Preliminary Issues
The Bible is the sacred scripture of Judaism and
Christianity. The Christian Bible consists of the Old Testament and the New
Testament, with the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox versions of the Old
Testament being slightly larger because of their acceptance of certain books not
accepted as scripture by Protestants. The Jewish Bible includes only the books
known to Christians as the Old Testament. Furthermore, the arrangements of the
Jewish and Christian canons differ considerably.[1]
Prophet Muhammad has been prophesized in both the Old Testament and the New
Testament.
Jesus and the Apostles are believed to have
spoken Aramaic. Aramaic continued in wide use until about AD 650, when it was
supplanted by Arabic.[2] The present
day Bible is not, however, based on the Aramaic manuscripts, but on Greek and
Latin versions.
Quoting the Bible prophecies does not entail
that Muslims accept the present day Bible in its entirety as God’s revelation.
It is not a pre-condition of acceptance that a
prophet be foretold by an earlier prophet. Moses was a prophet to Pharaoh even
though he was not prophesized by anyone before him. Abraham was God’s prophet
to Nimrod, yet no one prophesized his coming. Noah, Lot, and others were true
prophets of God, yet they were not foretold. The evidence of a prophet’s truth
is not limited to old prophecies, but it includes the actual message brought by
him, miracles and more.
Discussing prophecies is a delicate matter. It
requires sifting through Bible versions and translations, recently discovered
manuscripts and searching out Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic words and
investigating them. The task becomes especially difficult when: “prior to the
printing press (15th century), all copies of Bibles show textual variations.”[3]
This is not an easy subject for lay people. For this reason, the best
testimony comes from ancient and modern experts in the area who acknowledged
the prophecies.
We have records of early Jews and Christians, both
monks and rabbis, who witnessed that Muhammad was the fulfillment of specific Bible
prophecies. The following are some examples of these people.
The Awaited Prophet
Pre-Islam Jews and Christians of Arabia were
awaiting a prophet. Before the appearance of Muhammad, Arabia was home to
Jews, Christians, and pagan Arabs who, on occasion, went to war with each
other. The Jews and Christians would say: “The time has come for the
unlettered prophet to appear who will revive the religion of Abraham. We will
join his ranks and wage fierce war against you.” When Muhammad actually
appeared, some of them believed in him, and some refused. This is why God
revealed:
“And when there came to them a Book [Quran] from God
confirming that which was with them – although before they used to pray for
victory against those who disbelieved – but [then] when there came to them that
which they recognized, they disbelieved in it; so the curse of God will be upon
the disbelievers.” (Quran 2:89)
The first witness was Buhaira, the Christian
monk, who recognized Muhammad’s prophethood when he was still young and told
his uncle:
“…a great fortune lies before your nephew,
so take him home quickly.”[4]
The second witness was Waraqah bin Nawfal, a
Christian scholar who died soon after a solitary meeting with Muhammad.
Waraqah attested Muhammad was the Prophet of his time and received revelation
exactly like Moses and Jesus.[5]
The Jews of Medina were anxiously awaiting the
arrival of a prophet. The third and fourth witnesses were their two famous Jewish
rabbis, Abdullah bin Salam and Mukhayriq.[6]
The sixth and seventh witnesses were also Yemeni
Jewish rabbis, Wahb ibn Munabbih, and Ka’b al-Ahbar (d. 656 CE). Ka’b found
long passages of praise and the description of the Prophet prophesized by
Moses in the Bible.[7]
The Quran states:
“Is it not a sign to them that the learned men of the
Children of Israel knew it (as true)?” (Quran 26:197)
Footnotes:
[1] “Bible.” Encyclopædia Britannica from Encyclopædia
Britannica Premium Service. (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9079096)
[2] “Aramaic language.” Encyclopædia Britannica from
Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9009190)
[3] “biblical literature.” Encyclopædia Britannica from
Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service. (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-73396)
[4] ‘Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources’ by
Martin Lings, p. 29. ‘Sirat Rasul Allah’ by Ibn Ishaq translated by A.
Guillame, p. 79-81. ‘The Quran And The Gospels: A Comparative Study,’ p. 46 by
Dr. Muhammad Abu Laylah of Azhar University.
[5] ‘Muhammad: His Life
Based on the Earliest Sources’ by Martin Lings, p. 35.
[6] ‘The Quran And The
Gospels: A Comparative Study,’ p. 47 by Dr. Muhammad Abu Laylah of Azhar University.
[7] ‘The Quran And The
Gospels: A Comparative Study,’ p. 47-48 by Dr. Muhammad Abu Laylah of Azhar University.
Deuteronomy 18:18 “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.”
Many Christians believe this prophecy foretold
by Moses to be in regards to Jesus. Indeed Jesus was foretold in the Old
Testament, but as will be clear, this prophecy does not befit him, but rather is
more deserving of Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him.
Moses foretold the following:
1. The Prophet Will Be Like Moses
.
|
Areas of Comparison
|
Moses
|
Jesus
|
Muhammad
|
|
Birth
|
normal birth
|
miraculous, virgin
birth
|
normal birth
|
|
Mission
|
prophet only
|
said to be Son of God
|
prophet only
|
|
Parents
|
father & mother
|
mother only
|
father & mother
|
|
Family Life
|
married with children
|
never married
|
married with children
|
|
Acceptance by own
people
|
Jews accepted him
|
Jews rejected him[1]
|
Arabs accepted him
|
|
Political Authority
|
Moses had it (Num 15:36)
|
Jesus refused it[2]
|
Muhammad had it
|
|
Victory Over Opponents
|
Pharaoh drowned
|
said to be crucified
|
Meccans defeated
|
|
Death
|
natural death
|
claimed to be
crucified
|
natural death
|
|
Burial
|
buried in grave
|
empty tomb
|
buried in grave
|
|
Divinity
|
not divine
|
divine to Christians
|
not divine
|
|
Began Mission at age
|
40
|
30
|
40
|
|
Resurrection on Earth
|
not resurrected
|
resurrection claimed
|
not resurrected
|
2. The Awaited Prophet will be from the Brethren of the Jews
The verse in discussion is explicit in saying that
the prophet will come amongst the Brethren of the Jews. Abraham had two sons:
Ishmael and Isaac. The Jews are the descendants of Isaac’s son, Jacob. The
Arabs are the children of Ishmael. Thus, the Arabs are the brethren of the
Jewish nation.[3] The
Bible affirms:
‘And he (Ishmael) shall dwell in the
presence of all his brethren.’ (Genesis 16:12)
‘And he (Ishmael) died in the presence of
all his brethren.’ (Genesis 25:18)
The children of Isaac are the brethren of the
Ishmaelites. Likewise, Muhammad is from among the brethren of the Israelites,
because he was a descendant of Ishmael the son of Abraham.
3. God Will Put His Words in the Mouth of the Awaited Prophet
The Quran says of Muhammad:
“Neither does he speak out of his own desire: that
[which he conveys to you] is but [a divine] inspiration with which he is being
inspired.” (Quran 53:3-4)
This is quite
similar to the verse in Deuteronomy 18:15:
“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” (Deuteronomy 18:18)
The Prophet
Muhammad came with a message to the whole world, and from them, the Jews. All,
including the Jews, must accept his prophethood, and this is supported by the
following words:
“The LORD thy
God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken.” (Deuteronomy 18:15)
4. A Warning to Rejecters
The prophecy continues:
Deuteronomy 18:19 “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”).
Interestingly, Muslims begin every chapter of
the Quran in the name of God by saying:
Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Raheem
“‘In the Name of God,
the Most-Merciful, the Dispenser of Grace.”
The following is the
account of some scholars who believed this prophecy to fit Muhammad.
The First Witness
Abdul-Ahad Dawud, the former Rev. David Benjamin
Keldani, BD, a Roman Catholic priest of the Uniate-Chaldean sect (read his
biography here).
After accepting Islam, he wrote the book, ‘Muhammad in the Bible.’ He writes
about this prophecy:
“If these words do not apply to Muhammad, they
still remain unfulfilled. Jesus himself never claimed to be the prophet
alluded to. Even his disciples were of the same opinion: they looked to the
second coming of Jesus for the fulfillment of the prophecy (Acts 3: 17-24). So
far it is undisputed that the first coming of Jesus was not the advent of the
Prophet like unto thee and his second advent can hardly fulfill the words.
Jesus, as is believed by his Church, will appear as a Judge and not as a
law-giver; but the promised one has to come with a “fiery law” in his right
hand.”[4]
The Second Witness
Muhammad Asad was born Leopold Weiss in July
1900 in the city of Lvov (German Lemberg), now in Poland, then part of the
Austrian Empire. He was the descendant of a long line of rabbis, a line broken
by his father, who became a barrister. Asad himself received a thorough
religious education that would qualify him to keep alive the family’s
rabbinical tradition. He had become proficient in Hebrew at an early age and
was also familiar with Aramaic. He had studied the Old Testament in the
original as well as the text and commentaries of the Talmud, the Mishna and
Gemara, and he had delved into the intricacies of Biblical exegesis, the
Targum.[5]
Commenting on the verse of the Quran:
“and do not overlay the truth with falsehood, and do
not knowingly suppress the truth” (Quran 2:42)
Muhammad Asad writes:
“By ‘overlaying the truth with falsehood’
is meant the corrupting of the biblical text, of which the Quran frequently
accuses the Jews (and which has since been established by objective textual
criticism), while the ‘suppression of the truth’ refers to their
disregard or deliberately false interpretation of the words of Moses in the
biblical passage, ‘The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the
midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken’ (Deuteronomy
18:15), and the words attributed to God himself, ‘I will raise them up a
prophet from among thy brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his
mouth’ (Deuteronomy 18:18). The ‘brethren’ of the children of Israel are
obviously the Arabs, and particularly the musta’ribah (‘Arabianized’) group
among them, which traces its descent to Ishmael and Abraham: and since it is
this group that the Arabian Prophet’s own tribe, the Quraish, belonged, the
above biblical passages must be taken as referring to his advent.”[6]
Footnotes:
[1] “He
(Jesus) came unto his own, but his own received him not” (John 1:11)
[2] John
18:36.
[3] ‘Muhammad:
His Life Based on the Earliest Sources’ by Martin Lings, p. 1-7.
[4] Ibid, p. 156
[5] ‘Berlin to Makkah: Muhammad Asad’s Journey into Islam’
by Ismail Ibrahim Nawwab in the January/February 2002 issue of Saudi Aramco
Magazine.
John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father,
and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.”
(American Standard Version)
In this verse, Jesus promises that another “Comforter”
will appear, and thus, we must discuss some issues concerning this “Comforter.”
The Greek word paravklhtoß, ho parakletos,
has been translated as ‘Comforter.’ Parakletos more precisely means ‘one
who pleads another’s cause, an intercessor.’[1]
The ho parakletos is a person in the Greek language, not an incorporeal
entity. In the Greek language, every noun possesses gender; that is, it is
masculine, feminine or neutral. In the Gospel of John, Chapters 14, 15 and 16
the ho parakletos is actually a person. All pronouns in Greek must
agree in gender with the word to which they refer and the pronoun “he” is used
when referring to the parakletos. The NT uses the word pneuma,
which means “breath” or “spirit,” the Greek equivalent of ruah, the
Hebrew word for “spirit” used in the OT. Pneuma is a grammatically neutral
word and is always represented by the pronoun “it.”
All present day Bibles are compiled from “ancient
manuscripts,” the oldest dating back the fourth century C.E. No two ancient
manuscripts are identical.[2] All Bibles
today are produced by combining manuscripts with no single definitive
reference. The Bible translators attempt to “choose” the correct version. In
other words, since they do not know which “ancient manuscript” is the correct
one, they decide for us which “version” for a given verse to accept. Take John
14:26 as an example. John 14:26 is the only verse of the Bible which
associates the Parakletos with the Holy Spirit. But the “ancient
manuscripts” are not in agreement that the “Parakletos” is the ‘Holy
Spirit.’ For instance, the famous Codex Syriacus, written around the fifth
century C.E., and discovered in 1812 on Mount Sinai, the text of 14:26 reads; “Paraclete,
the Spirit”; and not “Paraclete, the Holy Spirit.”
Why is it important? It is significant because
in biblical language a “spirit,” simply means “a prophet.”
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the
spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into
the world.”[3]
It is instructive to know that several biblical
scholars considered parakletos to be an ‘independent salvific (having
the power to save) figure,’ not the Holy Ghost.[4]
The question, then, is: was Jesus’ parakletos,
Comforter, a ‘Holy Ghost’ or a person - a prophet - to come after him? To
answer the question, we must understand the description of ho parakletos
and see if it fits a ghost or a human being.
When we continue reading beyond chapter 14:16
and chapter 16:7, we find that Jesus predicts the specific details of the
arrival and identity of the parakletos. Therefore, according to the
context of John 14 & 16 we discover the following facts.
1. Jesus said the parakletos is a human being:
John 16:13 “He will speak.”
John 16:7 “…for if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you.”
It is impossible that the Comforter be the “Holy
Ghost” because the Holy Ghost was present long before Jesus and during his
ministry.[5]
John 16:13 Jesus referred to the paraclete as
‘he’ and not ‘it’ seven times, no other verse in the Bible contains seven
masculine pronouns. Therefore, paraclete is a person, not a ghost.
2. Jesus is called a parakletos:
“And if any man sin, we have an advocate (parakletos)
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” (1 John 2:1)
Here we see that
parakletos is a physical and human intercessor.
3. The Divinity of Jesus a later innovation
Jesus was not accepted as divine until the
Council of Nicea, 325 CE, but everyone, except Jews, agree he was a prophet of
God, as indicated by the Bible:
Matthew 21:11 “...This is Jesus the prophet
of Nazareth of Galilee.”
Luke 24:19 “...Jesus of Nazareth, which was
a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people.”
4. Jesus prayed to God for another parakletos:
John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and
he shall give you another parakletos.”
Footnotes:
[1] Vine’s
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
[2] “Besides
the larger discrepancies, such as these, there is scarcely a verse in which
there is not some variation of phrase in some copies [of the ancient
manuscripts from which the Bible has been collected]. No one can say that these
additions or omissions or alterations are matters of mere indifference.” ‘Our
Bible and the Ancient Manuscripts,’ by Dr. Frederic Kenyon, Eyre and
Spottiswoode, p. 3.
[4] ‘...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.
[5] Genesis 1: 2, 1
Samuel 10: 10, 1 Samuel 11: 6, Isaiah 63: 11, Luke 1: 15, Luke 1: 35, Luke 1:
41, Luke 1: 67, Luke 2: 25, Luke 2: 26, Luke 3:22, John 20: 21-22.
5. Jesus describes the function of the other Parakletos:
John 16:13 “He will guide you into all the
truth.”
God says in the Quran of Muhammad:
“O mankind! The Messenger has now come unto you with
the truth from your Lord: believe, then, for your own good!...” (Quran 4:170)
John 16:14 “He will glorify Me.”
The
Quran brought by Muhammad glorifies Jesus:
“…who shall become known as the Christ Jesus, son of
Mary, of great honor in this world and in the life to come, and [shall be] of
those who are drawn near unto God.” (Quran 3:45)
Muhammad also glorified Jesus:
“Whoever testifies that none deserves
worship except God, who has no partner, and that Muhammad is His servant and
Messenger, and that Jesus is the servant of God, His Messenger, and His Word
which He bestowed in Mary, and a spirit created from Him, and that Paradise is
true, and that Hell is true, God will admit him into Paradise, according to his
deeds.” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari, Saheeh Muslim)
John 16:8 “he will convince the world of
its sin, and of God’s righteousness, and of the coming judgment.”
The Quran announces:
“Indeed, they have
disbelieved who say, ‘God is the
Christ, son of Mary’ - seeing that the Christ [himself] said, ‘O
Children of Israel! Worship God [alone], who is my Lord as well as your
Lord.’ ‘Indeed, whoever
ascribes divinity to any being beside God, unto him will God deny
paradise, and
his goal shall be the fire: and there are not for the wrongdoers any
helpers!’”
(Quran 5:72)
John 16:13 “he shall not speak of himself;
but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak.”
The
Quran says of Muhammad:
“Neither does he speak out of his own desire: that
[which he conveys to you] is but [a divine] inspiration with which he is being
inspired.” (Quran 53:3-4)
John 14:26 “and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
The words of the Quran:
“…while the Messiah had said, ‘O Children of Israel, worship God, my Lord and your Lord.’” (Quran 5:72)
…reminds people of the first and greatest
command of Jesus they have forgotten:
“The first of all the commandments is, ‘Hear,
O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord.’” (Mark 12:29)
John 16:13 “and He will disclose to you
what is to come.”
The Quran states:
“That is from the news of the unseen which We reveal,
[O Muhammad], to you…” (Quran 12:102)
Hudhaifa, a disciple of Prophet Muhammad, tells
us:
“The Prophet once delivered a speech in
front of us wherein he left nothing but mentioned everything that would happen
till the Hour (of Judgment).” (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
John 14:16 “that he may abide with you for
ever.”
…meaning his original teachings will remain
forever. Muhammad was God’s last prophet to humanity.[1]
His teachings are perfectly preserved. He lives in the hearts and minds of his
adoring followers who worship God in his exact imitation. No man, including Jesus
or Muhammad, has an eternal life on earth. Parakletos is not an
exception either. This cannot be an allusion to the Holy Ghost, for present
day creed of the Holy Ghost did not exist until the Council of Chalcedon, in 451
CE, four and half centuries after Jesus.
John 14:17 “he will be the spirit of truth”
…meaning he will a true prophet, see 1 John 4:
1-3.
John 14:17 “the world neither sees him...”
Many people in the world today do not know
Muhammad.
John 14:17 “...nor knows him”
Fewer people recognize the real Muhammad, God’s
Prophet of Mercy.
John 14:26 “the Advocate (parakletos)”
Muhammad will be the advocate of humanity at
large and of sinful believers on Judgment Day:
People will look for those who can intercede on
their behalf to God to reduce the distress and suffering on Day of Judgment.
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus will excuse themselves.
Then they will come to our Prophet and he will
say, “I am the one who is able.” So he will intercede for the people in the Great
Plain of Gathering, so judgment may be passed. This is the ‘Station of Praise’
God promises Him in the Quran:
“…It may be that your Lord will raise you to Station
of Praise (the honor of intercession on the Day of Resurrection)” (Quran 17:79)[2]
Prophet Muhammad said:
“My intercession will be for those of my
nation who committed major sins.” (Al-Tirmidhi)
“I shall be the first intercessor in Paradise.” (Saheeh Muslim)
Some Muslim scholars suggest what Jesus actually
said in Aramaic represents more closely the Greek word periklytos which
means the ‘admired one.’ In Arabic the word ‘Muhammad’ means the ‘praiseworthy,
admired one.’ In other words, periklytos is “Muhammad” in Greek. We
have two strong reasons in its support. First, due to several documented cases
of similar word substitution in the Bible, it is 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.
In such a case the original reading would have been, “and He will give you
another comforter (parakletos), the admirable one (periklytos).” Second,
we have the reliable testimony of at least four Muslim authorities from
different eras who ascribed ‘admired, praised one’ as a possible meaning of the
Greek or Syriac word to Christians scholars.[3]
The following are some who attest that the
Paraclete is indeed an allusion to Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God
be upon him:
The First Witness
Anselm Turmeda (1352/55-1425 CE), a priest and
Christian scholar, was a witness to the prophecy. After accepting Islam he
wrote a book, “Tuhfat al-arib fi al-radd ‘ala Ahl al-Salib.”
The Second Witness
Abdul-Ahad Dawud, the former Rev. David Abdu
Benjamin Keldani, BD, a Roman Catholic priest of the Uniate-Chaldean sect.[4]
After accepting Islam, he wrote the book, ‘Muhammad in the Bible.’ He writes
in this book:
“There is not the slightest doubt that by “Periqlyte,”
Prophet Muhammad, i.e. Ahmad, is intended.”
The Third Witness
A synopsis of the life of Muhammad Asad has
already been given above. Commenting on the verse:
“…an apostle who shall come after me, whose name shall
be Ahmad” (Quran 61:6)
…where Jesus predicts the coming of Muhammad,
Asad explains that the word Parakletos:
“…is almost certainly a corruption of Periklytos
(‘the Much-Praised’), an exact Greek translation of the Aramaic term or name
Mawhamana. (It is to be borne in mind that Aramaic was the language used in
Palestine at the time of, and for some centuries after, Jesus and was thus
undoubtedly the language in which the original - now lost - texts of the
Gospels were composed.) In view of the phonetic closeness of Periklytos and
Parakletos it is easy to understand how the translator - or, more probably, a
later scribe - confused these two expressions. It is significant that both the
Aramaic Mawhamana and the Greek Periklytos have the same meaning as the two
names of the Last Prophet, Muhammad and Ahmad, both of which are derived from
the Hebrew verb hamida (‘he praised’) and the Hebrew noun hamd (‘praise’).”
Footnotes:
[2] See also Saheeh
Al-Bukhari
[3] ‘Sirat
Rasul Allah,’ by Ibn Ishaq (85-151 CE)p, 103. ‘Bayn al-Islam wal-Masihiyya:
Kitab ‘Abi Ubaida al-Khazraji ,’ p. 220-221 by Abu Ubaida al-Khazraji
(1146-1187 CE) p. 220-221. ‘Hidaya tul-Hayara,’ by Ibn ul-Qayyim, p. 119.
‘al-Riyadh al-Aniqa,’ by al-Suyuti, p. 129.
[4] Read his biography
here: (http://www.muhammad.net/biblelp/bio_keldani.html.)
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