The Prophet Muhammad In The Bible

All the previous Prophets predicted the coming of Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. We can still find indications of this in the Torah, the Psalms and the Gospels. Here are some examples:

“The Lord said unto me (Moses): I will raise them up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” (Deuteronomy, 18: 17–19).

It is clear from these verses that what is meant by “a Prophet like you among their brethren,” is a Prophet who will come from the line of Ishmael, peace be upon him, since Ishmael is the brother of Isaac, peace be upon him, who is the forefather of Moses’ people, the Children of Israel. The only Prophet who came from the line of Ishmael after Moses, peace be upon him, and resembled him in many ways, for example, in the bringing of a new law and fighting with his enemies, is the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. Also, the verse of the Bible, “Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,” (Deuteronomy, 34: 10) clearly states that no Prophet like Moses ever did appear among the Israelites. The Qur’an (73: 15) points to the same fact: Surely We have sent to you (O people) a Messenger, a witness against you, just as We sent a Messenger to the Pharaoh (73: 15).

The sentence, “I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I command him,” in the verses from Deuteronomy quoted above, means that the promised Prophet will be unlettered and speak whatever is revealed to him. God restates the same in the Qur’an (53: 3–4): He does not speak on his own, out of his own desire; that (which he conveys to you) is but a Revelation that is revealed to him.

“The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran.” (Deuteromony, 33: 2)

This refers to the Prophethood of Moses, Jesus and Muhammad respectively, upon them be peace. Sinai is the place where the Prophet Moses, peace be upon him, spoke to God and received the Torah. Seir, a place in Palestine, is where the Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, received Divine Revelation. As for Paran, 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, upon the order of God. The well of Zamzam appeared in it. As is stated explicitly in the Qur’an (14: 35–37), Abraham left Hagar and Ishmael, peace be upon him, in the valley of Makkah, which was then an uninhabited place within the mountain ranges of Paran.

The verse in Deuteronomy continues: “And he came with ten thousands of saints; from His right hand came a fiery law for them.” 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 law is his Shari‘ah, and its being depicted as fiery alludes to the fact that the promised Prophet would be allowed to fight against his enemies.

“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.”

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 ash-Shifa, 1: 743. However, we read in the Bible the following verses:

Yet I will also make a nation of the son of the bondwoman, because he is your seed (Genesis, 21: 13). (Hagar,) arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand; for I will make him a great nation (21: 18).

These verses explicitly refer to the descendants of Ishmael, peace be upon him. They were made into a great nation only after the Prophethood of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings.

Again, the present versions of the Bible record that the son which God ordered Abraham to sacrifice was Isaac, peace be upon him (Genesis, 22: 2). However, as discussed and proven in Surah 37, note: 13, based on the Bible itself, this son was actually Ishmael, peace be upon him, the elder brother of Isaac. So, the following verses, wherein Genesis records God speaking to Abraham, peace be upon him, after he submitted to the test of sacrificing his son, must be referring also to the descendants and community of Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, and so corroborates the quotations above from ‘Ali al-Qari and Genesis:

… because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son– blessing I will bless you, and multiplying, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gates of their enemies. In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice (Genesis, 22: 16-18)

He will not cry out, nor raise his voice, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench: he will bring forth justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged, till he has established justice in the earth: and the coastlands will wait for his law. (Isaiah, 42: 1-4)

Although these verses in Isaiah are taken by Christians to be “prophecies” of the Jesus of the Gospels, the predictions they contain refer to the Prophet Muhammad and Islam. For Jesus did not bring a law, nor did he claim to establish Christianity on earth, nor did he set justice on the earth so that the coastlands should wait for his law. In law, he followed the Old Testament, with the exception that he made a few things unlawful in the Old Testament newly lawful by God’s order. And it is the Gospels which report from Jesus, peace be upon him, that he was not sent but “unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew, 15: 24). He also clearly told his twelve disciples, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matthew, 10: 5-6). In addition, these verses have great resemblance with the following verse which ‘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, said they had seen in the Torah:

O Prophet, certainly We have sent you as a witness, a bearer of glad tidings, a warner and a protection for the unlettered. You are My servant; I have named you “the Reliant on God,” who is not harsh nor stern, and not clamorous in the marketplaces; who does not repel evil with evil, but instead pardons and forgives. 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.” (al-Bukhari, “Buyu‘,” 50; Ibn Hanbal, 2: 174)

Therefore, I say to you, the Kingdom of God will be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomsoever it falls, it will grind him to powder. (Matthew, 21: 42–4) The “chief cornerstone” mentioned in the verses cannot be the Prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, for the verses refer to the crushing victories that the followers of the “chief cornerstone” 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 made significant compromises with Roman rites and ways of life. 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 colonialism. By contrast, 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. 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 the people to whom he was sent and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Second, in a telling detail recorded in a hadith in al-Bukhari and Muslim, the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, describes himself as the “cornerstone” completing the building of Prophethood.

Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper (Paraklit) will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send him to you. And when he has come, he will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: (John, 16: 7–8)

In these verses, the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, is originally referred to as the Paraklit. According to Webster’s New World Dictionary, Paraklit derives from the 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 its real Greek origin means Ahmad, the one who is much praised. (al-Jisri, 59). Truly, Paráklētos is derived from the Greek word Períklytos and means Ahmad. The Qur’an also states that Jesus predicted the Prophet Muhammad with the name Ahmad, a synonym of Muhammad (61: 6). Christians assert that Jesus, peace be upon him, used Paraklit for the Holy Spirit. However, with the functions or attributes of interceding, pleading or advocating refer to principal attributes of the

Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings, not of the Holy Spirit. Adding to the confusion, Gospel translators replace “Paraklit” with different and somewhat inconsistent terms. For example, they translate it as “Counselor” (New International Version by International Bible Society, placed and distributed by Gideon’s International), “Helper” (American Bible Society), “Comforter” (the Company of the Holy Bible), and other such terms. None of those who have claimed that it refers to the Holy Spirit has ever established whether the Holy Spirit has come down and done what Jesus said it would do. In addition, Jesus gives good tidings of the one to come not only as a Paraklit but also as “the Spirit of truth,” along with many other functions, which must be- long to a Prophet and not to a “spirit,” as seen in the following verses:

When the Helper (Paraklit) comes, …. the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will testify of me. (John, 15: 26)

I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. And when he, the Spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth, for he will not speak on his own authority; but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will tell you things to come. He will glorify me, for he will take of what is mine and declare it to you. (John, 16: 12–14)

It was also the Prophet Muhammad who testified to Jesus, peace be upon him, 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.

Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you that Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”

As understood from this passage, the Children of Israel had been expecting the coming of the Christ (Messiah), Elijah, peace be upon him, and another Prophet (that prophet), who must have been known and who was expected by everyone at that time. So, that Prophet expected was obviously, and appeared as, the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and blessings. For no other Prophet appeared after Jesus, upon him be peace. It cannot be the Prophet John, peace be upon him, because he had already been chosen for Prophethood before Jesus announced his mission.