(I rely on “The Prophet’s Biography of Ibn Hesham” translated by
Mohammad Mahdi al-Shariff, published in Lebanon by Dar Al-kotob Al-Ilmiyah in
2006 – 2nd edition. Page numbers references used refer to this
edition of the book)
Muhammad was foretold in the gospel of John
On page 39 of Sirat Ibn Hesham, Ibn Ishaq is claimed to have said
that Muhammad had been found in the gospel according to John:
“ … ; but, when the Moonhamena (The Syriac citation form of the
Arabic Mohammad and the Latin Barkalitus) comes to existence as sent from God,
he will be a witness on me and you;..” (page 39)
This claim is parroted and expanded by “Answering Christianity”
Team:
In the Bible we can find the following four passages wherein Jesus
(peace be upon him) predicts a great event:
John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you
another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever”
John 15:26 “But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto
you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the
Father, he shall testify of me”
John 14:26 “But the Comforter, [which is] the Holy Ghost, whom the
Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
John 16:7-14 “Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient
for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto
you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he is come, he will
reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin,
because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father,
and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit
when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he
shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he
speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall
receive of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you.”
In these four verses, the word “comforter” is
translated from the word “Paraclete” (“Ho Parakletos” in Greek). Parakletos in
Greek is interpreted as “an advocate”, one who pleads the cause of another, one
who councils or advises another from deep concern for the other’s welfare
(Beacon Bible commentary volume VII, p.168). In these verses we are told that
once Jesus (peace be upon him) departs, a Paraclete will come. He will glorify
Jesus (peace be upon him), and he will guide mankind into all truth. This
“Paraclete” is identified in John 14:26 as the Holy Ghost.
Now, when I read the gospel of John, and the reader is invited to
read it, I see no prophecy about Muhammad. In addition, the above claims are
mere lies. Below, I provide quotes from the “Answering Islam” team to show that
the above claims are bogus:
Since a quick reading of the Gospel does not reveal such a
prophecy in any obvious form, a more detailed search has continued over the
years; and many Muslims now claim that Jesus’ promise of the Counselor or
Paraclete in John 14 is that very prophecy. Professor Katkat claims this in an
article on the subject in Manr Al-Islm, and Yusuf Ali expresses the same idea
in the following note on Sura 61:6,
“Ahmad”, or “Muhammad”, the Praised one, is almost a translation
of the Greek word periclytos. In the present Gospel of John, 14:16,
15:26, and 16:7, the word “Comforter” in the English version is for the Greek
word “Paracletos“…Our doctors contend that Paracletos is a corrupt
reading for Periclytos, and that in the original saying of Jesus there was a prophecy
of our holy Prophet Ahmad by name.
The first thing to be understood is that in Greek, unlike Arabic,
the vowels are written into the text. Thus to change from pErIclYtos
to pArAclEtos would require the alteration of three
written letters.
Secondly there is absolutely no textual evidence for such a
reading. Not one copy of the Gospel of John, from the oldest Greek copy of 200
AD until now shows periclytos in place of paracletos.
Photograph 7 of Papyrus p75 from 200 AD shows John 14:9-26a. The last word on
the page clearly shows “PARACLETOS” from verse 26. Verse 16 has been partly
destroyed, but in the middle of the line marked by the two arrows one can still
see “PARACL – N” for paracleton. (“ON” signifies a direct object.) In the first
case the whole word is visible and in the second, two of the three letters
under discussion can be clearly seen.
Also,
Thirdly, although periclytos, which means famous or renowned, was
used by Homer when he wrote the Iliad and the Odyssey in the classical Greek of
the 10th century B.C., there is not one instance where this word, or any of the
other members of its word group, are used in the Koine Greek of the New
Testament or the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament.
Thus there is neither textual or linguistic support for “periclytos“.
For a more thorough analysis of this matter, the reader is advised
to go to “Answering Islam” site. The claim that Muhammad was mentioned in the
Bible is a mirage. Christians are the people we need to ask when we want to
understand their holy book. They certainly don’t go around claiming that a
desert thief is foretold in their book.
Why should we believe Muslims’ claims about a book that is not
theirs to start with?
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