig. 3
Arabs and Jews. Semitic "brethren."
In Genesis 16 we are told that after Hagar (pbuh) became pregnant
with Ishmael, Sarah (pbuh) felt that Hagar despised her, so she dealt with
her harshly until she was forced to escape from this harsh treatment
"And when Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her
face"
Genesis 16:6.
The angel of God then appeared before Hagar and told her to return
to Sarah and submit herself to her will and that "the Lord has heard thy
affliction" and would
reward her with a son called "Ishmael" (God hears) and would
multiply her seed exceedingly. Hagar willingly bowed to the command of her
Lord and returned and submitted herself to Sarah. In A Dictionary of Biblical
tradition in English literature, we read:
"The Jewish Haggadah identifies Ishmael as one of the six men
who were given a name by God before their birth (Ginzberg, LJ 1.239)."
|
6.8: Legitimacy of Hagar and Ishmael p2
Abraham was eighty six years old when Ishmael was born (Genesis
16:16). When Abraham reached ninety-nine years of age, Ishmael was thirteen
years old and remained the only son of Abraham. Now, God promises to
establish his covenant with all of Abraham's "seed" without
exception:
"And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy
seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God
unto thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee, and to thy
seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of
Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.."
Genesis 17:7-8.
God now informs Abraham that his covenant shall be given through
circumcision, so Abraham immediately circumcises himself and Ishmael, the
father of the Arabs (Genesis 17:23), thus establishing God's covenant with
Ishmael.
The significance of circumcision was also noted by Biblical
scholars as being not merely an external act:
"This was His own sign and seal that Israel was a chosen
people. Through it a man's life was linked with great fellowship whose
dignity was it's high consciousness that it must fulfill the purpose of
God"
Interpreter's Bible, p. 613
To this day, all Muslims practice circumcision. The "sign and
seal" (Romans 4:11) of the Abrahamic covenant.
We notice that God's covenant was promised to be with Abraham's
"seed." But if we read Genesis 21:13 we will find that Ishmael is
Abraham's "seed":
"And also of the son of the bondwoman......he is thy
seed."
The same arguments can be made for God's covenant with Abraham
"the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed
have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the
river Euphrates."
Genesis 15:18
As we can see, this covenant was intended to be of the same
generality as God's covenants with Noah (Genesis 9:8-17), and David (2 Samuel
7; 23:5). God's covenant was intended to be a covenant with those who are
obedient to Him and follow his command, not a covenant that makes a certain
group of people genetically superior and closer to God even from before their
birth, such that they are his "chosen children," and God's
prophethood and message can only come from their lineage.
When Abraham reached one hundred years of age, God blessed him
with a second son, Isaac (Genesis 21:5). Isaac was born to him through his
first wife, Sarah. The Bible tells us that because of Sarah's jealousy that
Ishmael may inherit with her own son Isaac (Genesis 21:10), she had Abraham
cast out Hagar and Ishmael and send them to the wilderness of
"Paran" (genesis 21:21). We are told that she was particularly
angry with what she considered to be a mockery on the part of Ishmael towards
her own son Isaac. This incident is alleged to have occurred after Isaac was
weaned (remember this) as narrated in Genesis 21:8.
Sarah now allegedly ordered Abraham to cast Hagar and Ishmael out,
(apparently, in Abraham's tribe, children who mock their brothers and sisters
are to be thrown out in the nearest desert along with their mothers) Abraham
obeyed Sarah and cast the "bondwoman" and her son in the desert and
was blessed by God who told him to "hearken
unto her voice." Abraham
gave Hagar provisions and water and put her child "Ishmael" upon
her shoulder and left them in the wilderness of Beer Sheba in Southern
Palestine. When they ran out of water, an angel appeared and conveyed to her
the words of God: "Arise,
lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great
nation." God then
showed her a well of water and they drank. Ishmael dwelt in the wilderness of
"Paran" and begat twelve sons one of whom was called
"Kedar." As mentioned in 6.4, the Arabic form of the word Paran is Faran orPharan. It means "two
who migrated." It appears that the place took it's name from Hagar and
Ishmael who came there as two refugees.
We, as Muslims, have a very similar narration of the same sequence
of events in the Qur'an. However, in the Qur'an, the details differ from the
narration of the Old Testament. Muslims respect Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Isaac,
and Ishmael (pbut) as very decent, moral and pious people. Muslims believe
that the prophet Abraham (pbuh) received a revelation from God to take Hagar
and her BABY,
Ishmael, to a barren desert in Northern Arabia (Paran), more specifically to
the future location of Makkah, and to leave them there. When Abraham began to
leave, Hagar called out to him "where are you leaving us?" After
repeating the question three times she asked him "Did God command you to
do this?" Abraham answered "yes." So Hagar said: "Then He
will not forsake us." When Hagar and her baby ran out of water she began
to fear for her baby's life and took to running back and forth between the
two hills of "Al-Safa" and "Al-Marwa" in search of water.
Meanwhile, God sent an angel who caused water to gush out of the earth for
them. This became the water of the well of "Zamzam" which the
pilgrims of Makkah drink from today. Once water was found in this place the
Bedouins began to settle there and it became the city of Makkah. Centuries later,
Muhammad (pbuh), the prophet of Islam, was born to the descendants of
Ishmael. The rites of hastening between the two hills of "Al-Safa"
and "Al-Marwa" have been preserved in the Muslim's yearly
pilgrimage to Makkah even to this day.
The major differences in the Biblical and the Qur'anic narrations
are that the OT claim that Hagar was (originally) left in Beer Sheba and not
Paran as stated by the Muslims, and that this occurred when Ishmael was not a
baby, but a fully grown teenager.
This Old Testament narration can be found to contain obvious
modifications from the following analysis: According to the Bible, Abraham
was eighty six years old when Ishmael was born (Genesis 16:16). He was one
hundred years old when Isaac was born (Genesis 21:5). This makes Ishmael
fourteen years older than Isaac. The above expulsion of Ishmael and his
mother is alleged to have occurred after Isaac was weaned (Genesis 21:8).
Muslims wean their children after two years. Biblical scholars tell us that
babies were weaned about the age of three. This makes Ishmael at least
seventeen years old at the time of the alleged mockery and expulsion. The
profile of Ishmael in Genesis 21:14-19 however, is one of a small baby and
not that of a full grown teenager of seventeen years. Let us study it.
1) According to the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible
which was compiled from manuscripts more ancient than those of the King James
Version of the Bible, the verse of Genesis 21:14 reads "..putting [it] on her
shoulder, along with the child." Did
Abraham put a seventeen year old boy on Hagar's shoulder? It would be more
logical for him to put Hagar on Ishmael's shoulder if he were, as claimed,
seventeen years old at the time. So Ishmael must have been a baby at the
time.
2) In Genesis 21:15 we read "and
she cast the child under one of the shrubs." Did Hagar "cast" a
seventeen year old teenager under a shrub? This too is consistent with a baby
and not a full-grown teenager.
3) We read in Genesis 21:16 that Hagar sat far away from Ishmael so
as not to see him die before her own eyes. Is this the profile of a
full-grown teenager who should, more appropriately be worried about his
mother or of a helpless baby?
4) In Genesis 21:17 we read the angel's command to Hagar: "Arise, lift up the lad, and
hold him in thine hand;" Who
would be more capable of lifting the other up, Hagar or her seventeen year
old teenage son? This too is the profile of a little baby.
5) Throughout this story we are drawn a picture of Hagar doing
this, and Hagar doing that, and Hagar worrying, and Hagar weeping, and so on
while Ishmael sits where he was "cast," under the shrub. Would a
full grown teenager of seventeen sit under a shrub and wait for his mother
and himself to die while his mother looked for water for him, or would he
have her sit in the shade while he went in search of water?
6) Even the angel did not address both of them but only Hagar, the
only one who would understand. Once again the profile of a baby and not a
seventeen year old teenager.
7) Ishmael is always referred to as "the child" and
"the lad" in the story. Do people usually refer to seventeen year
old teenagers as "child" and "lad"?
8) In Genesis 21:20 we read that after this incident, "God was with the lad; and
he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer." Is this a profile of a fully
developed teenager or a child who is growing up, learning, and developing?
The above analysis clearly exhibits evidence of human modification
to the text of this story. The claim that Ishmael mocked Isaac and that this
had anything to do with Hagar's journey is an obvious fabrication since Isaac
was not even born yet when this story occurred (Ishmael was still a baby).
The reason for Hagar's journey was not Sarah's jealousy, Ishmael's mockery,
or the racial superiority of Sarah. It was only the command of God, pure and
simple. In an effort to keep all prophets of God Israelites, even God himself
is alleged to have submitted to, and even blessed the alleged jealous whims
of Sarah. Further, if such elaborate additions to the story could be inserted
into the text, then how much simpler to change the original journey to Paran
to take a detour into Beer Sheba.
The Interpreter's
Bible compares the texts of
Genesis 21:14-19 with Genesis 16:1-16 and draws the following conclusion:
"The inclusion in Genesis of both stories so nearly alike and
yet sufficiently different to be inconsistent, is one of the many instances
of the reluctance of the compilers to sacrifice any of the traditions which
has become established in Israel."
As damaging and conclusive as this proof of the modification of
the Old Testament is, still, it pales to insignificance before the much more
devastating proof of this same fact to be found in section 2.3.
Someone may now object: well then, the verses stating Abraham's
age must be the ones which have been (unintentionally) modified. This is a
valid theory, however, the problem with this theory is that first of all,
these numbers were spelled
out in letters and not
written using numerals. Second, the transmitters of the Old Testament (the
Jews) claim that every
word and every letter was faithfully countedand preserved
and thus, they can confidently claim that it would be impossible for
unintentional errors to creep in, even by accident.
We also notice that even in the New Revised Standard version of
the Bible, Genesis 16:16 and 21:5 state the same ages mentioned above. Is
this not proof of the Qur'an's claim that the previous books of God were
tampered with by the hands of the unscrupulous few?
It now becomes evident that sometime after God sent down the Old
Testament, someone decided that they did not want the Arab descendants of
Ishmael to be included in God's covenant with Abraham. They wanted it
exclusive to the Jewish branch of his descendants. Therefore, the Old
Testament was "corrected" in order to show that God's intent was
that His covenant be with the Jews only.
Now that we see that the original covenant of God was with all of
the children of Abraham (pbuh) without exception, then we are left with
another question: The Bible describes in great detail the fulfillment of
God's promise to Abraham through Isaac which was fulfilled in Jacob, Joseph,
Moses, David, Solomon, and Jesus (pbut). But what of his promise to Abraham
through Ishmael? God does not renege on his promises, so how was it
fulfilled? The Bible is, for the most part, silent about the promise to the
Ishmaelites. Why? Because just as Jesus (pbuh), during the time of the Old
Testament had not yet come and there were only prophesies of his coming
containing unmistakable signs but no detailed stories of his life, in the
same manner, both the Old and New Testament contain unmistakable prophesies
of Muhammad (pbuh) but no in-depth analyses and stories. The Interpreter's Bible admits that the Ishmaelites and
other descendants of Abraham were "somehow
participating in the Abrahamic covenant" (page 616). The coming of Muhammad (pbuh),
the descendant of Ishmael, is the fulfillment of this promise.
Some people will claim that even though Ishmael was Abraham's
"seed," still, "seed" is a lesser designation than
"son," and only Isaac was Abraham's "son." However, the
Bible also bears witness to the fact that Ishmael was Abraham's
"son":
"And Abraham took Ishmael his son."
Genesis 17:23
Not only that, but the Bible tells us that Ishmael remained the
legitimate son of Abraham until even after his death,
"Then Abraham gave up the ghost, and died in a good old age,
an old man, and full [of years]; and was gathered to his people. And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of
Machpelah"
Genesis 25:8-9
So was Ishmael a lesser "son" than Isaac because Isaac's
mother was Abraham's wife while Hagar was not? Once again, let us read the
Bible:
"And Sarai Abram's wife took Hagar her maid....and gave her
to her husband Abram to be his wife.."
Genesis 16:3
So the Bible also bears witness that Hagar was Abraham's
legitimate wife. In fact, if this were not the case then we would be labeling
prophet Abraham an adulterer. A serious accusation indeed.
Once the legitimacy of Hagar as Abraham's wife and Ishmael as his
son has been established, now the objection of many becomes that Isaac was a better and truer son of Abraham because he was the
son of the free woman not the bondwoman. However,
this claim is not supported by the law of the Old Testament. According to
this law, the first born son was to have double portions of honor, and even
inheritance, and this right could not be affected by the status of his
mother.
"If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and
they have born him children, [both] the beloved and the hated; and [if] the
firstborn son be hers that was hated: Then it shall be, when he maketh his
sons to inherit [that] which he hath, [that] he may not make the son of the
beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, [which is indeed] the
firstborn: But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated [for] the firstborn,
by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he [is] the beginning
of his strength; the right of the firstborn [is] his."
Deuteronomy 21:15-17
In the same Interpreter's
Bible we read the following
comment on the above verses:
"However, the law of the first-born had ancient sanction, and
so long as it was accepted justice demanded that mere favoritism not be
allowed to deprive the eldest son of his rights."
The Dictionary of the Bible says:
"However deeply rooted [polygany] was before the exile may be
seen from the parable of Ezk. 23, which represents Yahweh as the husband of
two wives. The law of Dt 21:15-17 which is parallel to several Mesopotamian
laws, protects the 'hated' wife and her children especially if she has borne
the firstborn son (hated here means less loved)..."
The Dictionary of the Bible, John McKenzie, S. J., Collier books,
p. 549
Abraham was eighty six years old (Genesis 16:16) when Ishmael was
born and was one hundred years old (Genesis 21:5), when he was blessed with a
second son, Isaac (pbuh). So Isaac was fourteen years younger than his older
brother Ishmael, the first-born son of Abraham.
It should further be noted here that a similar occurrence is
narrated in the Old Testament regarding a slave girl named Ruth and a
landowner named Boaz (Ruth, chapters 3 and 4). Ruth, a widowed slave girl,
was married to Boaz and gave him a son named Obed. Obed went on to become the
founder of the royal line of Jews who, according to the Old and New
Testament, were the ancestors of both King
David and Jesus Christ peace
be upon them both (for example Matthew 1:5-16). Not only that, but according
to the same Old Testament, Ruth was a Moabitess (Ruth 2:2). Moabite women,
according to the Old Testament, were women used to lure Israelite men into
immorality and the worship of the pagan god Baal (for a related story, please
read section 5.2).
So, if a slave woman of a nation of such ill repute among the Jews
as the Moabites is given legitimacy among the Jews and can even go on to
become the ancestor and mother of their greatest prophets and leaders and
indeed Jesus Christ (pbuh) himself, then why is a whole branch of prophet Abraham's
children cast off simply because their mother too was a slave girl?
Further, it is well known that fully six of the tribes of Israel
trace their ancestry through the second wife of Jacob (Israel), Rachel, and
two of his concubines, Bilhah, and Zilpah. Nowhere in the Bible is it
mentioned that these six tribes are disqualified from God's covenant simply
because their mother was the "second" wife of Jacob or one of his
concubines.
Jacob M. Myers, a professor at the Lutheran Theological Seminary
and a contributor to Interpreter's
Dictionary of the Bible, is a well recognized leading expert on the Old
Testament. In his bookInvitation to The Old Testament (pp. 26) he states the following
regarding the Nuzi laws of marriage of Abraham's (pbuh) time:
"Archaeological discoveries help us to fill in the details of
the biblical narrative and to explain many of the otherwise obscure
references and strange customs that were commonplace in Abraham's world
and time...... A Nuzi marriage contract provides that a childless wife may
take a woman of the country and marry her to her husband to obtain progeny
But she may not drive out the offspring even if she later has children of her
own. The child born of the handmaid has the same status as the one born to
the wife. That is why, when Sarah wanted to drive out Hagar and Ishmael, it
was quite objectionable to Abraham -because of the legal custom of the
religion from which he came, he was reluctant to do so. It required a special
divine dispensation to act contrary to that custom." We have already seen how the
"special divine dispensation" was a forgery.
Further, while Ishmael was the first begotten son of Abraham, we
notice that Obed was the tenth
grandson of Abraham (The
Old and New Testament genealogies differ in the actual names). So, if Obed is
given such legitimacy in the Old Testament as being a legitimate father in
their most royal line, even though he is the son of a bondwoman, then
Ishamel's claim to this legitimacy is much older and more pronounced.
Once Ishmael has been proven to be a legitimate son of Abraham and
not only equal to Isaac, but according to the law of the Jews, deserving of
double the portion of honor and inheritance allotted to Isaac, then the final
objection becomes that Isaac was specifically chosen to be the child of
promise. In A Dictionary of
Biblical tradition in English literature, we read:
"St. Augustine, in De civitate Dei (15.2), equates Ishmael
"born in the course of nature," with the flesh and Isaac,
"born in fulfillment of a promise" with the spirit. For Augustine,
Ishmael exists outside the realm of God's grace; for this reason, and because
of their enforced wanderings in the desert, he associates Ishmael and Hagar
with Cain."
As we have already seen, God's covenant was with the
"seed" of Abraham (pbuh), among whom was Ishmael. Secondly, there
are many verses which specifically single out Ishmael for God's blessing.
After the birth of Ishmael and before the birth of Isaac, God repeats his
promise to Abraham to bless all the earth through his progeny.
"As for me, behold, my covenant [is] with thee, and thou
shalt be a father of many nations."
Genesis 17:4
Also, "And also of the son of the bondwoman (Hagar) will I
make a nation, because he [is] thy seed. ......... I will make him a great nation."
Genesis 21:13
So, not only is Ishmael a legitimate son of Abraham, but God
Almighty promised to bless Ishmael's descendants just as he would in the
future promise to bless Isaac's descendants. Further, God's covenant of
circumcision with Abraham was fulfilled in Ishmael long before the birth of
Isaac.
As has already been demonstrated in chapters one and two, the
Bible has been modified extensively over the ages to the point that even
conservative scholars now admit that it's ancient copies contain many
thousands of "variant readings" between one-another. Many examples
have been presented. As seen in chapter two, thirty two conservative Biblical
scholars backed by fifty cooperating denominations bore witness to the
"many" and "serious" errors contained in the current King
James Bible. Even the original ancient manuscripts themselves contain many
differences and conflictions. Whole passages show up in some "ancient
manuscripts" while being completely missing from older ones. Even
geographical locations are changed from one ancient copy to the next. All Bibles in existence today are the
result of very extensive cutting and pasting from these various manuscripts
with no single ancient copy being the
definitive reference. Even
at that, all Bibles in existence today still
contain countless examples of very serious contradictions of founding
Christian doctrine (see chapter two, and also chapter one).
In the Interpreter's Bible we read:
"Many Israelites did not want a God who would be equally the
God of all nations on the Earth. They did not want one who would be impartial
Holiness. They wanted a God who would be partial to them. So we read in
Deuteronomy of the demands for a complete extermination of all non-Israelite
people of Palestine (Deuteronomy 7:2) and as to the carrying out of that
injunction read the harsh sentences of Deuteronomy 20:10-17."
Is it possible, in light of the overwhelming evidence beginning to
come to light of the modification of the Old Testament, that the transmitters
of this book (Genesis) made certain modifications to favor their own people?
We have already seen the evidence.
Such verses as Genesis 17:21 and Genesis 21:21 do not exclude
Ishmael from God's covenant as some claim. The example of this is one who
says: "I love my parents" and then a few days later says "I
love my mother." Does this mean that he does not love his father? Since
God had already consecrated his covenant between Abraham and his son Ishmael
years before the birth of Isaac, and Abraham had already circumcised Ishmael
so that he might receive God's covenant, therefore, it was necessary to
reaffirm that Isaac was not left out of this covenant even though it was
established after the birth of Ishmael but before his own birth.
Many people point to the verse of Genesis 22:2 as proof that Isaac
was the only legitimate son of Abraham. We read:
"And he (God) said, Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac,
whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there
for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee
of."
Genesis 22:2
What is going on here? On the one hand we have verses such as
Genesis 16:15, Genesis 17:23, Genesis 17:25, Genesis 17:26, and Genesis
25:9...etc. which clearly confirm the fact that not only was Ishmael the
first born son of Abraham and a legitimate son, but he remained so until the day Abraham died and
was buried. On the other hand we have Genesis 22:2 which claims that
Isaac, Abraham's second son is the only son of Abraham.
To understand this we need to go back to the Qur'anic version of
this story. In the Qur'an we are told that Abraham (pbuh) was deprived
children until his old age whereupon he was given Ishmael, his first born
son. Up until this point the Qur'an and the Old Testament are in agreement.
It stands to reason that after having been deprived an heir for so long
Abraham would become extremely attached to his only begotten son Ishmael. For
all he knew then he very likely might not be blessed with any more children
before his death. We are now told in the Qur'an that Allah (God) Almighty
decided to test Abraham's faith. He therefore decided to set up a test for
Abraham in the one thing which he held most dear to his heart in all of this
world: His only son. When Ishmael reached the age of striving, God Almighty
showed Abraham a vision wherein he was to sacrifice his only son Ishmael to
God. Abraham went to Ishmael and asked his opinion on this matter. This was
not an attempt by Abraham to escape the command of God, but only an attempt
to better prepare his son. Ishmael replied to his father: "O my father, Do as you are
commanded. You shall, by Allah's will, find me to be among the patient."
We are told that the devil then came to Abraham, Hagar, and
Ishmael in turn trying to convince each one to disobey the command of Allah.
Each one in turn did not respond to him and cast stones at him till they
drove him away. This act is also preserved to this day in the Muslim
pilgrimage to Makkah in the symbolic act of stoning the three pillars called
the "jamarat."
Abraham took his son Ishmael and placed him on the ground facing
down so that he would not have to look at him. Just when he was about to
sacrifice Ishmael God sent an angel to Abraham to stop him and to provide him
with a ram as an alternate sacrifice in place of his son as a reward for his
sincere intentions. He then further rewarded Abraham with Isaac, a great and
pious prophet as a second son. This story can be found in the Qur'an. Abraham
prayed:
"My Lord! grant me (a son) of the righteous. So We gave him
tidings of a gentle son(Ishmael). And when he was old enough to strive with
him, he said: O my dear son, I have seen in a dream that I must sacrifice
you. So look, what do you think? He said: O my father! Do that which you are
commanded. Allah willing, you shall find me of the steadfast. Then, when they
had both surrendered (to Allah), and he had placed him upon his forehead, We
called unto him: O Abraham: You have (already) fulfilled the vision. Lo! thus
do We reward the good. Lo! that verily was a clear test. Then We ransomed him
with a tremendous victim. And We left for him among the later folk (the
salutation):'Peace be unto Abraham!' Thus do We reward the good. Lo! he is
one of Our believing slaves. And We gave him tidings of the birth of Isaac, a
Prophet of the righteous. And We blessed him and Isaac. And of their seed are
some who do good, and some who plainly wrong themselves. And We verily gave
grace unto moses and Aaron, And saved them and their people from the great
distress, And helped them so that they became the victors. And We gave them
the clear Scripture And showed them the right path. And We left for them,
among the later folk (the salutation): 'Peace be unto Moses and Aaron!' Lo!
thus do We reward the good. Lo! they are two of our believing slaves."
The noble Qur'an in Al-Safat(37): 100-113
We notice that the major difference in the Qur'anic and Biblical
versions is that the Qur'an affirms that it was Ishmael (The father of the
Arabs) who was to be sacrificed, while the Old Testament claims that Isaac
(The father of the Jews) was the one to be sacrificed. However, if we study
the verse of Genesis 22:2 we will find the words "thy son, thine only
[son]." Isaac was never Abraham's only son. As we have seen, Ishmael
was born before Isaac and remained (according to the testimony of the Bible)
the legitimate son of Abraham until AFTER his death. As we have already
proven, the story of God's command to cast out Ishmael and his mother due to
Ishmael's alleged mockery is a fabrication. The only son of Abraham who was
ever Abraham's "only" son was Ishmael. This was during the fourteen
year period after the birth of Ishmael but before the birth of Isaac. Notice
how by changing this one word from "Ishmael" to "Isaac"
an entire branch of Abraham's descendants (the Arabs) are conveniently
excluded from God's covenant and it becomes exclusive to the Jews? Once
Ishmael is reinstated as the one mentioned in Genesis 22:2 then the stories
in the Bible begin to make sense once again.
In Encyclopedia
Judica Jerusalem, volume 9, under the heading "Ishmael," we
read:
"It is related that a renowned traditionalist of Jewish
origin, from Qurayza tribe and another Jewish scholar who converted to Islam,
told Caliph Omar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz (717-20) that the Jews were well informed
that Ismail (Ishmael) was the one who was bound, but they concealed this out
of jealousy."
"Verily, those who conceal that which Allah has sent down of
the Book and purchase a small gain therewith, they eat into their bellies
nothing but fire. Allah will not speak to them on the Day of Resurrection,
nor will He purify them, and theirs will be a painful torment."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Baqarah(2):174
"And (remember) when Abraham and Ishmael were raising the
foundations of the House (the Ka'aba in Makkah), (praying): Our Lord! Accept
from us (this service). Verily! You, only You, are the Hearer, the Knower.
Our Lord! And make us submissive unto You and of our offspring a nation
submissive unto You, and show us our ways of worship, and relent toward us. Verily!
You, only You, are the Relenting, the Merciful. Our Lord! And send among them
a messenger from among them who shall recite unto them Your verses, and shall
instruct them in the Book and in wisdom and shall purify them. Verily! You,
only You, are the Mighty, the Wise. And who desires other than the path of
Abraham except he who befools himself? Truly, We chose him in this world, and
Verily! In the Hereafter he shall be among the righteous. When his Lord said
unto him: Surrender! (literally: Be a 'Muslim') he said: I have surrendered
(Literally: I have become a 'Muslim') to the Lord of creation. The same did
Abraham enjoin upon his sons, and also Jacob, (saying): O my sons! Verily!
Allah hath chosen for you the (true) religion; therefore die not save as men
who have surrendered (Literally: Have become 'Muslims'). Or were you
witnesses when death came to Jacob? When he said unto his sons: What will you
worship after me? They said: We shall worship your God and the God of your
fathers, Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac, One God, and unto Him we have
surrendered. That was a nation which has passed away. They shall receive the
reward of that which they earned, and you of what you earned. And you will
not be asked of what they used to do. And they say: Be Jews or Christians,
then you will be rightly guided. Say: Nay, rather the religion of Abraham,
the upright, and he did not associate partners (with Allah). Say: We believe
in Allah and that which was revealed unto us and that which was revealed unto
Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the twelve sons of Jacob, and
that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and that which the Prophets received
from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we
have surrendered. And if they believe in the like of that which you believe,
then they are rightly guided. But if they turn away, then they are in
discord, and Allah will suffice you against them. He is the Hearer, the
Knower. The religion of Allah!, and which religion can be better than Allah's?
and we are His worshippers. Say (unto the People of the Scripture): Do you
dispute with us concerning Allah when He is our Lord and your Lord? Ours are
our works and yours your works. And we are sincere in worship to Him(alone).
Or do you say that Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the sons
of Jacob were Jews or Christians? Say: Do you know best, or does Allah? And
who is more unjust than he who hides the testimony which he has from Allah?
And Allah is not unaware of what you do. That was a nation which has passed
away. They shall receive the reward of that which they earned, and you of
what you earned. And you will not be asked of what they used to do."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Baqarah(2):127-141
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6.9: A rod out of the stem of Jesse
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse,
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall
rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel
and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;"
Isaiah 11:1-2
Once again, we have here a verse which has been popularly
interpreted to apply to Jesus, and once again it must be stated that although
all Muslims believe in Jesus and in the prophesies of him in the OT, still,
this specific prophesy does not apply to him, why?
To understand this prophesy we need to study the verses carefully.
These verses tell us that the rod (branch) which shall grow out of the stem
(trunk) of "Jesse" shall be filled by God with wisdom,
understanding, council, might, knowledge, and the fear of God. In other
words, he shall be a statesman, a prophet and a judge. The obvious question
that springs to mind is: Who was "Jesse"? In the Encyclopedia
Biblica we read that Jesse is a contraction of Ishmael, or:
"Jesse, for Ishmael… The changes which proper names undergo
in the mouths of small children account for a large number of these
particular abbreviations - who could guess, to take modern examples, that Bob
and Dick arose out of Robert and Richard? … such forms as in ai were
particularly common in later times … and many more in the Talmud, which also
exhibits various other kinds of abbreviation"
Encyclopaedia Biblica, Rev. T. K. Cheyne D.Litt D.D., J.
Sutherland Black M.A. LL.D., Vol. 3, under "Names," p. 3292, item
52
Now, the reason why these biblical scholars have said this may not
be readily apparent to us simply by reading the English rendition of these
two words, however, when these Christian scholars went back and looked at the
original Hebrew words, that is when they realized it's true meaning. Although
a complete understanding of why this is true would require a knowledge of the
Hebrew language, still, it is possible at least phonetically to see this even
in the English language. Let us have a look.
In Hebrew, the word Ishmael is written as Yishma`e'l. It is
pronounced {yish-maw-ale'}.
Similarly, in Hebrew, the word Jesse is written as Yishay. It is
pronounced {yee-shah'-ee}, or in Aramaic it is 'Iyshay and pronounced
{ee-shah'-ee}.
Thus, we begin to see, even in our phonetic Hebrew rendition, how
these Christian Biblical scholars came to recognize that just as
"Dick" is a contraction of "Richard," and "Bob"
is a contraction of "Robert," similarly, by studying the Hebrew words
themselves, they found that {yee-shah'-ee} is indeed a contraction of
{yish-maw-ale'}.
Isn't it amazing that we have been told this not by Muslims, but
byChristian scholars?
Which Muslim "Moor" stood over these Christian scholars with a
drawn sword and forced them to come to this realization?
Out of the thousands upon thousands of Hebrew names in the Bible, what drove
these Christians to recognize that Jesse is derived from Ishmael and not, for
example, from Judah, or Isaac, or Shem, or any of these other thousands upon
thousands of Hebrew names? The odds against it are astronomical if what the
Qur'an said was false. Yet here we have it in black and white. Isn't it
amazing how with every passing day the most learned among Christians scholars
are drawing closer and closer to Islam?
It is further interesting to note the following words of the
authors of this same "Encyclopaedia Biblica": They say: "In many cases the
contraction is such as to render the discovery of the original form
impossible." … hmm.
The only "branch" from the stem of Ishmael who was a
statesman, a prophet and a judge was prophet Muhammad (pbuh). The reason many
people interpret this verse to apply to Jesus (pbuh) is because he is claimed
to be of the lineage of king David, and Jesse was the name of the father of
king David. However, why would this prophesy tie the coming prophet to the father of David who was for all practical
purposes a completely unknown figure in the Bible? It would be much more
logical to follow the much more popular trend found elsewhere in the Bible of
associating Jesus with king Davidhimself who was both a king and a prophet
and a much more popular figure in the Bible and much better known to anyone
who reads it. In other words, what is so direly special about king David's
father that this prophesy had to completely bypass the legendary prophet king
David himself in order to apply itself to his unknown father? The answer is
that it was not meant to apply to the father of king David but to a
descendant of Ishmael the son of prophet Abraham.
It is further important to remember that insisting on tying
prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) to a human lineage descendant from king
David shall ultimately result in a complete nullification of the religion
known today as "Christianity." This is because if Jesus is the descendant
of king David then he has a human father and his father is not God.
Some attempts have been made to insist that Jesus was the physical
Son of God and at the same time apply spiritual contradictory human lineages
to him such as Matthew 1 and Luke 3 so that he can be the physical son of both David and God. This, even though the Bible is
quite explicit that the lineage must be a "physical" and not a
"spiritual" lineage. We find this stipulation spelled out quite
clearly in the Bible in:
Therefore, the only way that Jesus (pbuh) could be the physical Son of God and also be the physical son of king David "according to
the flesh" is if his lineage from kind David passes through his (human)
mother Mary (pbuh). However, if we were to read the two contradictory
lineages found in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 we would find that both attempt to
make his lineage pass through a human father.
In one it is "Joseph the son of Jacob" and in the other is
"Joseph the son of Heli." Such practices can only hurt the message
of Jesus (pbuh) rather than helping it.
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6.10: Reference to moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (pbut) in that order
"And this [is] the blessing, wherewith moses the man of God
blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, The LORD came
from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount
Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand [went] a
fiery law for them."
Deuteronomy 33:1
Fig. 8 The
succession of the prophets of God, like the rising sun.
This is a chronological succession of prophets which is narrated
through reference to location (see Fig. 8). This prophesy is reported at the
end of Deuteronomy in association with the story of the death of prophet
Moses (pbuh). It was a blessing and glad tidings bestowed by prophet Moses
upon his followers just prior to his death. It was designed to give his
followers hope upon the occasion of the passing of their prophet that God is
not abandoning them, rather, the best is yet to come, and He shall continue
to bless mankind with His guidance and His light.
Sinai is a reference to Moses
(pbuh). It is an obvious reference to mount Sinai where Moses (pbuh) received
his revelation (Exodus 19:20).
Seir is a reference to Jesus (pbuh). It is usually associated with the
chain of mountains West and South of the Dead Sea extending through
Jerusalem, and Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus (pbuh). It was later
extended to include the mountains on the East side as well (Dictionary of the
Bible, John L. McKenzie, S.J., p. 783). However,Seir is also identified with the Northern
border of the tribal territory of Judah and usually with Saris near Kesla
(Chesalon), barely nine miles West of these two cities (The Eerdmans Bible
Dictionary, by Allen C. Myers, pp. 921-922, and The Interpreter's Dictionary
of the Bible, V4, p. 262) Prophet Moses (pbuh) never in his lifetime entered
Palestine, and thus, this could not be a reference to him.
As we have already seen in section 6.4, Paran is a reference to the city
of Makkah in the Arabian Peninsula. The wilderness of Paran is where
Abraham's wife Hagar and his eldest son Ishmael settled (Genesis 21:21) in
the Arabian desert, specifically, Makkah. Makkah is, of course, the capital
of Islam in Arabia and the birthplace of Mohammed (pbuh). Mount Paran is the
chain of mountains in that same region which the Arabs call the "Sarawat
mountains". Muhammad (pbuh) received his first revelation in the cave of
"Hira'a" located in these mountains (see Fig. 9). Jesus never in
his life traveled to Paran. Mohammed, however, was born there. He became the
prophet of Islam there. And it was the capital of the Islamic religion in
that day and this. No prophet of the Bible ever came from the Arabian city of
Paran (Makkah). Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the only prophet of God who has
ever fulfilled this prophesy.
We also read in verse 33:2 that a fiery law shall issue forth from
the right hand of the prophet from Paran. Muhammad (pbuh) did indeed come
with a new law called the Shari'ah. The reference to "right" hand
is a reference to strength, justice, and guidance. In Islam, all clean and
desirable actions are performed with the "right" hand (eating,
shaking hands, etc.), while all other actions are done with the left hand
(washing one's private parts, picking up garbage, etc.). In the Qur'an, the
good are described on the Day of Judgment as receiving their book of deeds in
their "right" hands, while the wicked receive theirs in their
"left" hand. This can be seen for example in Al-Haqah(69):13-37.
This general attitude is also conveyed in the Bible. We read:
"Biblical phrases referring to the right hand reflect a
widespread human cultural attitude, namely the recognition that for most
people the right hand is both stronger and more adept than the left, and is
the hand with which many tasks are instinctively undertaken ... Eccl. 10:2
links 'a wise man's heart' with his right hand, and 'a fool's heart' with his
left. When the Son of Man separates the sheep from the goats at the Last
Judgment, it is to the damned 'on the left hand' that he says, 'Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire' (Matt. 25:41) ...The right hand is often
mentioned as a symbol of strength, both for human beings and
anthropomophically for God (e.g. Job 40:14; Isa. 48:13)"
A Dictionary of Biblical Tradition In English Literature, David
Lyle Jeffrey, p. 442.
This fiery law that shall issue from the right hand of the prophet
from Paran will be a new law for the children of Israel and
not the same one they had been practicing in the time of Moses (pbuh) and
later. This is held out by simple logic; if I already own something, then I
can not say that my neighbor shall bring "for me" this same
"something" which I already own. In such a case, he would have
"brought" nothing and it would have been more logical to say he
would "confirm" the preexistent law. No prophet of the Bible ever
in his lifetime either came from Paran or preached the replacement of the law
of Moses (pbuh). Even Jesus (pbuh) came to confirm and reinforce the law of
Moses (Matthew 5:17-19), as explained in detail in chapter one. Muhammad
(pbuh) is the only prophet of God who fulfilled both of these requirements.
However, if we look closely, we will find that the prophesy
contains one more requirement. It tells us that this prophet from Paran who
will bring a fiery new law shall come with 10,000 saints. Once again, two
years before the death of prophet Muhammad (pbuh), in the year 630 AD, he
lead 10,000 of his followers to their final and decisive victory against the
pagans of Makkah (see chapter 10). This was one of the most bloodless
victories of all history. The Muslims took control of Makkah, the capital of
paganistic Arabia, virtually without a single casualty. Upon entering Makkah
victorious, Muhammad did not take it's inhabitants as prisoners. Even though
these people had been torturing himself and his companions, and killing many
of them over many years, still, Muhammad commanded that they not be tortured,
nor should retribution be sought against them. Rather, he pardoned them all
and set them free. Most of them entered into Islam.
Once again, we find that prophet Moses (pbuh) was appointed seventy
very close and devout followers (Exodus 24:1-9, Numbers 11:16-25). Jesus
(pbuh) was appointed eleven very close and devout followers (if we were to
exclude Judas), as seen in Matthew 10:1-5, Mark 3:14-19, etc. Prophet
Muhammad, once again, was the only one to fulfill this requirement. Mr. Kais
Al-Kalbi asks the question:
"When this verse Deut 33:2 was translated from Hebrew to
English, the phrase '10,000 saints10,000 saints'
was kept the same. But when this verse was translated from Hebrew to Arabic,
the phrase '10,000 saints' was intentionally changed to 'holy valley',
why?"
Prophet Muhammad the last messenger in the Bible, third edition,
Kais Al-Kalbi, pp. 231-232.
The wording also bears out this chronological succession of
prophets. Came: daybreak
and the arrival of the sun in the morning.Rose up: like the light of
dawn. Shined forth:
Mid-day sun which lights up the Earth from East to West. Islam has indeed
come to shine all over the earth as the mid-day sun. It is estimated to have
1.2 billion adherents throughout the globe, and according to Western sources,
it is said to be the fastest growing religion in the world today.
"This day have I (God) perfected your religion for you,
completed My favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your
religion."
The noble Qur'an, Al-Maidah(5):3
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6.11: God did not kill Muhammad (pbuh) for speaking in His name
In Deuteronomy 18:20 we read
"But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my
name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the
name of other gods, even that prophet shall die."
Muhammad (pbuh) spoke not just a single word, but dictated a whole
book in God's name. For twenty three years he spoke exclusively in the name
of God Almighty. He was given one hundred and fourteen chapters, all of which
were, and are to this day, recited day after day in God's name. Chapters in
the Qur'an begin with the words "In
the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful." Yet he did not die, but lived
to fulfill his message completely. He himself even narrated in the name of
God a similar verse in the Qur'an:
"And if he (Muhammad) had invented false sayings in Our
(God's) name, We would have taken him by the right, then We would have
severed from him his aorta, and there is none among you who could have held
Us off from him"
The noble Qur'an, al-Haaqah(69):46
(Remember that the plural form of this verse is the Arabic plural
of respect, not the Christian plural of "Trinity," as seen in
chapter 14). If the claims of some are true: That Muhammad (pbuh) was an
impostor, then did God go to sleep for twenty three years? Of course not! He
knew full well what Muhammad (pbuh) was claiming. If he was not telling the
truth, why did God not kill
him? Why did he allow him
to perpetrate a lie that would span fourteen centuries, and eventually come
to cover the globe?
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6.12: Glorifies Jesus(pbuh)
"Beloved, believe not every spirit (prophet), but try the
spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out
into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that
confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit
that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and
this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should
come; and even now already is it in the world."
1 John 4:1-3
This one is very easy to understand: Every prophet who does not
confess that Jesus (pbuh) came in the flesh was not sent by God. He is a
false prophet. But any prophet that confesses that Jesus (pbuh) came in the
flesh was sent by God.
What does the Qur'an and Muhammad (pbuh) say about Jesus (pbuh)? They say
that a Muslim is not
a Muslim if he does not
believe in Jesus (pbuh), in his miraculous birth, in his giving life to the
dead by God's permission, in his healing of the lepers and the blind by God's
permission, in his piety and chastity, in his truthfulness, and in the fact
that he was the Messiah (the Christ). The Qur'an contains many verses to this
effect. For example, in A'al-Umran(3):40 we read:
"And the angles said 'O Mary, Allah gives you glad tidings of
a Word from Him, his name is Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, High honored in this
world and the next, of those near stationed to Allah."
So now we must ask: Has Muhammad (pbuh) fulfilled this criteria or
not? This is all the more remarkable when it is contrasted with the popular
opinion of the time such as the claims of the Jews regarding Jesus (pbuh) and
his mother Mary (pbuh) as seen in part nine of section 6.3. As a matter of
fact, Jesus is referred to by name in the Qur'an fully sixteen times, as
compared to only four places in the whole Qur'an where Muhammad (pbuh) is
mentioned by name.
No other religion in the whole world outside Christianity makes it an article of faith for its adherents to believe in,
love and honor Jesus except Islam. Reading the Qur'an bears testimony to that
(see for example (19):16-36, A'al-Umran(3):33-68, Al-Nissa(5): 72-77). Here
we have the testimony of
Jesus himself in the Bible that
Muhammad was a prophet of God. If Jesus' words carry any weight at all with
us then we must concede that Muhammad was a prophet of God and therefore
spoke in the name of God.
Further, Jesus gives a second criteria to judge the truthfulness
of a prophet. He says:
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's
clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their
fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every
good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil
fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt
tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is
hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know
them."
Matthew 7:15-20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJq2s72BPvA
So, according to the testimony of Jesus, if we wish to know
whether prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was a true prophet or not we need to see what
sort of "fruit" his message produced. A moderately detailed
description of these fruits can be found in chapters 9 and 10, however, let
us listen to the words of the Hindu Professor K. S. Ramakrishna Rao. He says:
"Historical records show that all contemporaries of Muhammad,
both friend and foes, acknowledged the sterling qualities, the spotless
honesty, the noble virtues, the absolute sincerity, and the absolute
trustworthiness of the apostle of Islam in all walks of life and in every
sphere of human activity. Even the Jews and those who did not believe in his
message accepted him as arbitrator in their personal disputes on account of
his scrupulous impartiality"
Muhammad the Prophet of Islam, K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, p. 13
(Please read chapter nine for more on the fruit of the message of
Muhammad, pbuh)
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6.13: The rejected stone
From the promise in Genesis 21:13-18, Jesus (pbuh) spoke of the
kingdom of God being taken away from the Jews and given to the rejected stone
of
"Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which
planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it,
and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the
husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it. And the husbandmen took
his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another. Again, he
sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise. But
last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the
heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance. And they
caught him, and cast [him] out of the vineyard, and slew [him]. When the lord
therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They
say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out
[his] vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in
their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures,
The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the
corner: this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes? Therefore
say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a
nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. And whosoever shall fall on this
stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to
powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they
perceived that he spake of them. But when they sought to lay hands on him,
they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet."
Matthew 21:33-46
Indeed, prophethood was transferred from the nation of the Jews to
the Jews' rejected stone, the nation of the Arabs (Ishmael's nation, the
nation of Muhammad pbuh). Some have misunderstood this verse to refer to
Jesus (pbuh) as the rejected stone. This can be seen to be a
misinterpretation by simply reading the above verse carefully. Jesus (pbuh),
in this parable is obviously drawing a parallel between the actions of the
Jews and their killing and stoning of previous prophets, or
"servants" in this verse.
"Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the
children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of
your fathers"
Matthew 23:31-32
In other words, Jesus (pbuh) is speaking to the Jews as a racial
entity. The men standing before him did not kill, beat, and stone the
previous prophets, rather their forefathers did. But as a nation, they are
all responsible. They are following in their forefathers footsteps. What is Jesus
(pbuh) telling the Jews? He is telling them that they, as a nation, have
abused their position, and therefore, God Almighty will take His kingdom from
the Jews and give it to a different"NATION."
How will we know which nation God's prophethood will be
transferred to? The verse states that it will be given to the nation of the
"rejected stone." Jesus (pbuh) was indeed rejected by the Jews, but
he is not the one intended. Why? Because Jesus was a Jew. His disciples were
also Jews. Jesus (pbuh) himself even said quite clearly:
"But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost
sheep of the house of Israel"
Matthew 15:24
We also read
"Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that
thou (Jesus), being a Jew,
askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria?"
John 4:9
He even told his own twelve apostles:
"Go not into the way of the Gentiles (non-Jews), and into any
city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the
house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at
hand"
Matthew 10:5-7
To further emphasize this Jesus (pbuh) is quoted as saying:
"But he (Jesus) answered and said, It is not meet to take the
children's (Jews) bread, and to cast [it] to dogs (Gentiles)."
Matthew 15:26
Is the kingdom of God going to be taken from the Jews and given to the Jews?
It is important to notice that the verses wherein Jesus (pbuh) is
alleged to have commanded his followers to preach to the whole world (such as
Mark 16:15) are either now considered later "insertions" because
they are nowhere to be found in the most ancient manuscripts available today
(those of the fourth century) such as the Sinaitic Manuscript, the Vatican
#1209, and the Armenian version, or refer only to preaching to "all
nations" (such as Luke 24:47) which, in order to not conflict with the
above verses must be understood to refer to the twelve nations of Israel.
This is exactly what the Qur'an says. An example of a reference to the tribes
of Isaac as "nations" can be seen in Genesis 17:16. There are other
examples, such as the referral to the twelve tribes of Ishmael as twelve
"nations" in Genesis 25:16, the referral to the tribes of Ham in
Genesis 10:20, the tribes of Shem in Genesis 10:31, the tribes of Noah in
Genesis 10:32, and the tribes of Abraham in Genesis 17:5 ......etc.
Well, what do Christian scholars have to say about the word "all" in"all nations"? If
we go back to one of their foremost references, Strong's concordance, and
look up this word and it's meaning we will find that the original Greek word
is "pas" {pas}. The following description is given for this word:
".....'The whole world has gone after him' Did the whole
world go after Christ? 'Then went all Judea, and were baptized of him in the
Jordan'. Was all Judea or all Jerusalem baptized in the Jordan? 'ye are of
God little children', 'and the whole world lieth in the wicked one', Does the
whole world there mean everybody? The words 'world' and 'all' are used in
some seven or eight senses in the Scripture, and it is very rarely the 'all'
means all persons, taken individually...."
Strong's Concordance, C.H. Spurgeon from a sermon on Particular
Redemption.
Mr. Tom Harpur, says:
"Most of Jesus' ministry took place in the Northern district
of Israel, the Galilee, and it is clear he thought of his mission as directed
to the Jews, not to the world at large"
For Christ's Sake, Tom Harpur, p. 35.
In the tenth year1 of
Muhammad's (pbuh) prophethood, Allah Almighty sent Gabriel with a beast
called Al-Buraq in order to take prophet Muhammad (pbuh) from the
"Inviolable Mosque" in Makkah to the "Furthest Mosque" in
Palestine (currently known as Israel). He was then taken up into the heavens
where he saw many of the signs of the Almighty and then he returned to
Makkah. All of this happened in one night which was later named the night of
"Israa and Miraj" (Travel by night and ascension)*.
After this deed was accomplished, Allah revealed to Muhammad (pbuh) the first
verses of the chapter of Al-Israa(17). Scholars of the Qur'an from long ago
noticed that while the first verse speaks about this occurrence explicitly,
the following verses suddenly begin to speak about the children of Israel,
the scripture that was sent to them by Allah, and how they shall bring
corruption into the earth. These scholars concluded that the verses were
revealed in order to confirm the transfer of Allah's covenant from the
children of Israel to the Islamic nation and to reveal the reason for this
decree.
Please read in this regard the parting words of prophet Moses in
the Old Testament when he spoke to the children of Israel on his deathbed:
"And it came to pass, when moses had made an end of writing
the words of this law in a book, until they were finished, That Moses
commanded the Levites(Jews), which bare the ark of the covenant of the LORD,
saying, Take this book of the law, and put it in the side of the ark of the
covenant of the LORD your God, that it may be there for a witness against
thee. For I know thy rebellion, and thy stiff neck: behold, while I am yet
alive with you this day, ye have been rebellious against the LORD; and how
much more after my death? Gather unto me all the elders of your tribes, and
your officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven
and earth to record against them. For I know that after my death ye will
utterly corrupt [yourselves], and turn aside from the way which I have
commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will
do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger through the work of
your hands."
Deuteronomy 31:25-29
On pages 24-25 of "The five Gospels," written over six
years by 24 Christian scholars from a number of Western universities, we read
"Christian conviction eventually overwhelms Jesus: He is made
to confess what Christians had come to believe...The charge to announce the
good news to the whole world (Mark 13:10 and Matthew 28:18-20) was developed
by Paul, Mark and others in the early days of the new movement."
This book has already demonstrated in chapter one how "Saint Paul"
was the one primarily responsible for the corruption of the message of Jesus
(pbuh).
Logic too verifies the Christian recognition that "the great
commission" of the above verses was a later insertion of the church and
not the words of Jesus (pbuh). This claim can be demonstrated to be supported
by logic by observing that had Jesus (pbuh) indeed commissioned his apostles
to preach to the whole world, as claimed in the above verses, then obviously they would not differ on this
matter later on. However, the Bible tells us that long after this
alleged commission, "St. Paul" decided to preach to the Gentiles
(non-Jews). We are told in Galatians 2:13-15 that this resulted in a fierce
debate and a great difference of opinion between the apostles and Paul (the
apostles Peter the Rock, James the son of thunder, and Barnabas on one side,
and Paul on the other). This would not have been the case if Jesus (pbuh) had
explicitly commanded his apostles to preach to the gentiles and this verse
was not a later insertion.
We also notice that Paul only refers to his own philosophy and
opinion in his charge of "hypocrisy" against the apostles, never
does he quote the alleged command of Jesus (pbuh) wherein he is claimed to
have publicly commanded the twelve disciples to preach to the Gentiles. If
this verse was not a later insertion, then St. Paul could have very simply
defended his point of view by simply quoting Jesus (pbuh). There would be no
need for him to say anything more. Thus, these verses are recognized by
Christian theologians as later insertions of the Church and not the words of
Jesus (pbuh). Since this topic would take up too much time and space to get
into here I will suffice with this sampling for now (see section 1.2.2.1 for
more on this topic).
However, there is another problem which prevents Jesus (pbuh) from
being the one intended. If Jesus (pbuh) was indeed the one intended by this
verse then we must apply the rest of it to him also. We read....
"Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The
stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner:
this is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?.. And whosoever
shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it
will grind him to powder"
Matthew 21:42
This rejected stone of the Jews, the nation of Ishmael, would
indeed come to be victorious against all comers. The Islamic nation, through
the guidance of Allah, and which fought in His name, grew till it stretched
from China to Spain and was victorious against all pagan superpowers
(including the Persians and the Romans) of it's time. It then went on to
raise science to new heights. There was not a single nation that was able to
stand in the way of the Muslims who fought in the name of God and died in His
cause. Both the Jews and the Christians were either subjugated by the Roman
pagans or took them as allies. Jesus (pbuh), could not be this "rejected
stone" because he did not fall on the Jews or the Romans and "grind
them to powder," nor did they fall on him and become "broken."
Quite the contrary, the Bible alleges that Jesus (pbuh) was arrested, beaten,
spat on, whipped, kicked, mocked, cut, laughed at, crucified, and then sent
to hell for three days. In the mean time, the Romans and Jews went back to
business as usual.
There is a distinct difference between saying that Jesus (pbuh)
died for someone's sin and between saying he fell on nations and ground them
to powder, and nations fell on him and were broken. This is the profile of a
military leader and not a meek sacrificial lamb of God who tells his
followers:
"Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and
a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but
whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have
[thy] cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him
twain"
Matthew 5:38-41
and also "Then
saith he (Jesus) unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are
Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's."
Matthew 22:21
Whilem on the other hand, the Qur'an taught Muhammad (pbuh) and
his followers:
"And fight against them until persecution is no more and
religion is for God alone. But if they desist then let there be no hostility
except against wrongdoers"
Al-Bakarah(2):194.
Many Christians will object "No, Jesus (pbuh) was the one
intended." They will explain that the verse is not meant to be takenliterally but in an abstract sense. Jesus was
prophesying himself. Thus, Jesus did indeed fall on the sinners and grind
them to powder and they did fall on him and become broken. In other words, matters of FAITH and
not WAR are intended. This is a valid theory, so let us test it:
Those who make these claims will themselves readily acknowledge
that the "son of the householder" is Jesus (pbuh) but then they go
on to tell you that "the rejected stone" is also Jesus (pbuh). So:
For example, if a Jew did not believe in Moses (pbuh), would it be
more accurate to say: "He REJECTED Moses" or to say "He FELL
upon Moses"? If Pharaoh sent an army to kill Moses (pbuh) and the Jews,
would it be more accurate to say "Pharaoh FELL upon Moses" or
"Pharaoh REJECTED Moses"? These verbs were carefully chosen for a
reason. Indeed, if we were to go back to the Bible itself, we would find that
the term "fall on" is in fact used to convey the general meaning of
"fight", or "to wage war". For example, in Judges we
read:
"And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that
we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto
them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall
upon meyourselves."
Judges 15:12
And "And the
men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house; and they
said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time
are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for
bondmen, and our asses."
Genesis 43:18
And "And
they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee,
three days' journey into the desert,
and sacrifice unto the LORD our God; lest he fall upon us with pestilence, or with the
sword."
Exodus 5:3
And "Then
Zebah and Zalmunna said, Rise thou, and fall upon us: for as the man is, so
is his strength. And Gideon arose, and slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away
the ornaments that were on their camels' necks."
Judges 8:21
There are countless other examples, however, these should suffice.
Thus, we see that the prophesy is for one who will wage war against those who
killed and persecuted the prophets of God. This war against the "killers
of the prophets" by this messenger of God would result in "miserably
destroying" these transgressors. This prophesy was fulfilled by Muhammad
(pbuh) who began by signing pacts and treaties with the Jews. However, after
they reneged on their pacts and broke their promises, he fought against them,
utterly destroyed them, and finally expelled them from Arabia for all time
(see chapter 10).
|
6.14: Other Prophesies
There are many other points which could be brought up in this
comparison, however. Such prophesies include Daniel 2 which history has shown
us to have been fulfilled only by the Islamic nation. For those readers who
would like to read more on these matters, I recommend the books:
I shall leave it up to the interested reader to study Islam,
Muhammad, and the Qur'an, and arrive at their own conclusion with regard to
Muhammad (pbuh) having fulfilled all of the requirements of the coming
"Second Messiah"/"Paraclete"/Prophet.
It is not at all uncommon in the West for people to be known by
two names. For examples, a man called William would be called
"Bill" by his friends, Robert would be called
"Bob"...etc. In a similar manner, Muhammad (pbuh) was known by two
names: "Muhammad" and "Ahmed." I mention this to clarify
the following verse:
"And when Jesus son of Mary said: O Children of Israel!
verily! I am the messenger of Allah unto you, confirming that which was
(revealed) before me in the Torah, and bringing good tidings of a messenger who
cometh after me, whose name is Ahmed(the praised one). But when he came to
them with clear proofs, they said: This is clearly magic"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Saf(61):6
It is one thing for someone to make a clever play on words and
twist their meaning to suite his fancied desire so that they would refer to
Muhammad (pbuh). It would be much harder to do so with more than ten. These
verses lend themselves so easily to Muhammad (pbuh) without having to
resort to abstraction and applying them to the Holy Ghost or other
supernatural meanings, or to combining three prophesies into only two.
"Then We sent our messengers in succession. Whenever there
came to a nation their messenger they called him a liar; so We caused them to
follow one another (in destruction) and We made them tales (told to others).
So away with a people who will not believe!"
The noble Qur'an, Al-Muminoon(23):44.
"Alas for (My) servants! There comes not a messenger unto
them but they ridicule him."
The noble Qur'an, Ya-seen(36):30.
|
******************************************************************************
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) mentioned by name in the old testament:
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is mentioned by name in the Song of Solomon chapter 5 verse 16:
"Hikko Mamittakim we kullo Muhammadim Zehdoodeh wa Zehraee Bayna Jerusalem."
"His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." ( Song of Solomon 5:16 )
In the Hebrew language im is added for respect. Similarely im is added after the name of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to make it Muhammadim. In English translation they have even translated the name of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as "altogether lovely", but in the Old Testament in Hebrew, the name of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is yet present.
**********************************************************************************************************************
Abdul Raheem Green
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzPbS0RCvBE&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL3E84BF242CD4ACE2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPZjDErZIBo&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL3E84BF242CD4ACE2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ_Hx6iYtzM&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw-GNqx-BC4&feature=relmfu
The Promised Prophet of the Bible
http://thedeenshow.com/uploads/content/6a8baaa0a555564e220d2b8c1220e1a9.pdf
Prophet Muhammad The last Messenger in the bible - by Kais Al Kalby
http://d1.islamhouse.com/data/en/ih_books/single/en_prophet_mohammad_in_the_bible.pdf
Islam in the bible (including Clear Prophesies of Prophet Muhammad)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKTnakYWEfM&feature=related
http://www.neurotherapy-of-christian-brain.blogspot.com/2012/05/bible-prophecies-of-muhammad-peace-and.html
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is mentioned by name in the Song of Solomon chapter 5 verse 16:
"Hikko Mamittakim we kullo Muhammadim Zehdoodeh wa Zehraee Bayna Jerusalem."
"His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." ( Song of Solomon 5:16 )
In the Hebrew language im is added for respect. Similarely im is added after the name of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to make it Muhammadim. In English translation they have even translated the name of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as "altogether lovely", but in the Old Testament in Hebrew, the name of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is yet present.
Copy this word מחמד from the Bible old testament jewish website http://www.hebrewoldtestament.com/B22C005.htm#V16 and paste in translation box for professional translation http://www.freetranslation.com/ or here http://www.worldlingo.com/en/products_services/worldlingo_translator.html and see for yourself that Muhammad (PBUH) is clearly mentioned in the bible. My advice to all my christians (to be muslims inshaAllah) brothers & sisters is that Embrace Islam as soon as possible. No one knows his time of death which can come anytime so avail this precious gift of life which is test for the hereafter and choose the right and straight way to God (ALLAH ALLMIGHTY). When the time for choosing the option in the test (Life) will be over you will NOT be given a second chance. Be wise and do the right thing (Chinese quote) for your own benefit and say ' THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLAH AND MUHAMMAD IS THE MESSENGER OF ALLAH .
Once you say and declare in your heart so simply enter the folds of ISLAM.
May Allah help you to take the right decision inshaALLAH. Amen
Please note that MOSES WARNS US OF TORAH CORRUPTION that later Jews will try to erase the name of Muhammad (PBUH):
Deuteronomy 31:29) allegedly has Moses speaking "For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt...because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.".
Jeremiah 8:8-9 "...Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood...they have rejected the word of the Lord...",
Isaiah 28: 7 & 8
Please note that MOSES WARNS US OF TORAH CORRUPTION that later Jews will try to erase the name of Muhammad (PBUH):
Deuteronomy 31:29) allegedly has Moses speaking "For I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt...because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger through the work of your hands.".
Jeremiah 8:8-9 "...Look, the false pen of the scribe certainly works falsehood...they have rejected the word of the Lord...",
Isaiah 28: 7 & 8
) 7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment. 8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
BIBLE TELLS US OF ITS CORRUPTION
( Mark 7:6,7,8), "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'[b] 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
Mathew 15:7-9) 7Ye hypocrites, well did isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men
EVEN NEWLY DISCOVERED GOSPELS TELL US OF CORRUPTION:
Codex Vaticanus
Is one of the oldest extant manuscripts of the Bible. It is slightly older than Codex Sinaiticus, both of which were probably transcribed in the 4th century
On page 1512, the beginning of Hebrews, an curious note appears, which is mentioned by Bruce M. Metzger in his NTTC book. A later (minuscule aera) scribe complains about a change of the text of Heb 1:3:
"Fool and knave, can't you leave the old reading alone and not alter it!"
BIBLE TELLS US OF ITS CORRUPTION
( Mark 7:6,7,8), "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: "'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'[b] 8You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."
Mathew 15:7-9) 7Ye hypocrites, well did isaiah prophesy of you, saying, 8This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men
EVEN NEWLY DISCOVERED GOSPELS TELL US OF CORRUPTION:
Codex Vaticanus
Is one of the oldest extant manuscripts of the Bible. It is slightly older than Codex Sinaiticus, both of which were probably transcribed in the 4th century
On page 1512, the beginning of Hebrews, an curious note appears, which is mentioned by Bruce M. Metzger in his NTTC book. A later (minuscule aera) scribe complains about a change of the text of Heb 1:3:
"Fool and knave, can't you leave the old reading alone and not alter it!"
Abdul Raheem Green
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzPbS0RCvBE&feature=results_main&playnext=1&list=PL3E84BF242CD4ACE2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPZjDErZIBo&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL3E84BF242CD4ACE2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZ_Hx6iYtzM&feature=relmfu
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw-GNqx-BC4&feature=relmfu
The Promised Prophet of the Bible
http://thedeenshow.com/uploads/content/6a8baaa0a555564e220d2b8c1220e1a9.pdf
Prophet Muhammad The last Messenger in the bible - by Kais Al Kalby
http://d1.islamhouse.com/data/en/ih_books/single/en_prophet_mohammad_in_the_bible.pdf
Islam in the bible (including Clear Prophesies of Prophet Muhammad)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKTnakYWEfM&feature=related
http://www.neurotherapy-of-christian-brain.blogspot.com/2012/05/bible-prophecies-of-muhammad-peace-and.html
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