Muhammad Foretold in the Bible
Narrated by Ibn Ishaq, Salama bin Salaam bin Waqsh, said a Jewish neighbor in Medinah told his family about the Resurrection, the day of judgement, the reckoning, and heaven and hell. He said that to polytheist who did not believe him. They asked him “what proof is there?”, the Jew told them that a prophet will come from these lands(Arabia) and he pointed toward Makkah and Yemen. They asked when he will come, the Jew pointed at Salama who was the youngest and said if he lives a natural life he will see him. Salama lived to see Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him).
Even though the bible has changed through out the years, there are still Glad Tidings of the coming of Muhammad PBUH left in the bible. In Deuteronomy verse 18:18 this verse says
“18. I(God) will raise up for them(Israelies) a prophet like you(Moses PBUH) from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him”
This verse fits Muhammad PBUH like a glove, and fits no one else. Christian say this verse refers to Jesus PBUH. But Muhammad PBUH resembles Moses PBUH. Moses and Muhammad PBUT, both had parents while Jesus PBUH only had a mother. Both Moses and Muhammad PBUT had children, Jesus PBUH did not. Moses PBUH was born in a natural way so was Muhammad PBUH, while Jesus PBUH was born in a miraculous fashion. Moses and Muhammad PBUT were both accepted by their nation, but Jesus PBUH was not accepted by his nation(as stated in the bible “He Jesus came to his nation, and he was accepted not”). Moses and Muhammad PBUT were rulers on earth, they in forced punishment, Jesus PBUH did not rule. Muhammad and Moses PBUT came with a new law(The Quran, and The Torah), Jesus PBUH came to follow the law of Moses PBUH. Moses PBUH has led his people on hijra(migration)(from Egypt to the Holy Land) so has Muhammad PBUH(from Makkah to Medinah), Jesus PBUH did not. Both Moses and Muhammad PBUT both won battles against their enemies, while Jesus PBUH did not fight. Both Moses and Muhammad PBUT died a natural death, while Jesus PBUH was elevated(or as Christians think he was killed). Both Moses and Muhammad PBUH are buried in the ground, while Jesus PBUH was not. Muhammad and Moses PBUT both became prophets at the age of 40, while Jesus PBUH became a prophet at the age of 30. No one came after Moses PBUH that has resembled him like Muhammad PBUH. This verse does not speak of an Jewish prophet because of Deuteronomy verse 18:34 says no one from among the Jews is like Moses PBUH. There is only one nation that are the brothers of the Jews, and it is the Arabs. The Prophecy in Deuteronomy which says “I will put my words in his mouth” The Qur’an says the same thing about Muhammad PBUH, while the bible was written by many different people. They say it was inspired by god.
There is another Isaiah 29:11-18 which says.
“11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:
12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.”
That is just like the first in counter of revelation Muhammad PBUH had with Gabriel. Gabriel told Muhammad to “Read” and Muhammad who did not know how to read responded with “I cannot read”. In Hebrew the word for “Read this” is Qarah, the first word revealed from the Qur’an to Muhammad PBUH was “Iqra” which means “Read”. The prophecy says that before the revelation, the law of god will be replaced by the law of the land. That is what happened with the Law of Israel changed because of Saint Paul.
The Hijra (Migration from Makkah to Madinah) was prophesied in Habakkuk verse 3:3
“3. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.”
This verse refers to, two places Teman and Paran. Teman is an oasis just north of Madinah. That is referring to Madinah. Paran is a name for Makkah, because the bible says Hagar and Ismael PBUH were left in Paran. Which is what is known as Makkah. Muhammad means praised, he is the most praised one on earth. This verse is all about Muhammad PBUH.
In Deuteronomy verse 18:21-22:
“21 You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD?’
22 If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.”
Meaning if a prophet claims “this is from God” than it is from God, if not it is not from god. The Qur’an is showing everyday the miracles of the Qur’an. There is nothing in the Qur’an has been disproved yet. Never has a book been compared to it.
In Isaiah 21:7 it states:
“When he sees riders, horsemen in pairs, A train of donkeys, a train of camels, Let him pay close attention, very close attention.”
Christians would say the group of donkeys is referring to Jesus PBUH because he rode a donkey, but Muhammad PBUH is the only Prophet to ride on a Camel. This verse refers to both Jesus and Muhammad PBUT.
In Isaiah 21:9 it states:
“Now behold, here comes a troop of riders, horsemen in pairs.” And one said, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon; And all the images of her gods are shattered on the ground.”
Babylon is referring to present day Iraq. This prophecy is saying that the army will destroy the idol worshiping of Iraq. This army is referring to the Army of Umar ibn Al Khattab, whose army destroyed the idol worshiping in Iraq.
In Isaiah 21:14-15 it states:
“14 The inhabitants of the land of Tema brought water to him that was thirsty, they prevented with their bread him that fled.
15 For they fled from the swords, from the drawn sword, and from the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war.”
This Prophecy is referring to the Hijra(migration) and the answar(helpers in Madina) who brought food and water to the Muslims of Makkah.
In Isaiah 21:16-17 it states:
“16 For thus hath the Lord said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
17 And the residue of the number of archers, the mighty men of the children of Kedar, shall be diminished: for the LORD God of Israel hath spoken [it].”
Who are the children of Kedar? The bible speaks of Kedar in Genesis verse 25:14:
“14 These are the names of Ishmael’s sons, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth (Ishmael’s firstborn), Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam.”
Kedar is one of the sons of Ishmael PBUH. This is referring to Arabs, since the people of Quraish are decedents of Kedar.
The original verse 16 and 17 of Isaiah chapter 21, is referring too the Battle of Badr. The battle of Badr happened a year after Hijrah, just like this verse follows the verse referring to Hijrah. In the Battle of Badr most of the leaders of the Quraish died.
In Isaiah 11:1-2 it states:
“1 But a shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom.
2 The spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, A spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and of fear of the LORD”
Who is Jesse? Jesse is referring to Ishmael PBUH. Jesse is an abbreviation for Ismael AS. This verse means that someone will come from the descendants of Ismael. This prophecy can not fit anyone but Muhammad PBUH because he was the most prominent decedent of Ismael.
In Deuteronomy verse 33:1-2 it states:
“1 This is the blessing which Moses, the man of God, pronounced upon the Israelites before he died.
2 And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.”
Sinai is where Moses PBUH came from, Seir are mountains in Philistin, which is referring to Jesus PBUH, mount Paran is again referring to Makkah, and of Muhammad PBUH. The ten thousand saints is referring to the ten thousand Sahabas(companions of Muhammad) who with Muhammad opened Makkah.
In John verses 16:7-14 it states”
“7But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.
8When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt[a] in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment:
9in regard to sin, because men do not believe in me;
10in regard to righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;
11and in regard to judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned.
12″I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear.
13But 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.
14He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you.”
This is also referring to the coming of Muhammad (PBUH).
Order Of The Qur’an And Multiple Recitation Styles
I am writing this because this may be a topic that confuses many people, Muslims and non Muslims alike. Being a طالب العلم (Student of Knowledge), I feel that I have a responsibility in answering this to the best of my ability. The order of the Qur’an is a long and interesting topic, with difference of opinion among the scholars of Islam being very little. The second topic I will talk about are the multiple recitation styles of the Qur’an. This is a topic that even few Muslims know about, but before begin to write about the Ahruf and Qira’at of the Qur’an; I would like to say that all these have the same meaning. There is one Qur’an, and the different recitations do not have different meanings. Some vocabulary that will be used: Ayah(verses of Qur’an), Surah(chapters of Qur’an), Ijma(consensus), Alim(Scholar), Ullema(Scholars, plural form of Alim), Harf(dialect), Ahruf(dialects, plural form of Harf), Qira’at(recitation styles), Mashuf(physical copy of Qur’an).
I will begin with the order of the Qur’an. First, the Ijma (consensus) of the Ullema (scholars) is that Muhammad (Peace be upon him) had taught order of the Qur’an to his companions. The reason for the consensus among scholars is because of the authentic narrations that the Prophet had taught his companions the order. Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid was asked a question about the order of Ayah(verses) of the Qur’an. Some of the things he said were “The fact there is scholarly consensus, and many texts stating the order of aayahs in one soorah, that is very well known. The consensus was reported by many scholars, including Al-Zarkashi in al-Burhaan and Abu Ja’far, who said: “The order of the aayahs in their soorahs came about because this is how it was instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) and there is no dispute among the Muslims with regard to this matter.”
Another scholarly opinion on the subject is “Al-Qaadi Abu Bakr said in al-Intisaar: “The order of the aayahs is something that is obligatory and binding. Jibreel used to say (to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)), ‘Put such and such an aayah in such and such a place.” He also said: “What we think is that all of the Qur’aan which Allaah revealed and commanded that it should be written down, and which was not abrogated after being revealed, is that which is contained between the covers of the Mus-haf of ‘Uthmaan, and that there is nothing lacking or added to it. Its order is the same as that commanded by Allaah, may He be exalted, and instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). Nobody has moved any aayah backwards or forwards. The Ummah learned from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) the order of the aayahs of each soorah properly, just as they learned from him the correct pronunciation and recitation.”
Many scholars in Islam have had similar narrations. Include muhadith(people who record sayings of Muhammad and his companions) such as Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, Imam Abu Dawood, Imam al-Tirmidhi, al-Nisaa’i, Ibn Hibbaan and al-Haakim from the companion Ibn ‘Abbaas(may Allah be pleased with him), who said: “I said to ‘Uthmaan, ‘What made you put al-Anfaal which is one of the Mathaani, next to Baraa’ah [al-Tawbah], which is one of the Mi’een? Why did you not put the line Bismillaah ir-Rahmaan ir-Raheem in between them when you put it at the beginning of the rest of al-Sab’ al-Tiwaal [the long seven soorahs]?” ‘Uthmaan said: “The Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to receive revelation of soorahs with many aayahs. When they were revealed, he would call his scribes and tell them, ‘Put these aayahs in the soorah where such-and-such is mentioned.”
Imam Ahmad narrated in al-Musnad (4/218) with a hasan isnaad(Good Chain of Narration) from ‘Uthmaan ibn Abi’l-‘Aas that he said: “I was sitting with the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) when he fixed his gaze on something, then lowered his gaze until he was almost looking at the ground, then he gazed at something. He said, ‘Jibreel (peace be upon him) came to me and told me to put this aayah in this place in this soorah(Nahl 16:90)
Imam As Suyuti narrated this story: Abu Ja’far al-Nahhaas al-Mukhtaar said that the soorahs were compiled in this order from the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) because of the hadeeth of Waathilah, “In place of the Tawraat I was given the seven long soorahs.” He said: “This hadeeth indicates that the order of the Qur’aan was taken from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him).
Ibn Hajar said, “the fact that the soorahs , or most of them, are in a given order does not contradict the idea that this was instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). What proves that this was instituted by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) is the report narrated by Ahmad and Abu Dawood from Aws ibn Hudhayfah, who said: ‘We asked the companions of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) in the morning, “How did you write down the Qur’aan in chapters?” They said, “We wrote it down in chapters of six soorahs, five soorahs, seven soorahs, nine soorahs, eleven soorahs and thirteen soorahs, and the chapter of al-Mufassal, from Qaaf until the end. This indicates that the order of the soorahs – as it appears in the Mus-haf now – existed at the time of the Messenger of Allaah, or it is possible that what was known in order at that time was Hizb al-Mufassal specifically, which is not the case with the rest.”
See al-Itqaan fi ‘Uloom al-Qur’aan by al-Suyooti, 1/62-65)
From the opinions of Muslim scholars it can be understood that there is a reasoning the verse of the Qur’an must be understood in context, because it is a Muslim belief, that theses verses were divinely guided in order.
Now moving onto the topic of multiple recitation styles of the Qur’an. This is a topic that might catch many Muslims and non Muslims off guard. It is something that is usually not understood by the masses but has been widely known among people of knowledge. Arabic is a language that came with many different dialects. Just like today there are different types of Arabic, there is Arabic from North Africa, There is Levantinan Arabic which is spoken in Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria, then there is Egyptian Arabic, there also Iraqi Arabic, and then there is Classical Arabic. Classical Arabic, is what the Qur’an came from, the Arabic of the people of Quraish(Tribe from Mecca at the time of Muhammad). The Qur’an originally was revealed in the Quraishi harf. Then it came in six more dialects. Making the total number of dialects the Qur’an was revealed in to be seven.
The evidence for that is the hadeeth of Ibn ‘Abbaas who narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Jibreel taught me one style and I reviewed it until he taught me more, and I kept asking him for more and he gave me more until finally there were seven styles.”
(narrated by al-Bukhaari, 3047; Muslim, 819)
Later on after the death of Muhammad, Uthman the companion of the Prophet, burned six of the versions of the Qur’an to make it simpler for the people. The copy he kept was the original version of the Qur’an in the Quraishi Hafs. Now the different recitation styles come from the one Quraishi Hafs. This to not be confused with the seven Ahruf. It is often confused because there are seven authentic Qir’at, and ten in total. In Arabic, often time vowels are not written and people just know the word from the root letters used. From that one copy of the Qur’an there are multiple ways to recite it. Remember, the meaning of the Qur’an does not change, the root words always mean the same thing, just the vowels are used differently. Here are links from Sheykh Muhammad Mishary bin Rashid Alafasy reciting Surah Fatiha(Chapter One) and Surah Ikhlas(Chapter One Hundred and Twelve) in the 10 Qir’at, the translations are given so you can see they have the same meaning.
Being Identified As A Muslim
السلام عليك
How does it Feel to identified as a group? Everyone knows a little bit about this. Everyone is identified in a way with a racial group. Caucasians are identified as whites, African Americans are identified as Blacks, Latin Americans are identified as Hispanics, but are they ever identified for a religion? Sometimes it’s hard to tell if a person belongs to a religious group, and if he does which one. This is also a common trend among many Muslims, but then there are those Muslims that are easy to spot from 2 blocks away. You know what I’m talking about. The man with the big beard, possibly some clothing that distinctly gives it away. For the women, its much easier. A simple headscarf gives it away, she’s a Muslim. I think only nuns are the closest to know how Muslim women feel. I say that from experience as a Muslim man, I do not feel I get starred at much as my sisters in Islam. Even nuns don’t get starred at as much as Muslim women, as when people see nuns their first thoughts are pious women. On the other hand when people see Muslim women they are viewed as oppressed women, extremest, fundamentalist, or as Fox News likes to call them “terrorist”. In reality the only reason Muslim women cover, is to please their lord. For those who don’t know why they wear those head covers, its not because their husbands and fathers make them, its because their creator told them to wear them.
Growing up a Muslim in America, I never felt discriminated. Not counting the “random” security checks at airport, which I do not mind anymore. Who am I to complain about that? It only takes about 10-15 minutes out of my life. As a young adult and not having a beard, I never had a problem being identified as a Muslim. Occasionally people would ask me “Are you a Muslim?” I think the worse/oddest thing ever said to me was one day in philosophy class. We were to discuss religions, and if were to follow a religion which would it be. The girl next to me who I worked with many times, and knew I was Muslim, and we were friendly all semester. She turned to me and said “Sorry, I’m Jewish”, I was very shocked but I really wanted to laugh. I had never had someone apologize to me for being Jewish or any other religion for that matter. It was such an odd feeling I had no idea what to say. So I think I said “I don’t hate Jews.” I was so flabbergasted I wasn’t sure what to say, for a second I though about just say “oh okay.”
Ever since I began growing my beard, which has been over two years now. I though I would be treated differently. In actually I do not think I get treated differently at all. It’s as if my beard is invisible. The only people that have ever made comments about my beard were fellow Muslims. However, whenever a Muslim sister has on her Hijab, she is identified as a Muslim immediately and the stares begin. Having a mother who covers I know this first hand. When I walk around by my self, I never feel any stares, but if I ever walk around with my mother, I can feel the stares multiple times. Not all of the looks we get are friendly looking. Usually Muslim men don’t understand the stares the Muslim women get except when they wear traditional Islamic clothing, and still they don’t always wear it all the time. The Hijab’s identify women as Muslims, and it makes them vulnerable to stares. It is the duty of the man to acknowledge what is happening and be there for our sisters.
The reason for this post is to remind Muslim men how difficult it is to be a Muslim woman. Also this is for non Muslims, so that they know how it feels to be identified as a Muslim. This is a reminder for Muslim men to take care of their sisters, and be aware what is happening in our own community. For all those who struggle in daily life for their race or religion, I give you a verse of the Qur’an which speaks to all believers who struggle.
“With Hardship Comes Relief”
Ever Thought What’s going on in the Head of a Hairy Muslim?
Ah what could possibly going on in that head of that Muslim guy with all that hair? No longer will you need to speculate what goes on in that mind, now you can just read about it.
