Rebuttal to a Christian rebuttal about Muhammad was foretold by Jesus.

Rebuttal to a Christian rebuttal about Muhammad was foretold by Jesus:

The following is an email I received from a Christian; may Allah Almighty lead him to Islam. His points are preceded with "Critic-" and my points are preceded with "Osama-". My writings are all in dark green, and his are in black.

From: u07rjt <u07rjt@abdn.ac.uk>
To: truthspeaks@answering-christianity.com
Subject: answer
Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 14:51:49 +0000

Critic- Muslims claim that the verses speaking of the coming "Comforter" ("Paracletos" in the original Greek) are actually references to the coming of Muhammad. The reason for this is that in the Qur’an Jesus is made to say that after Himself an apostle would be sent, "Whose name shall be Ahmad" (Qur’an 61:6). The following is Yusuf Ali’s commentary on this verse:

Critic- "Ahmad," or "Muhammad," the Praised One, is almost a translation of the Greek word Periclytos. In the present Gospel of John, xiv. 16, xv. 26, and xvi. 7, the word "Comforter" in the English version is for the Greek word "Paracletos," which means "Advocate," "one called to the help of another, a kind friend" rather than "Comforter." Our doctors contend that Paracletos is a corrupt reading for Periclytos, and that in their [sic] original saying of Jesus there was a prophecy of our holy Prophet Ahmad by name.26

Critic- Thus Muslims believe that all of our Bibles have been corrupted and that the apostle John really used the word "Periclytos" in these verses, not the word "Paracletos."

Osama- One thing that the reader needs to know is that Jesus peace be upon him spoke Aramaic during his ministry. What you have from Greek Bibles is nothing but a mere translation to what Jesus originally spoke. It's not any different than the English translation that we have today.

And as any linguistic person would tell you, translating words from language to language can be quite challenging, because it is easy for mistranslations to occur and for sentences to be taken out of context. Languages and styles of speaking and writing are effected by their cultures. People write a certain way and speak certain words at certain situations because of their cultural standards. What might be ok for a person to say in one culture might be offending if said in another.

So the point is clear: You can't take the Greek translation of the Bible all for granted, because it wasn't the mother language that Jesus spoke! You want to disprove that Muhammad was foretold by Jesus, then disprove it from the Aramaic language and not the Greek.

Critic- In examining the Muslim claim that the text has been corrupted the textual critic would quite rightly look to the actual textual evidence. There are over 24,000 manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament which date from before A.D. 350. Not once in any of the manuscripts which contain these passages do we find the word "Periclytos" used. The word that we find used every time is "Paracletos." Thus, there is absolutely no textual evidence which would back up their contention that the text was corrupted.

Osama- I hear this nonsense a lot from Christians, that there are 24,000 manuscript copies of portions of the New Testament, and non of them predicted the coming of Muhammad. First of all, where are those manuscripts, and how do you know they didn't predict the coming of Muhammad? What proofs do you have anyway? Did you read all of them?

Certainly the Gospel of Barnabas did predict Muhammad, and that is one of the main reasons why his Gospel is not accepted in the Bible community today. It's ironic that Christians don't accept his Gospel as a valid one and accept Paul's instead, when Paul never even met Jesus in person while Barnabas was one of Jesus' disciples.

Also, you just shot yourself in the foot! You further proved how corrupt your Bible really is! It's ridiculous that only 30 manuscripts out of the 24,000 represent the Bible's New Testament today. As you know, the New Testament consists of 30 or so letters.

My question to you here is: What divine authority did the Church have for discarding 23,970 manuscripts and choosing only 30 or so to form what is called today the "New Testament"? If you have the least of a brain, wouldn't this be enough for you to prove that your entire Bible is pathetic and doubtful, with all due respect?

It's funny how the Bible's own Historians and Theologians admit themselves that most of the Bible's books and gospels were written by MYSTERIOUS authors! Please visit Just who were the real authors of the Bible? for more for the proofs.

Also please visit What parts of the Bible do Muslims believe are closest to the Truth?

Critic- The Muslim position is even more lamentable when we carefully read these verses to see what Jesus was saying. There is a great deal which could be said about each verse; however, we will limit our review to the obvious discrepancies between the Islamic position and what is actually being said: "And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter,27 that He may abide with you forever" (John 14:16). First of all, Jesus said that the Father "will give you another Comforter." Who was Jesus addressing in these verses? The Arabs, or more specifically, the Ishmaelites? Of course not. He is speaking to Jewish believers. Hence the "Comforter" would be sent initially to them. This cannot be referring to Muhammad.

Osama- Again, Jesus never spoke Greek. He spoke Aramaic during his ministry. Let's analyze the verse that you presented:

"And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Comforter,27 that He may abide with you forever" (John 14:16)

First of all, since Aramaic and Arabic are both Middle Eastern languages and have some similarities in them, I must tell you that in Arabic the words "father (as your biological father)" and "GOD" both mean the same word "Rab". So, Jesus saying "And I will pray the Father..." could really be read as "And I will pray to GOD...."

Now as to "and He will give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever", as a Muslim I believe that this is referring to Prophet Muhammad, since Muhammad in Arabic means "the glorified" or "the honored", and "Periklytos" in Greek also means "the honored" one.

I know that Christians believe that the Greek word for "comforter" is translated from the word "Paraclete" ("Ho Parakletos" in Greek). Parakletos in Greek is interpreted as "an advocate", one who pleads the cause of another, one who councils or advises another from deep concern for the other's welfare (Beacon Bible commentary volume VII, p.168).

But if we look at the case of John 14:26, we find that it is the only verse of the Bible which associates the Parakletos with the Holy Spirit. But if we were to go back to the "ancient manuscripts" themselves, we would find that they are not all in agreement that the "Parakletos" is the Holy Spirit. For instance, in the famous the Codex Syriacus, written around the fifth century C.E., and discovered in 1812 on Mount Sinai by Mrs.Agnes S. Lewis (and Mrs. Bensley), the text of John 14:26 reads; "Paraclete, the Spirit"; and not "Paraclete, the Holy Spirit."

Spirit in the Bible refers to "Human Prophets" and not Ghost Spirits. Take this example:

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world," (1 John 4:1-3)

Therefore, there is ample proofs that Jesus predicted a coming of a Human Comforter and not the Holy Spirit as Christians falsely believe. The advocate and the Glorified one that was foretold by Jesus is a Human Prophet and not a Holy Ghost. This human prophet is Muhammad peace be upon him, and the the Noble Quran, the revelation that Muhammad brought from Allah Almighty is what "will abide with us forever" as Jesus said.

For a lot more quotes and proofs from ancient books, please visit the following two articles:

Muhammad is mentioned by the name and was foretold in the Gospel of John.

Further proofs from the Aramaic Bible Society.

Critic- Second, this verse states that the "Paracletos," the "Comforter," would "abide with you forever." How can this apply to Muhammad? The Muslim prophet has been dead and buried for over 1,300 years.

Critic- "Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you" (John 14:17). Here "the Spirit of Truth" is used as another title or synonym for the "Paraclete." We see from this verse that the "Paraclete" would be "in you." Again, it is impossible to reconcile this statement with the Islamic position.

Osama- I already addressed this point above, and showed you that the thing that "will abide with us forever" is the Message of Islam in the Noble Quran. As to the Holy Spirit, it is the Angel Gabriel peace be upon him. He is the one who delivered the Message of Islam (The Revelations of the Noble Quran and the Inspirations of the Hadiths or Sayings of our Prophet) from Allah Almighty to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him.

Critic- John 14:26 completely devastates the Muslim hypothesis that Muhammad was actually the one being prophesied in the verses dealing with the coming "Comforter" (or "Paraclete"): "But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." Jesus said that the "Comforter" is "the Holy Spirit." This is the reason why all of the Muslim apologists stay away from this verse, only quoting the verses they like. Jesus commanded His disciples — in Acts 1:4-5 — not to "depart from Jerusalem," for they would "be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."

Osama- John 14:26 was also addressed above. I will paste what I wrote above for the reader's convenience:

Spirit in the Bible refers to "Human Prophets" and not Ghost Spirits. Take this example:

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world," (1 John 4:1-3)

For a lot more quotes and proofs from ancient books, please visit the following two articles:

Muhammad is mentioned by the name and was foretold in the Gospel of John.

Further proofs from the Aramaic Bible Society.

Critic- Do these verses really apply to Muhammad appearing 600 years later in Mecca? Only a person already biased and completely credulous could believe this. The fulfillment of Jesus’ words occurred 10 days later on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-4), not six centuries later, hundreds of miles from Jerusalem.

Prof. ‘Abdu ‘L-Ahad Dauud, in Muhammad in the Bible, states that this alleged prophecy "is one of the strongest proofs that Muhammad was truly a Prophet and that the Qur’an is really a divine revelation"28 (emphasis added). If these verses constitute one of their "strongest proofs," then I will not belabor the reader with "lesser proofs." I believe that Blaise Pascal succinctly summarized the situation: "Any man can do what [Muhammad] has done; for he performed no miracles, he was not foretold. No man can do what Christ has done."29

Osama- No Muslim denies that the Holy Spirit, Angel Gabriel peace be upon him, came down upon the disciples of Jesus. We the Muslims believe in them and in the Message that Jesus peace be upon him brought. But unfortunately, because the Bible of today is so corrupt and it's original authors are all mysterious, which means that no one knows if the disciples of Jesus wrote the books associated to them, then there is no way on earth anyone would know what exactly happened and is the truth from falsehood in the Bible without the aid of Islam.

Islam is the seal of all religions and it is the complete System of Allah Almighty for Mankind on earth. But beside from that, it is also a witness on the Torah and the Injil of today, or the Bible of today. Islam filters out the Truth from falsehood in the Bible. Anything that agrees with Islam in the Bible is valid, and anything else that even has the slightest disagreement is immediately discarded.

Please visit What parts of the Bible do Muslims believe are closest to the Truth?

I must also remind you that the 30 or so books or letters or manuscripts that you have today in the New Testament came from among 24,000. It's quite ironic to believe that the Bible is perfect. It is obvious that there was so much bad stuff written on the tongue of Jesus and his Disciples. And you would certainly be quite ridiculous to say that GOD Almighty inspired the Church to only pick out the 30 or so books, because who's to say they were appointed by GOD Almighty to begin with to do this task. Were they Prophets of GOD that we didn't know about?

If you do honestly deep inside believe in that as most Christians I encountered do, then you are openly admitting that the words of your Bible were chosen, written and modified too by only men, and GOD knows who they were, and not by GOD Almighty's real Prophets such as Jesus or Moses. Believe me, this is not how you collect the Truthful Words of GOD Almighty.

It's funny how even those 30 chosen manuscripts have portions in them that are not agreed upon by all Christian sects today. There are many verses in the Bible that not all Christian Theologians agree with their validity and Truthfulness. One example of that is The lie of verse 1 John 5:7.

Please visit Just who were the real authors of the Bible? (you will other examples of doubtful verses such as in the book of Mark)

Contradictions and Proofs of Historical Corruptions in the Bible.

They say to me: "You say the Bible is corrupt. What makes you think that the Quran isn't too?"

There is certainly much Truth out there missing in the Bible and much corruption inserted into the Bible. But you no longer have to worry about this terrible doubt and loss of information and Truth, because Islam, the complete System of GOD Almighty, came to seal off any doubts and errors people had.

Please visit Contradictions and Proofs of Historical Corruptions in the Bible.

As to Pascal's comments on Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him, only the miracle of the Noble Quran and Islam lives today. All of the miracles that the Prophets before Muhammad performed died with them. But the miracle of Islam lives forever. Please visit:

Muhammad peace be upon him. Read the "Prophecies and Miracles" section.

Science in the Noble Quran and Islam.

Critic- I trust that this may be of help to you in your search for the One True
Living God, who can be found only through Christ Jesus, the Son of God.

Osama- And I trust that if you have an open mind you will see the Truth in Islam, the Religion of Truth that preaches the Oneness and the Glory of the One and Living Allah Almighty.

By the way, according to your own Hebrew and Aramaic sources, the original name for GOD Almighty was indeed "Allah", and not "Jehovah" or "Yahweh". "Yahweh" is a title given to GOD which means "The LORD". But the name of GOD is "Allah".

Take care and best of luck for you in your search for the Truth.

I further received an email from the same person:

From:    u07rjt@abdn.ac.uk (u07rjt)
To:    ISLM4EVR1@aol.com
Subj:    answer
Date:    3/16/02 10:42:11 AM Central Standard Time

Critic- The fact that your arguement (and that is a ll it is, not the truth) is based on the Bible (God's holy and infallible word) being written in Greek and Christ Jesus spoke arabic is nonsense. Mohammed didn't write all of the quran did he? (notice the lack of "noble")

Osama- Where is the nonsense in my argument? When the Churches Historians and Theologians picked only 30 books to represent the New Testament in the Bible out of 24,000, is this what you consider "sense" and "logical"?

Who's to say that they shouldn't be 25 books instead? Or how about 40? Let's add a couple more books, shall we?

It's the Bible that doesn't make any sense! As to the Noble Quran, it was revealed to Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him and memorized in full and written down on paper. As I said above, the Noble Quran is recited in our daily prayers and in whole during the Fasting Month of Ramadan. It was impossible and still is for the Noble Quran to get corrupted because it was memorized and documented on paper. As Allah Almighty said in the Noble Quran:

"We [Allah] have, without doubt, sent down the Message [The Noble Quran]; and We will assuredly Guard it (from corruption). (The Noble Quran, 15:9)"

This Prophecy is still fulfilled until today and will always be fulfilled until the Day of Judgement.

Please visit The preservation of the Noble Quran.

Critic- Manuscripts have shown that translation of the Bible are extremely accurate (over 99%). Whether the language is Greek or arabic is of no consequence. However, if you look at the other passage of the Bible where mohammed is supposedly prophesised, Deuteronomy 18, your arguement of this "language barrier" is not applicable, since Moses wrote it in Hebrew.

Osama- Whether that's true or not, it still doesn't prove that the Bible is reliable because it's books' Truthfulness are all doubtful as I clearly shown above. As I already showed you above, there are quotes of scholars that disagree a great deal with the translation of the words "Holy Spirit", because their translation suggests that the Prophecy was about a human Prophet and not the Holy Spirit.

As far as the Muslims are concerned, we only take the parts that agree fully with Islam. Verses with the slightest disagreement are discarded.

As to Deuteronomy 18, may be the Prophecy is about Jesus and not Muhammad peace be upon them. But this still doesn't disprove anything from what I said above.

Critic- Muslims allege that the expression "their brethren" in Deuteronomy 18.18 means the brethren of the Israelites, hence the Ishmaelites. In this case, however, if we are truly to discover the real identity of the prophet who would be like Moses, we must consider the expression in its context.

God said, "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren." Of whom is God speaking when he speaks of "them" and "their"? When we go back to the first two verses of Deuteronomy 18 we find the answer:

"The Levitical priests, that is, all the tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel ... they shall have no inheritance among their brethren". Deuteronomy 18.1-2.

It is abundantly clear from these two verses that "they" refers to the tribe of Levi and that "their brethren" refers to the remaining eleven tribes of Israel. This is an inescapable fact. No honest method of interpretation or consistent method of exposition can possibly allow that Deuteronomy 18.18 refers to anyone else than the tribe of Levi and the remaining tribes of Israel. Let us briefly examine the only possible exposition of the prophecy that can lead to a correct interpretation and identification of "their brethren". We need only accentuate the relevant words from Deuteronomy 18.1-2 to discover the only possible conclusion that can be drawn. The text reads:

"The tribe of Levi shall have no inheritance with ISRAEL. They shall have no inheritance among THEIR BRETHEREN".

Therefore the only logical interpretation of Deuteronomy 18.18 can be: "I will raise up for them (that is, the tribe of Levi) a prophet like you from among their brethren (that is, one of the other tribes of Israel)". Indeed throughout the Old Testament one often finds the expression "their brethren" meaning the remaining tribes of Israel as distinct from the tribe specifically referred to. Let us consider this verse as an example:

But the children of Benjamin would not listen to the voice of their brethren, the children of Israel. Judges 20.13

Here "their brethren" is specifically stated to be the other tribes of Israel as distinct from the tribe of Benjamin. In Deuteronomy 18.18, therefore, "their brethren" clearly means the brethren in Israel of the tribe of Levi. Again in Numbers 8.26 the tribe of Levi is commanded to minister to "their brethren", that is, the remaining tribes of Israel. In 2 Kings 24.12 the tribe of Judah is distinguished from "their brethren", once again the remaining tribes of Israel. (Further scriptures proving the point are Judges 21.22, 2 Samuel 2.26, 2 Kings 23.9, 1 Chronicles 12.32, 2 Chronicles 28.15, Nehemiah 5.1 and others).

Indeed in Deuteronomy 17.15 we read that Moses on one occasion said to the Israelites "One from among your brethren you shall set as king over you; you may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother". Only an Israelite could be appointed king of Israel - "one from among your brethren" - no foreigner, be he Ishmaelite, Edomite or whoever he may be, could be made King of Israel because he was not one of "their brethren", that is, a member of one of the tribes of Israel.

Osama- I will not argue with you about Deuteronomy 18 or any Verse that was revealed to Prophet Moses peace be upon him, because they could be referring to Jesus and not Muhammad peace be upon them. Even though this is arguable for some Verses based on what I read from Muslims' arguments.

However, you have failed to prove that the NT is reliable. You have failed to prove that the current translations of the NT are all agreed upon by all scholars, because I already showed you above quotes of scholars that disagree a great deal with the translation of the words "Holy Spirit", because their translation suggests that the Prophecy was about a human Prophet and not the Holy Spirit.

Also, please visit Isaiah in the Bible foretold the story of "Al-alak" that is in the Noble Quran about Muhammad. Isaiah in the Bible foretold the story of "Al-alak" in the Noble Quran which happened to Muhammad and never happened to any other Prophet. It is the story where the Angel Gabriel repeatedly commands the Prophet to read, and the Prophet (i.e. Muhammad) repeatedly replies "I can't read".

Isaiah's Vision: He saw Jesus riding a donkey and Muhammad riding a camel. He also saw the destruction of Babylon (i.e. Iraq today) and its idol gods, and replacing them with a Divine Religion (i.e. Islam today).

Critic- At this stage, therefore, we have a fatal objection to the theory that Muhammad is foretold in Deuteronomy 18.18. He was an Ishmaelite and accordingly is automatically disqualified from being the prophet whose coming was foretold in that verse. The prophet was obviously to come from one of the tribes of Israel other than the tribe of Levi. God said he would raise up a prophet for the Levites like Moses from among "their brethren", that is, from one of the other tribes of Israel. As we intend to prove that Jesus was the prophet whose coming was foretold it will be appropriate to mention at this stage that he was descended from the tribe of Judah (Matthew 1.2, Hebrews 7.14). He is therefore ably qualified to be the prophet who would be raised up from among the brethren of the Levites.

Osama- I could careless whether Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was foretold by Prophet Moses peace be upon him or not. Again, as I said above, you have failed to prove that the NT is reliable. You have failed to prove that the current translations of the NT are all agreed upon by all scholars, because I already showed you above quotes of scholars that disagree a great deal with the translation of the words "Holy Spirit", because their translation suggests that the Prophecy was about a human Prophet and not the Holy Spirit.

I hope this of help to you. Islam will not make you acceptable to God. Sort out your sin. Accept Christ, and the work he has done.

"Christian"

Osama- I hope I was able to expose for you the fallibility of the New Testament and the entire Bible as well. No person with the least brain can accept the Bible as a perfect book. Therefore, what on earth is your point when you preach the Bible to others knowing that it is a corrupted book?!

As I said above, I must also remind you that the 30 or so books or letters or manuscripts that you have today in the New Testament came from among 24,000. It's quite ironic to believe that the Bible is perfect. It is obvious that there was so much bad stuff written on the tongue of Jesus and his Disciples. And you would certainly be quite ridiculous to say that GOD Almighty inspired the Church to only pick out the 30 or so books, because who's to say they were appointed by GOD Almighty to begin with to do this task. Were they Prophets of GOD that we didn't know about?

Please visit Just who were the real authors of the Bible? (you will other examples of doubtful verses such as in the book of Mark)

Contradictions and Proofs of Historical Corruptions in the Bible.

They say to me: "You say the Bible is corrupt. What makes you think that the Quran isn't too?"

Please visit Contradictions and Proofs of Historical Corruptions in the Bible.

Back to Muhammad peace be upon him in the Bible.

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