Order they never had before. As regards Jesus, when the Jews felt suspicious of
him that he might be an impostor with designs to pervert their teachings. Jesus
took pains to assure them that he had not come with a new religion – no new laws
and no new regulations. I quote his own words: "Think not that I am come to
destroy the law of the Prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For
verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot of one title shall in
no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.’ (Mathew 5:17-18). In other
words he had not come with any new laws or regulation he came only to fulfill
the old law. This what he gave the Jews to understand unless he was speaking
with the tongue in his cheek trying to bluff the Jews into accepting him as a
man of God and by subterfuge trying to ram a new religion down their throats.
No! This Messenger of God would never resort to such foul means to subvert the
Religion of God. He himself fulfilled the laws. He observed the commandments of
Moses, and he respected the Sabbath. At no time did a single Jew point a finger
at him to say: ‘"Why don’t you fast’ or ‘why don’t you wash your hands
before you break bread’, which charges they always levied against his disciples,
but never against Jesus. This is because as a good Jew he honored the laws of
the prophets who preceded him. In short, he had created no new religion and had
brought no new law like Moses and Muhammad." "Isn’t this true?" I
asked the Dominee, and he answered: "Yes." I said: "Therefore,
Jesus is not like Moses but Muhammad is like Moses." How they Departed
"Both Moses and Muhammad died natural deaths, but according to
Christianity, Jesus was killed on the cross. Is this true?" The Dominee
said: "Yes." I averred: "Therefore Jesus is not like Moses but
Muhammad is like Moses." Heavenly Abode "Moses and Muhammad both lie
buried in earth, but according to you, Jesus is in heaven. Is this true? The
Dominee agreed. I said: "Therefore Jesus is not like Moses but Muhammad is
like Moses." 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 bretheren 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, as a whole, and as such their brethren would undoubtedly be the
Arabs. Abraham had two wives, Sarah and Hagar. Hagar bore Abraham a son, his
first born, ‘..and Abraham 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 of Abraham, then God grants him another son through Sarah, named Isaac, who
was very much the junior to his brother Ishmael. 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 bretheren of the children of the other. The
children of Isaac are the Jews and the children of Ishmael are the Arabs – so
they are bretheren to one another. The Bible affirms: ‘And he (Ishmael) shall
dwell in the presence of all his bretheren.’ (Genesis 16:12). ‘And he (Ishmael)
died in the presence of all his bretheren." (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
bretheren" (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 nor from among themselves, but from among their brethren. Muhammad
therefore was among their bretheren! 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. "Say: ‘He is
Allah the One and Only; Allah, the eternal absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He
begotten; and there is none like unto Him.’ (the Holy Quran 112:1-4) (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
Quran, the Revelation vouchsafed by the Almighty God to Muhammad, were revealed.
History tells us that when Muhammad was forty years of age he was in a cave some
three miles north of the City of Mecca. In the cave the Archangel Gabriel
commands him in his mother tongue: ‘Eqra!’, which means ‘Read!’, or ‘Recite!’
Muhammad was terrified, and in his bewilderment replied that he was 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: ‘Read! In the Name of the Lord and Cherisher, Who Created. Created
man from a (mere) clot of congealed blood: Read! and thy Lord is the Most
Bountiful, He Who taught (the use of) the pen, taught man that which he new
not". (the Holy Quran 96:1-5). These are the first five verses which were
revealed to Muhammad, which now occupy the beginning of the 96th chapter of the
Holy Quran. The Faithful Witness When the angel departed, Muhammad rushed to his
home. Terrified and sweating all over he asked his 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. During
the next twenty three years of his 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, the Holy Quran, grew, they were recorded on
palm-leaf libre, on skins; 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 Quran. 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).
Unlettered Prophet Muhammad’s experience in the Cave of Hira, and his response
to that first Revelation is the exact fulfillment of another Biblical Prophecy.
In the Book of Isaiah, chapter 29, verse 12, we read: ‘And the Book is delivered
to him that is not learned’ (Isaiah 29:12). ‘The Unlettered prophet’ (the Holy
Quran 7:158). And the Biblical verse continues: ‘Saying, read this, I pray
thee:’ ‘And he saith, I am not learned.’. ‘I am not learned.’ is the exact
translation of the Arabic words which Muhammad uttered twice to the Holy Spirit,
the Archangel Gabriel, when he was commanded: ‘Read!’). Let me quote the verse
in full without a break as found in the King James Version, or the Authorised
Version as it is more popularly know: ‘And the Book is delivered to him that is
no learned, saying: ‘Read this I pray thee’. And he saith: ‘I am not learned.’ ‘
(Isaiah 29:12). Important note : It may be noted that there were no Arabic
Bibles in existence in the 6th century of the Christian Era when Muhammad lived
and preached. Besides, he was absolutely unlettered and unlearned. He never knew
how to read and write Arabic, his own language, let alone knowing a completely
different one. ‘He does not speak (aught) of (his own) desire: It is no less
than inspiration sent down to him. He was taught by One Mighty in Power’ (the
Holy Quran 53:3-5). Without any human learning, ‘he put to shame the wisdom of
the learned’. Grave Warning "See!" I told the Dominee, "how the
prophecies fit Muhammad like a glove. We do not have to stretch prophecies to
justify their fulfillment in Muhammad." The Dominee replied, "All your
expositions sound very well, but they are of no real consequence, because we
Christians have Jesus Christ the incarnate God, who has redeemed us from the
Bondage of Sin!" I asked: "Not important? God didn’t think so! He had
His warnings recorded in the scriptures. God knew that there would be people
like you who will light-heartedly discount His words, so He followed up
Deuteronomy 18:18 with a dare warning: ‘And it shall come to pass (it is going
to happen), that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak
in My Name, I will require if of him.’ (In the Catholic Bible the ending words
are ‘I will be the revenger’, ‘I will take revenge!’). "Does not this
terrify you? God Almighty is threatening revenge! We shake in our pants if some
hoodlum threatens us, yet you have no fear of God’s warning?" Miracle of
Miracles! in the verse 19 of Deuteronomy chapter 18, we have a further
fulfillment of the prophecy in Muhammad! Note the words ‘..My words which he
shall speak in My Name’. In whose name is Muhammad speaking?" I opened
Yusuf Ali’s translation of the Holy Quran, at chapter 114, Surat An-Nas, or The
Chapter of Mankind, the last chapter of the Quran, and showed him the formula at
the head of the chapter, and the meaning: ‘In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful’. And the heading of chapter 113, and the meaning: ‘In the Name of
Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful’. And every chapter downwards 112, 111,
110,..was the same formula and the same meaning on every page, because the end
surahs (chapters) are short and take about a page each. And what did the
prophecy demand? ‘..Which he shall speak in My Name’; and in whose name does
Muhammad speak? In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. The Prophecy
is being fulfilled in Muhammad to the letter; every chapter of the Holy Quran
except the 9th begin with the formula: ‘In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious,
Most Merciful’. The Muslim begins his every lawful act with the Holy formula.
But the Christian begins: ‘In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost.’
Concerning Deuteronomy chapter eighteen, I have given you more than 15 reasons
as to how this prophecy refers to Muhammad and not to Jesus. Baptist Contradicts
Jesus In New Testament times, we find that the Jews were still expecting the
fulfillment of the prophecy of One like Moses, refer John 1:19-25. When Jesus
claimed to be the Messiah of the Jews, the Jews began to esquire as to where was
Elias? The Jews had a parallel prophecy that before the coming of the Messiah,
Elias must come first in his second coming. Jesus confirms this Jewish belief:
"Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you,
that Elias is come already, and they knew him not,.. then the Disciples
understood that he spoke unto them of John the Baptist." (Mathew 17:11-13).
According to the New Testament the Jews were not the ones to swallow the words
of any would-be Messiah. In their investigations they underwent intense
difficulties in order to find their true Messiah. And this the Gospel of John
confirms: "And this is the record of John (the Baptist), when the Jews sent
priests and levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who art thou?’, and he confessed
and denied not; but confessed, ‘I am not the Christ’ " (This was only
natural because there can’t be two Messiahs at the same time. If Jesus was the
Christ then John couldn’t be the Christ!) "And they asked him: ‘What then?
Art thou Elias?’ And he saith: ‘I am not’ " Here John the Baptist
contradicts Jesus! Jesus says that John is Elias and John denies that he is what
Jesus ascribes him to be. One of the two (Jesus or John), God forbid!, is
definitely not speaking the truth! On the testimony of Jesus himself, John the
Baptist was the greatest of the Israelite prophets: "Verily I say unto you,
among them that are born of women, there has not risen a greater than John the
Baptist" (Matthew 11:11). We Muslims know John the Baptist as Yahya. We
revere him as a true prophet of Allah. The Holy Prophet Jesus known to us as
Eesa, is also esteemed as one of the mightiest messenger of the Almighty. How
can we Muslims impute lies to either of them? We leave this problem between
Jesus and John for the Christians to solve, for their "Sacred Scriptures
abound in discrepancies which they have been glossing over as the ‘dark sayings
of Jesus’ " (See the Times Magazine December 30th, 1974, article How true
is the Bible?). We Muslims are really interested in the last questions posed to
John the Baptist by the Jewish elite – Art thou that prophet? And he answered,
"No."(John 1:21). Three Questions! Please note that three different
and distinct questions were posed to John the Baptist, and to which he gave
three emphatic No’s as answers. To recapitulate: "Art thou the
Christ?" "Art thou Elias ?" "Art thou that Prophet?"
But the learned men of Christendom somehow only see two questions implied here.
To make doubly clear that the Jews definitely had three separate prophecies in
their minds when they were interrogating John the Baptist. Let us read the
remonstrance of the Jews in the verses following: "And they asked him, and
said unto him: ‘Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ.. nor
Elias.. neither that Prophet ?’ " (John 1:25). The Jews were waiting for
the fulfillment of three distinct prophecies: a. the coming of Christ. b. the
coming of Elias, and c. the coming of that Prophet. "That Prophet" If
we look up any Bible which has a concordance or cross-references, then we will
find in the marginal note where the words the Prophet, or that Prophet occur in
John 1:25, that these words refer to the prophecy of Deuteronomy 18:15 and 18.
And that that Prophet – the Prophet like Moses – "Like unto thee", we
have proved through overwhelming evidence that he was Muhammad and not Jesus!
Muslims are not denying that Jesus was the Messiah, which word is translated as
Christ. We are not contesting the Thousand and One Prophecies which the
Christians claim abound in the Old Testament foretelling the coming of the
Messiah. What we say is that Deuteronomy 18:18 does not refer to Jesus Christ
but it is an explicit prophecy about the prophet Muhammad!." The Dominee,
very politely parted with me by saying that it was a very interesting discussion
and he would like me very much to come one day and address his congregation on
the subject. A decade and half has passed since then but I am still awaiting
that privilege. I believe the Dominee was sincere when he made the offer, but
prejudices die hard, and who would like to loose his sheep? The Acid Test To the
Lambs of Christ I say, why not apply that acid test which the Master himself
wanted you to apply to any would be claimant to prophethood? He had said:
"By their fruits ye shall know them. Do men gather grapes from the thorns,
of figs from the thistles? Every good tree will bear good fruit and every evil