The Last Messenger You may be a Christian Protestant, Catholic, Jew, an atheist or an agnostic; or you may belong to any of many different religious denominations existing in todays world. You might even be a communist or believe in mans democracy as the rule on earth. Whoever you are and whatever ideological or political beliefs, social habits you may hold, there is no doubt - You Must Know This MAN - MUHAMMAD (peace be upon him). He was by far the most remarkable man that ever set foot on this earth. He preached a religion, founded a state, built a nation, laid down a moral code, initiated numerous social and political reforms, established a powerful and dynamic society to practice and represent his teachings and completely revolutionized the worlds of human thought and behavior for all times to come. HIS NAME IS MUHAMMAD May Peace of God Be Upon Him (peace be upon him) He was born in Arabia in the year 570 C.E. (Common Era), started his mission of preaching the religion of Truth, Islam (submission to One God at the age of forty and departed from this world at the age of sixty-three. During this short period of 23 years of his prophethood, he changed the complete Arabian Peninsula from paganism and idolatry to worship of One God, from tribal quarrels and wars to national solidarity and cohesion, from drunkenness and debauchery to sobriety and piety, from lawlessness and anarchy to disciplined living, from utter bankruptcy to the highest standards of moral excellence. Human history has never known such a complete transformation of a people or a place before or since - and IMAGINE all these unbelievable wonders in JUST OVER TWO DECADES. The world has had its share of great personalities. But these were one sided figures who distinguished themselves in but one or two field, such as religious thought or military leadership. The lives and teachings of these great personalities of the world are shrouded in the mist of time. There is so much speculation about the time and place their birth, the mode and style of their life, the nature and detail of their teachings and the degree and measure of their success or failure that is impossible for humanity to reconstruct accurately the lives and teachings of these men. Not so this man. Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) accomplished so much in such diverse fields of human thought and behavior in the fullest blaze of human history. Every detail of his private life and public utterances has been accurately documented and faithfully preserved to our day. The authenticity of the records so preserved are vouched for not only by the faithful followers but even by his prejudiced critics. Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) was a religious teacher, a social reformer, a moral guide, an administrative colossus, a faithful friend, a wonderful companion, a devoted husband, a loving father - all in one. No other man in history ever excelled or equaled him in any of these different aspects of life - but it was only for the selfless personality of Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) to achieve such incredible perfection. Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) was nothing more or less than a human being. but he was a man with a noble mission, which was to unite humanity on the worship of ONE and ONLY ONE GOD and to teach them the way to honest and upright living based on the commands of God. He always described himself as, A Servant and Messenger of God and so indeed every action of his proclaimed to be. Today after a lapse of fourteen centuries, the life and teachings of Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) have survived without the slightest loss, alteration or interpolation. They offer the same undying hope for treating mankinds many ills, which they did when he was alive. This is not a claim of Mohammeds (Peace be upon Him) followers, but the inescapable conclusion forced upon by a critical and unbiased history. The least YOU can do as a thinking and concerned human being is to stop for a moment and ask your self: Could these statements sounding so extraordinary and revolutionary really be true? And supposing they really are true and you did not know this man MUHAMMAD (Peace be upon Him) or hear about him, isnt it time you responded to this tremendous challenge and put in some effort to know him? It will cost you nothing, but it may prove to be the beginning of a completely new era in your life. By Eng. Husain Pasha. We invite you to make a discovery of this wonderful man, MUHAMMAD (Peace be upon Him), the like of whom never walked on the face of this earth. Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) was an illiterate but wise and well-respected man who was born in Makkah in the year 570 C.E., at a time when Christianity was not yet fully established in Europe. His first years were marked by the deaths of his parents. Since his father died before his birth, his uncle, Abu Talib, from the respected tribe of Quraysh, raised him. As Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) grew up, he became known for his truthfulness, generosity and sincerity, so that he was sought after for his ability to arbitrate in disputes. His reputation and personal qualities also led to his marriage, at the age of twenty-five, to Khadijah, a widow whom he had assisted in business. Thenceforth, he became an important and trusted citizen of Makkah. Historians describe him as calm and meditative. Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) never felt fully content to be part of a society whose values he considered to be devoid of true religious significance. It became his habit to retreat from time to time to the cave of Hira, to meditate near the summit of Jabal al-Nur, the Mountain of Light, near Makkah. Man & Prophet At the age of 40, while engaged in one such meditative retreat, Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) received his first revelation from God through the Angel Gabriel. This revelation, which continued for twenty-three years, is known as the Quran, the faithful recording of the entire revelation of God. The first revelation read: Recite: In the name of your Lord Who created man from a clot (of blood). Recite: Your Lord is Most Noble, Who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know. [Holy Quran 96:1-5] More than fourteen centuries have passed since the prophet of Arabia made claim to being the last and final messenger and slave of Allah. Yet the intensity of discussion amongst scholars from all religions seems to have increased over the years and gained in velocity in the last few years more so than ever before. Who was this man? What do his followers believe about him? How can others understand their undying devotion to his mission? What do the scholars tell us about this man, Muhammad, peace be upon him, and his message to the world? For more than fourteen centuries scholars from Judaism, Christianity and Islam have been discussing whether or not the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, could have indeed, been a true prophet from Almighty God. Was he the long awaited Messiah the Jews have been waiting for so many centuries? Was he the one prophesied in the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, calling in the wilderness? Was he That Prophet mentioned in the New Testament Gospel of John? We would like to share some of the findings of these scholars from their own sources and invite the reader to consider these evidences. The most recent claim of revelation coming from the God of Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus, peace be upon them, is the claim of Muhammad, peace be upon him, regarding the Quran. The Quran makes the claim, Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the slave and messenger of Almighty God. But more importantly pertaining to our subject at hand, the Quran makes the claim that Muhammad, peace be upon him, is mentioned by name in the previous revelations (meaning the Bible). Can this claim be substantiated? Let us begin by examining the statement in the Quran contained in the 61st chapter (As-Saff [the ranks]), verse 6: And when Jesus said; O Children of Israel! I am the apostle of God (sent) to you, confirming the Law (which came) before me, and giving glad tidings of an apostle to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad. [Holy Quran 61:6] Muhammad in The Bibble Please take notice of the name mentioned, Ahmad. This is one of the most common of several names given to the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, by his own people. Now let us turn to the Old Testament (Torah of the Jews) and notice the book called Songs of Solomon, chapter 5, verse 16: His mouth is very sweet; he is totally desirable. 33 This is my beloved! This is my companion, O maidens of Jerusalem! Check the footnote (33) to discover what the word was BEFORE it was translated as totally desirable and in some versions of the translations we find, altogether lovely. (makhmaddim, “desirable”) is the plural form of the noun (makhmad, “desire, desirable thing, precious object”; (see below note #33) It is asserted that this word Makhmaddim is in reality the word Akhmad or AHmad. The reason for the emphasis on the kh sound is to prounouce the very hard H sound of the two types of h in the Semetic languages. There is a word used in a passage of the New Testament of the Bible, located in the Gospel of John, chapter 14, verse 16, that many Muslim scholars refer to as pointing to the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. Let us review it and then observe what non-Muslim scholars comment about it. 14:15 “If you love me, you will obey34 my commandments. 14:16 Then36 I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— 14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you. Old Testament Song of Solomon 5:16 The term (makhmaddim, “desirable”) is the plural form of the noun dm^j=m^ (makhmad, “desire, desirable thing, precious object”; HALOT 570 s.v. 1; BDB 326 s.v.). Like the plural (“sweetness”) in the preceding parallel line, this use of the plural is probably an example of the plural of intensity: “very desirable.” 34tn Or “will keep.” 35sn Jesus’ statement If you love me, you will obey my commandments provides the transition between the promises of answered prayer which Jesus makes to his disciples in vv. 13-14 and the promise of the Holy Spirit which is introduced in v. 16. Obedience is the proof of genuine love. 36tn Here kaiv (kai) has been translated as “Then” to reflect the implied sequence in the discourse. 37tn Or “Helper” or “Counselor”; Grk “Paraclete,” from the Greek word paravklhto (paraklhto). Finding an appropriate English translation for paravklhto is a very difficult task. No single English word has exactly the same range of meaning as the Greek word. “Comforter,” used by some of the older English versions, appears to be as old as Wycliffe. But today it suggests a quilt or a sympathetic mourner at a funeral. “Counselor” is adequate, but too broad, in contexts like “marriage counselor” or “camp counselor.” “Helper” or “Assistant” could also be used, but could suggest a subordinate rank. “Advocate,” the word chosen for this translation, has more forensic overtones than the Greek word does, although in John 16:5-11 a forensic context is certainly present. Because an “advocate” is someone who “advocates” or supports a position or viewpoint and since this is what the Paraclete will do for the preaching of the disciples, it was selected in spite of the drawbacks. 38tn Or “cannot receive.” 39tn Or “he remains.” 40tc Some early and important witnesses (Ì66* B D* W 1 565 it) have ejstin (estin, “he is”) instead of e[stai (estai, “he will be”) here, while other weighty witnesses ({Ì66c,75vid Í A D1 L Q Y Ë13 33vid Ï as well as several versions and fathers}), read the future tense. When one considers transcriptional evidence, ejstin is the more difficult reading and better explains the rise of the future tense reading, but it must be noted that both Ì66 and D were corrected from the present tense to the future. If ejstin were the original reading, one would expect a few manuscripts to be corrected to read the present when they originally read the future, but that is not the case. When one considers what the author would have written, the future is on much stronger ground. The immediate context (both in 14:16 and in the chapter as a whole) points to the future, and the theology of the book regards the advent of the Spirit as a decidedly future event (see, e.g., 7:39 and 16:7). The present tense could have arisen from an error of sight on the part of some scribes or more likely from an error of thought as scribes reflected upon the present role of the Spirit. Although a decision is difficult, the future tense is most likely authentic. For further discussion on this textual problem, see James M. Hamilton, Jr., “He Is with You and He Will Be in You” (Ph.D. diss., The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 2003), 213-20.
Posted on: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 08:38:12 +0000
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