Chapter 6 -
Have there
been any prophesies about Muhammad?
When it is a question of the
prophet Muhammad, many Muslims sincerely believe that the Bible contains
prophesies about him. They think, for example, based on Koran 61:6 - even
though it was written several centuries after Jesus and the Apostles - that
Jesus originally spoke and prophesied about Muhammad. They also think that the
words of Jesus about another Comforter (John 14:16,16:7)
meant Muhammad, whose coming Jesus prophesied - they believe that the word
"parakletos"/Comforter in the Gospel of
John originally meant the word "periklytos"/praised, which is one of
the names of Muhammad but that it was later, during the time of Muhammad,
changed to the other word.
But is the view true? Are there any prophesies about Muhammad in
the Bible? We will look at this in the light of a few examples:
Old manuscripts. If we first think
about the possibility that there was originally the word periklytos in the
Gospel of John and that later, during the time of Muhammad, it was changed into
parakletos, it is very difficult to prove this. It is because all the old
manuscripts that have been found - from times before Muhammad and after him -
have always been in their current form which does not mention Muhammad or any
prophesies about Muhammad. These are not found in the Bible at all, even though
people would want to them to be found.
Jesus spoke about the Holy
Spirit, not about a man. The second feature worth noting is that Jesus spoke
about the Holy Spirit (John 14:16,17,26, 15:26, 16:13) - not about any man -
and whom He promised to send from Heaven and from the Father (John 15:26: “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will
send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from
the Father, he shall testify of me.). This could by no
means mean Muhammad, who did not even exist in those days. This meant the
baptism of the Holy Spirit at the day of Pentecost, ten days after the
ascension of Jesus. The Acts says:
- (Acts 2:1-4) And when the day
of Pentecost was fully come, they were all
with one accord in one place.
2 And
suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it
filled all the house where they were sitting.
3 And there
appeared to them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat on each of them.
4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to
speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.
Brings glory to Jesus. The third feature
worth noting is that the Holy Spirit is with the disciples forever and that He
also brings glory to Jesus Christ. It is certainly impossible to say this about
Muhammad, who was not born until 500 years after Jesus and who lived for 62
years - not even close to forever - and who also belittled the position of
Jesus:
- (John 14:16-17,26) And I will pray
the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with
you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because
it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with
you, and shall be in you.
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in
my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatever I have said to you.
- (John 15:26) But when the Comforter
is come, whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth,
which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me:
- (John 16:13-14) However, when he,
the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall
not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he
will show you things to come.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine,
and shall show it to you.
The research of a former
Muslim. The next example clarifies whether there has been any prophesies about
Muhammad. There a former Muslim, who belonged to an Islamic extremist group,
received a task from the emir to clarify, what the Bible said about Muhammad. However, this
person could not find any references or prophesies about Muhammad from the
Bible:
The emir looked at me and
said, - This is a command! You have no other alternative than to carry out the
task if you really believe in Allah and in the last doomsday. The situation
was again confirmed by words from the Koran, "It is not for the true
believers - men or women - to decide their affairs which God and His apostles
have decided otherwise." (Sura 33:36).
I tried to get the emir to choose someone else but he refused.
He said, - I feel that you are the best man for this task. If you do it well,
you will kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, you will teach all Muslims and
open their eyes to things that they themselves cannot see. Secondly, you will
earn plenty of "good" money because the results of your research will
be translated into many languages and published everywhere in the world.
His words troubled me, and I wanted to know
the nature and details of the research. The emir said, - Your work will include
two parts: you will prove the genuineness of Muhammad's calling from the Bible,
just like the Koran says, "…to those that shall follow the Apostle - the
Unlettered Prophet - whom they shall find described in the Torah and the
Gospel…" (Sura 7:157) Based on the contradictions you have found, you will then
prove that the present-day Bible is not a book written by the inspiration of
God but that people have spoilt and falsified it.
(…) I was worried because I did not know where to start. I did
not have a means to start the research. For example, to prove that Muhammad was
the prophet, I expected to find his name in the Bible. Or the names of Ahmed or
Mahmud, which in Arabic refer to Muhammad. I did not know where to start.
(...) I wanted to write a book that nobody could rebut, at least
not the whole book. Unfortunately, there was not such progress as I had wanted.
All my intellectual and linguistic conclusions collapsed one after the other. I
could not find even one verse to support my theory. (Later I wrote my second
book called The Suppressed Truth, in which I present all of the verses I
had studied and prove that they did not refer to the Prophet Muhammad.)
I studied all the verses in detail but I did not find what I was
looking for. My feelings were a mix of sorrow, despair, distress, and
confusion. It did not even occur to me that Muhammad would not be a prophet. I
tried to calm myself by explaining that I simply just could not prove that the
verses spoke about Muhammad. (10)
THE Fruit of Muhammad's life
Even though it is very
difficult for us to find prophesies that are connected with Muhammad, there is,
however, one criterion by which we can distinguish the wrong prophet from the
right, and it is that "You shall know
them by their fruits". For example, Jesus referred to this and also
the Apostle Paul spoke almost about the same:
- (Matt 7:15-20) Beware of false prophets,
which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
16 You
shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or
figs of thistles?
17 Even so every
good tree brings forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree brings forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit.
19 Every tree
that brings not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Why by their fruits you shall know them.
- (Gal 5:19-23) Now the works of the
flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness,
20 Idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, jealousies, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
21 Contentions,
murders, drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before,
as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not
inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,
faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
On the other hand, when it is
a question of Muhammad, we may assume that the fruit of his life were beyond
that of the others because he is seen to be the seal of the prophets and much
greater and holier than Jesus, for example. This should be self-evident if his
task on Earth was more important than anyone else's.
However, this is where the conflict lies. If we look at the life
of Muhammad, we cannot say that it was in any way exemplary.
Muhammad killed several people who mocked him (Ibn Hisham, The
Biography of the Prophet Muhammad, p. 390,416, [in Finnish]), he was
involved in raids (Ibn Hisham, The Biography of the Prophet Muhammad,
p. 358), married 9-year-old Aisha, took privileges concerning the number of
wives (the Koran 33:50), and got visions to justify his actions. (According
to tradition, Muhammad' young wife Aisha is told to have once said bitterly and
scornfully, "God must be very busy trying to fill your will!" This statement
is believed to be connected to Muhammad getting a revelation and the permission
to take more wives; 33:50.) Muhammad also married the wife of his adopted
son Zaid. According to the customs of the Arabs, this would have been illegal
even if Zaid had already divorced his wife. However, Muhammad got a revelation
about this and Zaid had to divorce his wife and give her to Muhammad. The next
verses of the Koran also talk about this:
You said to the man whom God
and yourself have favoured: 'Keep your wife and have fear of God.' You sought
to hide in your heart what God was to reveal. You were afraid of a man,
although it would have been more proper to fear God. And when Zayd divorced his
wife, We gave her to you in marriage, so that it should become legitimate for
true believers to wed the wives of their adopted sons if they divorced them.
God's will has been done. No blame shall be attached to the Prophet for doing
what is sanctioned for him by God. Such was the way of God with the prophets
who passed away before him (God's decrees are pre-ordained); who fulfilled the
mission with which God had charged them, fearing God and fearing none besides
Him. Sufficient is God's reckoning. Muhammad is the father of no man among you.
He is the Apostle of God and the Seal of the Prophets. God has knowledge of all
things. (33:37-40)
As far as the rest of
Muhammad's life is concerned, it is referred to in the following example by a
former extremist Muslim; he refers to the imperfection of Muhammad' life and
how Muhammad was far from perfect.
In addition to this, we will also look at the life of the
Apostle Paul who was the apostle of the Gentiles. If we study the fruit of
Paul's life and compare it to the fruit of Muhammad's life, we must honestly say
that Paul was ahead of Muhammad, at least in love:
I then started to study the
infallibility of Muhammad. There are such biographies as Al-Seera AI-Halabija,
AI-Tabakaat AI-Kubra, and Seraat Ibn Hisham that talk about this, and also
commentaries from where you can read the comments on Sura 16:67, "You have
been a sign in the fruits of the date palm and vine, from which you can derive
intoxicating drinks and good food." Many reliable traditions clearly say that
Muhammad drank wine and advised his friends to dilute wine with water if it was
very strong. He used to eat meat that the Kuraish tribe had sacrificed to
heathen gods on the stone of Caba. He accepted things forbidden by God and
forbade things allowed by God. He made eyes at his friends' wives, and took
them as his wives without hesitating if someone pleased him. On the day of Kheibar (a bloody fight near Mecca), Safiya, Yehia Ibn Akhtabin's daughter, was
given Abdallah Ibn Umar to be his wife but Muhammad took her to be his own
wife. Muhammad also took as his wife Gahsh's daughter Zainab, who was the wife
of Muhammad' foster-child, Zaid.
All of these events disgraced that holy picture which was given
of Muhammad and destroyed his holy position which I had in my mind connected
with prophet Muhammad. Honestly said, all of these findings were very painful
to me.
Even though I found out a lot about Muhammad, I still hoped that
I could find such virtues from Islam to which I could cling on and continue to
be a Muslim. It was very difficult for me to give up the religion of my
childhood. Odd feelings of fear, confusion, and embarrassment filled my mind
when I played with the thought of abandoning Islam. (11)
References to the life of
Apostle Paul
- (2 Cor 12:14-15) Behold, the third
time I am ready to come to you; and I will not be burdensome to you: for I seek
not your's but you: for the children ought not to lay up for the parents, but
the parents for the children.
15 And I will very gladly spend and be spent for you; though
the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
- (2 Cor 2:3-4) And I wrote this
same to you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought
to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote to you
with many tears; not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the
love which I have more abundantly to you.
- (Rom 9:1-3) I say the truth in
Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,
2 That I have
great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my
brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh
- (2 Tim 3:10-11) But you have
fully known my doctrine, manner of life, purpose, faith, long-suffering,
charity, patience,
11 Persecutions,
afflictions, which came to me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what
persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me.
- (Phil 3:17) Brothers, be followers together of me, and mark
them which walk so as you have us for an ensample.
