Bible About Muhammad Essays - Prophets Of Islam, Prophecy

Bible About Muhammad "Say: 'Do you see whether this message be from Allah (God Almighty), and yet you reject it, and a witness from among the Children of Israel bore witness of one like him.' " (the Holy Quran 46:10) Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, The subject of this evening's talk - "What the Bible says about Muhammad" will no doubt come as a surprise to many of you because the speaker is a Muslim. How does it come about that a Muslim happens to be expounding prophecies from the Jewish and Christian Scriptures? As a young man, about 30 years ago, I attended a series of religious lectures by a Christian theologian, a certain Rev. Hiten, at the "Theater Royal", Durban in South Africa. Pope or Kissinger?: This Reverend gentleman was expounding Biblical prophecies. He went on to prove that the Christian Bible foretold the rise of Soviet Russia, and the Last Days. At one stage he went to the extent of proving that his Holy Book did not leave even the Pope out of its predictions. He expatiated vigorously in order to convince his audience that the Beast 666 mentioned in The Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament, was the Pope, who was the Vicar of Christ on earth. Christian scholars are ingenious and indefatigable in their efforts to prove their case. Rev. Hiten's lectures led me to ask that if the Bible foretold so many things - not even excluding the "Pope" and "Israel", - then surely it must have something to say about the greatest benefactor of mankind, prophet Muhammad, may the peace of Allah be upon him. As a youngster I set out to search for an answer. I met priest after priest, attended lectures, and read everything that I could lay my hands relating to the fields of Bible prophecies. Tonight I'm going to narrate to you one of these interviews with a Dominee of the Dutch Reformed Church. Lucky Thirteen : I was invited to the Transvaal (South Africa) to deliver a talk on the occasion of the birthday of the prophet Muhammad. Knowing that in that province of the Republic, the Afrikaans language is widely spoken, even by my own people, I felt that I ought to acquire a smattering of this language so as to feel a little "at home" with the people. I opened the telephone directory and began phoning the Afrikaans-speaking Churches. I indicated my purpose to the priests that I was interested in having a dialogue with them, but they all refused my request with "plausible" excuses. No. 13 was my lucky number. The thirteenth call brought me pleasure and relief. A Dominee Van Heerden ("Dominee" is the Afrikaans equivalent of "priest") agreed to meet me at his home on the Saturday afternoon that I was to leave for Transvaal. He received me on his verandah with a friendly welcome. He said if I did not mind, he would like his father-in- law from the Free State, a 70 year old man, to join us in the discussion. I did not mind. The three of us settled down in the Dominee's library. Why Nothing? I posed the question: "What does the Bible say about Muhammad?" Without hesitation he answered: "Nothing!" I asked: "Why nothing? According to your interpretation the Bible has so many things to say about the rise of Soviet Russia and about the Last Days and even about the Pope of the Roman Catholics?" He said: "Yes, but there was nothing about Muhammad!" I asked again: "Why nothing? Surely this man Muhammad who had been responsible for the bringing into being a world-wide community of millions of believers who, on his authority, believe in: the miraculous birth of Jesus, that Jesus is the Messiah, that he gave life to the dead by God's permission, and that he healed those born blind and the lepers by God's permission. Surely this book (the Bible) must have something to say about this great leader of men who spoke so well of Jesus and his mother Mary?" The old man from the Free State replied: "My son, I have been reading the Bible for the past 50 years, and if there was any mention of him, I would have known it." Not One by Name! I inquired: "According to you, are there not hundreds of prophecies regarding the coming of Jesus in the Old Testament." The Dominee interjected: "Not hundreds, but thousands!" I said: "I am not going to dispute the thousand and one