The Bibles Witness


Biblical Quotations Point To The Truth of The Qur'an

 

Prophecies about the seal of prophethood Muhammad - Peace Be Upon Him 

We all know the story of Abraham’s sacrifice which we remember each year at hajj. Allah says in the Qur’an (Sura 37, As-Saffat, Aya 102-112):

“Then, when he reached the path with him, he said, o my son, I saw in a dream that I should sacrifice you, see then what you think. He said, o my father do what you have been ordered, you will find me, Allah willing, amongst the patient. So when they had surrendered, and he had put him on his forehead, We had called him, o Abraham, you have already fulfilled your dream. Thus We reward those doing good. This was indeed a clear test. And We ransomed him with a tremendous sacrifice. And We ransomed him with a tremendous sacrifice. And we left about him amongst those who followed: Peace be upon Abraham. Thus We reward those doing good, as he was amongst our believing slaves. And We gave him tidings of Isaac as a prophet from the righteous.’

Here, Abraham is told about Isaac’s birth after being told to sacrifice Ismael. Allah has chosen the offspring of Abraham for prophethood. He says about him in Sura 29, Al-Ankabut, aya 27:

‘And we bestowed on him Isaac and Jacob, and placed the prophethood and the scripture in his progeny, and We gave him his reward in this world, and in the hereafter he is sure amongst the righteous’

All prophets who came after him belong to his offspring and are either children of Ismael or Isaac. Ismael is the ancestor of the Arabs, as he immigrated with his father Abraham and his mother Hagar into the valley of Mecca, where they built the Ka’ba, and he married into the tribe of Gurhum. From this line a number of Arab prophets stem, and so does the seal of the prophethood Muhammad – peace be upon him. Isaac had Jacob as a son who was called Israel, and from his offspring are all the prophets of the House of Israel. In Genesis (1st book of Moses) 22. 15-18 we read:

 “And the angel of the Lord called Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, ‘By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this, and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will indeed bless you, and I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your descendants shall posses the gate of their enemies, and by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves, because you have obeyed me voice.’

The Christians relate this promise to Jesus. Therefore we are told in the bible that Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac. The quoted verse from the Bible makes it obvious that this is a clear forgery. It mentions that Abraham’s only son was to be sacrificed. The only son of Abraham, however, can only be Ismael, his first born son, as after Isaac was born, Abraham had two sons. As we have seen in the Qur’an – aya cited above, Allah promises Abraham a second son, because for the sake of Allah he was willing to sacrifice his first and only son whom he was not given before reaching old age. The Biblical promise therefore has to be fulfilled is Ismael, and that is by Muhammad.

Besides that it is said in this passage of the Bible that that ‘by your descendants shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves.’ Matthew 15.24, however, reports about Jesus the following:

“I was only sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel”

Jesus has been sent a prophet to the children of Israel (Qur’an Sura 3, Al-Imran, aya 49); he did not claim anything beyond that. Muhammad however – peace be upon him- was sent “as mercy to all the worlds(Qur’an Sura 21, Al-Anbiya, aya 84) and “as seal of the prophets(Qur’an Sura 33, Al-Azhab, aya 40). He is foretold to us in Deuteronomy (5th Book of Moses) 18. 18-19, where God is said to have told Moses:

“I will raise up for them a prophet like unto you from among their brethren; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not give heed to my words which he shall speak In my name, I myself will require it of him" 

Let us examine what is told at this place about the prophet to come:-

He is to be raised from among their brethren; so he does not belong to the House of Israel, but to the descendants of Ismael – peace be upon both. For the Ismaelites are, as we have seen above, the brothers of the Israelites.

He shall speak to them all that I command him, he will utter words, which he shall speak in my name. We know that the revelation of the Qur’an started “recite in the name of your lord(Qur’an Sura 96, Al-Alaq, aya1), and with one exception the heading of all Qur’an Suras is “in the name of Allah, the merciful, mercy-giving”. Muhammad transmitted Allah’s word in His name, and did not speak in parables like Jesus did, at least according to the Bible’s testimony.

He is to be a prophet like Moses. As it is aid: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you…” Now, after him, only Muhammad brought a complete code of Law, like Moses, as it is clearly stated in Matthew 5:17: “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfil them.” Deuteronomy (5th book of Moses), 34. 10-12 also confirms that Jesus could not have been the foretold prophet who was like Moses. It reads:

“And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great and terrible deeds which Moses wrought in sight of all Israel.”

All these characteristics, however, agree with what we know about Muhammad – peace be upon him – who was raised in the House of Ismael: he was Allah’s beloved friend whom He brought near in mirag (the rising to the seventh heaven after Isra, the night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem), and whom He made strong and full of mighty power.

In Isaiah 21.7 we read the following sentence:

“When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, riders on asses, riders on camels, let him listen diligently, very diligently.”

On the first instance this sentence does not seem tot ell us much. But once you know that the rendering in the Latin Bible, the Vulgata, was not “horsemen in pairs” but “….two riders, a rider on an ass, and a rider on a camel……”, it clearly shows that it tells about Jesus whose mount was a donkey, and Muhammad whose mount was a camel.

There is a number of further prophecies about Muhammad in Isaiah. We only want to add Isaiah 42. 1-4.

 “Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.”

Of course, Christians apply all these instances of Jesus. But then inevitably they come into conflict with all that we are told in the Bible about Jesus. Jesus has been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel that is to believers who were under the law of Moses, not to “the nations” to bring forth justice to them, or as some versions of the bible render “to the pagans”. The story of the Greek, Syrophoenician woman tells in strong words that he didn’t think it his duty to bring the law towards the pagan nations. Besides that, the sentence “he will not fail or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth” cannot mean him. It was Muhammad, the chosen servant of Allah, whom Allah gave success before he took him out of this world. 

As a last quotation from the Old Testament concerning this topic we like to have a look at Daniel 7. 13-14 where it says:

“I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him.And to him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”

Here again we are told about the blessing Allah gave to His last prophet Muhammad – peace be upon him – whom He sent as a mercy to the whole world. His teaching keeps spreading all over the world and will till the end of this world not cease to be effective.

To look at the New Testament, let us start with Matthew 21.43:

 “Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a nation producing the fruits of it."

This is an open warning Jesus gives to the Jews, the children of Israel, whom he was sent to, telling them therewith what would happen after him.

Another part of the gospel of Matthew is quite evident, though somewhat confusing when read for the first time. It is to be considered that influenced by the trinity – doctrine which has only been agreed upon in the Christian councils after the third century according to Christian counting, the bible has been rewritten, changed, and translated. Once you realize that the following citation does not talk about the Christ or Messiah, but deals with the prophet foretold by David and all other prophets, who is to seal the chain of prophethood and complete Allah’s message to mankind, the meaning becomes clear. Jesus, the Christ and Messiah from the House of Israel, does not speak about himself here, but about this very seal of prophethood whom all prophets gone before pointed to, as Allah had taken their promise to this respect (cf. Qur’an Sura 3, Al – Imran, aya 81). The Jews who considered themselves the chosen people of God and did not want to accept any prophet except from their own, therefore claimed that this coming prophet also ought to stem from their house, he ought to be a Son of David. Jesus, however, proofs to them the contrary by saying what is reported in Matthew 22.41-46

 ‘Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, saying, "What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David, inspired by the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, 'The Lord said to my Lord, Sit at my right hand, till I put thy enemies under thy feet'? If David thus calls him Lord, how is he his son?" And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did any one dare to ask him any more questions.’

This coming messenger is the counsellor we are told about in the gospel of John. Counsellor is a translation of the Greek parakletos, a word used for helper, follower. It gets easily confused with the Greek word perklytos which can be rendered as praiseworthy and is in sense identical with the Arabic word Ahmed. In the Qur’an Sura 61, As-Saff, aya 6, we read in this connection:

“And when Jesus son of Mary said, o children of Israel, I am a messenger of Allah to you, confirming what has gone before me of the Torah, and announcing a messenger to come after me whose name is Ahmed….” 

In the light of this aya we will now have a look at John14. 16-17:

“And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor, to be with you for ever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him; you know him, for he dwells with you, and will be in you.” 

The speech goes about someone whom Allah sends after him, and who will stay with them forever. In a double sense Muhammad dwells with us for all the time. Firstly, as he is the last prophet forever, as he is the last prophet, and we will therefore follow his example forever, and he will not be replaced. Secondly, as the message transmitted by him, the Qur’an, will stay unchanged with us all the time. 

Christians like to associate these words with the Holy Spirit, and they must have changed the text according to that. In the following quotation we even find this explicitly stated after the counsellor (Parakletos) is mentioned. John 14.22-16 goes as follows: 

‘Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, "Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?" Jesus answered him, "If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words; and the word which you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. ”These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.’

It is due to the confusing doctrine of trinity that Christians are not able to understand these verses. However, everything that is told in these verses cited later about the Counsellor does not go with what the Bible says about the Holy Spirit. Mark 12.36 states: “David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared…” The Holy Spirit who has already been present with the former prophets can hardly be another counsellor to be sent to the people after Jesus. Besides that, the name Holy Spirit usually stands for the Angel Gabriel who comes down with revelation from Allah.

Let us return to the passage we just cited: Jesus is asked why his revelation is valid only for them, that is the children of Israel, and not for all the world. Answering, Jesus points out that there is a prophet to come who will teach them all things and bring to their remembrance all that he has said to them. John 15.26-27 and 16. 1-15 is even more clear about that:

“It is to fulfil the word that is written in their law, 'They hated me without a cause.'But when the Counsellor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me; and you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning I have said all this to you to keep you from falling away. They will put you out of the synagogues; indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God. And they will do this because they have not known the Father, nor me. But I have said these things to you, that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you of them. "I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going to him who sent me; yet none of you asks me, 'Where are you going?' But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no more; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.”

The foretold prophet “will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak” – a clear indication of the Qur’anic revelation. And he will glorify Jesus by correcting the wrong picture people hold of him, taking the blame away from him to have made himself a God. He will convince the world of the sin not to have believed in Jesus as a messenger, while Jesus himself clearly stated: “the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who went me”. This topic we will still deal with in the chapter on the claim of Jesus sonshup to god. Worthwhile pondering is also the last sentence of the above quotation, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you”. We have all heard of the senseless reproach of many Christians that Muhammad copied from the bible, thus trying to explain the large amount of similarities in both scriptures. Here, however, the bible tells us itself that all messages the prophets brought to mankind derive from Allah and hence must be similar to each other.

Whoever reads these quotations from the Bible carefully with an open heart for seeking the truth, and ponders them, and then tries to hear something about the life of this great Arab prophet whose light enlightens the world up to now, will without doubt soon be convinced that Muhammad is the true messenger of Allah. I therefore witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His messenger.

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