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Dr Abdus Salam, Ahmadi Muslim winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, meets Pope John Paul II |
Contents
- Introduction to the prophecy of the breaking of the cross
- Comparison of Islamic beliefs/teachings with Christianity
- Jesus was not the son of God
- The Quran was needed to restore the true dignity of God’s prophets
- The original divine text of the Bible has been corrupted with contradictions
- The Quran corrected the errors in the Bible
- The Bible suggests Jesus did not die on the cross
- Muhammad’s advent was prophecised in the Bible
1- Introduction to the prophecy of the breaking of the cross
The son of Mary will shortly descend among you people as a just ruler and will break the cross. (Bukhari)
The above prophecy by Muhammadsa had two elements to it. Firstly, that the coming messiah would break the cross. As the cross is the symbol of Christianity, this means the messiah would break the power of Christianity. Secondly, he would arrive in an era in which Christians dominated the world, or there would be no need for him to 'break' the power Christianity. While Islam was either the dominant religion or at least on par with Christianity for a thousand years after Muhammadsa passed away, an era of Christian dominance can arguably be traced to 1683, with the defeat of the Muslim Ottomans at the hands of the Christian Europeans outside of Vienna. In the decades that followed, Europe’s Christian powers conquered the continents of North America, South America and Australia altogether and even a great majority of the Muslim lands in Africa and Asia. Christian nations now ruled the majority of the world and with them they brought their religious missionaries who were so successful they even said:
Christianity in India is spreading four or five times as fast as the ordinary population and the native Christians now number a million souls. (Charles Aitchson, Governor of Punjab, 1888)
Christ, in the person of his disciples shall enter the Kaba of Mecca. (Reverand John Henry Barrows, Chairmen of the Parliament of World Religions, 1897)
However, the growth of Christianity was utterly halted on the arrival of Ahmad so that today, according to the Book of World Records and other sources, Islam has overtaken Christianity as the fastest growing world religion by converts. Meanwhile, the mounting problems for Christianity are so great even their most prominent religious leader says:
It felt like God was asleep (Pope Benedict, on his papacy, 2013)
In moments of truth, non-Ahmadi Muslim and Christian scholars admit this change is due to Ahmad:
The Lahori Ahmadis have some really solid scholars...some of their refutations of the Christian attacks on Islam - in my estimation - are the best ones that have been done. Maulana Muhammad Ali did some of the best apologetic work for the Muslim community that I have seen in all the literature that I have looked at and I have looked at a considerable amount and in fact what I've noticed is that a lot of them have borrowed heavily from his original work - never attributing it to him either, even though it's very clear where they took it from. (Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, considered the most influential non-Ahmadi Muslim scholar currently living in the western nations, 2012)
No one working in the larger centers of Muslim population can long avoid meeting the Ahmadi missionaries. Wherever a Christian evangelist begins a work of public missionary effort one of these persistent emissaries of Ahmadiyyat is sure soon to show up. His presence can be embarrassing if the evangelist is unacquainted with the methods of the Ahmadis. Appearing to be the spokesman for the Muslims present, the Ahmadi evangelist will do his best to pose logical dilemmas that the tactful Christian would rather meet in private and his attempt to sidestep the interruption in a public confrontation is turned frequently to mean an inability to answer the questions posed and is mean to imply thereby the spiritual inferiority of Christianity. At times antagonistic slogans are employed based upon a turn of some religious phrase known to arouse Muslim prejudices and mob resentment is raised to fever pitch. By these tactics the Muslim masses and the other non-Christians who are spiritually undecided are swayed away from the message the Christian evangelist would present. (E. R. Reynolds, prominent missionary of Christianity writing in Ministry - a Christian magazine distributed to 80,000 clergymen worldwide, 1967)
Although Mr Yusuf praises Maulana Muhammad Ali, an Ahmadi companion of Ahmad, he fails to acknowledge Ali's writings were based on Ahmad's original books on the same subject. The work of Ahmad and the khalifas who have succeeded him in writing about the superiority of Islam over Christianity and other religions has been enormously successful and their research is often the basis of the arguments used by even non-Ahmadi Muslim scholars around the world today. This rapid turn in Islam’s fortunes as compared to Christianity has been in fulfillment of the prophecy of the breaking of the cross. Here we will summarise just some of the writings by Ahmad and his khalifas which establish the superiority of Islam over Christianity.
2- Comparison of Islamic beliefs/teachings with Christianity
Say ye: 'We believe in Allah and what has been revealed to us, and what was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael, and Isaac and Jacob and his children and what was given to Moses and Jesus, and what was given to all other prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them; and to Him we submit ourselves.' (Quran, 2:132/133)
Muslims accept all the previous prophets, including Jesus who we view as a man and a prophet rather than as a god/son of a god. As mankind began to form more advanced societies God began sending prophets and messengers to guide people to Himself. Throughout history, prophets were sent around the world in different eras. However, each prophet only brought the teaching that was relevant to his people and for his time. So when the Jewish people had become slaves in Egypt, God sent Moses who taught them harsh laws to toughen them into brave people because that is what the situation demanded, as we read in their scripture:
If any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. (Bible Exodus 21)
However, when the Jews became so tough that they would try to murder the most peaceful prophet such as Jesus then God sent the Christian teaching that befitted the situation, to make the people forgiving. As Jesus says in Christian scripture:
Do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. (Bible Matthew 5:39)
However, during this period of changing laws there was no need for any final law. For example, one of the Islamic laws is that the taking or giving of interest on loans is forbidden. However, when earlier prophets lived there was no need for such a law to be revealed as there wasn’t even a basic economic system so revealing laws pertaining to advanced economics would have been nonsensical. However, by the 7th century mankind had advanced enough so was ready for the final and timeless law - revealed in the form of the Quran - which was sent with the greatest of all prophets, Muhammadsa.
In the long term, Jewish teachings of ‘an eye for an eye’ are extremely unforgiving. Meanwhile, Christian teachings of forgiving even the most evil persons will only encourage them to continue in their evil. Islam offered a more practical alternative:
If you punish the oppressors, then punish them to the extent to which you have been wronged but if you show patience then surely that is best. (Quran 16:126-127)
Islam allows wrongdoers to be punished according to the extent of their crime, but still prefers forgiveness to punishment. In this way, Islam brought a perfect balance between the previous Christian and Judaic laws.
3- Jesus was not the son of God
Surely the case of Jesus is like the case of Adam. He created him out of dust, then he said to him, "Be" and he was. (Quran 3:59)
Say 'He is Allah, the One! Allah the Independent and Besought of all. He begets not, nor, is He begotten, and there is none like unto Him. (Quran 112:1-4)
The Quran repeatedly emphasises God is one, has no partner or family and Jesus was a prophet but not a divine being. In the first verse quoted above, the Quran makes the simple argument that if Jesus is considered a son of God because he had no father, then what is the status of Adam, who according to the Bible had no parents whatsoever? Turning from the virgin birth to the other miracles of Jesus, it is worth noting that most of the miracles attributed to him in the Bible have also been attributed to other prophets. For example, Jesus is said to have ascended to heaven in the Bible, but the Bible also says other prophets - not considered gods in Christianity - ascended to heaven:
It came to pass, when the Lord was about to take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind. (Bible 2 Kings 2)
Further, the Quran emphasises God has no need of children. The reason is we reproduce because we will one day die, but God is eternal and has no need of any offspring. The Bible also supports the singularity of God:
God is one (Bible Deutaronomy 6:4)
Further, in the Bible it is repeatedly emphasised that God jealously demands exclusive devotion to Him alone:
I am your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. You must never have any other gods against my face. You must not make for yourself a carved image, any form like anything that is in the heavens above or that is on the earth underneath or that is in the waters under the earth.You must not bow down to them or be led to serve them, because I your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion...(Bible Deutaronomy 5)
Now one of the scribes that had come up and heard them disputing, knowing that he had answered them in a fine way, asked him: "Which commandment is first of all?" Jesus answered: "The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel, our God is one and you must love your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength." (Bible Mark 12)
Turning to the argument that in the Bible Jesus refers to himself as the son of God; it is notable that in the Bible he also regularly refers to himself as the 'son of man'. Moreover, the term ‘son’ is clearly used in a metaphorical sense:
The book of the history of Jesus Christ, son of David, son of Abraham. (Bible Matthew 1:1)
Clearly Jesus was not the son of any David or any Abraham as he had no father. The verse here is metaphorical and so is any reference to him being the son of God. In fact, the term son of God is repeatedly used throughout the Bible for other figures as well as Jesus. God refers to Israel as His firstborn son:
God went on to say to Moses: "After you have gone and returned to Egypt…you must say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what God has said: "Israel is my son, my firstborn. And I say to you: Send my son away that he may serve me. But should you refuse to send him away, here I am killing your son, your firstborn." (Bible Exodus 4:22)
Seth [son] of Adam [son] of God. (Bible Luke 3:38)
Clearly, Israel and Adam were not literally sons of God. In fact, even Jesus himself uses the term for others than himself:
Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens. (Bible Matthew 5:44-45)
The dilemma that we face is when comparing the usage of ‘son of God’ in the Bible against its repeated emphasis of the singularity of God, we find the two statements contradict. The only conclusion is that one is a metaphor while the other must be literally true. Based on the evidence, Muslims believe God is literally one and humans who are beloved by Him, such as Jesus, can sometimes be metaphorically referred to as His children.
4- The Quran was needed to restore the true dignity of God’s prophets
The Bible admits Noah was a prophet:
Noah was a righteous man. He proved himself faultless among his contemporaries. Noah walked with God. (Bible Genesis 6:9)
However, in another instance Noah is shown to be far from faultless, according to the Bible:
Now Noah started off as a farmer and proceeded to plant a vineyard. And he began drinking of the wine and became intoxicated, and so he uncovered himself in the midst of his tent. Later Ham the father of Canaan saw his father’s nakedness and went telling it to his two brothers outside. At that Shem and Japheth took a mantle and put it upon both their shoulders and walked in backwards. Thus they covered their father’s nakedness, while their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness. Finally Noah awoke from his wine and got to know what his youngest son had done to him. At this he said: "Cursed be Canaan. Let him become the lowest slave to his brothers." (Bible Genesis, 9:20-25)
Firstly Noah is portrayed as a naked drunkard and then as someone who vindictively punishes his own grandson for a mistake that was Noah’s and that his grandson Canaan played no part in. In another example we know Aaron as a prophet of God:
God said to Moses: "See, I have made you God to Pharaoh and Aaron your own brother will become your prophet." (Bible Exodus 7:1)
(Again, this Biblical passage describes Moses as God himself, so if we accept this as a metaphor - as Christians do - then we should also accept that Jesus being described as the son of God was also a metaphor). Anyhow, Aaron is confirmed as a prophet but later we read:
The people congregated themselves about Aaron and said to him: "Get up, make for us a god who will go ahead of us, because as regards this Moses, the man who led us up out of the land of Egypt, we certainly do not know what has happened to him." At this Aaron said to them: "Tear off the gold earrings that are in the ears of YOUR wives, of YOUR sons and of YOUR daughters and bring them to me." And all the people began tearing off the gold earrings that were in their ears and bringing them to Aaron. Then he took [the gold] from their hands, and he formed it with a graving tool and proceeded to make it into a molten statue of a calf. And they began to say: "This is your God, O Israel, who led you up out of the land of Egypt." When Aaron got to see this, he went to building an altar before it. (Bible Exodus 32:1-6)
So here we have Aaron betraying God by building idols and alters for those idols. David was also a prophet of God:
And what more shall I say? For the time will fail me if I go on to relate about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David as well as Samuel and the [other] prophets (Bible Hebrews 11:32)
However, in other instances in the Bible David is accused of not only being an adulterer but then going on to murder the husband of the woman he’s having an affair with:
From the rooftop he caught sight of a woman bathing herself, and the woman was very good in appearance. Then David sent and inquired about the woman and someone said: "Is this not Bathsheba the daughter of Eliam the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" After that David sent messengers that he might take her. So she came in to him and he lay down with her, while she was sanctifying herself from her uncleanness. Later she returned to her house….And it came about in the morning that David proceeded to write a letter to Joab and send it by the hand of Uriah. So he wrote in the letter, saying: "Put Uriah in front of the heaviest battle charges, and you men must retreat from behind him, and he must be struck down and die." (Bible II Samuel 2-15)
Solomon was also a prophet of God:
And the thing was pleasing in the eyes of God, because Solomon had requested this thing. And God went on to say to him: "For the reason that you have requested this thing and have not requested for yourself many days nor requested for yourself riches nor requested the soul of your enemies, and you have requested for yourself understanding to hear judicial cases, look! I shall certainly do according to your words. Look! I shall certainly give you a wise and understanding heart, so that one like you there has not happened to be before you, and after you there will not rise up one like you. And also what you have not requested I will give you, both riches and glory, so that there will not have happened to be any among the kings like you, all your days. And if you will walk in my ways by keeping my regulations and my commandments, just as David your father walked, I will also lengthen your days." (Bible 1Kings 3:10-14)
Yet in other instances Solomon is accused of betraying God with idols:
And it came about in the time of Solomon’s growing old that his wives themselves had inclined his heart to follow other gods; and his heart did not prove to be complete with God like the heart of David his father. And Solomon began going after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the disgusting thing of the Ammonites. And Solomon began to do what was bad in the eyes of God and he did not follow God fully like David his father. (Bible I Kings 11:4-6)
The point here is that if a prophet is a drunkard how can the people be expected to believe he has brought a message from God rather than simply had one too many? And how then can God punish those people with a flood for not accepting such a man’s message? How can God expect the people to worship him obediently when His own prophets who bring that message openly disobey His commandments and worship idols? They set no example for the people and simply preach ‘do as we say, not as we do’. However, when the prophet ‘faultless among his contemporaries’ is unable to follow these simply commands how can God expect the law to be followed by anyone else? Muslims believe one of the reasons the Quran was revealed was to clear the prophets of God from these false charges. The Quran presents the prophets mentioned above as people rightly guided by God who did not commit any of the sins falsely attributed to them by the Bible.
5- The original divine text of the Bible has been corrupted with contradictions
This is a perfect book. There is no doubt in it. It is a guidance for the righteous. (Quran, 2:2)
One reason the Quran was revealed was because the Bible - originally a scripture of divine origin - has been corrupted with human interpolations. For example, we read of how Abraham was using the name Jehovah for God:
So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering in place of his son. And Abraham began to call the name of that place Jeho′vah‐jireh. This is why it is customarily said today: "In the mountain of Jehovah it will be provided." (Bible Genesis 22:13-14)
This is in direct contrast to Exodus which claims that Abraham did not know the name Jehovah:
God went on to speak to Moses and to say to him: “I am Jehovah and I used to appear to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, but as respects my name Jehovah I did not make myself known to them. (Bible Exodus 6:2-3)
Then in Samuel we read how a character named Michal had no children:
So, as regards Michal, Saul’s daughter, she came to have no child down to the day of her death. (Bible Samuel 6:23)
However, in the very next book of the Bible the same character is said to have had as many as five sons:
The five sons of Michal the daughter of Saul whom she bore (Bible II Samuel 21:8)
Again, in Samuel we read how David was the eighth son of Jesse:
So Jesse had seven of his sons pass before Samuel; still Samuel said to Jesse: "God has not chosen these." Finally Samuel said to Jesse: "Are these all the boys?" To this he said: "The youngest one has till now been left out, and, look! he is pasturing the sheep." At that Samuel said to Jesse: "Do send and fetch him, because we shall not sit down to meal until his coming here." Accordingly he sent and had him come. Now he was ruddy, a young man with beautiful eyes and handsome in appearance. Then God said: "Get up, anoint him, for this is he!" Accordingly Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of God began to be operative upon David from that day forward. (Bible 1 Samuel 10-12)
However, later he is described as the seventh son:
Jesse, in turn, became father to his firstborn Eliab, and Abinadab the second, and Shimea the third, Nethanel the fourth, Raddai the fifth, Ozem the sixth, David the seventh. (Bible I Chronicles 2:14-16)
The life of Jesus according to the Bible is also contradictory:
Jacob became father to Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. (Bible Matthew 1:16)
Jesus himself, when he commenced [his work], was about thirty years old, being the son, as the opinion was, of Joseph, [son] of Heli, (Bible Luke 3:23)
In fact, that last passage from Luke is particularly telling. It openly admits that the facts presented are merely the opinions of the people living at the time passed orally from person to person in the decades after Jesus’ crucifixion. While Jesus’ teachings were divinely revealed by a perfect God and so were without error, the oral narrations recorded in the Bible do have contradictions and this is another reason Muslims believe that for mankind to be guided to higher echelons of righteousness we required a new, perfect, error-free book from God.
6- The Quran corrected the errors in the Bible
Verily, it is We Who have sent down this Exhortation, and most surely We are its Guardians. (Quran 15:9)
And if you are in doubt as to what We have sent down to Our servant, then produce a chapter like it, and call upon your helpers besides Allah, if you are truthful. (Quran 2:23)
The Bible refers to the prophet Joseph interacting with the King of Egypt as follows:
Pharaoh sent for Joseph and he was quickly brought from the dungeon. When he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came before Pharaoh. (Bible Genesis 41:14)
However historians have pointed out that this is wholly inaccurate as at the historical time the Bible refers to there was no pharaoh of Egypt. The dynasty known as the pharaohs came centuries later and at the time Joseph lived Egypt was led by a king. Incredibly, this error was corrected by the Quran:
The King said: 'Bring him to me that I may take him specially for my own person. And when he had spoken to him, he said, 'Thou art this day a person of established position and trust with us.' Joseph said, 'Appoint me over the treasures of the land, for I am a good keeper, and possessed of knowledge of these matters.' (Quran, 12:54-56)
Then we turn to details missed by the Bible and contained in the Quran about Egyptian history. By the time Moses came several centuries after Joseph, Egypt was ruled by pharaohs and both the Bible and the Quran correctly records this. They both also record the drowning of a pharaoh who persecuted Moses, however only the Quran records the detail that his body was recovered from the sea after his drowning and will one day be rediscovered:
We brought the children of Israel across the sea and Pharaoh and his hosts pursued them wrongfully and aggressively, till when the calamity of drowning overtook him, he cried, 'I believe that there is no god but He in Whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of those who submit to Him.' What! Now! while thou wast disobedient before this and wast of the mischief-makers. So this day We will save thee in thy body alone that thou mayest be a Sign to those who come after thee. (Quran 10:90-92)
How could an illiterate man living in a pre-medieval era hundreds of miles from Egypt have known intimate details of ancient Egyptian history from more than two thousand years earlier and if he was making it up how could he have dared to contradict the Bible - and do it so correctly? The answer to this question is the Quran was revealed to Muhammadsa by God as the final teaching. He promised to protect its perfection for all times to come and we still have versions centuries old which are in existence today and so confirm the pure nature of the current text. So, while the divinely revealed Bible has some beauty in it, the Quran to be the only uncorrupted divine scripture to guide all humanity for all time.
7- The Bible suggests Jesus did not die on the cross
He who follows the right way follows it only for the good of his own soul; and he who goes astray, goes astray only to his own loss. And no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another. (Quran 17:15)
Most Christians believe Adam and Eve sinned and so all of mankind inherited their original sin. Then Jesus came to die for mankind’s sins so we could be forgiven. The Quran rejects this concept as Islam teaches meritocracy. Humans are rewarded or punished based on their own actions. Nobody inherits sin and children are born innocent. The Bible fails to support the idea that Jesus died for the salvation of all mankind. Jesus himself clearly states his mission was only preaching to the Jewish tribes of Israel:
I was not sent forth to any but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Bible Matthew 15:24)
When the son of man sits down upon his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also yourselves sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Bible Matthew 19:28)
(Again, here Jesus refers to himself as the 'son of man' supporting the Muslim view his use of the term 'son of God' was a metaphor). Anyhow, Jesus even goes so far as to expressly forbid his disciples from preaching his message to non-Israelis:
Do not go off into the road of the nations, and do not enter into a Samaritan city; but, instead, go continually to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. (Bible Matthew 10:5-6)
The idea that Jesus was the saviour of mankind who came to remove the curse of original sin by sacrificing himself is difficult to reconcile with these verses. In fact, Jesus stated he had merely come to follow and renew the law of previous Jewish prophets such as Moses:
Do not think I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I came, not to destroy, but to fulfil, for truly I say to you that sooner would heaven and earth pass away than for one smallest letter or one particle of a letter to pass away from the Law by any means and not all things take place. Whoever, therefore, breaks one of these least commandments and teaches mankind to that effect, he will be called ‘least’ in relation to the kingdom of the heavens. As for anyone who does them and teaches them, this one will be called ‘great’ in relation to the kingdom of the heavens. (Bible Matthew 5:17-19)
So if the purpose of the crucifixion was not to save all mankind from inherited sin, what was it? Jesus said:
A wicked and adulterous generation keeps on seeking for a sign, but no sign will be given it except the sign of Jonah the prophet. For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish three days and three nights, so the son of man will be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights. (Bible Matthew 12)
Jonah, according to the Quran and the Bible, was only a man and a prophet and he did not die in the belly of the whale. When Jesus says he will replicate the same miracle, the meaning is clear. Jesus, as a man and a prophet, would spend three days and nights in a cave after the crucifixion. He would not die, but would simply be ill in the cave. The idea that Jesus died, it must be remembered, was the reason the Jewish people rejected him and continue to reject him. According to the Jewish law that Jesus said he had come to uphold and follow, someone who died from hanging on a stake, as Christians allege Jesus did, would die an accursed death:
In case there comes to be in a man a sin deserving the sentence of death, and he has been put to death, and you have hung him upon a stake, his dead body should not stay all night on the stake; but you should by all mens bury him on that day, because something accursed of God is the one hung up (Bible Deuteronomy 21:22-23)
And Jesus by no means desired to die an accursed death:
Then Jesus came with them to the spot called Gethsemane, and he said to the disciples: “Sit down here while I go over there and pray.” And taking along Peter and the two sons of Zeb′e‧dee, he started to be grieved and to be sorely troubled. Then he said to them: “My soul is deeply grieved, even to death. Stay here and keep on the watch with me.” And going a little way forward, he fell upon his face, praying and saying: “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me. Yet, not as I will, but as you will.” (Bible Matthew 26:36-40)
Jesus was troubled and grieved by the prospect he faced. Its clear he was hoping and praying he could somehow be saved from going on the cross, let alone dying on it. If its true that all humanity would be saved by Jesus’ death and this was the very purpose of Jesus’ existence, then what sort of saviour was he? He was, according to this idea, selfishly trying to save himself from a few days of pain from which he would be resurrected and in so doing condemn the whole of humanity to sin and burning in Hell. I refuse to believe a decent person, let alone a sinless and beautiful prophet of God such as Jesus who repeatedly throughout his life as recorded in the Bible showed himself to be extraordinarily selfless, brave and courageous, could pray for anything so strange if his purpose had been to save humanity by dying on the cross. One other thing I also find interesting about the passage above though is that Jesus falls on his face to pray. Of course, this is the method of prayer we can observe five times a day in every mosque around the world being enacted by Muslims since they were taught to do so by Muhammadsa 1400 years ago. We then come to Jesus on the cross and find him in agony uttering the following words:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? (Bible Matthew 27:46)
Its clear from these words that Jesus expected God to save him from the cross and did not expect God to ‘forsake’ him and allow him to continue to suffer. Interestingly, the original words used by Jesus for 'My God' are 'Elai', as in he was referring to God as 'Ela' which is very close to the Arabic name 'Allah'.
It’s also worth noting that Pilate, the local Roman governor, is portrayed throughout the Bible as being sympathetic to Jesus and acknowledging his innocence. Pilate even mentions how he is washing his hands of Jesus’ blood, meaning he wants nothing to do with the plans of Jesus’ enemies to kill him. Bearing this in mind, its interesting that the Bible records Jesus was put on the cross on a Friday, so he could only spend a few hours instead of days before the Sabbath meant he was taken down. If you hang a healthy young man from a cross by nailing him there for a few hours he’s unlikely to die from the experience. Yes he will be severely injured and traumatised but there’s a good chance he will live. And here’s what’s happened next:
Then the Jews, since it was Preparation, in order that the bodies might not remain upon the torture stakes on the Sabbath, (for the day of that Sabbath was a great one,) requested Pilate to have their legs broken and the [bodies] taken away. The soldiers came, therefore, and broke the legs of the first [man] and those of the other [man] that had been impaled with him. But on coming to Jesus, as they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Yet one of the soldiers jabbed his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out (Bible John 19:31-34)
Again, the Romans apparently refused the request to have Jesus’ legs broken. The passage claims Jesus was already dead, but when he was stabbed blood and water immediately came out. Ask any forensic expert or doctor or scientist and you will know straight away that blood only comes out in this immediate way from a body that is still living. Once the heart has stopped beating, the blood might ooze out but it won’t be the same immediate effect. The final thing worth taking note of from the Bible is Jesus’ plans for after the crucifixion:
After I have been raised up, I will go ahead of you into Galilee. (Bible Matthew 26:32)
Its extraordinarily strange that instead of publicly celebrating his resurrection Jesus chose to stay in hiding and eventually flee the region altogether. The fact is that he had just come back to life. He had nothing to fear. He was invincible, nobody could kill him. Moreover, this would be an ideal opportunity to show how truthful he was in his claims and have the whole of Israel and perhaps even the Roman empire and the world itself accept him as the son of God. Instead of saving souls by converting them in mass to his religion, he fled and condemned his actual followers to centuries of extreme persecution.
The only reasonable explanation of these actions is that Jesus was not the son of God and that the true miracle of the crucifixion was not his resurrection from death but in fact the way God miraculously saved him from death altogether. Having endured this ordeal, Jesus had no intention of giving his persecutors a second chance to kill him, as he was only human and knew he was susceptible to death, and so instead he simply migrated from the area.
8- Muhammad’ssa advent was prophecised in the Bible
Before it there was the Book of Moses, a guide and a mercy, and this is a Book in the Arabic language, fulfilling previous prophecies that it may warn those who do wrong and give glad tidings to those who do good. (Quran 46:12)
The advent of Muhammadsa and the Quran being revealed to him fulfilled several prophecies of the Bible. As the Quranic verse above indicates, these prophecies include those revealed to Moses and recorded in the Old Testament such as:
At that God said to me, ‘They have done well in speaking what they did. A prophet I shall raise up for them from the midst of their brothers, like you; and I shall indeed put my words in his mouth, and he will certainly speak to them all that I shall command him. And it must occur that the man who will not listen to my words that he will speak in my name, I shall myself require an account from him. However, the prophet who presumes to speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. (Bible, Deutoronomy 18:15-17)
This is a detailed prophecy of God’s recorded in the Bible which has several elements to it:
God will raise a prophet from the brothers of the people of Moses
The prophet will be similar to Moses
He shall speak the words of God, in the name of God
Any false prophet will be killed
This prophecy was not just mentioned in the Old Testament, it was very clearly elaborated on by Jesus in the New Testament:
I am telling you the truth, It is for your benefit I am going away. For if I do not go away, the helper will by no means come to you, but if I do go my way, I will send him to you and when that one arrives he will give the world convincing evidence concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment: in the first place, concerning sin, because they are not exercising faith in me; then concerning righteousness, because I am going to the Father and you will behold me no longer; then concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been judged. I have many things yet to say to you, but you are not able to bear them at present. However, when that one arrives, the spirit of the truth, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak of his own impulse, but what things he hears he will speak, and he will declare to YOU the things coming. That one will glorify me, because he will receive from what is mine and will declare it to you. (Bible John 16:8-14)
Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent forth to her,—how often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks together under her wings! But you people did not want it. Look! Your house is abandoned to you. For I say to you, you will by no means see me from henceforth until you say, ‘Blessed is he that comes in God’s name!’” (Bible Matthew 23:38-39)
The helper, the holy spirit, which the Father will send in my name, that one will teach you all things and bring back to your minds all the things i told you. I leave you peace (Bible, John 14:26)
So Jesus not only repeats Moses’ prophecy, he adds several points to it:
Jesus has many further elements of religion which he would like to teach his people, but instead God’s religion will be completed by the coming prophet.
As punishment for rejecting prophets, Jersualem will be left a house ‘abandoned’, meaning the coming prophet will not be Jewish
The followers of the coming prophet will bless him
The coming prophet and Jesus both, it seems, leave their followers ‘peace’.
So what was the identity of this prophecised prophet? Firstly, Moses’ prophecy suggests that he will be not from among the Jewish followers of Moses themselves, but from among their brothers. Jesus himself repeats this statement by saying that the long line of prophets from the House of Jerusalem will be left abandoned when the new prophet comes. So who were these non-Jewish brothers of the Jews among whom this prophet was to come?
In the Quran, the Jewish people are referred to either as Jews or as the children of Israel. The reason is they are named Jewish after one of their earliest personalities Judah who is mentioned in Genesis. Judah was the son of Israel (hence children of Israel) who was also known as Jacob. Jacob/Israel was the son of Isaac who was the son of Abraham. However the Bible clearly establishes that Abraham had another son named Ishmael:
After that Abraham said to the [true] God: “O that Ishmael might live before you!” To this God said: “Sarah your wife is indeed bearing you a son, and you must call his name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant with him for a covenant to time indefinite to his seed after him. But as regards Ishmael I have heard you. Look! I will bless him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him very, very much. He will certainly produce twelve chieftains, and I will make him become a great nation. (Bible Genesis 17:18-20)
So what happened to Ishmael? The Bible has the answer:
And Sarah kept noticing the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, poking fun. So she began to say to Abraham: “Drive out this slave girl and her son, for the son of this slave girl is not going to be an heir with my son, with Isaac!” But the thing proved to be very displeasing to Abraham as regards his son. Then God said to Abraham: “Do not let anything that Sarah keeps saying to you be displeasing to you about the boy and about your slave girl. Listen to her voice, because it is by means of Isaac that what will be called your seed will be. And as for the son of the slave girl, I shall also constitute him a nation, because he is your offspring.” So Abraham got up early in the morning and took bread and a skin water bottle and gave it to Hagar, setting it upon her shoulder, and the child, and then dismissed her. And she went her way and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. Finally the water became exhausted in the skin bottle and she threw the child under one of the bushes. Then she went on and sat down by herself, about the distance of a bowshot away, because she said: “Let me not see it when the child dies.” So she sat down at a distance and began to raise her voice and weep. At that God heard the voice of the boy, and God’s angel called to Hagar out of the heavens and said to her: “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not be afraid, because God has listened to the voice of the boy there where he is. Get up, lift up the boy and take hold of him with your hand, because I shall constitute him a great nation.” Then God opened her eyes so that she caught sight of a well of water; and she went and began to fill the skin bottle with water and to give the boy a drink. And God continued to be with the boy, and he kept growing and dwelling in the wilderness; and he became an archer. And he took up dwelling in the wilderness of Paran. (Bible Genesis: 21:10-21)
So Ishmael was settled with his mother in a desert, by a well in a place called ‘Paran’. The exact location of Paran is disputed, but by far the most likely location is the city of Mecca, which is the birthplace of Muhammadsa. Mecca is located in a desert valley. It is the home of the only well for miles around, which has existed for thousands of years and is still in use today. The inhabitants of the city have since the pre-Islamic era claimed to be the descendants of Ishmael and also claimed to follow the religion of Abraham in pre-Islamic times. Moreover, the Hebrew word Paran has its equivalent in the Arabic word Faran and on the outskirts of Mecca is a place which has always been called the Hill of Faran. So beyond any reasonable doubt, the Arabs in the city in which Muhammadsa was born were the descendants of Ishmael and therefore not only the geographical neighbours of the Israelites but also their genetic cousins, or brothers.
Of course, that doesn’t prove anything as there will have been many other tribes on the Arabian Peninsula who were also descendants of Abraham and therefore the brothers of the Jews. What is interesting though is that none of those tribes claim that the prophet who was prophecised by Moses was raised in their tribe. Instead, they have almost unanimously accepted Muhammadsa to be the prophecised prophet. In fact, Muslims believe that one vision Moses describes seeing of God in the Bible specifically alludes to the coming prophet from Paran/Faran/Mecca:
God - from Sinai He came and He flashed forth from Seir upon them. He beamed forth from the mountainous region of Paran and with him were holy myriads at his right hand warriors belonging to them. (Bible Deuteronomy 33:2)
Sinai was of course the mountain on which Moses received his revelation and Muslims believe the vision Moses saw of God moving from Sinai to Paran was indicative of how one day prophethood would move from the Jewish people to their Arab brothers and neighbours in Paran. Moreover, the vision specifically states God would come to Paran with an army made up of a "myriad" of holy "warriors". Myriad is a Greek word meaning 10,000. It is worth remembering that when Muhammadsa raised an army all available Muslim men to defend against the Meccan polytheist’s murderous aggression and that army eventually conquered Mecca itself, turning the city overnight into a city of God. Notably, the army was made up of exactly 10,000 men. Other parts of the Bible identify the children of Ishmael at Mecca even more specifically. Isaiah describes the coming prophet as follows:
Look! My servant, on whom I keep fast hold! My chosen one, [whom] my soul has approved! I have put my spirit in him. Justice to the nations is what he will bring forth. He will not cry out or raise [his voice], and in the street he will not let his voice be heard. No crushed reed will he break; and as for a dim flaxen wick, he will not extinguish it. In trueness he will bring forth justice. He will not grow dim nor be crushed until he sets justice in the earth itself; and for his law the islands themselves will keep waiting. This is what God has said, the Creator of the heavens and the Grand One stretching them out; the One laying out the earth and its produce, the One giving breath to the people on it, and spirit to those walking in it: “I myself have called you in righteousness, and I proceeded to take hold of your hand. And I shall safeguard you and give you as a covenant of the people, as a light of the nations to open the blind eyes, to bring forth out of the dungeon the prisoner, out of the house of detention those sitting in darkness. “I am God. That is my name; and to no one else shall I give my own glory, neither my praise to graven images. “The first things—here they have come, but new things I am telling out. Before they begin to spring up, I cause you people to hear [them].” Sing to God a new song, his praise from the extremity of the earth, you men that are going down to the sea and to that which fills it, you islands and you inhabiting them. Let the wilderness and its cities raise [their voice], the settlements that Kedar inhabits. (Bible Isaiah 42:18-30)
So Isaiah clearly states how a chosen servant of God will come from Kedar’s inhabitants. Who were the people of Kedar? The Bible itself states:
Now these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according to their family origins: Ishmael’s firstborn Nebaioth and Kedar and Adbeel and Mibsam (Bible Genesis 25:13)
Clearly Kedar was the son of Ishmael. But even this is not all, as the Bible even more clearly identifies Mecca elsewhere:
My King and my God! Happy are those dwelling in your house! They still keep on praising you. Selah. Happy are the men whose strength is in you. In whose heart are the highways. Passing along through the low plain of the Baca bushes. (Bible Psalms 84:3-6)
This section refers to a place called ‘Baca’ found on a low plain where the people constantly praise God. It is worth noting how the Arabs of pre-Islamic era referred to the Kaba in Mecca (which would later become the holiest sites of Islam) as ‘Becca’. Mecca itself was located at the bottom of a valley surrounded by hills, in other words on a ‘low plain’. The Arab’s use of the word ‘Becca’ for the Kaba is recorded in the Quran itself:
Surely the first House founded for all mankind is that at Becca, abounding in blessings and a guidance for all peoples. In it are manifest Signs; it is the place of Abraham; and whoso enters it, is safe. And pilgrimage to the House is a duty which men - those who can find a way thither - owe to Allah. (3:96-97)
It is also worth noting that the above prophecy from Psalms also says that the men found in this house, on the low plain of Becca will be constantly praising God. The very second sentence of the Quran reads:
All praise belongs to Allah, Lord of all the Worlds (Quran 1:2)
These words are actually part of a prayer that is recited in the compulsory prayers of Muslims five times a day (and more than once in each prayer). So Muslims believe this prophecy of Psalms has been perfectly fulfilled. The next elements of the prophecy were that the prophet would be similar to Moses, would speak in the name of God and would not be killed (as any false prophet would be killed). Muslims believe Muhammadsa had many similarities to Moses. Like Moses, he brought a new law from God that was very similar to the law of Moses. Like Moses, he migrated from a persecuting government to safety in miraculous circumstances and like Moses a book of scripture was revealed to him by God. Also, despite living in very dangerous circumstances and facing repeated assassination attempts from his enemies, Muhammadsa lived well into his 60s (very old by the standards of the 7th century) and died a natural death. Furthermore, the very first words of the Quran read:
In the name of Allah (God), the Gracious the Merciful (Quran 1:1)
In fact, the phrase in the name of God is repeated throughout the text on more than 100 occasions. So certainly Muhammadsa fulfilled the prophecy by speaking only in the name of God. Turning to some of the additional details raised by Jesus, he stated that the followers of the coming prophet would bless him. In the Quran it says:
Allah sends down His blessings on the Prophet and His angels pray for him. O ye who believe, you too should invoke His blessings on him (Quran 33:56)
In accordance with this commandment, five times a day during the compulsory daily prayers Muslims recite the following words ‘O Allah, bless Muhammad’. Jesus also prophecised that the coming prophet would teach the things Jesus could not (ie complete God’s religion) and would also, like Jesus, leave his followers with peace. The Quran says:
This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed My favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as religion. (Quran 5:3)
Islam is an Arabic word which translated into English means ‘peace’. Another prophecy reads:
My dear one is dazzling and ruddy, the most conspicuous of ten thousand. His head is gold, refined gold. The locks of his hair are date clusters. His black [hair] is like the raven. His eyes are like doves by the channels of water, which are bathing themselves in milk, sitting within the rims. His cheeks are like a garden bed of spice, towers of scente
d herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping with liquid myrrh. His hands are cylinders of gold, filled with chrysolite. His abdomen is an ivory plate covered with sapphires. His legs are pillars of marble based on socket pedestals of refined gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice like the cedars. His palate is sheer sweetness, and everything about him is altogether desirable. (Bible Solomon 5:10-16)
Clearly the prophecy is referring to Muhammadsa being the most conspicuous member of the army of 10,000 men who conquered Mecca, as mentioned above. Here though, the prophecy finishes with the phrase 'altogether desirable' and the original Hebrew word used here is 'Muhamadim', which could alternatively be translated as 'respected Muhammad'.
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