What the Bible says about Muhammad

by Ahmed Deedate

CHAPTER THREE

Further Proofs

Ishmael The First Born

Since the dominee was helplessly agreeing with every point, I said, "Dominee, so far what I have done is to prove only one point out of the whole prophecy- that is proving the phrase 'LIKE UNTO THEE' - 'Like You' - 'Like Moses'. The Prophecy is much more than this single phrase which reads as follows : "I WILL RAISE THEM UP A PROPHET FROM AMONG THEIR BRETHREN LIKE UNTO THEE......." The emphasis is on the words- "From among their brethren." Moses and his people, the Jews, are here addressed as a racial entity, and as such their 'brethren' would undoubtedly be the Arabs. You see, the Holy Bible speaks of Abraham as the "Friend of God". Abraham had two wives - Sarah and Hagar. Hagar bore Abraham a son - HIS FIRST-BORN- '......And Abraham¹ called HIS SON'S name, which Hagar bare Ishmael.' (Genesis 16:15). 'And Abraham took Ishmael HIS SON......" (Genesis 17:23). 'And Ishmael HIS SON was thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.'(Genesis 17:25). Up to the age of THIRTEEN Ishmael was the ONLY son and seed of Abraham, when the covenant was ratified between God and Abraham. God grants Abraham another son through Sarah, named Isaac, who was very much the junior to his brother Ishmael.

1. According to the Bible, Abraham's name was Abram before it was changed by God to Abraham.

Arabs and Jews

If Ishmael and Isaac are the sons of the same father Abraham, then they are brothers. And so the children of the one are the BRETHREN of the children of the other. The children of Isaac are the Jews and the Children of Ishmael are the Arabs - so they are BRETHREN to one another. The Bible affirms, 'AND HE (ISHMAEL) SHALL DWELL IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL HIS BRETHREN.' (Genesis 16:12). 'AND HE (ISHMAEL) DIED IN THE PRESENCE OF ALL HIS BRETHREN.(Genesis 25:18). The children of Isaac are the brethren of the Ishmaelites. In like manner Muhammad is from among the brethren of the Israelites because he was a descendant of Ishmael the son of Abraham. This exactly as the prophecy has it- 'FROM AMONG THEIR BRETHREN'.(Deut.18:18). There the prophecy distinctly mentions that the coming prophet who would be like Moses, must arise NOT from the 'children of Israel' or from 'among themselves', but from among their brethren. MUHUMMED THEREFORE WAS FROM AMONG THEIR BRETHREN!

[The comments in brackets are by kindfather.com] [For useful information in regard to Ismael and Is_Haaq (PBUT), and that which is said in Torah about them, please refer to the first two parts of "Mohammad, the Promise of Torah" in this site.]

Words in the Mouth

"The prophecy proceeds further:'.......AND I WILL PUT MY WORDS INTO HIS MOUTH.......' What does it mean when it is said 'I will put my words in your mouth'? You see, when I asked you (the dominee) to open Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 18, at the beginning, and if I had asked you to read, and if you had read: would I be putting my words into your mouth?" The dominee answered: "No." "But," I continued: "If I were to teach you a language like Arabic about which you have no knowledge, and if I asked you to read or repeat after me what I utter i.e.

(I read them in Arabic )

Would I not be putting these unheard words of a foreign tongue which you utter, into your mouth?" The dominee agreed that it was indeed so. In an identical manner, I said, the words of the Holy Qur’ân, the Revelation vouchsafed by the Almighty God to Muhammad, were revealed.

History tells us that Muhammad was forty years of age. He was in a cave some three miles north of the City of Mecca. It was the 27th night of the Muslim month of Ramadan. In the cave the Archangel Gabriel commands him in his mother tongue: 'IQRA' which means READ! or PROCLAIM! or RECITE! Muhammad is terrified and in his bewilderment replies " MA ANA BEQARA which means I AM NOT LEARNED! The angel commands him a second time with the same result. For the third time the angel continues.

Now Muhammad, grasps, that what was required of him was to repeat! to rehearse! And he repeats the words as they were put into his mouth:

These are the first five verses, which were revealed to Muhammad, which now occupy the beginning of the 96th chapter of the Holy Qur’ân.

[The comments in brackets are by kindfather.com] [In describing the Biblical prophecy: 'I (God) will put My Words into his (the Promised Prophet's) mouth' mentioned above, the writer explains that if a person was asked to read from a writing, then the words of the writing which he read, were not put in his mouth, but if he was asked to repeat words in an unheard foreign language, then the words were actually put in his mouth; this is a correct argument, but this was absolutely not the case with the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP); in the case of the Prophet, on that unforgettable Rajab the 27^th, in that blessed Cave of "hira (Hera)", the Angel Jebriel (Gabriel) was in the first place, communicating in the Prophet's mother tongue, and not in an unknown language; as Qur'an confirms: "And thus We have revealed to you an Arabic Qur'an, so that you will Warn the 'Omm-Al-Qora' (Mecca), and those around it, and … ." [Qur'an, 42:7]; i.e. Qur'an -which means the Recitation- was revealed in Arabic, which was the language of the Prophet and the people whom he was living among, and therefore the Divine Words themselves -which were being revealed to the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP)- were not foreign to the Prophet, and secondly, the Prophet was not asked to read from a writing, rather the Prophet was asked to "Recite", exactly as it was revealed to him; i.e. the Prophet's Knowledge of reading from writings, at the time of receiving Divine Revelations -whether for that Revelation in Hera, or the other times-, was not a factor, rather when the Angel told him "Iqra" which means to "read" or "recite", the Prophet responded "Ma Aqra'?" which means "What do I recite?", then the Angel told him what to recite -which were, in the Name of Allah …, and the five verses that are now in the Surah "Alaq" of Qur'an- (Tafsir Noor-O-Ththaqalain, …); that which is narrated in this writing by Mr. Ahmed Deedat in regard to the Prophet's reactions to the Angel, stem from Hadithes only from Aayeshah and no one else, in which she did not mention where she had gotten the information, considering the fact that she was not even born at the time of that Revelation in Hera! And if today some people wish to suggest that the Prophet told her later, then how come no one else of those who were living and close to the Prophet at the time of Hera Revelation, never narrated such things?! Other Hadithes from Aayeshah which Mr. Deedat has not mentioned say that the Prophet wanted to throw himself from the mountain and kill himself!!! Let us be very careful and pay attention that these types of reactions to Divine Revelations from the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP) have never been mentioned in Qur'an, and also not from other Prophets (PBUT), or not even from those who were not Prophets, such as the mother of Moosa (PBUH) when it was revealed to her that she was to place her son in the flowing river! Many renowned scholars such as Allamah Sharaf-O-Ddeen in his book "A-Nnass-O Wal-Ejtehaad", have discussed this issue and many more such unbelievable claims and discrepancies in Sunni documents -which some of them had found their way to Shi'ah documents, and scholars through tracing the origins and …, have been trying to separate the Truth from untruth, and with the Appearance of Imam Mahdi (May Allah hasten his Emergence) the Truth shall be manifested-, in detail; in the article: "…Jesus…Mohammad…(PBUT)", we have briefly mentioned where these problems stem from.

Ali was with the Prophet (PBUT) every moment of his life starting from the time he was in the cradle, and later as he was growing, Ali was following the Prophet like a child camel after his mother, …, until the last moments of the Prophet's life (while Abu-Bakr and Omar were busy in the Saqifah Bani Saa'edah disregarding the Prophet's command of Yawm-O-Ddaar, …, Ghadir and …, and appointing a so-called successor, during that time which, the Prophet's body was not yet buried!!!), and in the last hours of the Prophet's life, the Prophet opened one thousand doors of Knowledge for Ali, from each, one thousand other gateways were opened, through whispering -that which Allah knows- into Ali's ears, and therefore Ali in this world, had learned everything from the Prophet -PBUT- (Nahj-Ol-Balaaghah). History verifies that after the Prophet, due to the facts that the Divinely bestowed Right of the chosen Successor, Ali (PBUH) was usurped, and those malevolent ones who took over the Caliphate lacked the necessary knowledge and …, and therefore allowed and encouraged the story tellers of Yahood (Jews) and Nasaara (Christians) to tell their distorted stories in Masjids; and this was one of the ways through which distorted I information entered Islamic Hadithes, and the first thing Hazrat Ali (PBUH) did after finally -by people's request- becoming Caliph, was to throw those story tellers out of Masjids … .

… And in this manner, Allah put His Words in Mohammad's mouth, i.e. the Prophet recited and repeated the Divine Words -not reading them from a writing- exactly as revealed without any slightest change; this is the unique significance of Qur'an in comparison to the Bible, the Divine Words in Qur'an are exactly as revealed to the Prophet from Allah … and through Jebriel, and not even the Prophet's own words, let alone other people's observations and interpretations throughout the ages, as it is the case with the Bible, and then Qur'an has remained unchanged in its original language throughout the years unlike the Bible; for more information in this regard, please read the articles: "Ghadir, heart of Qur'an" and "How has Qur'an been protected from distortions" in this site.]

The Faithful Witness

Immediately the angel had departed, Muhammad rushed to his home. Terrified and sweating all over, he asked his beloved wife Khadija to 'cover him up!' He lay down, and she watched by him. When he had regained his composure, he explained to her what he had seen and heard. She assured him of her faith in him and that Allah would not allow any terrible thing to happen to him. Are these the confessions of an impostor? Would impostors confess that when an angel of the Lord confronts them with a Message from on High, they get fear-stricken, terrified, and sweating all over, run home to their wives? Any critic can see that his reactions and confessions are that of an honest, sincere man, the man of Truth- 'AL-AMIN' - THE Honest, the Upright, the Truthful.

During the next twenty-three years of his prophetic life, words were 'Put into his mouth', and he uttered them. They made an indelible impression on his heart and mind: and as the volume of the Sacred Scripture (Holy Qur’ân) grew, they were recorded on palm-leaf fiber, on skins and on the shoulder-blades of animals; and in the hearts of his devoted disciples. Before his demise these words were arranged according to his instructions in the order in which we find them today in the Holy Qur’ân.

The words (revelation) were actually put into his mouth, exactly as foretold in the prophecy under discussion: 'AND I WILL PUT MY WORDS IN HIS MOUTH.' (Deut. 18:18).

[The comments in brackets are by kindfather.com] [While Lady Khadija (PBUH) holds a very high position, but let us never forget the superiority of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH&HP) over other Prophets (PBUT), and all creations of Allah; would any purified heart and mind believe that the number one creation of Allah, once being communicated by the Angel of Allah whom he loved so much, and had been worshipping for so long in that same cave, and was chosen before his earthly existence, and was aware of that, and … (that which happened in that blessed Cave, was only the Divine Command for the start of the earthly proclamation of his Prophethood), ran home to his wife terrified, and then his wife -who was not a Prophet!- assured him that Allah would not allow anything terrible to happen to him?!,

Rather, whenever Divine Revelations were revealed to the Prophet -whether that time in Hira or the other times-, due to the Grandeur and Magnificence of the Divine Knowledge being revealed to him and …, the Prophet used to enter the Revelation-receiving state, his eyes were closed and he sweat from the pressure and …, in a manner that every one around him knew that he was receiving Divine Revelations; i.e. the sweating and … were not from fear, but from the magnificence and pressure of Divine Communication. The Prophet (PBUH&HP) himself has explained that the sound of a continuous ring was heard by him, and then the Knowledge was placed inside him …; then the Prophet used to recite the Words of Qur'an with his special Heavenly melody and those standing close to him used to hear clearly the Qur'anic verse which the Prophet was commanded to narrate to the people. But, the Knowledge which was revealed to the Prophet, was much more than just the Letters and Words of Qur'an; for instance when the Angel used to reveal the Letters of "Moqatta'a" -which are the Letters in the beginning of some Surahs of Qur'an- such as Alif-Laam-…, the Prophet used to tell the Angel that he comprehended; while for the text of Qur'an, the Prophet only repeated the Letters themselves, but the Knowledge that he was receiving, were the secrets and heart of Qur'an; and as we have seen, certain hidden meanings of these Letters, and in general, the only Divinely Authorized meanings and interpretations of Qur'an, have been revealed by the Prophet and his Divinely chosen infallible Successors (PBUT). (Behaar-Ol-Anwaar, …)

Again we repeat the type of information narrated by the writer Mr. Deedat, almost all have originated by Aayeshah, which their authenticity and reasonableness have been under serious question by many prominent scholars. We also invite you to read the articles: "Noah Ark - III" and "Wives of Prophets" in this site.

When the Prophet (PBUH&HP) returned home from the Cave of Hira, the Lady Khadijah (PBUH) became the first lady who openly confessed her faith in Mohammad (PBUH&HP) as the last Prophet of Allah.]

To be continued …