AsSalamu Alaikum and welcome to
today’s program is Allah will be our 21st on Mohammed, a peace be upon him the last messenger of Allah and our 15th on the coming of Muhammad as foretold by Jesus May peace be upon both of them. I’m your host is Shawnee Mission here once again from St. Mary’s University is Dr. Jamal better. So I want to conduct the journey.
Could you please for the benefit of our viewers give us a summary of last week’s program? It’ll be last week we covered essentially three basic points. The first one was discussion of the importance of the Gospel of Barnabas, and we indicated two things. One is that the benefit of the study and research and Gospel of Barnabas is not really exclusively to Muslims, because Muslim beliefs especially the purity of the monotheistic faith, the rejection of any deification of any of the creatures of God, are beliefs which stands on its own, irrespective of the authenticity or lack of authenticity of Barnabas or any other document for the message. The second issue is that the study
of the Gospel of Barnabas indeed would be even more useful for our Christian Brethren, because it may have shed some light on some of the questions that many biblical scholars have raised throughout history in the pursuit or search for the True JESUS as different probably from the Christ or church created Christ or the various categories of Christology that developed by theologians and it might help also understand some of the early developments in the the Christian Creed’s. The second major point was a reference to some of the some of the apocryphal Gospels and apocryphal literature, which while independent of the Gospel of Barnabas, seems to be in agreement with the basic theme,
presented in Barnabas. Thirdly, we refer to another very important work to an authority actually on the origin of religions, ancient traditions, that’s Godfrey Higgins, who believes actually that the term spirit of truth, about whom Jesus peace be upon him said he’s going to come after him, is indeed a reference to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, I must say that this is not a Muslim writer. After all, he’s a British scholar.
Now, the parents were discussed in previous programs. What were the observations with the comment of Higgins concerning the powerclean. He makes also reference to that. And he seemed to conclude similar to our conclusions and reference to other research in that area, that there is some inaccuracy or difficulty in translating the word that appears originally in the Gospel According to john, especially in chapters 1415 and 16. And he believes that actually, the original words should have been translated, and that’s just not comfortable, not comfortable. And of course, it was just his
description of the name of Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.
In page 670, of his book that we refer to in the previous program and eclipses,
he refers that Higgens to the works of two important Christian scholars. One of them is a clergy,
George seal and Bishop Marsh, and perhaps if I quote directly, it might be an honest representation what he really says. Hagen says, quote, Mr. Sayle, referring to your sin, in page 98 of his preliminary discourses, distinctly admits that perfectly in Arabic means illustrious the meaning of the name Mohammed.
Bishop Marsh has observed that this word, practically It must have been the Syriac or Arabic word Paraclete. Pr. Q Li T.
translated into great. pr, pr Cletus. Now
Maintain. I hear the first two Higgins is still quoting him. I maintain he says that if as Bishop Marsh says the word per click PR Q and it was the word used by Jesus, peace be upon him, and that it means illustrious. It is a gross mistranslation to render it by the Greek term, para Cletus, which means comfort. Hagen’s, in fact provide good evidence also, that it could not mean really comfort like that it should mean illustrious or praised when which means Muhammad. In page 680. He says that when Jesus or when one examines the words of Jesus, peace be upon him about that,
practically, or practically to come after him. He says, the description does not really apply to the Holy Spirit, or Sanctus spiritus.
But rather, the change or probably he means the insertion of the term, which is the Holy Spirit’s, which appear in john
took place, sometimes later, even though it took place before the birth of Prophet Muhammad. But the question of course, why was achieved even before the birth of Prophet Muhammad, he explains that maybe the theologians or the clergy at that time sought to respond to some individuals. Before the rest of Prophet Mohammed peace, Reverend mo claimed, actually to be that promised productivities and in fact, some of them go to the very early days of Christianity like Simon Magus, we talked about him in a previous program, many Montana’s marquee on our own people who claim to be back later. So maybe some efforts was made to insert Holy Spirit to disclaim
the authenticity of those claimants to be perfectly honest. In fact, Hagen’s supports his view also, not only from the New Testament of what Jesus was quoted, as saying, but he also even mentions or refers to statements in the Old Testament in the canonized Bible, which in his understanding, mentioned Prophet Mohammed by name.
Now, how he’s made a number of statements, and does he go off in any way to try and prove what he said? And and what is his reference that he’s making in the Bible? What to begin with the way in which
sir Hagen’s understand the Old Testament is that they seem to be indication that they weren’t anticipation of more than one Messiah, not just one Messiah. For example, on page 673, in the same reference, he says, quote, Isaiah or he indicates that Isaiah foretold the Messiah, Cyrus, then foretold Jesus, and that Jesus was believed by the Gnostics and Templars to have for thought Mohammed or he says, desires of all nations, a few pages. After that, on page 679, he explains his biblical basis for that expression, desires of all nations. And he refers In fact, to the book of how guys in the Bible, it’s one of the letters prophets, just before the beginning of the New
Testament towards the end of the Old Testament, and indicates that the coming of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him was foretold, not only by Jesus, peace be upon him, but also by profit, her guide, and his particular reference, since you’re asking this is on chapter two, verse seven, in which God made this promise, through profit, her guide, that the desires of all nations shall come.
And then Higgins refers to the roots, the Hebrew roots of that word. And he says, actually, it is equivalent to the roots in Arabic also, which,
from which the term praise or praise worthy, is derived. And, of course, as you know, the name of Prophet Mohammed Mohammed, actually praiseworthy.
And then he actually refers to a statement made by another biblical scholar, the Christian biblical scholar, who is very critical, even of Islam. And now, let me quote Reagan, in his own words, he says,
from this route, says Parkers to the fiscal parkcrest that pretended Prophet Mohammed or Muhammad had his name. Let’s end up the cost of the part that he quotes from Pakistan. And then Higgins continues, he says, He is Mohammed is expressly foretold by her guy, profit target
and by name there is no internet
correlation here. There is no evading this clear text, and its meaning, as it appeared in the mind of the most unwilling of witnesses parkcrest and a competent judge, when he happened not to be wrapped by his prejudice. And then in the later part, he says, He that his parkcrest did not see to what this truth could lead, again by reference, because this is an extremely interesting petition is in the analysis by Godfrey Higgins for the one book then chapter five, on page 679, I couldn’t see anything more open and more obvious than this.
I wonder why that the jamala. An important prophecy like this
is not more more known,
or at least, so common in the States. Well, see, the problem is that the average reader of the Bible, whether among the common
man or woman, and but even in the case of the majority of clergy, they are so much dependent on the extent of accuracy of the translations of the Bible in the languages in which they read like English or French.
And this translations, as it’s well known, keep changing. That’s why you have so many
additions, various approaches in translation. Well, mind you, some of those changes in translation might be justifiable for the purpose of improving the expressions or for the sake of more accuracy. But I must say also that in some cases, or in some points, these changes in translation, at times tend also to conceal the Hebrew or Greek original terms used and as such the meaning become unintelligible or masked. With those changes in translation. We have already given an example of this in a previous program, when we said that if you go back to some older editions, for example, like the kings in King James Version, or even the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, you find
that in the Psalms of David in Psalm 84, in verse six, the city of Mecca or Baca because it’s known by both names, that guy is mentioned by name by name. However, you’ll notice in some other Bibles, that meaning has been masked example of this is the Arabic Bible, which is published by the Bible Societies in the Near East, published in Beirut in 1866. Whereas Baca, which is known to any Arabic leaders, Muslim or Christian, lacked as much as any Arabic speaking definitely know what it is,
is changed to the value of weeping or wedding bouquet in Arabic. When I wonder whether that change was made in the Arabic version, because the Arabic speaking people would immediately identify that this is a reference to Makkah and Prophet Muhammad or not, I know there might be other excuses given. But this is the kind of difficulty we have in the translations which conceal the original expression. It looks to me that there is also a similar problem in the translation of the book of how guys in the Bible, especially this chapter two, verse seven.
The original Hebrew, according to Higgins, are the root word in Hebrew from which the desire of our nation has been based, is actually equivalent to an English HMD
or hemat, in Hebrew. And that Hebrew root actually is the exact equivalent to the Arabic roots composed of the three letters. Ha, mean, Ben hunt, from which again, Muhammad scaling, which means again, praise and praise worthy. Now from the from the root Arabic word as you know,
it is obvious that it’s a reference if you really say that prayer is worth the one or the one who has been hammered that one has been praised from it.
You’re really talking about exactly the name Harmon very clearly. But now in the in the King James Version of the Bible, the English translation, we find that this clears mentioned of the name of the Prophet Prophet Muhammad has been clouded by using the term desire. Even though the original language it is equivalent to praise desire. Also in the Arabic Bible, a similar term used Mr. Khalid Ahmed also liked the desire or the desire is one of ordination that seemed to mask the meaning. But that meaning seemed to have been further de clouded. It’s not totally concealed, actually, in the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, where not the word praise is used. Not
The word desire but another word treasures.
But if you even translate it as pleasures, then you become rather unintelligible it doesn’t make any sense if you put the desire or the treasures of omniscience and come, it doesn’t make much sense, really. So what I’m saying here basically, is that going to the Hebrew origin and in the book of our guide,
the route is the exact route, like in Arabic praise, which actually is the root word for praise worthy or Muhammad. So it’s a clear prophecy of the coming of the Prophet Muhammad peace.
Now, just to be sure, what is the context of this prophecy? And does it provide any other corroborating evidence that actually does apply to the Prophet Mohammed May peace be upon him, I make a reference here to an interesting reference, it’s very good book. It’s called Mohammed in the Bible. And ironically, it has been written by a former Bishop, Reverend David Benjamin, Danny.
And on page 38, and 59 of his book, he gives a brief summary, I think that should be adequate to give the context of what what was going on. It says that when the Jews returned to Jerusalem after the 17 years of captivity in Babylon,
they were allowed to rebuild the temple. And that’s some of them, when this scene was facing them, were very much moved, and they started to weep.
It was on this occasion that guts and he says the Prophet a guide
to console this assembly. And to assure them of the coming of the human of omission handed that’s, again, the root for Mohammed, or the which was translated as I said, desire, but actually see the hamlet or the praised one of ordination and the mythology of omniscience. And that God will give court peace to displace, actually, if you go to the King James Version, for example, in chapter two verses five to 10, you can see the context seem to be
related to that.
Former Bishop killed any comments on this by indicating that the common translations
of the original words in that prophecy, it makes it rather unintelligible make it very vague, considered. And he indicate that the two crucial
Hebrew root words used in that prophecy are two,
which are the equivalent in Arabic to ashmit, or format. That’s one habit. And the other one piece, actually, the root is
SLM, which is equivalent to Arabic, or to the English term, Islam, because again, the term Islam come from peace, based on the etymology can root of the word, actually, former Bishop can then it translates Haggai chapter two, verse seven, on page 37, of his book, and he says, and that praised one or the ultimate, of all nations will come, which make it
more consistent, actually, with the flow of the words. But he also say that the term peace,
which has indicated is the same roots from which the term Islam comes. And actually, he says that the dead properly really, it says that God will give Islam to displace. So you give it Mohammed and Islam put together, the prophecy by how guy really is, is that appraised, one of all nations is going to come or Mohammed is going to come, and that Islam will be given in that place. There is one additional remark, if I may, which is quite interesting, since you’re dealing with the issue of the context, which is an additional corroborating evidence in itself. Because if you go back to the second chapter of the book of Haggai, it also mentioned something interesting, because it says that
the glory of the former House, that house of God will be certainly the glory of the latter house would be greater than the former.
That could mean one of two things. For example, Abdulhak vidyarthi, in his book, Muhammad and word scriptures, in the second body and page 702,
tends to interpret that that the house of God which means the Kaaba, the latter house, will be greater than the glory of the temple in Jerusalem. And that is a defensible interpretation, given the fact that there is no other place in the world, that people go in the millions to visit on a regular basis every year as the holiest shrine as the Kaaba, the holy Kaaba in Mecca.
So, in that sense, the glory of the house of Abraham you know, with
be better than the temple in Jerusalem. But former Bishop can then also have another equally interesting and valid interpretation, which is not necessarily in conflict with the first one, he says it could also be a reference
to the Dome of the Rock. And the famous majestic Mosque of Ahmed that will be built after Islam came to Palestine, which symbolizes also the presence of Islam there. Whichever interpretation, I think both of them are in the same line, but there is some future Glory to the house of God, which would be greater than the tradition and house that has been regarded as a holy place which is still Hollywood. In other words, in comparative terms, the letter house would have greater glory.
In my humble understanding, this kind of explanation is far more sensible than the rather unintelligible way in which some of the translations of the Bible mentioned and in fact, as indicated, it is even manifested historically, so it’s justifiable also on the basis of etymology of the words and their origin, the flow of the meanings as well as the actual historical manifestation what really happened,
teaching the research done by Higgins, is there any way in which it can be compared with the Gospel of Barnabas.
In fact, I must say that I was able to detect in at least four quotations, the skepticism on the part of vegans, pretending to be even the crucifixion of Jesus or his deification, and its implication.
Perhaps if I just go through them, it might give some idea, which you will notice, are somewhat consistent with, with the basic theme presented in the Gospel of Barnabas. In the first condition, he refers to the pre Christian of Egyptian mythology
about the symbolism of the cross. And on Volume One, book four on page 217 says, and I quote, it, that’s the cross was carried in the hand of Horus, the mediators of the Egyptians, the second person in virginity, and called more ghosts. By platonist. Horus was supposed to rain 1000 years, he was buried for three days, he was regenerated, and triumphed over Egyptian evil principle, which seemed to indicate again, that he’s not totally sure as to whether crucifixion is really historical or not, that’s he meets with Barnabas in that particular point.
The second application is in the same reference from page 151. And he says in court, it seems to be quite impossible for any person of understanding, to believe that the coincidence of those histories of Plato and Pythagoras, with that of Jesus can be the effect of accidents,
then how can they be accounted for otherwise than by supposing that in their respective orders of time, they will own copies of one another.
In the third condition on page 117, he says, quote, Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, is called the Son of God. No doubt, very justly, is the evangelist john bereit. For he says in chapter one, verse one, that everyone who receives the gospel, everyone, in fact, who believes in God, the Creator, has power to become a son of God, that’s again, somewhat similar to the basic theme and banners and the first and final application. He says, In the preface on Roman 18, called Jesus Christ is different him was put to death. If the four gospels histories can be believed, see the way he puts it.
Before gospel histories can be believed, merely for teaching. What I have no doubt he did not. He did teach sorry, he did teach that temple, priests, mysteries, and Kabbalah were all unnecessary. Then Hagen’s add a comment about Islam, he says, Muhammad, peace be upon him by abolishing priests liturgies and symbols, and by substituting a simple him in praise of the Creator was a much more consistent Christian who says, that modern poor life from porn and this are nothing but this was the religion of Mohammed, the Quran was none of his. I must tell you in conclusion to this that, it is interesting to notice that why there are so many repeated or recurring themes in the writing of
Sarah Hagen’s, which are consistent or in line with what the discovery of Gospel of Barnabas
revealed, I could not detect that he was really aware of the Gospel of Barnabas, even though it was discovered. But maybe one possible reason is that the first English translation of the Gospel of Barnabas was out in 1907 said Higgins died in 1833.
Now so far focused on the prophecies about the coming of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him in the Bible, or any other similar prophecies and other ancient scriptures. Yes, there are, in fact, there is an interesting reference I made, mentioned to it in some previous programs, and in this program, too, it’s called Mohammed in Word scriptures by Abdulhak vidyarthi.
And he indicates is perhaps my chief reference for that particular or main difference, I should say, that in description of the Westons Buddhist and Hindus There are also references to the coming of Prophet Muhammad. And in fact, the author gives quite a convincing evidence
that the anticipation of the coming of Prophet Muhammad there was something that really is deep in history. Well, it looks like there’s there’s more to this than then you’re going to have time for so I’m going to have to cut it off at this point. Thank you very much. And thank you all for joining us here in Islam and focus as always, your comments your questions will be most appreciated. We will pick up on this point next week inshallah. From all of us Assalamu alaikum
