Names of Mohammad and ‘Ali (SBUT) in the Bible

Part 5

Here it is essential to remind that we in this site-kindfather.com-  have one goal and that is to try to keep, with no compromise, the Truth of Allah- as presented in the Word of God delivered to humankind by His Prophets and interpreted by the Prophets and their Allah-Chosen Infallible Successors (SBUT), and being perfected by the Last Prophet and Rasool (Messenger) of Allah and his Infallible Allah-Appointed Successors (SBUT)- alive until the glorious Appearance of Hadrat Mahdi (SBUH)- the Last Infallible Successor of the Last Prophet and Messenger of Allah- and the return of other Prophets and chosen ones (SBUT), when the Truth shall prevail …

In the process of trying to present and uphold the One and Only Truth of God surely some jews, christians … and even some muslims may become displeased for the Truth may not comply with their beliefs … our goal is not to please everyone through creating a man-made peaceful compromise among all beliefs regardless of whether their beliefs comply with the Truth or not, rather our goal is to try to peacefully present and uphold the one and only Truth of Allah … . The Truth must never be changed to fit everyone’s desires rather it is human desires which must change to comply with the unchangeable Truth:

Qur’an 23:71 And if the Truth were to follow their desires, indeed the heavens and the earth and all those therein would have perished; nay! We have brought to them their Dhekr (ذکر Reminder), but from their Reminder they have turned aside.

So every nation were given their Reminder (Book, Prophet, Successor …) but from their Reminder they, one way or another, have turned aside … until the Last “al-Dhekr” (the Last Prophet and Rasool, the Last Book, the Last Successors …) were bestowed to humankind … yet, from “The Reminder” many have been and are turning aside …

The Majestic Qur’an in 16:43 and … commands us to ask from اَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ “Ahl of al-Dhekr (People of The Reminder)”. Elaborating on Qur’an 16:43, Imam Saadeq (SBUH) has said:

When you desire true and correct Knowledge, then it is with us AhlulBayt (Ahl of al-Bayt) (SBUT); we are the “Ahl of al-Dhekr” about whom Allah says: ‘then ask Ahl (People) of al-Dhekr.’ (16:43).

(Wasaa’el al-Shi’ah, vol. 18, p. 49)

Let us also look at a profound Hadith from Hadrat ‘Ali (SBUH) reproving those who rely on their own opinions:

In problems related to the intellect and reason, they refer to themselves and are their own refuge. They rely on their own opinions in ambiguous and unclear matters as if each one of them is his own Imam!

(Wasaa’el al-Shi’ah, vol. 18, p. 117)

Our confirmation of the beliefs which we present from some scholars- who, by Grace of Allah, have found their way from within layers of distortions, concealments and … of Judaism, christianity and … toward the Truthfulness of the True Islam, the Prophet Mohammad and the AhlulBayt (SBUT)- is limited to the subjects at hand. And we sincerely pray for them and all of us too, to realize that self interpretation of Qur’anic matters today, is actually the following of the footsteps of those who previously self-interpreted Divine matters and thus caused many deviations and got humankind into the mess he is today … . Thus we should all only follow the Prophet Mohammad’s and the AhlulBayt’s (SBUT) clarifications and interpretations … . To do this, knowledge of what happened in each era as presented by the AhlulBayt themselves is, among other factors, one very essential factor …

Keeping these points in mind, let us go back to the issue of Hamda حمد as introduced by Thomas McElwain-who has called himself ‘Ali Haydar too- a biblical linguistic expert; as explained above, our main interest here is Mr. McElwain’s knowledge of biblical languages:

He  in his previously mentioned lecture, refers to 2 Chronicles 21:20 ‘Thirty and two years old was he (Jehoram) when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being Hamda. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.’; Dr. McElwain suggests that Hamda was an awaited personality: “The implication would be that at the time every king of Judah was evaluated as to whether he fitted the criteria of the awaited Hamda. The name itself suggests this awaiting, that the people knew that Hamda was coming and longed for or desired him. The king is buried with the nostalgic remark that he did not turn out to be Hamda.”

Elsewhere Thomas McElwain states: “Hamda was a figure that was desired and awaited and had captured the minds of the populace …”

In the article “Two Messiahs” in this site: kindfather.com, we have discussed a similar type of expectation regarding the awaited Messiah; as stated there, the people were expecting the Messiah so much that they used to give the title Messiah to many of the kings whom they wished to be the awaited kingly Messiah.

Also in articles such as “Wilayat of Mohammad and AhlulBayt (SBUT), from creation to eternity” profound Ahadith have been presented showing that Prophets (SBUT) had clearly introduced Mohammad and his AhlulBayt (SBUT) to their nations …

Dr. McElwain continues: “An occurrence of the word in the construct in the same sense, in reference to the anointing of Saul as king, is found in 1 Samuel 9:20. Here the king is called the desire or Hamda of Israel. The expression is put to Saul in a future sense, thus showing it to be in the context of a messianic hope.”

Then he refers to 2 Chronicles 32:27 ‘And Hezekiah had exceeding much riches and honour: and he made himself treasuries for silver, and for gold, and for precious stones, and for spices, and for shields, and for all manner of pleasant [Hamda] jewels [keley].’

In regard to translating Hamda to pleasant he states: “The translation of “pleasant” is a little forced here …”; and in regard to translating keley to jewels he states: “The translation of keley as “jewels” is rather interpretive, since the word has a broad range of meanings more clearly related to utensils and tools. Coming after “shields,” another translation would appear in order.”

He suggests that Hamda Keley is a lexicalized expression: “instruments of Hamda”; an expression which seems vague to him: “It is possible that there was at the time an expression “instruments of Hamda” which had a meaning not now known, but referred to the awaited and desired one.”

He presents repetition of the same expression in Jeremiah 25:34, 2 Chronicles 36:10, Nahum 2:9 and Hosea 13:15; in which the Hebrew word keley is every time translated differently: jewels, vessel, furniture and vessels. He notes: “That this is a technical term the meaning of which has been lost is clouded by the fact that it is arbitrarily translated with a different expression nearly every time it occurs.”

He adds: “The fact that fully half of the passages containing the term Hamda pair it with keley goes far toward confirming the theory that this is a lexicalized expression. Whatever ‘instruments of Hamda’ are, they make it clear that Hamda was a figure that was desired and awaited and had captured the minds of the populace to such an extent that the name appeared as an expression referring to some kind of instruments …”

Since the undistorted words and interpretations of previous Prophets and their Allah-Chosen Successors (SBUT) are not available, here we wish to present a possible interpretation for “instruments of Hamda” using authentic Islamic Ahadith narrated by the Infallible Ones (SBUT):

Authentic Ahadith from the Infallible Ones (SBUT) do confirm that the Prophet Mohammad and his AhlulBayt (SBUT) possess the Allah-Bestowed Knowledge and Power … of all previous Prophets (SBUT) and way beyond that …

Imam Baaqer (SBUH) has clarified that the Rasool of Allah (SAWA) had said that indeed the first Wasi (Successor) on earth after the Prophet Adam (SBUH) was Habbatullah (Seth, Sheith …) son of Adam (SBUT), and that no Prophet passed away unless he had Wasi. Then the Imam (SBUH) said that the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) said that he had the Knowledge of all Prophets and Rosol (Messengers) (SBUT) with him, and his Wasi, ‘Ali (SBUH) the Knowledge of all previous ones and Awsiya. (Osool Kaafi, vol. 2 (with Persian translation of Kamare’ee), p. 194; …)

Imam Saadeq (SBUH) has said:

‘Eesa [Jesus] son of Maryam had two letters of the Esm A’zam and worked with them, Moosa [Moses] ibn ‘Emraan had four letters, Ibrahim [Abraham] had eight letters, and 15 letters were given to Nooh [Noah] and 25 letters to Adam. Allah gathered all of them for Mohammad and his AhlulBayt. Esm A’zam has 73 letters and Allah has given 72 letters to Mohammad (SAWA).

(Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 27, p. 25, H. 2; …)

It is noteworthy to mention that the recipients of the letters of Esm A’zam (the most majestic Name …) possess Allah-Bestowed Divine Knowledge and Power … Imam Baaqer (SBUH) has clarified that of the 73 letters of Esm A’zam, Aasef ibn Barkhiya (the Wazir (minister) and Wasi (Successor) of the Prophet Solaymaan (SBUT)) had only one letter which using it he brought the throne of Belqais from the area of Yemen to Palestine in less than the time required for the return of a wink (Qur’an 27:40); and then the Imam stated that they, the AhlulBayt (SBUT), possess 72 letters while Allah (SWT) has kept one letter specifically for Himself in His ‘Elm Ghayb; then the Imam (SBUH) recited: لا حول و لا قوّة الّا بالله. (Osul Kafi, vol. 1, p. 324; …)

Qur’an 27:40 He with whom was “one” Knowledge from the Book عِلْمٌ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ said: I will bring it to thee before thy wink returneth unto thee …

Let us ponder for a moment:

The approximate time for a wink is 300 milliseconds, thus the Time for return of a wink is about 150 msec; the verse says that bringing of the throne was done “before” the return of a wink i.e. approximately 100 msec or 0.1 second.

Even with today’s intelligence and technology the time required to locate, plan and then penetrate into the headquarters of the enemy without being noticed or prevented, taking a throne, leaving the place again without being seen or prevented, taking the throne to an airport and boarding it on a supersonic aircraft, taking off and cruising a distance of thousands of kilometers and landing, carrying the throne to the headquarters ... and assuming that nothing would go wrong ... would take perhaps months or even years of planning and perhaps days of executing ... even if just the flying time is considered it would take hours ...

While all this was done in 0.1 second by a Wasi of a Prophet who had only one letter of the Esm A’zam, and only one portion of the Knowledge of the Book!

And Qur’an clearly introduces Hadrat ‘Ali (SBUH) as he who, along with Allah, is witness of the Messengership of the Holy Prophet (SAWA), as "he who has the Knowledge of the Book", not he who has only one portion of the Knowledge of the Book rather he who has the Knowledge of the Book عِلْمُ الْكِتَابِ:

Qur’an 13:43 And those who disbelieve say: You are not a Messenger. Say: Allah is sufficient as a witness between me and you and he who has Knowledge of the Book عِلْمُ الْكِتَابِ.

Many Hadiths confirm that this verse is in regard to Hadrat ‘Ali (SBUH); here we mention a few: The Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) in regard to this verse has clearly said that he who has Knowledge of the Book is his brother ‘Ali ibn AbiTaaleb (SBUT); and Walid ibn Sammaan said that Imam Saadeq (SBUH) asked him about people’s view in regard to the OlulAzm Prophets and the AmirulMo’menin (SBUT), he said that he told the Imam that people did not consider any one higher than the OlulAzm Prophets (SBUT). Walid said that the Imam (SBUH) then said:

Allah-the Mighty and the Magnificent- in regard to Hadrat Moosa (SBUH) has said that We wrote in the Alwaah sent to him ‘one admonition from among all things’ مِنْ كُلِّ شَيْءٍ مَوْعِظَةً (Qur’an 7:145), and has not said every thing; and in regard to Hadrat ‘Eesa (SBUH) has said that he had come to make clear to you ‘part’ of what you differ in بَعْضَ الَّذِي تَخْتَلِفُونَ فِيهِ (Qur’an 43:63), and has not said every thing; but in regard to your lord AmirulMo’menin (SBUH) has said O Prophet! Say that between me and you the best witness is Allah and he who has Knowledge of the entire Book (Qur’an 13:43).

(Tafsir Borhaan, vol. 2, pp. 302, 303); Tafsir Jaame’; …)

Also sunni documents such as Shawaahed al-Tanzil of Haakem Haskaani vol. 1 pp. 400-405 … narrate statements from ibn Abbas, Sa’eed ibn Jobayr and … which have stated that “he who has Knowledge of the Book” is ‘Ali ibn AbiTaaleb.

Authentic Ahadith of Infallible Ones (SBUT) in addition to confirming that the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) and his twelve Awsiya (SBUT) possess the Knowledge and Power of all previous Anbiya and Awsiya (SBUT) and beyond …, also do confirm that the Prophet Muhammad and the twelve Imams (SBUT) have inherited things, possessions, materials, … all Prophets and their Awsiya (SBUT) have left, and all those things are now in possession of Hadrat Mahdi (SBUH); in addition Hadrat Mahdi (SBUH) has inherited certain items from the Prophet Muhammad (SAWA) and the AhlulBayt (SBUT). Some of those items, possessions, materials, instruments … are as follows:

Sohof of Ibrahim (SBUH); the Rock which Hadrat Moosa (SBUH) smote with his Rod and twelve water fountains gushed out; Alwaah (Tablets) of Moosa (SBUH); the Rod of Moosa (SBUH) which was Adam’s and Sho’ayb gave it to Moosa (SBUT); the Taabut (Chest, Ark …) of Moosa (SBUH) which Imam Sadiq (SBUH) has clarified that in the same manner that the Taabut was a sign for baniIsrael indicating Prophethood, the Selaah (Weapon) is the sign of their Imamat, also the Prophet (SAWA) has said that the Chest will appear from the Tabariyah lake at the hand of Mahdi (SBUH) and most jews observing it shall submit; the Garment of Yusof (SBUH) which Jebra’el brought from Heaven for Ibrahim to wear in the fire and he gave it to Eshaaq and then he to Ya’qub and when Yusof (SBUT) was born, to him; the Tub of Moosa (SBUH) which he placed the offering on; the Seal (Ring) of Solaymaan (SBUH); Enjil of ‘Eesa (SBUH); the Flag of Hadrat Mohammad (SAWA) which Jebra’el brought from Heaven on the war of Badr and Hadrat ‘Ali (SBUH) raised it on the war of Jamal and was victorious, and only Hadrat Mahdi (SBUH) will raise it again; the Sword (DholFaqaar), Armor, Helmet, Shield and Belt of the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA); the Garment and Cloak of the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) which he wore on the war of Ohod; the Turban (Sahaab) of the Prophet (SAWA); the Moshaf of Hadrat Fatemah Zahra (SBUH) which contains the past and future news, names and descriptions of all Prophets and their Successors and those believing in them and denying them, names and descriptions of all kings and rulers, Knowledge of Torah, Enjil, Zaboor as they were sent and …; book of al-Jaame’ah dictated to Amir al-Mo’menin by the Prophet Mohammad (SBUT) containing the precepts, Halaals and Haraams and …; the book of al-Jafr al-Ahmar, al-Jafr al-Abyaz, al-Jafr al-Akbar and al-Jafr al-Asghar containing the Knowledge of creation, universe and …; and …

(from Osool Kaafi (with translation of Kamare’ee), vol. 1, pp. 324, 326, 327, 332, 335, 336, 343, vol. 3, p. 274; al-Ghaybat al-No’maani, pp. 272, 308; al-Irshad, Shaikh Mofid; Basaa’er al-Darajaat, abuJa’far Saffaar Qomi; Dalaa’el al-Imamat, Mohammad ibn Jarir Tabari Aamoli, p. 27; …)

To be continued …