The Prophet, The Paraclete, Is Muhammad(saw)
:
Up to the time of Jesus (peace be upon him),
the Jews were still awaiting for the prophet like Moses prophesied in
Deuteronomy 18:18. When John the Baptist came, they asked him
if he was Christ and he said, “I am not the Christ.” They
asked him if he was Elijah, and he said, “I am not.” Then, in
apparent reference to Deuteronomy 18:18, they asked him, “Are
you the Prophet?” He answered, “No.” (John
1:19-21).
In the Gospel according to John (Chapters
14, 15, 16 KJV), Jesus spoke of the “Paraclete” or comforter who will
come after him, who will be sent by God, who will teach new things which
the contemporaries of Jesus could not bear. While the Paraclete is
described as the spirit of truth, (the meaning of which resembles
Muhammad’s(saw) famous title al-amin, the
trustworthy), he is identified in one verse as the Holy Ghost (John
14:26 KJV). 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 followers who responded to some who claimed,
without meeting the criteria stipulated by Jesus, to be the awaited
“Paraclete.”
It was the Prophet Muhammad(saw)
who was the Paraclete, Comforter, helper, and 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 (the Holy Quran), 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,
upon 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 KJV). He did “convict the world of
guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” (John
16:8).
Blessings of Ishmael And Isaac:
Abraham is widely regarded as the Patriarch 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 them all. The
advent of these great prophets was in partial fulfillment of God’s
promises to bless the nations of earth through the descendants of Abraham
(Genesis 12:2-3).1
Such fulfillment is wholeheartedly accepted by Muslims whose faith
considers the belief in and respect of all prophets an article of
faith.
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:
1) Genesis 12:2-3 speaks of God’s
promise to Abraham and his descendants before any child was born to
him.
2) Genesis 17:4 reiterates God’s
promise after the birth of Ishmael and before the birth of
Isaac.
3) In Genesis, ch. 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.
4) 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 “maidservant” as Hagar,
Ishmael’s mother). This is only consistent with the moral and
humanitarian principles of all revealed faiths.
5) The full legitimacy of Ishmael as
Abraham’s son and “offspring” 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(saw), from the progeny of Abraham
through Ishmael. God’s blessings for both of the main branches of
Abraham’s family tree were now fulfilled.
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).
Jesus said: “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.” (Matthew 21:43). Those people among
Ishmael’s descendants (the rejected stone in Matthew 21:42) who
were victorious against all superpowers of their time as prophesied by
Jesus: “He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but
he on whom it falls will be crushed.” (Matthew 21:44).
Muhammad’s(saw) Migration Prophesied in the Bible:
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 miraculously defeated the men of
Kedar, who sought to destroy Islam and intimidate their own folks who
turned to Islam.
Out of Context Coincidence:
Is it possible that the numerous prophecies
cited here are, individually and combined, all out of context
misinterpretations? Is the opposite true, that such infrequently
studied verses support each other consistently and clearly, pointing to
the advent of the man who changed the course of human history, the Prophet
Muhammad(saw). Is it reasonable to
conclude that all of these prophecies, appearing in different books of the
Bible and spoken by various prophets at different times, were all
coincidence?
As was mentioned before, God has said about the
prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy 18, who is Muhammad(saw): “If anyone does not listen to my words that the
prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account.”
(Deuteronomy 18:19).2
If you still would
like more Biblical prophecies on the Prophet Muhammad(saw), please visit:
The Bible’s Last Prophet
Muhammad(saw) is mentioned by his exact name
in the Gospel of Barnabas
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Footnotes:
(1) All of the verses on
this page have been taken from The NIV Study Bible, New International
Version, except where noted as being KJV which means King James
Version. 
(2) This article has been taken from the pamphlet
entitled, “Muhammad in the Bible” by Dr. Jamal Badawi, with some editing.
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