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The Text of the Good Tidings:
In the Gospel of John, we read the following as regards Almasih, peace be upon him, ’s commandments to his Disciples, ant his bidding them farewell:

14/15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

14/16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;

14/17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither i knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with; you, and shall be in you.

14/24-25 He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.

14/26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.

14/29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe.

14/30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.

15/26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.

15/27 And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.

16/7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

16/8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

16/9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;

16/10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

16/11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.

16/12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

16/13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

16/14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

The Good Tidings Explained:
After Almasih, peace be upon him, had know that his mission on earth has come to an end at that time, he started to bid farewell to his disciples, and to point out to them what they are prone to, and to recommend patience to them.

When he wanted to define for them the most sublime guide of humanity, and the one sent as mercy to all people after his ascension, he made them eager to hear it by saying “if ye love me, keep my commandments." This was because he knew by experience and the light of prophethood that many of Bani Isra’il deny the prophethood of the prophet of the good tidings and hold him as an enemy.

Almasih, peace be upon him, entrusted his followers with this task so that they may hand it over to their successors, as is the practice of the prophets. He referred to the prophet of the good tidings by the word “paraclet." What then is the origin of this word, and what does it mean?

The Truth about the Word ‘Paraclet’
The People of the Book, both predecessors and successors, used to translate names in their books, thus mentioning their meanings rather than representing their pronunciation. This is a source of confusion. Sham‘un Assafa (Peter) was originally called Sam‘an. When Almasih, peace be upon him, called upon him to be his follower, he gave him the name of Keefa, as they claim. It is an Aramaic word which means ‘rock’. He said to him, “You are the rock on which I will build my church." Then this name was translated into Latin a. “Putrus", which means “rock."

‘Isa spoke Aramaic, which is related to Hebrew. The Hebrew or Aramaic origin of this word is lost. There remains no doubt about the fact that the scribe of the fourth Gospel translated the name of the prophet of the good tidings to Old Greek in which he wrote his Gospel as was their practice. Then the translators into Arabic and other languages left the word as it was without translation (i.e. Paraclet). However, more than a century ago, this word started to disappear gradually from translations, especially into Arabic, and to be replaced by the words “the Comforter, the Agent, the Savior", and the like.

The Meaning and Significance of this Word:
A. Most Christians hold that it is a Greek word which means comforter, interceder, or helper, and the like. They also said that he is the Holy Ghost, the third hypostasis (constituent) of the Holy Trinity, and whom Almasih, peace be upon him, told his apostles that it will descend to them and be incarnate to them. Almasih, peace be upon him, gave it to his apostles; he sent it to them and already resided in them on the day of Pentecost, fifty days after his ascension. They celebrate this day every year and call it Whitsuntide or Pentecost.

Acts 1/3 states that Almasih, peace be upon him, “showed himself alive after his passion being seen of them forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.

Acts 2/1-4 reads “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost."

They said that Almasih, peace be upon him, called him the Holy Ghost, the Right Spirit, thus showing that the one sent was a spirit, not a body

B. A group of Christian scholars and thinkers an of the opinion that the meaning of the word is a derivative of the word Alhamd (praise). i.e. Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, or Ahmad. They consider this most likely for the following reasons:

1- Some Christians take as evidence the saying of Yosha‘, “Whoever does a good deed will have a good paraclet. i.e. good praise." Among their well-known everyday speech is “one paraclet, and two paraclets, and whatever is more will be given to all" i.e. one praise and two praise (s).

2- Ibnul-Qayyim quoted the Gospels translated is day as stating that Almasih, peace be upon him, said to the apostles, “Whoever hates me, hates the Lord. The word in the Law has to be completed, because they hated me. If this Almanhamanna whom Allah sends came to you from the Lord, the spirit of justice, he will be my witness." He said, the Manhamanna in Syriac is the one praises, or is praise itself, or the one praised.

3- Ibnu Qutayba said, paraclet in their language: of the words denoting praise, i.e. ’Ahmad, Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, Mahmud, or the like. In the Abyssinian (i.e. Ethiopian) Gospel, it is Baranqtis.

In Greek it became paraclet, and in Syriac Almanhamanna, and in Abyssinian Baranqtis, and Romanian Parakletos

4- Had this word been in the sense of comforter, and not a proper name as they claim, then why did the predecessors not translate it into Arabic and into the other languages? Then it must be a proper noun and not an attribute.

5- The Spanish priest Inselm Tormida mentioned that the reason for his embracing Islam and his going to Tunisia in the Eighth century A.H. during the reign of Abil‘abbas Alhafsi, who ruled between 772 and 796 A.H., was that he became sure about the meaning of the word paraclet. He Mentioned in his book Tuhfatul-Arib Firraddi ‘ala Ahli-ssalib (The Marvel of the Wise Man in Responding to the People of the Cross) that he studied the Holy Book ever since he was a child, and continued seeking knowledge until he got in company with the greatest scholars of Christianity such as Niqlad Martell, who occupied a very high rank. Inslem took to getting closer to him through his services until he became his most intimate companion for ten years. One day they started discussing the meaning of this word. Niqlad was hesitant about interpreting it, but Inslem urged him insistently to explain this glorious name to him. He said, “Know, my son, that the paraclet is one of the names of the Prophet of Muslims to whom was revealed the fourth book mentioned by Daniel."

6- Shaykh Abdulwahhab An-Najjfr in his book Qasas Al-Anbiya'a (The Narratives of prophets) states that in 1894 A.C. he was a student in Dari-L’ulum and beside him in a course on the Arabic language sat the Italian Orientialist Dr. Carlonlino with a recommendation from the Italian government.

They became close friends. The Shaykh said, “on the night of 27th Rajab 1311 A.H. we went out after the lecture and had a walk. I asked him, “What is the meaning of paraclet?'' The priest answered, “They say it means comforter.'' 1 said, “I am asking Dr. Carlonlino, the Ph. D. holder in O1d Greek literature, not the priest.'' He said “It means that who is highly praised.'' I asked, “Does it mean the superlative form of praise? He said, “Yes.'' I said, “Among the names of' the Prophet is Ahmad.''

7- The Iraqi Assyrian priest ‘Abdul-Ahad Dawud in his book Al-Enjeel was-Saleeb (The Bible and the Cross) glossed the meanings of the Greek words occurring in the Bible (the two Testaments). He mentioned that the meaning of paraclet is “quite praise worthy" i.e. Ahmad.

8- The invalidity of interpreting it as Spirit, as will be shown in discussing the issue with the Christians.

Discussing the Christian Claim:
Whoever contemplates the words of the text and their context will realize that taking this word- whether its meaning is the comforter or the one most praised to mean ghost is invalid for the following reasons:

1- Paragraph 14/15 reads “and shall give you another comforter." This indicates that he will be the second after a first one preceding him, i.e. he did not exist during Almasih, peace be upon him, ’s lifetime, but who would come after Almasih, peace be upon him, departs. This is ascertained by Paragraph 14/29 “And now 1 have told you before it come to pass, ye might believe.'' The Holy Ghost, which is the third hypostasis of the most sacred Trinity is eternally united with the Father and the Son as they claim. They also claim that the three constitute one entity.

The Ghost, then, was present among them at that time and was united with the Father as they claim. The word “another'' does not apply to him except by assuming a far - fetched interpretation. This is contrary to taking it to refer to another human Prophet to be created later; in this case the saying is true without a far- fetched interpretation.

2- They believe that Almasih, peace be upon him, gave the Ghost to his apostles. Is the Holy Ghost here one or multiple? If it was one, then which apostle did it enter? Whoever it entered should have been the successor of Almasih, peace be upon him, both in human nature and Divine nature, while all others are false, because the text of the Gospel says “and shall give you another Comforter.'' And if this Ghost were multiple, their creed would increase the Trinity to doubles. And the writer of the Gospel should have said “other Comforters'' not “another Comforter.''

We should also bear in mind that their texts show contradictions as regards the time in which Almasih, peace be upon him, gave them the Ghost, In Acts 2/1 - 4 it is stated that it entered them on the day of Pentecost after the Ascension of Almasih, peace be upon him, as mentioned above. In John 20/19 - 22 Jesus came to his disciples immediately after the Crucifixion and the Ascension and showed them his hands and his side then he breathed on them and said, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.'' When, then, did the Holy Ghost enter them? Or is it that he entered them twice?

3- In 14/16 there is also “that he may abide with you for ever.'' This is true of that which lasts and remains and is handed down from generation to generation. If we, just for argumentation, take it for granted that he entered the Disciples, then where are they now? Have any of them been living until today, or have all of them died and he entered other priests? .

The commentary of the Reverend George Fakhoury on the New Testament published by the Paulsiyya Print house in Lebanon in 1964 A.C. has the following: “this advocate and comforter who abides in the church forever and is like a spirit to it is the Holy Ghost, the third hypostasis of the most holy Trinity.'' If we take for granted what was said by Fakhoury and others, then what did this Ghost do as regards the differences of Christians among themselves in old times or modern times? What did he do concerning the multiplicity of their authorized Bibles despite their contradictions, confusion, and errors? And why are they four different Bibles, and not one integrated, authentic Bible?

Where was this Ghost when the Christians remained more than three centuries without a holy book before the Niqiyyah Synod in 325 A.C.? And why did he conceal himself from some synods so that they did not acknowledge some gospels and messages, then appeared to their successors in the other synods who made them lawful? What did he do concerning their differences about the hypostases, their sources, their differences, their nature, the multiplicity of their wills, and whether they are totally equal or that some are stronger than others? And how about other issues for which they held each other disbelievers and condemned each other for during the meetings of synods and after them?

Again Fakhoury's words on this issue “abide with you forever'' invalidate his being a pure ghost. The situation is different if we take it to refer to a sent human prophet whose revealed Book will remain intact and authentic forever, and whose jurisprudence, based on this book and all revelation to him, will be upheld until the Day of Resurrection, without another Book or jurisprudence being revealed to abrogate any of them. This is because he is the Seal of prophets, and the Book revealed to him is the Seal of Books, and his jurisprudence is the Seal of Jurisprudences. If we take the saying to mean this, then it makes sense, and the words consolidate each other without any far-fetched interpretations.

4- The words and attributes mentioned in this text about this paraclet do not become the ghost they claim, but become a person who comes after Almasih, peace be upon him, who is his counterpart. Comforting or assisting, in addition to bearing witness to the first paraclet and reminding people of all that he said, teaching everything to people and reproaching the world for sin, etc. are all characteristics of a prophet, not a ghost who is united with Allah, and who springs from Him alone or from Him and the Son, according to the differences in their claims. These attributes cannot by any means apply to an abstract thing which is in the hearts of some people such as a ghost, inspiration, knowledge, guidance, or light which no one can see or hear .

Let us now consider tile judgment of the French physician and thinker Maurice Bucaille about this problem. He said, “It is strange to attribute to the Holy Ghost the paragraph which reads, “for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.'' for it is unbelievable to hold the Holy Ghost as capable speaking and saying what he hears. Any serious criticism of the texts starts with a search for textual differences, The Greek text is as follows:

Nouum Testamentum Graece Nestleet Aland 1971 .

The motivation for distorting this translation in paragraph 14/26 is not more than that for the Syriac manuscript called Palimpseste.

It is a manuscript which was written in the fourth or fifth century, and was discovered by Anis S. Lewis in 1812 A.C. in the Sinai Monastery because the original text was covered with another text, and when the latter was removed, the former appeared. The verb (hear) in all languages means to receive sounds, while the verb (speak) means to produce sounds. The two Greek verbs LALEO (speak) and AKOUO (hear) mean two physical acts which cannot be performed except by a being who has a system for hearing and another for speaking. Consequently, the application of these two verbs to the Holy Ghost is impossible."

5- Almasih, peace be upon him, drew their attention in 14/15 to the fact that what he was going to command them should be guarded and kept. If the paraclet were the Holy Ghost who will come down to them, there would be no need for this warning since it is not expected that they will exclude his coming down to them once more because they were quite familiar with him before as indicated by 14/17 “for he dwelleth with you.'' In addition, if the Ghost enters the heart of someone, his influence on him will appear and will be recognized, and hence denying him and disbelieving in him is out of question.

6- Waiting for the paraclet was known to Christians in the early centuries. Before the advent of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, some claimed to be the forerunners of the paraclet of whom Almasih, peace be upon him, bore good tidings. People accepted their saying and followed them, an example of whom is Mentis who appeared in the second century A.C. (circa I 77) in Asia Minor. He was a pious man who claimed that he was the paraclet of whom Almasih, peace be upon him, bore good tidings and he (that is, Mentis) was followed by many people.

As for their saying that “the fact that Almasih, peace be upon him, called him the Holy Ghost and the spirit of truth indicated that he was a spirit not a body'', many scholars hold that this statement is interpolated with the aim of deception, and is not authentic for the following reasons:

A- The people of the Book, both predecessors and successors, used to add to the texts which they hold as authentic some explanations without keeping it separate from the original or any mention of this fact. This is considered usual practice to them. Then translators would come and take the texts without verification. And hence differences occur, even if we exclude purposeful intentions.

B- Communicating with people is what is meant here, and therefore cannot be in the form of inspiration by the Holy Ghost. Rather it is a matter of clear, actual communication as previously stated. The only sentence which conveys the meaning of the word paraclet as referring to the Holy Ghost occurs in 14/26. If we omit the words the Holy Ghost from this Paragraph, then the whole text of John absolutely indicates that what is meant by paraclet is a human being who possesses the senses of hearing and speaking, just like Almasih, peace be upon him, - a being who hears the Revelation from Allah, then repeat it to people's ears, thus proclaiming his mission.

Dr. Maulice Bucaille said that the presence of the words the Holy Ghost in the text we have in our hands today may have sprung from a deliberate, subsequent addition which aims at modifying the original meaning of a paragraph which, by announcing the advent of a prophet after Christ, contradicts the teaching of the newly- born churches which wanted Christ to be the seal of prophets.

Moreover, assuming that this statement is authentic, the physical existence of the good tidings does not prevent referring to him as the Holy Ghost. This is because what is meant by it is prophethood and guidance, which is the utmost praise and glorification, like calling him “the spirit of truth.'' An evidence for this is the distinction occurring in John 1 between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error:

4/1 beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

4/2 - 3 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come.

4/6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

From the texts above we understand two things:

• First, that the word spirit to them is used to refer to a prophet sent from among human beings as well as to the angel who brings down Revelation.
• Second that after Christ there will come truthful prophets and false prophets. Therefore he ordered the two types to be differentiated. As for Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, evidence for his truthfulness is valid to every fair-minded person.

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