THE PROPHET AS MENTIONED IN THE GOSPELS
More emphatically and more frequently than
any other Prophet, the Prophet Jesus, upon him be peace, gave the good tidings of the Last
Prophet, upon him be peace and blessings.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus promises the arrival
of the Last Prophet using a variety of names:
But I tell you the truth: It is for your good
that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Paraklit will not come to you; but
if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in
regard to sin and righteousness and judgement. (John, 16:7-8)
In these verses, the Prophet Muhammad, upon him
be peace and blessings, is referred to as the Paraklit. Paraklit is a Greek word meaning
the Distinguisher between Truth and Falsehood. Although Christian interpreters have given
this word different meanings such as Counsellor (Gideons International) or Helper (American
Bible Society) or Comforter (the Company of the Holy Bible), and claimed that
it refers to the Holy Spirit, it is impossible even for Christians to establish whether
the Holy Spirit has come down after Jesus and done what Jesus foretold he would do.
If, according to Christians, the Holy Spirit is
the Archangel Gabriel, he came many times to the Prophet Muhammad, upon him be peace and
blessings, to bring Divine Revelations. Further, Jesus mentioned and predicted the
Paraklit with other different names, but the same function, as is seen in the following
verses:
When Paraklit comes the Spirit of
truth who comes from the Father, he will testify about me. (John, 15.26)
I have much more to say to you, more than you
can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth.
He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what
is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking what is mine and making it known to
you. (John, 16.12-14)
I will not speak with you much longer, for
the Prince of this world is coming. And I posses nothing of him. (John, 14.30)
Who has come after Jesus other than the Prophet
Muhammad, as the Comforter who has comforted human beings against fear of death, against
worries about the future, against spiritual ailments of all kinds? As the Helper, who has
helped mankind to attain real peace and happiness in both worlds? As the Prince of the
world, who has ruled almost half of the world for fourteen centuries, and who has become
the beloved of billions? And as the Spirit of truth who testified to Jesus, brought glory
to him by declaring his Prophethood against the denial of the Jews and false deification
of him by Christians, and restoring his religion to its pristine purity through the Book
he brought? What shortcomings do the Western Christians attribute to the Prophet Muhammad,
in contrast to Jesus and other Prophets, that, while almost all of the Christians of the
Middle East believed in him and converted to Islam within a few decades of his
death, they persist in their denial of him and offer no justification?
Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, a great Sufi saint,
expresses in the following stanza the good tidings of the Prophet Muhammad by the Gospel:
In the Gospel Mustafa is mentioned with his
attributes, in him is the mystery of all the Prophets; he is the bringer of happiness. The
Gospel mentions him with his external form and features, and also with his personal
virtues and Prophetic qualities.
In spite of all the distortions they have been
subjected to over time, the Old and New Testaments still contain references to the Prophet
Muhammad, only some of which we have quoted. If, one day, the least corrupted copies of
the Torah and the Gospel are discovered, it will be seen that they contain explicit
references to the last Messenger of God, upon him be peace and blessings. This may be
deduced from the Traditions which predict that Christianity will be purified of the
borrowed, mostly pagan, elements imported into it. |