Ali Ataie – Proof Of Prophecy The Definitive Description Of The Prophet Muhammad In The Bible
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
So, I've entitled this a definitive description of
the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in the Bible.
Before we get to the so-called definitive
prophecy, just to set the table, as it
were, with some hadith and some ayat of
the Qur'an, the Prophet ﷺ, this hadith
is in Sahih Muslim, I have many names,
I have many names, I am Muhammad ﷺ,
I am Ahmad, I am Al-Mahi, through
which Allah ﷻ obliterates unbelief.
I am Al-Hashr, at whose feet humanity
will be gathered, and I am Al-A
'fid, after whom there will be none.
And, of course, there are many, many names,
beautiful names of the Prophet ﷺ.
Ya Shaykh Yusuf al-Nabhani, rahimahullah, Nabhani, rahimahullah,
he mentions in his book, Fada'il al
-Nabi wa Ummatin, over 99 names of the
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, in reality there are hundreds
of names, of course the names of Allah
ﷻ are infinite, but this is just one
well-known hadith.
So if you look at these names, so
Muhammad ﷺ, this is his name, that most
people know him, this is a passive participle,
it means the one who is constantly praised.
One time a non-Muslim asked me, what
does the name Muhammad mean, ﷺ?
And I said, it means the most praised.
And he was surprised and he said, was
he born with this name?
And I said, yeah.
And he said, don't you think that's kind
of amazing?
And I thought about it and said, yeah,
that is kind of amazing.
The name itself is a fulfillment of prophecy.
So it's a passive participle of the form
two in Arabic, which is something that denotes
repetitive or intensive action, the one who is
repetitively and intensively praised.
He is also Ahmad, which is a superlative,
Ism Taqdeel, the most praised of all creation.
By the way, according to our hagiography, the
sacred biography of the Prophet ﷺ, our liege
lady Aamirah bint Wabah radiallahu anha, when she
was pregnant with the Prophet ﷺ, she had
a dream and she heard a voice, and
the voice said that you have Sayyidul Qawm,
you have the master of the people within
you, when he is born, seek refuge in
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and call him
or name him Muhammad.
And the tradition continues, salallahu alayhi wa alayhi
wa sallam, that his name is Muhammad ﷺ
in the Qur'an, and his name is
Ahmad in the Torah and in the Injil.
The most praised of creation, upon the tongue
of our master Isa ﷺ, wa mubashshiran bi
rasuli ya'di min ba'di ismahu Ahmad, that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the
Qur'an, that Isa ﷺ, Jesus peace be
upon him, he said, I'm giving you glad
tidings, which is bushra, which is what the
word gospel means, Injil means good news, good
news of a messenger to come after me,
his name is Ahmad, the most praised.
And the ulama also mentioned that the name
of the Prophet ﷺ on the day of
Qiyamah, is Ahmad ﷺ, al-mahhi, active participle,
the one who effaces kufr, or shirk.
The Prophet ﷺ is the greatest monotheist in
the history of humanity, the greatest monotheist.
And Jewish scholars find him a bit of
an enigma, because their whole claim to fame
is that they brought tawhid to the world,
this is their claim, we brought tawhid and
it's our responsibility, it's our duty to bring
tawhid to the nations.
But this one man ﷺ, he did more
for the spreading of tawhid than all of
the Israelite Prophets put together.
So they recognize that, there's something special about
this man ﷺ.
Al-Hashir, the one who gathers, as we
read in the Biya ul-Lami' Shaykh al
-Habib Umar bin Hafid, may Allah preserve him,
anta fil-hashri maladhun, laka kulul khalqi tafza'
that you are the refuge on the day
of gathering.
And all of humanity will go to you.
So all of humanity will go to the
different Prophets, they'll say Nassi, Nassi, they'll go
to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, and his response
is, Ana laha, this is mine.
And he will make sajda before Allah ﷻ,
and Allah ﷻ will say, Ya Muhammad irfa'
rasak wa shfa'tu shafa' wa sal'tu aqab.
Raise your head and intercede, and ask and
you shall be given.
Al-Hashir, al-'aqib, the one who appears last
in a procession.
The Prophet ﷺ, as we read again, in
the shimmering light, the Biya ul-Lami' that
he is al-akhir, he is the last
Prophet to come, but he is in reality
muqaddam.
He is the greatest Prophet and takes precedent,
because he has the highest station with Allah
ﷻ.
So Allah ﷻ saved the best for last.
And this is not a claim we are
making for the Prophet ﷺ.
This is from Allah ﷻ and his Messenger
ﷺ.
So here's an ayah that establishes this idea
of prophecy.
Allah ﷻ says, Alladhine yattabi'oon al-rasool
an-nabiyyil ummi alladhiyajijoonahum al-tuban aindahum fi
turati wal-injil Those who follow the Messenger,
the nabiyyil ummi, there's different ways of interpreting
this.
And these translations or interpretations are not necessarily
contradictory they can all be true at the
same time that he is the unlettered prophet
that he is some say the motherly prophet
the prophet of compassion and Nabil Rahma he
said I am the the prophet of mercy
but also Gentile as Edward Lane mentions in
his famous lexicon a Gentile prophet meaning a
non Israelite prophet whose description they find in
their Torah in their Torah and gospel so
this beginning of Surah Al-A'raf those
to whom we gave the scripture beforehand recognize
him recognition means to recognize right to recognize
him as they recognize their sons those who
fail themselves they're the ones who disbelieve in
other words his descriptions are given in their
texts so when he appeared on the scene
they can confirm his appearance and his character
with their texts this is a famous hadith
on the authority of Abdullah ibn Salam who
is a Jewish scholar in Medina so he
says that when the messenger of God reached
Medina the people rushed and it was said
the messenger of God has arrived so I
went out with the people to look at
him when I saw the face of the
messenger he says I recognize that his face
was not the face of a liar and
so the uran must say here that Ibn
Salam he just intuited the truthfulness from the
face of the Prophet but in the context
of Judaism a prophet cannot have takvid cannot
lie cannot have any type of untruthfulness so
he's actually saying here is I recognize his
face because it's described in my text and
that is his face is not the face
of a liar meaning that he's claiming to
be prophecy he's claiming to be a prophet
therefore his claim is true and the first
thing the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said
oh people spread peace feed others praying the
night while others are asleep and you will
enter paradise in peace so no need to
measure so they knew about him what you
know who what you know who let us
eat a lot better I mean that's another
you who could I mean I love all
the people who took one of you know
moon video and indeed it the Quran is
a revelation of the Lord of the worlds
descending with it is the trustworthy spirit which
most take to be Jibreel alaihissalam upon your
heart Oh Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam in
order for you to be among those who
warn in a form of Arabic that clarifies
and indeed it the Quran or he the
Prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam is foretold in
the scriptures of old Allah lam yakul lahum
ayatan an ya'lamahu lumawdani israeel right is
it not a sign for them the pagan
Arabs this is a Meccan surah is it
not a sign for these mushrikeen that the
scholars of Bani Israel the scholars of the
Israelites the rabbis know this or know him
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam so this verse is
an interesting little insight into what's happening in
the Meccan period the Quran is not making
this claim the Quran is saying is confirming
something that the mushrikeen already knew that rabbis
Jewish scholars are confirming the nabuwah of the
Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wa sallam well this
is a this is one of my favorite
hadith and Ibn Nusa radiallahu anhu qala kana
al yahood yata'ata soonaa inda al nabi
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam so the Jews used
to sneeze in the presence of the Prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam yarjuna an yakula lahum
yarhamukumullah in hopes of him saying because they
believed he was a prophet may Allah have
mercy on you fayakulu yahdikumullah wa yuslihu ba
'alakum but he would respond may Allah guide
you and correct your understandings so this is
in Genesis this is something interesting this is
not the definitive prophecy by the way I'm
still sort of setting the table here so
this is Genesis 1720 a famous verse where
God is apparently speaking to Ibrahim alayhi salam
he says as for Ishmael I have heard
you and there's a sort of a play
on words here right Ishmael shema'tika right sort
of from the same root behold I have
blessed him and will make him fruitful or
multiply him exceedingly he shall beget twelve princes
and will make him a great nation Genesis
1720 the famous Spanish rabbi and Torah commentator
Bahya bin Asher he quoted the 11th century
rabbi Kana'il bin Khushiya who said quote
once this prophecy came true Islam conquered the
civilized world like a whirlwind we the Jewish
people lost our position of preeminence in the
world due to our sins so they know
that the Torah is describing the Prophet Muhammad
sallallahu alayhi wa alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam
and that the Muslims under the Prophet sallallahu
alayhi wa alayhi wa sallam have taken up
the banner of Tawheed which is called Yafiduth
in Hebrew in the world just a dash
of gematria so this is a big thing
in Judaism the study of numbers numerology this
type of thing but in our tradition we
have to be careful about these things that's
why it's just a dash you put a
dash of salt on your food right too
much salt spoils the meal right so this
is what the rabbis actually mentioned this is
not something I came up with the Hebrew
phrase in Genesis 1720 translated as exceedingly has
a numerical value of 92 so go back
to the previous slide you see that and
we'll multiply him exceedingly the phrase as a
great nation which is at the very end
I will make him a great nation also
has a numerical value of 92 and then
they say them for your information the numerical
value of the name Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam
in Hebrew also has a numerical value of
92 exceedingly multiplied great nation Muhammad sallallahu alayhi
wasallam this is not for me this is
from their scholars more gematria just a dash
don't be afraid it's okay relax just a
little salt this is what they mentioned the
value of the name Abram the original name
of Abraham according to Genesis at least in
the result the father is 243 while Hagar
is 208 this was 451 which exact numerical
value of Ishmael or Ismail finally notice that
Genesis 1720 mentions that Ishmael the son of
Hagar will be get 12 princes remarkably Ishmael
alias so that was mentioned 12 times in
the Quran of Hagar Hajra alias Salam is
mentioned exactly 12 times in the Torah Allah
Allah okay now we're coming to the main
course inshallah so a Sahabi paraphrases and summarizes
a passage from the Hebrew Bible called Isaiah
42 the following hadith is found in Imam
Al-Bukhari's Al-Adab Al-Mufra okay book
12 number 9 is quoted in Kitab al
-Shifa by a Iyad Ibn Musa and Atai
Ibn Yasar said I met Abdullah Ibn Amr
Ibn Al-As
and
I asked tell me about the description of
the messenger of Allah in the Torah we
should know the word Torah doesn't necessarily mean
the first five books of Moses but rather
sacred Israelite tradition or teaching the word Torah
is a bit ambiguous it just means instruction
given to the Israelites
so
he said yes by Allah he's described in
the Torah partly as he is described in
the Quran Oh Prophet we have sent you
as a witness a bringer of good news
and a warner that's Surah Al-Ahzab verse
number 45 so
now he's paraphrasing and summarizing Isaiah 42 you
are a refuge in other words the Prophet
sallallahu alayhi wa sallam you are a refuge
for the Gentiles you are my slave and
my messenger I have called you the one
on whom people rely one who is neither
coarse nor vulgar and who shouts not in
the markets he
does not repay evil with evil but rather
pardons and forgives God will not take him
back to himself until the crooked community has
been straightened straightened out by him and they
say there is no God but Allah through
him blind eyes deaf ears and covered hearts
will be opened okay so who is Isaiah
right in Arabic and Hebrew so Isaiah is
listed by Imam Ibn Kathir Imam At-Tabari
as one of the prophets and others is
not definitive but highly plausible he's mentioned in
the Dalail ul-Khairat by Imam Al-Jazuli
As'alukallahumma bil-asma'il lati da'aka
biha sayyiduna sha'ya'u alayhi as-salam
this is Isaiah I ask you Allah by
the names which our Master Isaiah peace be
upon him called you so this is a
bit more sort of academic here but just
to mention this quickly there's only two slides
on this the book of Isaiah is one
of the 66 books of the Old Testament
the Tanakh most Orthodox Jews and traditional Christians
maintain that the historical prophet Isha'yahu bin
Amoz or Isaiah the son of Amoz wrote
the entire book in the 8th century BCE
the general historical consensus however is that the
book of Isaiah was written by multiple authors
across hundreds of years and has three major
divisions we'll look at that the oldest manuscript
of Isaiah complete manuscript ever discovered is called
the 1QISA this is part of the Dead
Sea Scrolls discovered in 1947 it's dated to
about 100 BCE so this is 700 years
after the historical Isha'yahu alayhi as-salam
so that's a lot of time for this
text to go through redaction but even so
we'll look at the text and here are
the three divisions of the book of Isaiah
Proto, Deutero, and Trito so Isaiah 42 is
obviously in Deutero-Isaiah written around 550 or
so BCE written by an anonymous anonymous Isianic
prophet of some sort in Babylon in Iraq
the ancient home of Ibrahim alayhi as-salam
the great iconoclast and quintessential monotheist and it's
no coincidence that the two major biblical prophecies
of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam
the greatest monotheist of all time are found
in the two most emphatically monotheistic books in
the entire Tanakh or Hebrew Bible Deuteronomy 18
and Deutero-Isaiah chapter 42 okay so now
this is the first verse and the book
of Isaiah is a bit long it's 25
verses I'm going to go through all of
them inshallah but only about half of it
just to show you some highlights here and
allahu alam so this is what was summarized
and paraphrased by a companion of the Prophet
Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam so it says
behold my servant whom I uphold my chosen
one in whom my soul is pleased I
put my spirit upon him you will bring
divine religion to the Gentiles few things to
point out here the word servant in Hebrew
is Abed which is the same word as
Abed the word chosen one is Bikhri which
is related to Mokhtar please Ratsa is Radia
so this Abed as God's Ridwan Yabtaguna fadla
minallahi wa Ridwana and then my spirit according
to Jewish exegesis refers to the spirit of
prophecy Ruhul Qutus Qul Nazzalahu Ruhul Qutus min
Rabbika bil Haqq and then divine religion which
is Mishpat in Hebrew according to most scholars
of the Hebrew Bible they mentioned Jesenius for
example mentions that the closest word in Arabic
to Mishpat is Deen, Deen you will bring
Deen to the Ummiyin to the Gentiles you
will not cry out nor lift up nor
cause his voice to be heard in the
streets of course the hadith we read Wala
Sakhaban Fil Aswaq the bruised reed you will
not break a smoldering wick you will not
put out you will bring the true religion
the hadith we read Laysa Bifadlan Wala Gharib
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says Fabeema Rahmatin
Minallahi Lintalahum it's for the mercy of Allah
that you have gentleness Walaw Kunta Fadlan Gharibal
Qalbi Lanfadlun Min Hawlid if you were harsh
or hard-hearted you would have seen people
flee from your presence Huwa Ladhi Arsala Rasoolahu
Bilhuda Madinil Haqq It's he who has sent
his messenger with truth and the true religion
He shall not grow dim or be bruised
until he has established the true religion on
the earth and the coastlands shall await his
teaching almost all of the exegesis of this
verse of Isaiah they say that the coastlands
are the countries that have coastlines on the
Mediterranean Sea so 21 countries that have coastlines
the dominant by far religious teachings practiced by
these coastlines are the teachings of the Prophet
Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam so this is clear
fulfillment of prophecy some of these countries Albania,
Egypt, Palestine, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Turkey, Tunisia, etc.
I the Lord have called you in righteousness
I've called you the Hebrew here is Qara
'atika from Qara'a Iqra' Bismi Rabbika Allahi
Khalaq and I've made you for a people's
covenant for a light to nations or a
light from the Gentiles Ibn Akhada Allaha Mithaka
Al-Nabiyeen Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A
'la took a covenant from all the prophets
and the umam of those prophets that if
this Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam should come or
arrive onto the scene you must obey him
and follow him and of course we have
Nabiul Ummi the Gentile Prophet Hadith says Hirazan
Al-Ummiyeen a refuge for the Gentile Qad
Ja'akum Min Allahi Noorun Wa Kitabun Mubeen
of course a light to nations and the
Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam is called the light
in the Quran there is someone to you
from Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la
a light meaning the Prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
Wa Kitabun Mubeen and a clarifying book to
open the eyes of the blind free the
captives from prison releasing those who sit in
dungeons Yaftahu Biha A'yuna Al-Rumya according
to the hadith I am the Lord that
is my name I will not give my
glory to another nor share my praise with
carved idols so this Ebed this Abdullah our
excellence this Muqtad this chosen one of God
he's going to come up against very strong
idolatry so some Christians they say most Christians
not all Christians they say this is actually
describing Isa Alayhi Salaam Isa Alayhi Salaam was
not sent to Mushrikeen he was sent to
Bani Israel very clear here that this Prophet
is going to oppose Mushrikeen behold the former
things have come to pass and now a
prophecy against some new things okay there's a
verse from Baqara Falamma Ja'ahum Ma'arahu
Kafaroon Faih Falaanatullahi A'ala Al-Kaafirin so
when something came that they should have recognized
they disbelieved in it right and many of
the exegetes here the Mufassireen they say this
is the coming of the Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam singing to the Lord a new
song in his praise from the ends of
the earth so a new song song here
a new scripture you can say a new
praising of God wa min qablihi kitabu Musa
imamum wa rahma wa hadha kitabun musaddiqul lisanan
a'rabiyan liyunzira allatheena dhalamu wa bushra bilmuhsineen
and in the past was the book of
Moses as a guide and a mercy and
this is a book that confirms in the
Arabic language okay in order to warn those
who do wrong and give glad tidings the
people of good the word praise here in
Hebrew is tahila which is related to tahlil
which is to say la ilaha illallah this
I think is a very key verse that
the desert and cities lift up their voice
the villages that Qadar inhabits that the inhabitants
of the stone Salaaq sing for joy that
was shot from the tops of the mountains
so Qadar according to all biblical exegesis refers
to Arabs okay Qadar is the second son
of Ismail alayhis salaam according to the book
of Genesis according to Ibn Hisham he says
that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is
a descendant of Ibrahim alayhis salaam Ismail alayhis
salaam and then Qaydar the son of Ishmael
the Qadarite Arab capital at the time of
the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was Mecca
and then inhabitants of the stone most biblical
exegesis they say this is Petra in Jordan
okay and Petra was the capital of the
Nabataeans named after Nebaioth who was the firstborn
son of Ismail alayhis salaam so the Nabataean
Arab capital is Petra which is called Raqmu
in ancient Nabataean which means colored stone but
here's something interesting so here's Mecca here's the
capital of the Qadarites next to that Petra
the capital of the Nabataeans but there's a
mountain in Medina to Al-Munawwara of Jabal
Salaaq and this is a picture of it
so this verse here could actually be a
reference to Mecca and Medina the Lord shall
go forth like a mighty man like a
man of war he stirs up zeal with
a shout who will raise the battle cry
and prevail over his enemies so this Ebed
he's very gentle but he's also a warrior
and he defends himself and his Ummah he
has a Jamal and Jalal and I will
leave the blind on the road they don't
know and paths which they do not know
I will leave them I will make darkness
into light before them and the crooked paths
into straight ones these things I will do
I will not forsake them Allah is the
protector of those who have faith he leads
them from darkness into light this is my
path going straight so follow it and here
the Sirat Imam al-Razi is the Sunnah
of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ almost done here
and they shall turn back greatly ashamed of
those who trust in graven images who say
to molten idols you are our gods so
again this Prophet is coming into contact with
Mushrikeen with idolaters it's very clear you deaf
ones listen you blind ones look and see
again the hadith so here
the speaker who is God is chastising the
Israelites for disbelieving in this Prophet when he
comes and so these are kind of questions
of in common we really call my servant
blind we really call my messenger deaf we
really call the one who is my perfect
servant blind so interesting here the word for
perfect in Hebrew is an exact codename to
which means perfect and also the one who
is greeted often so in summary Isaiah 42
predicts a divinely beloved servant of God a
servant who is God's chosen one and divinely
inspired with God's spirit a servant who is
gentle in his disposition yet formidable on the
battlefield exalted messenger of God a prophet who
will be a bulwark against idolatry a champion
of monotheism a prophet whose law or teaching
will convert the islands and coastlands a universal
prophet will be a light to or from
the gentiles a prophet whose message will convert
the Keterites and Nabataeans i.e. the Arabs
a prophet whose revelation will be a quote
new song unto the Lord a prophet who
will bring true religion to the world a
prophet who is perfect and often greeted or
praised so I think it's very obvious now
this is very interesting here so these are
two atheist scholars but these are considered to
be kind of top tier secular historians okay
so the guy at the bottom here is
named Ehrman University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
he's written several books six New York Times
bestsellers and Ehrman says that Paul of Tarsus
was a first century uh persecutor of the
early Christian movement probably the founder of Christianity
he claimed to be the servant of Isaiah
42 the apostle to the nations the light
to the gentiles the final messenger in the
culmination of God's plan this is what he's
saying now um I've been saying this for
about 20 years but don't get any credits
but anyway is Omer Ali here Omer Ali
member San Jose State podcast anyway he's going
to get the credit for this uh and
then according to Robert Eisenman Paul was a
Herodian meaning he was an Arab Jew that
is he had a gentile background right so
it's very interesting Paul is claiming to be
this person in Isaiah 42 yet Paul taught
that Jesus peace be upon him was a
dying and rising savior man god who died
for our sins this is blasphemy and idolatry
according to standard normative orthodox Judaism also Paul
did not convert the karma the Arabs here
are a couple of verses from Paul's own
hand I am saying all this especially for
you gentiles God has appointed me as the
apostle to the gentiles he's claiming to be
the Nabi and interestingly here Paul says in
Galatians that when he had his experience of
conversion he did not go to Jerusalem to
consult with those who are apostles before me
like the leader of the early Christians instead
I went into Arabia why is he talking
about Arabia because Isaiah 42 says that this
great abd of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
this great servant of Allah this great prophet
he will convert to the Arabs so here
he is yeah oh you who believe bless
him and grant him peace this is Musallam
this is the prophet that is often greeted
and you see throngs of humanity this is
going on around the clock greeting the prophet
Muhammad and more than humanity the malaika are
sending salawat upon the prophet and more than
that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is sending
blessings of peace upon the prophet Muhammad two
minutes to spare thank you so much so
anyone have like a quick question or call
I have two minutes yes yeah so could
you repeat the question yeah the question is
it's about this slide here so this verse
11 that let the desert and cities lift
up their voice abilities as I can't art
and habits clearly reference to Arabs let the
inhabitants of the stone the question is what
is the stone that's the big question there's
no opinion one one opinion is is the
word is in Hebrew the original word is
with an aim so the dominant opinion is
that this is Petra Petra means stone in
Greek right and it's actually a translation of
which is ancient Nabataean which means stone colored
stone but interestingly there is a mountain in
Medina to this day called Jebel Sera right
now is in front of the Medina so
the point was this could be a reference
to both Mecca and Medina rather than Petra
although Petra was the capital of the Nabataeans
right so a huge capital of the Arabs
so both of these cities right and it's
interesting you look at Petra up here and
Medina here or sorry and Mecca here right
so the so the capital of the capital
right in the center almost exactly is Medina
to Manila so the Jews they picked a
place because the prophet could come from one
of these two places so they settled right
in the middle that's the big question why
are all these Jewish tribes doing in Medina
in the seventh century the Arabs were they're
fighting these civil wars for decades it's not
a very good environment it's not conducive to
the to their health there was a fever
in Medina or to their why are they
in Medina i think i have to stop