by Nancy Ali
Let me clarify a few points before approaching the heart of the subject. These prophecies do not use the name "Muhammad" but the Prophet who is being foretold is referred to in the Bible by his attributes and by certain occurrences or events, which pertain to Muhammad (PBUH). Because Muslims know of the life of Muhammad (PBUH) in great detail, his messages are immediately associated with his life and the basic nature of his mission to mankind. My source of information was taken from the Bible itself and a book titled "Muhammad In The Bible" written by David Benjamin Keldani, B.D., a Roman Catholic priest of the Uniate-Chaldean sect, Former Bishop of Urimiah, who after serving the Church for many years, embraced Islam as the True Religion and contributed this book and many others relating to this topic. We will begin with quotations from the Old Testament, which relate to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). GENESIS, CHAPTER 49, Vs. 10 The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, And the Lawgiver from beneath his feet, Until the coming of the Shiloh, And to him belongs the obedience of peoples. "Shiloh" is formed of four Hebrew letters, "shin", yod , "la'med" and "hi". This word is derived from "Shalah" - To send, delegate, or the one who is sent, apostle, and messenger. If such be the case, then the word would take the form of "Shiluah" and correspond exactly with the apostle of "Yah" or "Yahweh", the very title given to Muhammad (PBUH) alone, in Arabic "Rasul Allah", the apostle of God. MALACHI, CHAPTER 3, Vs I "Behold I send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me, and suddenly he shall come to his temple the A DON whom ye are seeking and the messenger of the Covenant whom ye desire. Behold, he shall cometh says the Lord of Hosts. " The original text tells us that Yahweh Sabaoth, i.e. God of Hosts is the speaker and the believers are the people addressed as can readily be seen in the words "whom ye are seeking". The Gospels (New Testament) has interpreted the text by effacing the personal pronoun of the first person singular and inserted "before thee" (or "thy face" as in Hebrew) twice indicating the presence of two persons, the first being John the Baptist (PBUH) and the second one Jesus Christ (PBUH). The Christians who hold the Gospels as the "True word of God" interpret this to mean that the first messenger is John the Baptist (PBUH) and the second one Jesus Christ (PBUH). But the Old Testament only refers to one Messenger. The second indication in this verse, which refers to Muhammad (PBUN) is: "And suddenly he shall come to his Temple the ADON. In the Holy Qur'an, SURAH 18, Vs. I God tells his believers: "Limitless in His Glory is He who transported His servant by night from the Inviolable House of Worship (at Mecca) to the Remote House of Worship (at Jerusalem) - the environs of which We have blessed-so that We might show him some of Our symbols, for verily, He alone is All-hearing, All-seeing. " The verses in the Holy Qur'an and in the Bible both refer to God's messenger coming to the most Sacred place of Worship suddenly and the Holy Qur'an elaborates on it by saying that it was by night. This incident in the life of Muhammad (PBUH) is known as MIRAJ. St. Paul also mentions a vision he had seen fourteen years before of a man who had been taken up into the 3rd Heaven and unto Paradise, where he heard and saw words and objects that could not be described. CORINTHIANS, CHAPTER 2, Vs. 1-4 "I must boast; there is nothing to be gained by it but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the Third Heaven- whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, God knows. And I know that this man was caught up into Paradise whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know, God knows- and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter. " St. Paul obviously was not referring to Jesus (PBUH) because he said he knows a man in Christ. This is none other than Muhammad (PBUH), who continued the religion sent by God through Moses (PBUH) and Jesus (PBUH). JEREMIAH, CHAPTER 27, Vs. 9 "As for the Prophet who prophesies SHALOM (ISLAM), when the word of that Prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the Lord has truly sent the Prophet. " "Shalom" and the Syriac "Shlama", as well as the Arabic "Salam" and "Islam" are of one and the same thing is an admitted truth by all of the scholars of the Semitic languages. They all agree to its meaning of "peace". This verse from the Bible does not pertain to Jesus (PBUH) for he so identified himself quite to the contrary in MATTHEW, CHAPTER 10, Vs. 34-36: "Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set man against Father and a daughter against her mother and daughter- in-law against her mother-in-law and man's foe will be those of his own household. " The above should not be taken out of context. Jesus (PBUH) certainly did not intend to create divisions without good purpose. What is meant here is that he would divide the non-believers from the believers regardless of their relations to one another. This could not be a mission of peace but a necessary mission of separation of righteous from non-righteous and the completion of Peace by the Messenger to come, Muhammad (PBUH). Thus, the Prophet who prophesied "Shalom", "Salam" or "peace" could have been none other than Muhammad (PBUH). He is the only Messenger of God whose religion was conveyed to him by God bearing the title "Islam". THE NEW TESTAMENT As is told in the Bible, John the Baptist (PBUN) and Jesus (PBUH) were born within the same year, John (PBUH) from the wife of Zachariah and Jesus (PBUH) from Mary with no biological father. Yet when John (PBUH) was baptizing the believers, he refers to a future Messenger in the following verse: MATTHEW, CHAPTER 3, Vs. II "I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming - after me is mightier than I whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. " Since Jesus (PBUH) was already present with John (PBUH) and Jesus (PBUH) had made himself known to John (PBUH) by allowing himself to be baptized in order to fulfill the Laws of the Torah, that of ablution, this had to be someone else John (PBUH) was referring to. He says "The one who is coming after me", indicating that one will follow Jesus (PBUH). The word "after" indicates some indefinite distance in time. JOHN, CHAPTER 16, Vs. 7-8 JESUS (PBUM) SPEAKS OF THE COUNSELOR "Nevertheless l tell you the truth: It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you. And when he comes, he will convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgement. JOHN, CHAPTER 16, Vs. 12 Jesus speaks: "I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you to all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. " In Vs. 7-8-25 in Chapter 16, Jesus (PBUH) speaks to his apostles about a Paraclete, which is interpreted by the Christians to mean the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. I am prone to dispute this because a Spirit, no matter how Sacred, is not a human being and would not fulfill the mission of this Counselor, which Jesus (PBUH) is describing. However, if we reflect on how Muhammad (PBUR) received his revelations from God, the role is very applicable to him. For example, the verse "He will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak." is exactly how the message of God was imparted through Muhammad (PBUH) to the believers. As the message of God was being revealed to Muhammad (PBUH), he would simultaneously recite those words to his companions and followers. I am sure there are more quotations in the Bible, which reflect upon the coming of the last and final Prophet, the Messenger of Islam (PBUH) but I felt that these particular ones were very nourishing to the reader who is searching for the truth. Even though we know that the Scriptures were tampered with and changed over many years by human hands, God has not left man- kind totally blind but caused words in the Bible to remain which prove the linkage of Messengers, one to another, all conveying the one religion of God, that of Islam. Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were not intended to be separate but began with Adam (PBUH) and ended with Muhammad (PBUH). They all came to fulfill one mission-that of establishing the Religion of "SHALOM", "ISLAM", "PEACE".