Jamal Badawi – Muhammad in The Bible 8 – Other References And Conclusions
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AI: Transcript ©
In the name of Allah, beneficence, the Merciful, the creator and the Sustainer of the universe, I greet you with the greetings of all of the profits from Abraham to Prophet Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him assalamu Aleikum, which means peace be unto you. I'm your host Hama Rashid. This is the eighth and last program in our series on Muhammad in the Bible, or Prophet Muhammad is foretold in the Bible. Today's program will largely be a wrap up of the previous seven programs in the series. My guest on today's program is Dr. Jamal Badawi of St. Mary's University. Welcome to Islam and focus, brother Jamal. In the last program, you gave various reasons to show that the
Comforter or the advocate
who was foretold by Jesus in the Gospel of john, was, in fact, Muhammad, or Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, not the Holy Ghost. I wonder if you could explain for the benefit of the viewers a little more about the original Greek term for comforter or advocate. parakeet I believe is the Greek word or at least is the English equivalent that's used because of the lack of better translation. But the original Greek word for that is para Cletus. Yes, which has been translated like you said, as comforter advocate. Sometimes it's translated as somebody who admonishes all variety of meanings for that.
But it's interesting to notice that there is another Greek word, which is very, very close to calculators. percolators
percolators in Greek actually means the illustrious, the praised one or the Praiseworthy person.
That second word percolators actually means exactly in Arabic, you'd be surprised. I met, I met, which is another name of Prophet Mohammed, because both Ahmed and Mohammed come from the same route in Arabic, which is hemp or press, right, that might raise some interesting questions for scholars to explore.
Is it possible that the original Greek word
was actually perfectly to us, which means rather than percolators, which, like I said, in Greek, when you write them, they're very, very close. It's almost very difficult to distinguish between you said, and they sound almost the same. They sound also the same, but hundreds, and also what's the difference in balance really mean? Right.
So that raises another interesting question. But anyway, you look at it, whether it is the original word was, particularly to switch means I met or Muhammad that shows again, the Mohammed was foretold by name as the Quran has confirmed, whether you take it as paddock liters, which means admonish her comfort her advocate, this still applies to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him anywhere you look at it's still applicable. Before we move on to the wrap up summary of the topic. Let me ask you another question.
In addition to the this reference that we've just been talking about in john of the Berkeley is foretold by Jesus, are there any other statements in the New Testament which confirm that the expected one was actually Prophet Muhammad, as we've discussed in previous sessions, and not spirit? There are and since you want to make this to wrap up, I just give you one of the more important ones in the Gospel of john chapter one, verses 19 through 25. There is the famous story, when john the baptist was raised up, that the Jews sent to him some of the priests and Levi's to ask him what is the identity of that Prophet? And notice here, the the questions were quite revealing and really
interesting. They went to the Baptist, and they said,
Are you Christ?
He said, No.
They said, Are you LDS? They meant the second coming of profit? Yes.
He said, No. Maybe they expected the same profit that he has to come again rather than a profit to come. Like Yes. He said no. And then they asked him a third
question which is quite revealing. They said, Are you that Prophet? And he said, No.
Notice here, that the Israelites, the priest and advise those who are learned people from the scriptures, were expecting three distinct personalities to come, yet at the time of Jesus. One was Christ, let's no one was the second coming of alias, which if it's not interpreted strictly as the same as yours,
could have been interpreted also, as john the baptist, coming as it is, which actually was stated by Jesus.
And then the third person, who is not Christ was not as was that Prophet. That means they were expecting a third personality called that prophet who is that Prophet that they expected? The answer has been covered in the past. And we come to that in the summary also.
It is that Prophet, which was
who was foretold in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verse 18, when Moses were saying, so they started it, God would send you
from among your President, that is the ishmaelites, a prophet like unto me, three distinct persons, and that was up to the time of Prophet Jesus, if,
throughout this whole series, these seven preceding programs and in the beginning of today's program, you've quoted extensively from the Bible, how can you as a Muslim justify the use of other scriptures to make this point?
I think like we indicated in the first program,
on the methodology of the whole series, that it is erroneous to believe that Muslims totally reject the Bible rejects each and every word of it, or that they accept it literally that each and every word is literally the Word of God that has been accurately and scrupulously preserved and has come to us in the arena form. The Quran next is an obligatory duty on the Muslim to believe not only in previous prophets, but also in the scriptures that were revealed to those prophets in their original form. For that matter, then the Muslim adopts what I call
a cautious openness.
Its openness in a sense that one cannot unfairly presume that the whole Bible has been changed, there is a possibility that some philosophical or theological arguments has been introduced. Some statements which are ethnic oriented or reflect some bias might have been added by some of the writers of the autistics, but I think it is erroneous and unfair to say that the Bible from A to Z is nothing but just created statements that has no original revelation. But on the other hand, we saying it's not optimist that's unqualified cautious of Venus, in a sense that according to the Quran, one has to watch for the areas which might have undergone some changes. And as we indicated
also on his program, the criteria the proper care here for the Muslim is to check on anything in the Bible, any portion in the Bible that is consistent with the Quran, which was confirmed in the Quran as the last scripture of God preserved in its originality, then the Muslim has no he has no reason to reject those portions. So in that sense, then we could say that a Muslim could be quite often looking into the Bible, using the Quran as the final and ultimate choice. And on that particular topic on prophecies, we have seen ample evidence that there is still in the Bible. Plenty of clear
prophecies about the advent of the last prophet Muhammad peace be upon.
I understand that we have here today seven point chart, which summarizes the profile of the expected profit. Perhaps we can make use of the chart as we go through the balance of today's program, and uncover the various points. First of all, I wonder if you could tell us in what sense the Bible prophecies prove that the expected profit was to be from Israel's descendants. Okay, what since you're referring to the chat here, this is the first
point that you're referring to, that the awaited prophet that has been awaited for too long by various stylized prophets and Old Testaments that was referred to as a parklet. By the Jesus peace be upon him. It has to be or was to be actually
from the ish miles the sentence.
In the second program, we have indicated that and try to explain it in a very simple way, by showing that Abraham, the patriarch of monotheistic faith, has been promised by God in the book of Genesis, especially in chapter 12 and chapter 17, that God will make him a great nation. He will bless him and he will bless all the families of earth through his descendants. Alright. And then we know that an Abraham had two wives
The first was Sarah, the second Hagar, from his second wife, Hagar, he got
Ishmael, the first son, and from the second wife, he got Isaac. And then we indicated that in the book of Genesis in several places, especially in chapter 21, verses 13, and 18, beyond this general promise of Abraham to bless the nations of Earth, through him, there was a specific mention, or prompt
from God, to make Isaac a great nation and to make a wish mind also a great nation. So both these limbs, both those children has been specified for the blessing of prophethood. And then we have seen that how throughout history, the promise of God to Abraham has been already fulfilled through both branches of Abraham's household.
From the descendants of Isaiah came all Israelite prophets.
Joseph, Moses, David Solomon, Jesus, peace be upon them all. And then we said that from the descendants of Ishmael,
came the last prophet, Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, and the name Kadare appears frequently in the Bible, and kidada was the second son of Ishmael. So in that sense, then we could say that the Bible prophecies are very clear, very concise, despite of some statements that some people interpreted in a prejudicial way that the promise of God was equally to both children, Ishmael and Isaac and Mohammed is definitely the descendants of Ishmael. You might recall also that in the sixth program, on this series, we provided further evidence also that that profit is coming from the descendants of Ishmael. For example, in the
in the
prophecy about Jesse,
and I, Isaiah,
chapter 11, verses one and two talks about the prophet to come from the
from Jesse. And by checking the Encyclopedia biblica, we have found that Jesse was used as a contraction for Ishmael. So it's the same name as Ishmael, and that's in the Christian source itself in the encyclopedia biblical edited by Cheyenne. So in that sense, then there is no doubt whatsoever as to
who his descendants, that profit is going to come definitely from the descendants of Ishmael, separate places in the Bible. Okay, moving on to the second point, how about Mohammed similarity to Moses, you might recall also in the second was third in the third program, we have dealt with this in greater detail. So I can only make a very quick summary. For that today, we have this chart in which we try to show
at least 10 areas of comparisons between Moses and Mohammed on one hand, and Moses and Jesus, on the other hand, and we have said that it is quite mistaken that some scholars say that that prophet like unto Moses is going to be or was actually fulfilled in Jesus, for a number of reasons. First of all, in the prophecy about Moses, in Deuteronomy, chapter 18, verse 18, it says, God would send you from among your brethren, and he was addressing the Israelites. So the President of the sidelights, our fish, my rights, okay.
On the basis of that, then, to carry that further, even. We have said that,
for example, both Mohammed and Moses were regarded as prophets, Jesus was regarded as Son of God, Mohammed and Moses has parents, normal parents, mother and father, they have normal births, normal family, life, marriage and children normal death.
The emphasis in their teaching was a combination of spiritual legal. They both were leaders, not just prophets, they lead their people and established a community of believers, their careers, as prophets included being kings are not necessarily kings in the strict sense, but rulers, they both encountered their enemies and had victory. And their mission was completed and a new order was established, even in those very lifetime. And he said, if you look into all of this, you find that the correspondence between Moses and Mohammed is just perfect. And when you compare it with Prophet Jesus peace, be upon him, respected and acknowledged as he may be, but it's not really that Prophet,
specifically
for thought in Deuteronomy 1818, he's actually an Israelite himself. He's not from the president of that site. So that applies very conclusively to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Moving on to the third point in our summary. Perhaps you could recap the proofs that are foretold in the
Bible that the that Prophet that was expected was to come from Arabia is did Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him? Okay, there were several points that were raised. Perhaps the most important reference we made was to the book of the throne.
To me, Chapter 33, especially verses one through three, in which it says that God came from Sinai with advice from seer and came from Mount Paran. And we have given anthon evidence that foreign or foreign and Arabic is actually the name of Mecca or Arabia in general. And we get evidence actually from the Bible itself from the book of Genesis, chapter 21, verse 21, which says that Ishmael dwells in the wilderness of Paran, and it's very well known historically that
he lived in Arabia is the grandfather of herbs, their
their relics are still there, the Kaaba, the holy shrine of Muslims in Mecca, is still there until this very moment, which he built with the help of his father.
Abraham, we mentioned also another evidence from the Bible and Isaiah chapter 21, verse 13, where the term Arabia is mentioned, in particular, the burden is upon Arabia. That's the burden of carrying the new religious revival or rejuvenation with fought on Arabia.
We have seen further that most surprisingly, even the name Mecca, appears in the Bible. I have tried to clarify that in one of those sheets. That's in the Psalms of David, and the 84th. Son, verse six, it talks about the Valley of backcast.
And we said that in Arabic, Mecca and Becca are the same actually they were mentioned in the Quran referring to the same thing. And as such, when David prophet David, peace be upon him was talking about the want to come from the Valley of Becca,
who is that referring to and there is no other prophet that has come from Mecca or backcast other name except for one, and that is, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. So in addition to this, you might have
you might recall, in the six program, that they were very vivid description in the Bible about the holy shrine, the Kaaba,
how it will be called, like New Jerusalem, or news, Zion,
how does the door of the Kaaba will be permanently open and we know for 1400 years, it has always been like that, and how it would be a house for all people. That is not for a particular ethnic group. We're not talking, for example, about certain sites in Jerusalem. We're talking about the Kaaba, which is a house open for all nations of all races, more than a million people coming for pilgrimage every year, some description of pilgrimage even before Mohammed was born, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him hundreds of years before his birth, hundreds of years before pilgrimage became part and parcel of Muslim practice, we find that this description has been given by Isaiah,
for example, in chapter 52, verse 156, verse seven and eight, Chapter 16, verse 11, putting the points together, there is no other way
of interpreting the place of that Prophet. But that that will be in Arabia, Matt can particular that the Prophet would be close to the Kaaba. And they again, there is no other person.
It's almost like a glove. Exactly. What about the point of Mohammed is a messenger in a ruler? How was that foretold in the Bible? In the fifth, I think it was the fifth program, we have gone into greater detail in this analyzing chapter 42. In Isaiah, which gave several description, or profiles of that prophet to come.
One of which is the one that you're asking about that he wouldn't be ruling, he will be actually carrying responsibility also beside preaching. And as you might recall, that included his description as a servant and messenger of God, which is a very clear and famous title of Prophet Muhammad, that his face would be universal. And these are the number of verses particularly in 42, that he will bring a court of law. And again, we know that
the most famous prophets who brought a complete court of law were basically Moses and then after Moses, the only one was Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. It said also here that the aisles would wait for his law, referring to the spread of Islam all over the world. And as we know, nearly 20% of total world populations are Muslims.
That he will have patience and victory will not fail he will not be discouraged, as other prophets were, and that he will live until he has total and complete victory over his adversaries and established faith and justice on Earth. But perhaps the most surprising and most conclusive evidence appears in Isaiah 40
To 11 Chapter The verse 11, which mentioned kadesh, the joy that the people who are living in the settlements of kadesh will have as a result of becoming of that Prophet, and we know that according to the Bible itself, in Genesis 2513, Kadar was the second son of Ishmael, so it's referring to Arabia, Qatar, actually in the Bible at times is used to refer to Arabia. So not only we're talking about a variety of characteristics, but as he said, as a prophet and ruler, he very clearly meets those criteria.
Okay, let's move on to this question of Revelation. How did Muhammad peace and blessings be upon him receive revelation? And how is that related to the prophecies in the Bible? Okay, anyone who has the slightest information about Islam and how, you know, the revelation started to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. He knows first of all, that he was meditating in a cave of Hara outside of Makkah engine, Gabrielle came to him and he said, read or decide, he said, I am not learned. Okay? And then afterwards, he told him read or decide in the name of the Lord who created man and then continued by the first revelation. Everybody also who knows something about the revelation knows that Prophet
Muhammad peace be upon him was not using his own words, even when the Quran was revealed to him that it was dictated to him by engine Gabrielle and he was simply repeating word for word, what was taught to him and he was very cautious, and repeating tests that he would not miss any word from the Quran. This are fundamental information for anyone who studied anything about Islam. As to how was this for thought in the Bible, there are plenty of evidence conclusive and very clear evidence in the Bible. Take Deuteronomy,
chapter 18, verse 18, Moses describes that prophet like unto Him who is going to come and he says, God will put the words in his mouth, that is, he will not speaking of his own, he would be dictated to scriptures. That's exactly what happened to
take Deuteronomy 1820. It says that He will speak in the name of the Lord. And as he indicated in the previous session also, always the Quran starts with Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, in the name of God, Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful, that we know that the first revelation as I said, that can the Prophet Muhammad says, read in the name of your Lord, which is gives a very clear hint, if not there, an obvious indication of the nature of prophets, which is consistent fully with the Quran in chapter 53, verse three and four talks exactly about the same type of description of Revelation. Not only this, we found that in Isaiah, chapter 42, particularly in verse nine, it says, that this new
scripture given to that Prophet would be in a new language, it says, a new song to the Lord, that is a new language of description in the symbolical scriptural language. And we know that again they stylized prophets had the Scripture and assisted language core and that was given to Prophet Mohammed was revealed in a different language and that is, the Arabic language in which is still available, as intact when Isaiah chapter 2929, verses 18, sorry, verses 11 to 13. There is the exact description almost word for word
to what happened to Prophet Mohammed in the cave of Hira, because it says in Isaiah, the book is given unto Him who is not learned saying, read this, I pray thee, and he will say I'm not learning exactly word for word what Prophet Mohammed stated hundreds of years later, in the cave of Hara, not only this, we find, for example, in Isaiah chapter 28, verse 11, description a very accurate description of the state of the Prophet when he was receiving that revelation and his fears that you might be missing something which is again, very identical to the description given in the Quran. And in chapter 75, verses 16 and 17. As far as the revelation is, perhaps, there's no room to dispute,
its applicability.
I wonder if perhaps you might be able to summarize for us a few historical events from the life of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him,
which were foretold in the Bible, things that Prophet Muhammad management while himself in which had been previously foretold in the, in the Scriptures, the biblical scriptures. All right. You might recall we mentioned before, for example, the the the astronomy, the prophecy by Prophet Moses, in the same book of Deuteronomy, chapter 33. It was mentioned there,
that
the Lord's will come from non parents
with him would be 10,000 since
and as we indicated before, that was precisely the number of Muslims the number of believers in there
Going back to Makkah, the victorious bloodless takeover of Mecca, which from which they were driven by the pagans. We mentioned also
the citation from the book of Habakkuk chapter three in particular, when it talks also about,
about the the prophet who would be away from his homeland that was even much more clear in Isaiah chapter 21, verses 13 through 17, describing the forced migration of the Prophet and his followers, under the threat of
being killed under persecution and how they were received in Medina, tema, as the Christian sources have described, it is an oasis north of Medina, the second holiest China of Islam, and the place to which Prophet Mohammed, migrated, there are others. But, in fact, the description is so vivid and so clear, that it leaves no room to suspect that there was any other prophets in the entire human history, who faced exactly the same kind of historical events, as Prophet Muhammad did, with the exact description even of the number of people with him, right? Like the perfect match exactly, right. No other possibility even that other prophets might might share the sin. What about this
question of timing now to come after Jesus? When when was that what does the Bible have to say, but when this prophet was to come, in he specific when and in the beginning of this program, I mentioned the prophecy by prophet john the baptist wrote the prophecy that indication that people were still waiting for a profit, that profit was 4000, Deuteronomy 1818. So up to Jesus time, then it was not he was not there. And then even after Jesus, as we indicated, Jesus peace be upon him speak about the Paraclete. And you have indicated the Paraclete is a man and the Prophet, and the men gender was used actually, to refer to him. So it means
that he was never there unto Jesus time. And Jesus indicated that the Paraclete, or comforter on this case is not or Mohammed is coming after him. So again, in terms of any confusion as to when this prophet whether he has already come or whether in past history, or whether he still yet to come, is very clearly answered, he has never come before Jesus. He was for thought after Jesus, and the description and provide perfectly fit a prophet Muhammad. So some people are really waiting for somebody who's already there was come 1400 years ago,
we only have a few moments left in today's program. And I'm wondering, you go back to the New Testament and
to question as to whether or not there's any evidence of the shift of prophethood, away from the Israelite side, to the light side? Well, it is both in the old as well as the New Testament. In fact, if you go back, for example, to the book of Ezekiel, chapter two, verse three, it again indicates how many of those spirits were rebelling against God. And then there was very clear threats. In Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 36, telling that if Israel continues, or the Israelites continue into rebellion against God's, then Prophethood, we'll be checking it says, The kingdom of God with God would be taken from you, you will cease to be a nation before me.
The same thing has been repeated by Prophet Jesus peace be upon him in Matthew 21, especially verse 43, when he talks about the fig tree, and that again, the factory would be cut after three years if it doesn't work.
So that's exactly what happened. That the owner of prophethood shifted to the other side of the Abraham's children to take their shares also, in the spiritual leadership of humanity to unite them under the same
umbrella. Jamal in the closing seconds of today's program. I've enjoyed doing this series with you. I wonder for the purposes of people who perhaps follow this series who might want to check some additional references. Could you indicate what additional references might be available for people? I think the most important reference that I have you simply read the Bible correctly, whatever edition, read the Bible carefully, especially the verses I cited, you find the evidence right there, right. In addition to this, there was there's a little booklet there are lots of other differences. Also an Arabic some Arabic some English is called what the Bible says about Mohammed by Atma de
that. There's another little pamphlet called political biblical studies from Muslim perspective that was written by a brother from the US was a former priest who became Muslim was a Baptist peace priest, I think, and one of the most scholarly works done in two volumes is Muhammad in words scripture by Abdulhak bdrc, which provides an exhaustive study of this subject and actually was a very useful source for this series.
There are others. Other references also that's for short this time and just defensively, one of the, some of the more
common and for Accessible references, some other easier than others. Okay brother Jamal, we've exhausted our time for the day. Just before signing off. I want to invite you back next week when we start our new series on Muslim beliefs. That's our program today. Thank you for watching Islam.