BIBLE PROPHECIES ABOUT THE ADVENT OF MUHAMMADAbraham
is widely regarded as the founder of monotheism and the common father of the
Jews, Christians and Muslims. Through his second son, Isaac, came all
Israelite prophets including such towering figures as Jacob, Joseph, Moses,
David, Solomon and Jesus. May peace and blessings be upon all of them. The
advent of these great prophets was in partial fulfillment of God's promises
to bless the nations of earth through the descendents of Abraham (Genesis
12:2-3). Such fulfillment is wholeheartedly accepted by Muslims whose faith
considers the belief in and respect of all prophets an article of faith. BLESSINGS OF ISHMAEL AND
ISAAC
Was
the first born son of Abraham, Ishmael and his descendants, included in
God's covenant and promise? A few verses from the Bible may help shed some
light on this question: ¨
Genesis 12:2-3 speaks of God's promise to Abraham and his descendants
before any child was born to him. ¨
Genesis 17:4 reiterates God's promise after the birth of Ishmael and
before the birth of Isaac. ¨
In Genesis, chapter 21: Isaac is specifically blessed but Ishmael was
also specifically blessed and promised by God to become “a great nation”
especially in Genesis 21:13, 18. ¨
According to Deuteronomy 21:15-17 the traditional rights and
privileges of the first born son are not to be affected by the social status
of his mother (being a “free” woman such as Sarah, Isaac's mother, or a
“Bondwoman” such as Hagar, Ishmael's mother). This is only consistent
with the moral and humanitarian principles of all revealed faiths. ¨
The full legitimacy of Ishmael as Abraham's son and “seed” and
the full legitimacy of his mother, Hagar, as Abraham's wife are clearly
stated in Genesis 21:13 and 16:3. After
Jesus, the last Israelite messenger and prophet, it was time that God's
promise to bless Ishmael and his descendants be fulfilled. Less than 600
years after Jesus, came the last messenger of God, Muhammad, from the
progeny of Abraham through Ishmael. God's blessing of both of the main
branches of Abraham's family tree was now fulfilled. But are there
additional corroborating evidences that the Bible did in fact foretell the
advent of prophet Muhammad? MUHAMMAD:
The Prophet Like Unto
Moses
Long
after the time of Abraham, God’s promise to send the long awaited
messenger was repeated, but this time through the words of Moses.
In Deuteronomy 18:18, Moses spoke of the prophet to be sent by God
who is: ¨
From among the Israelite's “brethren”, a reference to their
Ishmaelite cousins as Ishmael was the other son of Abraham who was
explicitly promised to become a “great nation”. ¨
A prophet like unto Moses. There were hardly any two prophets who
were so much alike as Moses and Muhammad. Both were given a comprehensive
code of law governing all aspects of life, both encountered their enemies
and were victors in miraculous ways, both were accepted as
prophets/statesmen and both migrated following conspiracies to assassinate
them. Analogies between Moses and Jesus often overlook the above
similarities. However, there are many other crucial similarities between
Moses and Muhammad which at the same time are so different from Jesus:
The natural birth, family life and death of Moses and Muhammad but
not of Jesus. Jesus is regarded
by his followers as the Son of God and he is worshipped as such.
Moses and Muhammad are both considered to be only messengers of God
by their followers and are not worshipped.
(It should be noted that Jesus is also considered to be only a
messenger of God by the Muslims) THE AWAITED PROPHET
WAS TO COME FROM ARABIA
Deuteronomy
33:1-2 combines references to Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. It speaks of God
(i.e. God's revelation) coming from Sinai, rising from Seir (probably the
village of Sa'ir near Jerusalem) and shining forth from Paran. According to
Genesis 21:21, the wilderness of Paran was the place where Ishmael settled
(i.e. Arabia, specifically Makkah). Indeed
the King James Version of the Bible mentions the pilgrims passing through
the valley of Ba'ca (another name of Makkah) in Psalms 84:4-6. Isaiah
42:1-13 speaks of the beloved of God. His elect and messenger who will bring
down a law to be awaited in the isles and who “shall not fail nor be
discouraged till he has set judgment on Earth.” Verse 11, connects that
awaited one with the descendants of Ke'dar. Who is Ke'dar? According to
Genesis 25:13, Ke'dar was the second son of Ishmael, the ancestor of Prophet
Muhammad. MUHAMMAD’S MIGRATION
FROM MAKKAH TO MADINAH:
PROPHESIED IN THE BIBLE?
Habakkuk
3:3 speaks of God (God's help) coming from Te'man (an Oasis North of Madinah
according to J. Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible), and the holy one
(coming) from Paran. That holy one who under persecution migrated from Paran
(Makkah) to be received enthusiastically in Madinah was none other than
Prophet Muhammad. Indeed
the incident of the migration of the prophet and his persecuted followers is
vividly described in Isaiah 21:13-17. That section foretold as well about
the battle of Badr in which the few ill-armed faithful (Muslims)
miraculously defeated the “mighty” men of Ke'dar, who sought to destroy
Islam and intimidate their own folks who turned to Islam. THE QURAAN FORETOLD IN
THE BIBLE?
For
twenty-three years, God's words (the Quraan) were truly put into
Muhammad’s mouth. He was not the “author” of the Quraan. The Quraan
was dictated to him by Angel Gabriel who asked Muhammad to simply repeat the
words of the Quraan as he heard them. These words were then committed to
memory and to writing by those who heard them during Muhammad's lifetime and
under his supervision. Was it
a coincidence that the prophet “like unto Moses” from the “brethren”
of the Israelites (i.e. from the Ishmaelites) was also described as one in
whose mouth God will put His words and that he will speak in the name of
God? (Deuteronomy 18:18-20). Was it also a coincidence the “Paraclete”
that Jesus foretold to come after Him was described as one who “shall not
speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak …”?
(John 16:13) Was
it another coincidence that Isaiah ties between the messenger connected with
Ke'dar and a new song (a scripture in a new language) to be sang unto the
Lord (Isaiah 42:10-11)? More
explicitly, prophesies Isaiah “For with stammering lips, and another
tongue, will he speak to this people” (Isaiah 28:11). This latter verse
correctly describes the “stammering lips” of Prophet Muhammad reflecting
the state of tension and concentration he went through at the time of
revelation. Another related point is that the Quraan was revealed in
piece-meals over a span of twenty-three years. It is interesting to compare
this with Isaiah 28:10 which speaks of the same thing; THAT PROPHET -PARACLETE-
MUHAMMAD
Up to
the time of Jesus, the Israelites were still awaiting for that prophet like
unto Moses prophesied in Deuteronomy 18:18. When John the Baptist came, they
asked him if he was Christ and he said “no”. They asked him if he was
Elias and he said “no”. Then, in apparent reference to Deuteronomy
18:18, they asked him “Art thou that Prophet” and he answered, “no”.
(John 1:19-21). In the Gospel according to John (Chapters 14, 15, 16) Jesus
spoke of the “Paraclete” or comforter who will come after him, who will
be sent by the Father as another Paraclete, who will teach new things which
the contemporaries of Jesus could not bear. While the Paraclete is described
as the spirit of truth, (whose meaning resemble Muhammad's famous title
Al-Amin, the trustworthy), he is identified in one verse as the Holy Ghost
(John 14:26). Such a designation is however inconsistent with the profile of
that Paraclete. In the words of the Dictionary of the Bible, (Ed: J.
Mackenzie) “These items, it must be admitted do not give an entirely
coherent picture.” Indeed
history tells us that many early Christians understood the Paraclete to be a
man and not a spirit. This might explain the many people in history who
followed false pretenders who
claimed to be the awaited “Paraclete”, without meeting the criteria
stipulated by Jesus. It
was Prophet Muhammad who was the Paraclete, comforter, helper, admonisher
sent by God after Jesus. He testified of Jesus, taught new things which
could not be borne at Jesus' time, he spoke what he heard (revelation), he
dwells with the believers (through his well-preserved teachings). Such
teachings will remain forever because he was the last messenger of God, the
only Universal Messenger to unite the whole of humanity under God and on the
path of PRESERVED truth. He told of many things to come which “came to
pass” in the minutest detail meeting, the criterion given by Moses to
distinguish between the true prophet and the false prophets (Deuteronomy
18:22). WAS THE SHIFT OF
RELIGIOUS LEADERSHIP PROPHESIED?
Following
the rejection of the last Israelite prophet, Jesus, it was about time that
God's promise to make Ishmael a great nation be fulfilled (Genesis 21:13,
18). In
Matthew 21:19-21, Jesus spoke of the fruitless fig tree (A Biblical symbol
of prophetic heritage) to be cleared after being given a last chance of
three years (the duration of Jesus' ministry) to give fruit. In a later
verse in the same chapter, Jesus said: “Therefore, say I unto you, The
Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to a nation bringing
forth the fruit thereof (Matthew 21:43). That nation of Ishmael's
descendants (the rejected stone in Matthew 21:42) which was victorious
against all super-powers of its time as prophesied by Jesus: “And
whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken, but on whomsoever it
shall fall, it will grind him to powder” (Matthew 21:44) OUT OF CONTEXT - ALL
COINCIDENCE?
Is it
possible that the numerous prophecies cited here are all individually and
combined out of context misinterpretations? Is the opposite true, that such
infrequently studied verses fit together consistently and clearly point to
the advent of the man who changed the course of human history, Prophet
Muhammad. Is it reasonable to conclude that all these prophecies, appearing
in different books of the Bible and spoken by various prophets at different
times were all coincidence? If this is so here is another strange
“coincidence”! One of
the signs of the prophet to come from Paran (Makkah) is that he will come
with “ten thousands of saints” (Deuteronomy 33:2 KJV). That was the
exact number of faithful who accompanied Prophet Muhammad to Paran (Makkah)
in his victorious, bloodless return to his birthplace to destroy the
remaining symbols of idolatry in the Ka'bah. As
quoted by Moses, God says: 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. (Deuteronomy 18:19) THE LIFE OF MUHAMMAD
There
is no man in the history of mankind whose life is recorded in such great
detail as Muhammad’s life. There
are no historians who question the greatness and success of Prophet
Muhammad. His life is in the
middle of recorded history, for all to read and study.
If the above Bible verses have sparked an interest in this man, we
highly recommend to read one of the many dependable biographies of Prophet
Muhammad available. BELIEVE IN MUHAMMAD!
Believing
in Muhammad doesn’t mean giving up your belief in Jesus.
The Prophet Muhammad said: Three
persons will have a double reward, (the first of which is) A Person from the
people of the scriptures who believed in his prophet (Jesus or Moses) and
then believed in the Prophet Muhammad (i.e. has embraced Islam). Sahih Bukhari FINAL PRAYER
May
the light of truth shine in your heart and mind. May It lead you to peace
and certitude in this life and eternal bliss in hereafter.
May God show us the truth and guide us to what pleases Him.
May the Peace and Blessings of God be upon all of the Prophets.
Amin! (O God answer our prayer)
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