Moses (sws) one of the most
distinguished Prophets of the Israelites declared the arrival of Muhammad (sws)
among the Ismaelites in the following words:
The Lord your God will raise up for
you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him... The
Lord said to me: What they say is good. I will raise up from them a Prophet like
you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will
tell everything I will 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,
18:15-19)
The Prophet Jesus (sws) declared the
arrival of Muhammad (sws) in the clearest of words. In fact, the word Injīl, the
Book revealed to him, means ‘glad tidings’ for it gives glad tidings of the
establishment of the Kingdom of Allah. According to Muslim scholars, the
following passages from the Bible predict in the words of Jesus (sws) the
arrival of Muhammad (sws):
Jesus said to them: Have you never
read in the scriptures that the stone the builders rejected has become the
capstone; the Lord has done this and it is marvellous 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 on whom it falls will be crushed. (Matthew, 21:42-44)
And I will ask the Father and He will
give you another Counsellor to be with you forever -- the Spirit of Truth.
(John, 14:16-17)
But the Counsellor, the Holy spirit
the Father will send in my name will teach you all things and will remind you of
everything I have said to you. (John, 14:26)
I will not speak with you much
longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me. (John,
14:30)
But I tell you the truth: It is for
your good that I am going away. Unless I go away the Counsellor will not come to
you; but if I go away, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict
the world with regard to sin and righteousness and judgement; in regard to sin
because men do not believe in me; in regard to righteousness because I am going
to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and in regard to judgement
because the prince of this world now stands condemned. 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. (John, 14:7-13)
The Qur’ān refers to the predictions of
Muhammad’s arrival in the following words:
Those who will follow the Rasūl the
unlettered Nabī whom they find mentioned in the Torah and the Injīl. (7:157)
The Prophet Jesus (sws), according to
the Qur’ān, proclaimed the advent of Muhammad by actually taking his name:
And [remember] when Jesus son of Mary
said to the Israelites: ‘I am sent forth to you as the Rasūl of Allah according
to the predictions mentioned in the Torah before me and have come to you to give
glad tidings of a Rasūl to come after me. His name will be Ahmad’. (61:6)
In this atmosphere of divine
pre-announcements, everyone was eagerly awaiting the arrival of the ‘prince of
the world’ after the departure of Jesus (sws). |