Alsiraj Official Website
Prophecies in the Old and New Testament
regarding the advent of Prophet Muhammad
1- Yahya (John) Bears Good Tidings of the Awaited Prophet
The Text of the Good Tidings:
The Gospel of John I includes the following:
1/19 And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who art thou?
1/20 And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ.
1/21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No.
1/22 Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. what sayest thou of thyself?
1/23 He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.
1/24-25 And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?
1/26 John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there standeth one among you, who ye know not;
1/27 “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me." And in the 1980 edition: “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose.
The Good Tidings Explained and Analyzed:
It is evident from the text that the Jews were waiting for three prophets about whom there were good tidings: the Christ, Elias, and the Prophet. When John, peace be upon him, came preaching and teaching, the Jews sent him a group of trustworthy scholars to ask him about the truth. He denied that he was one of the three, and said that he was a voice from Allah to warn the people.
Christians believe that Al-Masih is ‘Isa son of Miriam, peace be upon him. We, Muslims, do not exclude the possibility that John was bearing good tidings about ‘Isa, peace be upon him, we even think it most likely. It is only that we want authentic texts which are steadily handed down without interruption.
As for Ilya, Christians claim that he is John, peace be upon him, because the advent of Al-Masih is tied to the advent of Ilya before him, as is well known to the People of the Book. Among the reasons for the Jews’ non-acceptance of Al-Masih, peace be upon him, was that Ilya did not make his advent before him. Al-Masih acknowledged this condition of theirs, but said that Ilya came but they did not recognize him. This is despite the fact that John denied that he was ‘Ilya. This is absolutely strange, Was it that John, a Prophet who received revelation, did not know himself until Al-Masih bore witness to his being Ilya? Or was it that he concealed the truth about himself from the people? And why did he conceal it? Was it fear of Bani Isra’il? Definitely not, because he used to baptize people in public. Then why did he hide his identity if he were Ilya?
As a matter of fact, the texts are confused here, and even contradictory. Some Christians felt this and therefore claimed that Ilya was Elias. This is wrong, too, since Elias came ages before Al-Masih. Hence, it cannot be believed that it was he.
If we agree with the Christians in their claim that Ilya was John the Baptist (i.e. Yahya, peace be upon him, then two - thirds of the good tidings would have come true with only the last third remaining. Who, then, is the awaited prophet?
Christians claim that the Jews did not expect a Prophet other than Al-Masih and Ilya. This is a false claim which texts refute especially, this one. The Jewish scholars asked Yahya, peace be upon him, about three distinct prophets. They were more knowledgeable of their Torah and (the answer to) their question than the Christians. Moreover, Yahya, peace be upon him, did not object to their mentioning the three prophets, but denied that he was one of them.
On the other hand, the definite article Al-(the) in the word Al-Nabiyy (Al- is assimilated to An- before the word nabiyy (prophet)) (The Prophet) denotes shared knowledge. What is meant by this is the prophet known to the Jews, i.e. the one whom Musa, peace be upon him, bore good tidings of in Deuteronomy 15/18 as will be mentioned in the second good tidings of the Old Testament, and whom he described as being like him. This is the secret behind not mentioning his name, and not giving this name to anyone other than him. He was so well known and anticipated that a mere hint at him would suffice.
His saying “coming after me" is a reference to time, and his saying “preferred before me" indicates rank and glory, as evidenced by the 1980 translation. Therefore he said, “whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose."
Who, then, is the awaited prophet who is like Musa, peace be upon him, in proclaiming the Message, jurisprudence, and strife in the way of Allah, etc. and who comes after Yahya in time, and who is so characterized by grace, sublimity, and rank that Yahya considers himself unqualified to loosen the latchet of his shoe? There is no doubt that he is Muhammad, son of Abdullah, the greatest among the offspring of Isma’il, son of Ibrahim, and even the master of the earliest and the latest people, God’s blessing and peace be upon him.
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