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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