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PROOFS
OF MUHAMMAD’S PROPHETHOOD IN THE
NEW AND OLD TESTAMENT
Prophet
Muhammad in the Old Testament
Almost
all the previous Prophets predicted
the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be
peace and blessings. Despite the
changes they have undergone over
time, we can still find indications
to his coming in the Torah, Psalms
and the Gospels.
A
Prophet from among the brothers of
the Israelites who resembles Moses
For
example, the following verses of the
Torah promise the coming of the
Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings:
The
Lord said to me [Moses]: ‘What
they say is good. I will raise
up for them a Prophet like you
among their brothers; I will put
My words in his mouth, and he
will tell them everything I
command him. If anyone does not
listen to My words that the
Prophet speaks in My Name, I
will Myself call him to account.’
(Deuteronomy, 18.17-9)
It
is clear from these verses that what
is meant by ‘a Prophet like you
among their brothers’ is a Prophet
who will come from the line of
Ishmael, since Ishmael is the
brother of Isaac, who is the
forefather of Moses’ people, the
Children of Israel. The only Prophet
who came from the line of Ishmael
after Moses and resembled him in
many ways, for example, in the
bringing of a new law and waging of
war on his enemies, is the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings. Also, the following verse
of the Bible in Deuteronomy, 34.12
(Istanbul 1885), clearly states that
no Prophet like Moses did ever
appear among the Israelites:
With
respect to his virtues and awesome
deeds, no Prophet like Moses, whom
the Lord knows face to face, no
longer appeared among Israel.
The
Quran points to the same fact:
We
have sent to you a Messenger as
a witness over you, even as We
sent to Pharaoh a Messenger.
(al-Muzzammil, 73.15)
The
sentence, I will put My words in his
mouth, and he will tell them
everything I command him, in the
verse in question, means that the
promised Prophet will be unlettered
and speak whatever is revealed to
him. God reiterates the same fact in
the Quran:
He
does not speak out of [his own]
desire. It is but a Revelation
revealed. (al-Najm, 53.3-4)
The
Prophet who shone forth from
Mount Paran
The
following verse,
The
Lord came from Sinai and dawned
over them from Seir; He shone
forth from Mount Paran. (Deuteromony,
33.2)
refers
to the Prophethood of Moses, Jesus
and Muhammad respectively, upon them
be peace. Sinai is the place where
the Prophet Moses spoke to God and
received the Torah. Seir, a place in
Palestine, is where the Prophet
Jesus received Divine Revelation.
Paran is where God manifested
Himself to mankind for the last time
through His Revelation to the
Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings.
Paran
is a mountain range in Makka. It is
mentioned in the Torah (Genesis,
21.19-21) as the area in the desert
where Hagar was left by her husband
Abraham, upon him be peace, to live
with her son, Ishmael. The well of
Zamzam appeared in it. As is stated
explicitly in the Qur’an
(14.35-7), Abraham left Hagar and
Ishmael in the valley of Makka,
which was then an uninhabited place
within the mountain ranges of Paran.
The
verse in Deuteromony, according to
the Arabic version published in
London in 1944 and the Ottoman
Turkish version published in
Istanbul in 1885), continues:
He
came with myriads of holy ones;
in his right hand appeared to
them the fire of the Shari‘a.
This
verse refers to the promised
Prophet, Muhammad, upon him be peace
and blessings, who would have
numerous Companions of the highest
degree of sainthood. The fire of the
Shari‘a alludes to the fact that
the promised Prophet would be
allowed, and even ordered, to fight
against his enemies.
Other
verses in the Old Testament:
In
the Psalms of David, there is the
following verse:
O
God, send to us after the
interregnum (after the latest of
the successive prophets) one who
will establish (Your) way.’1
Here,
‘one who will establish (Your)
way’ refers to the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings.
The
following verse is from the
Gospels:
A
verse from the Torah says:
Surely
God said to Abraham: ‘Hagar
will certainly bear children.
There will appear from her
sons one whose hand will be
above all, and the hands of
all others will be opened to
him in reverence.’2
Another
verse from the Torah:
And
He said, ‘O Moses, surely I
will raise up for them a
Prophet like you, from among
their brothers (that is, from
among the children of
Ishmael); I will put my Word
in his mouth, and he will tell
them everything I command him.
If anyone does not listen to
my words that the prophet
speaks in my name, I Myself
will call him to account.’
(Deuteronomy, 18:18-19.)
A
third verse from the Torah:
Moses
said: ‘O my Lord, I have
found in the Torah a
community, as the best of the
communities, that will be
raised for (the benefit) of
mankind; they enjoin the good
and forbid the evil, and they
believe in God. Let it be my
community!’ (God) said: ‘That
is the community of Muhammad.’3
This
is a verse from the Psalms:
O
David, a Prophet will come
after you, named Ahmad
(Muhammad), the Truthful and
the Lord, and his community
will be forgiven.4
From
the Seven ‘Abdullahs, ‘Abdullah
ibn ‘Amr ibn al- ‘As, who made
extensive studies of earlier
Divine books, ‘Abdullah ibn
Salam, who was the first to
embrace Islam from amongst the
famous Jewish scholars, and the
renowned scholar Ka‘b ibn al-Akhbar
from amongst the foremost scholars
of the Israelites, all pointed out
the following verse in the Torah,
which was not then corrupted to
its present extent. The verse,
after addressing Moses, addresses
the Prophet to come in the
following strain:
O
Prophet, verily We have sent
you as a witness, a bearer of
good tidings, a warner and a
protection for the unlettered.
You are My slave; I have named
you ‘the Reliant on God’,
who are not harsh and stern,
and not clamorous in the
marketplaces; who do not repel
the evil with evil, but
instead pardon and forgive.
God will certainly not take
away his life until He
straightens a crooked nation
by means of him (by causing
them) to proclaim ‘There is
no deity but God.’5
Another
verse from the Torah states:
Muhammad
is the Messenger of God; his
birthplace is Makka, he will
emigrate to Tayba, the center
of his rule is Damascus, and
his community are unceasingly
occupied with praise of God.6
In
this verse, for the word Muhammad,
a Syriac word meaning Muhammad is
actually mentioned.
Another
verse from the Torah:
You
are My slave and Messenger; I
have named you ‘the Reliant
on God.’7
This
verse is also addressed to a
Prophet who will emerge after
Moses from the progeny of Ishmael,
the cousins of the children of
Isaac.
Here
is another verse from the Torah:
My
slave is a ‘chosen one’,
who is not harsh, nor he is
stern.8
The
meaning of ‘Mukhtar’, a chosen
one, is the same as ‘Mustafa’,
a name of Muhammad, upon him be
peace and blessings.
The
Prophet who will come after Jesus
is referred to as ‘the Master of
the world’ in several places in
the Gospels. (John, 14:30)
This
verse of the Gospel, which has
come to describe him,
With
him is an iron staff with
which he will fight, as will
his community.9
indicates
that a Prophet will come with a
sword to wage Jihad. In agreement
with this verse of the Gospel, the
following Qur’anic verse at the
end of Sura al-Fath (Victory),
which refers to some other verses
of the Gospel as well as the one
mentioned above, also states that
his community, like him, will be
under the obligation of waging
Jihad.
And
their similitude in the Gospel
is: like a seed that sends
forth its blade, then makes it
strong; it then becomes thick,
and it stands in its own stem,
filling the sowers with wonder
and delight, so that it fills
the unbelievers with rage at
them. (48:29)
In
the Torah, there is the following
verse:
The
flags of the holy ones are
with him, on his right.
(Deuteronomy, 33:2) 10
In
this verse, the Companions of the
Prophet are described as ‘the
holy ones’, that is, his
Companions are blessed, righteous,
saintly friends of God.
In
Chapter 42 of the Book of Isaiah,
there are the following verses:
Here
is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I
delight; I will put my spirit
on him and he will bring
justice to the nations. He
will not shout or cry out, or
raise his voice in the
streets. A bruised reed he
will not break, and a
smoldering wick he will not
snuff out. In faithfulness he
will bring forth justice; he
will not falter or be
discouraged till he
establishes justice on earth.
In his law the islands will
put their hope. (Isaiah,
42:1-4)
These
verses are certain to describe the
Prophet Muhammad, who would come
in the last phase of human
history.
There
are the following verses in
Chapter 4 of the Book of Micah:
In
the last days the mountain of
the Lord’s temple will be
established as chief among the
mountains; it will be raised
above the hills, and peoples
will stream to it. Many
nations will come and say, “Come,
let us go up the mountain of
the Lord, to the house of God.
He will teach us His ways, so
that we may walk in His paths.”
(Micah, 4:1-2)
These
verses obviously describe the
Mount Arafat, the most blessed
mountain of the world, and the
nation of Muhammad, upon him be
peace, together with the prayers
and praises that would be offered
by the pilgrims who would flock
there from all climes.
The
following verses are from Chapter
72 of Psalms:
He
will rule from sea to sea
and
from the River to the ends of
the earth.The
desert tribes will bow before
him and
his enemies will lick the
dust. The
kings of Tarshish and of
distant shores will
bring tribute to him; the
kings of the Yemen and Seba
will
present him gifts. All
kings will bow down to him
and
all nations will serve him.
For
he will deliver the needy who
cry out, the
afflicted who have no-one to
help. He
will take pity on the weak and
the needy and
save the needy from death.
He
will rescue them from
oppression and violence
for
precious is their blood in his
sight. Long
may he live! May
people ever pray for him and
bless him all day long.
...
May
his name endure for ever;
may
it continue as long as the
sun. All
nations will be blessed
through him. and
they will call him blessed.
(Psalms, 72:8-17)
These
verses describe the Prophet
Muhammad, the Pride of the World,
in a very clear way. Since the
Prophet David, has a prophet come
other than the Prophet Muhammad,
upon him be peace, who has spread
his religion from east to west, to
whose name many rulers pay
tribute, and whose way so many
obey with deep adoration for him,
and on whom one fifth of mankind
call, every day, God’s peace and
blessings? Is there anyone who
fits this description other than
the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be
peace and blessings?
Prophet
Muhammad in the New Testament
More
emphatically and more frequently
than any other Prophet, the
Prophet Jesus, upon him be peace,
gave the good tidings of the Last
Prophet, upon him be peace and
blessings.
The
Capstone in the Gospel of Matthew
Jesus
said:
Have
you never read in the
Scriptures: ‘The stone the
builders rejected has become
the capstone; the Lord has
done this, and it is marvelous
in our eyes? Therefore I tell
you that the kingdom of God
will be taken away from you
and given to a people who will
produce its fruit. He who
falls on this stone will be
broken to pieces, but he on
whom it falls will be crushed.’
(Matthew, 21.42-4)
The
‘capstone’ mentioned in the
verses cannot be the Prophet Jesus
for the verses refer to the
crushing victories that the
followers of the ‘capstone’
will win against their enemies. No
people were ever broken to pieces
or crushed because they resisted
Christianity. Christianity gained
ground against the Roman Empire
only after it had lost its
original identity and been
reconciled with Roman paganism.
The Western dominion over the
world came after scientific
thought’s triumph over the
medieval Christian view of nature
and was realized in the form of a
ruthless colonialism. Whereas,
Islam ruled almost half of the ‘old’
world for many centuries as a
religion in its original purity
and its enemies were many times
defeated before it. In its
struggle with other religions,
Islam has always been successful.
It is, again, Islam which is on
the rise as both a pure, authentic
religion and as a way of life, and
which is the hope of salvation for
humanity more than that, the
Prophet Jesus himself alludes to
this fact by stating explicitly
that the kingdom of God will be
taken away from his followers and
given to a people who will produce
its fruit.
Second,
in a telling detail recorded in a
hadith in the Sahih of al-Bukhari
and that of Muslim, the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, describes himself as
the ‘capstone’ completing the
building of Prophethood.
Paraklit,
the Spirit of Truth
In
the Gospel of John, Jesus promises
the arrival of the Last Prophet
using a variety of names:
But
I tell you the truth: It is
for your good that I am going
away. Unless I go away, the
‘Paraklit’ will not come
to you; but if I go, I will
send him to you. When he
comes, he will convict the
world of guilt in regard to
sin and righteousness and
judgment. (John, 16:7-8)
In
these verses, the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, is referred to as the
Paraklit. Paraklit11 is a Greek
word meaning the Distinguisher
between Truth and Falsehood.
Although Christian interpreters
have given this word different
meanings such as Counselor (Gideons
International) or Helper (American
Bible Society) or Comforter (the
Company of the Holy Bible), and
claimed that it refers to the Holy
Spirit, it is impossible even for
Christians to establish whether
the Holy Spirit has come down
after Jesus and done what Jesus
foretold he would do.
If,
according to Christians, the Holy
Spirit is the Archangel Gabriel,
he came many times to the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, to bring Divine
Revelations. Further, Jesus
mentioned and predicted the
Paraklit with other different
names, but the same function, as
is seen in the following verses:
When
Paraklit comes - the Spirit of
truth - who comes from the
Father, he will testify about
me. (John, 15.26)
I
have much more to say to you,
more than you can now bear.
But when he, the Spirit of
truth, comes, he will guide
you into all truth. He will
not speak on his own; he will
speak only what he hears, and
he will tell you what is yet
to come. He will bring glory
to me by taking what is mine
and making it known to you.
(John, 16.12-14)
I
will not speak with you much
longer, for the Prince of this
world is coming. And I posses
nothing of him. (John, 14.30)
Who
has come after Jesus other than
the Prophet Muhammad, as the
Comforter who has comforted human
beings against fear of death,
against worries about the future,
against spiritual ailments of all
kinds? As the Helper, who has
helped mankind to attain real
peace and happiness in both
worlds? As the Prince of the
world, who has ruled almost half
of the world for fourteen
centuries, and who has become the
beloved of billions? And as the
Spirit of truth who testified to
Jesus, brought glory to him by
declaring his Prophethood against
the denial of the Jews and false
deification of him by Christians,
and restoring his religion to its
pristine purity through the Book
he brought? What shortcomings do
the Western Christians attribute
to the Prophet Muhammad, in
contrast to Jesus and other
Prophets, that, while almost all
of the Christians of the ‘Middle
East’ believed in him and
converted to Islam within a few
decades of his death, they persist
in their denial of him and offer
no justification?
Mawlana
Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, a great Sufi
saint, expresses in the following
stanza the good tidings of the
Prophet Muhammad by the Gospel:
In
the Gospel Mustafa is
mentioned with his attributes,
in him is the mystery of all
the Prophets; he is the
bringer of happiness. The
Gospel mentions him with his
external form and features,
and also with his personal
virtues and Prophetic
qualities.
In
spite of the changes they have
been subjected to over time, the
Old and New Testaments still
contain references to the Prophet
Muhammad, only some of which we
have quoted. The late Hussayn
Jisri found one hundred and
fourteen such allusions and quoted
them in his Risala al-Hamidiya.
Note
In
the books of other Prophets, God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, is mentioned with such
Syriac and Hebrew names as
correspond to Ahmad, Muhammad and
Mukhtar. In the Pages of the
Prophet Shu‘ayb, upon him be
peace, his name is Mushaffah,
meaning Muhammad. In the Torah, he
is mentioned as Munhamanna, which
means Muhammad, and as Himyata,
meaning ‘the Prophet of al-Haram’.
In the Psalms, he is named al-Mukhtar,
and again in the Torah, al-Hatam
al-Khatam. Both in the Torah and
the Psalms, he is referred to as
Muqim al-Sunna, which means the
one who establishes and enforces
the Divine way for mankind. In the
Pages of Abraham, upon him be
peace, and in the Torah, he is
mentioned as Mazmaz, and again in
the Torah, as Ahyad.
God’s
Messenger himself said, My name in
the Qur’an is Muhammad, in the
Bible Ahmad, and in the Torah
Ahyad. In the Bible, he is also
referred to as ‘the Possessor of
the Sword and the Staff’.
In-deed, among the Prophets who
carried the sword, the Prophet
Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, is the greatest one,
who was also commanded to perform
Jihad together with his community.
The Gospel refers to him also as
the one who wears a crown. What is
meant here by crown is turban, and
it is the Arabs who have worn
headcovers with a wrapper around
them since ancient times. Hence,
the reference is undoubtedly to
the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be
peace and blessings.
In
the tomb of Shamun al-Safa, the
famous traveler Awliya’ Calabi
saw the following verses in the
Gospel, written on a gazelle hide:
‘I’tun (A youth) Azribun (from
the progeny of Abraham) peruftun
(is to be a Prophet.) Law ghıslin
(He will not be a liar.) Bent
afzulat (His birthplace is Makka;)
ki kalushir (he will come with
righteousness;) tunuminin (his
blessed name) mavamid (is Ahmad
Muhammad.) Isfedus (His followers)
takardis (will prosper in this
world,) bist bith (and also in the
next.)
Certainly,
Jesus frequently gave in the
Gospels the glad tidings that the
most significant leader of mankind
would come, and mentioned him with
some names in Syriac and Hebrew,
which mean, as observed by
meticulous experts, Ahmad,
Muhammad, and Faruq (who
distinguishes the truth from
falsehood).
1.Although
it does not exist word for
word in the present editions
of the Bible, it is recorded
in Hujjat Allah ‘ala al-‘Alamin
fi Mu’jizat al-Sayyid al-Mursalin
by Yusuf Nahbani, p. 104.
2.
Although it does not exist
word for word in the present
versions of the Bible, it is
recorded by ‘Ali al-Qari in
his Sharh al-Shifa’, 1:743.
However, we read in the Torah,
the following verses:
I
will make the son of the
maidservant (Hagar) into a
nation.(Genesis, 21:13).
Hagar, lift the boy up and
take him by the hand, for I
will make him into a great
nation (21:18).
3.
‘Ali al-Qari, al-Shifa’ al-Sharif,
1:746.
4.
Ali al-Qari, al-Shifa’ al-Sharif,
1:746.
5. Bukhari, Buyu’, 50; I.
Hanbal, Musnad, 2:174; Darimi, 1:14-15.
6. Darimi, 1:14-15; Abu Na‘im,
Dala’il al-Nubuwwa, 1:72.
7. Kastalani, al-Mawahib al-Ladunniya,
6:192.
8.
‘Ali al-Qari, ibid., 1:739.
9.
Yusuf Nahbani, Hujjat Allah ‘ala
al-‘Alamin fi Mu’jizat al-Sayyid
al-Mursalin, 105.
10.This
is almost the same in many
versions of the Bible, i.e.,
in the one published by The
Bible Company established in
Istanbul, but we come across a
different translation, if not
an alteration, in the version
published by Gideon
International, which reads:
‘He came with myriads of
holy ones from the south, from
his mountain slopes’
(Deuteronomy, 33:2).
11.
Paraclete is originally a
Greek word. According to
Webster’s New World
Dictionary, it derives from
the Greek word parakletos
meaning intercessor, advocate,
pleader. However, Abidin
Pasha, a nineteenth-century
scholar from Yanya, Greece,
who knew Greek very well and
whose works on Greek
literature were highly praised
by Greek authorities, writes
that the origin of Paraclete
is piriklitos, meaning Ahmad,
the one who is much praised. (Hussain
Jisri, Risala al-Hamidiya,
59). We also read in the Qur’an
that Jesus predicted the
Prophet Muhammad with the
name, Ahmad, a synonym of
Muhammad (61:6). Christians
assert that by Paraclete Jesus
means the Holy Spirit, but it
is questionable what
connection the Holy Spirit has
with interceding, pleading or
advocating, which, in fact,
refer to the main attributes
of the Prophet Mu-hammad, upon
him be peace and blessings,
even though we accept that the
word drives from paracletos.
Besides, it should also be
noted that translators of the
Gospels intentionally refrain
from writing Paraclete and,
instead, they prefer to
translate it, but all
differently. Also, Jesus gives
good tidings of the being to
come not only with the name of
Paraclete but also with such
names as ‘the Prince of this
world’ and the ‘Spirit of
truth’, and with many other
functions, which must, of
course, belong to a Prophet,
not to a ‘spirit’ or
angel.
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