Prophecies About Prophet Muhammad ﷺ By Abraham

(Cite: Khan, Dr. (Mufti) Imran & Hamdani, Mufti Shah Rafi Uddin. (2018), Prophecies About Prophet Muhammad By Prophet Abraham , Encyclopedia of Muhammad , Seerat Research Center, Karachi, Pakistan, Vol. 1, Pg. 137-139.)

Abraham and his son Ishmael prayed to Allah for the last prophet while they were building the Holy Ka’ba. It validates the sanctity and magnificence of the Prophet Muhammad that he was sent due to the supplications of Abraham and his holy child.

Abraham prayed to Allah and requested for the prophet, but before that, he prayed about his progeny that may his children be born in the fold of Islam as mentioned in the Holy Quran:

رَبَّنَا وَاجْعَلْنَا مُسْلِمَيْنِ لَكَ وَمِنْ ذُرِّيَّتِنَا أُمَّةً مُسْلِمَةً لَكَ وَأَرِنَا مَنَاسِكَنَا وَتُبْ عَلَيْنَا إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ التَّوَّابُ الرَّحِيمُ 128²

“Our Lord! And make us submissive towards you and from our offspring a nation obedient to You – and show us the ways of our worship, and incline towards us with Your mercy; indeed You only are the Most Acceptor of Repentance, the Most Merciful.”

Then Abraham prayed to Allah for a prophet to guide his nation. The Holy Quran states his supplication as:

رَبَّنَا وَابْعَثْ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِكَ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ إِنَّكَ أَنْتَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ 129³

“Our Lord! And send towards them a Noble Messenger, from amongst them, to recite to them Your verses, and to instruct them in Your Book and sound wisdom, and to fully purify them; indeed You only are the Almighty, the Wise.”

The words recited by Abraham for prayer were not just a request, but was a gift which was awarded by Allah to the entire humanity. This fact is discussed at three various places in the Holy Quran as a blessing, gift, and sanctification:

First

كَمَا أَرْسَلْنَا فِيكُمْ رَسُولًا مِنْكُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتِنَا وَيُزَكِّيكُمْ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَيُعَلِّمُكُمْ مَا لَمْ تَكُونُوا تَعْلَمُونَ 151⁴

The way We have sent to you a Noble Messenger from among you, who recites to you Our verses and purifies you, and teaches you the Book and sound wisdom, and teaches you what you did not know.

Second

لَقَدْ مَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَإِنْ كَانُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ 164⁵

Allah has indeed bestowed a great favour upon the Muslims, in that He sent to them a Noble Messenger (Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) from among them, who recites to them His verses, and purifies them, and teaches them the Book and wisdom; and before it, they were definitely in open error.

Third

هُوَ الَّذِي بَعَثَ فِي الْأُمِّيِّينَ رَسُولًا مِنْهُمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَإِنْ كَانُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ 2⁶

It is He Who has sent among the unlettered people a Noble Messenger from themselves, who recites His verses to them and purifies them, and bestows them the knowledge of the Book and wisdom; and indeed before this, they were in open error.

The start of the verses cited above describes the same characters of the Holy Prophet as Abraham discussed in his prayer. Thus, the order of the said attributes is varied in the prayer and the other Quranic verses. The sequence of the prayer of Abraham includes recitation of the verses first. The second is the education of the Holy book and lastly the purification of the soul. It indicates that the purification of the soul is the outcome of acquiring the knowledge of the Holy Book. While the sequence of the qualities that the mentioned verses present includes the recitation first, secondly the purification of the heart and the knowledge of the Holy Book in the last. Thus, this order indicates that a genuine understanding of the Holy Quran comes only with the purification of the heart and soul otherwise it may misguide the reader.

Allah accepted the prayer of Abraham and Ishmael then and there. Nevertheless, it was materialised after around two thousand five hundred years.¹

• ¹  The arrival of Muhammad ﷺ was told by Abraham and many other prophets but the Holy Quran only holds the names of the revealed books upon Moses and Jesus, as Allah says:
  الَّذِينَ يَتَّبِعُونَ الرَّسُولَ النَّبِيَّ الْأُمِّيَّ الَّذِي يَجِدُونَهُ مَكْتُوبًا عِنْدَهُمْ فِي التَّوْرَاةِ وَالْإِنْجِيلِ يَأْمُرُهُمْ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَيَنْهَاهُمْ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَيُحِلُّ لَهُمُ الطَّيِّبَاتِ وَيُحَرِّمُ عَلَيْهِمُ الْخَبَائِثَ وَيَضَعُ عَنْهُمْ إِصْرَهُمْ وَالْأَغْلَالَ الَّتِي كَانَتْ عَلَيْهِمْ فَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا بِهِ وَعَزَّرُوهُ وَنَصَرُوهُ وَاتَّبَعُوا النُّورَ الَّذِي أُنْزِلَ مَعَهُ أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْمُفْلِحُونَ (١٥٧)
  Translation: Those who will obey this Noble Messenger (Prophet Mohammed ), the Herald of the Hidden who is untutored (except by Allah), whom they will find mentioned in the Taurat and the Injeel with them; he will command them to do good and forbid them from wrong, and he will make lawful for them the good clean things and prohibit the foul for them, and he will unburden the loads and the neck chains which were upon them; so those who believe in him, and revere him, and help him, and follow the light which came down with him – it is they who have succeeded."
  (Holy Quran, Al-Aa`raf (The Heights) 7: 157)
  Many scholars have written that the prophecies of the arrival of Prophet Muhammad are found in many biographies but specifically the arrival of Prophet Muhammad was told by Jesus in the clearest words:
  وَإِذْ قَالَ عِيسَى ابْنُ مَرْيَمَ يَابَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ إِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكُمْ مُصَدِّقًا لِمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيَّ مِنَ التَّوْرَاةِ وَمُبَشِّرًا بِرَسُولٍ يَأْتِي مِنْ بَعْدِي اسْمُهُ أَحْمَدُ فَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ بِالْبَيِّنَاتِ قَالُوا هَذَا سِحْرٌ مُبِينٌ (٦)
  Translation: And remember when Eesa the son of Maryam said, “O Descendants of Israel! Indeed I am Allah’s Noble Messenger towards you, confirming the Book Torah which was before me, and heralding glad tidings of the Noble Messenger who will come after me – his name is Ahmed (the Praised One)”; so when Ahmed came to them with clear proofs, they said, “This is an obvious magic.”
  (Holy Quran, Al-Saff (The Row) 61: 6)
  Ahmed means who praises Allah. Ahmed is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad as poet of Islam Hassan Bin Sabit used it in his poetry:
  صلي الله و من يحف بعرشه
  و الطيبون علي المبارك احمد
  Translation: Allah and his angels and his pure personalities send greetings and blessings upon Ahmed (Prophet Muhammad ﷺ).
  (Muhammad Bin Yusuf Al-Saleh (2012), Subul Al-Huda Wal Irshad Fi Khair Al-Ibad (translated), Chapter 3, Sharah Asma-ul-Nabi, Zawea Publishers, Lahore, Pakistan, Vol. 1, Pg. 497.)
  The prophecy of Jesus (discussed in Surah Al-Saf) was known to many Christians, when Jafar Tayyar went to Habshah and presented the message of Islam to Negus and told about Jesus, Negus replied: welcome to you and that personality, I witness that he is the prophet of Allah, and he is the one whose name is found in the Gospel and he is the one who was predicted by Jesus.
• <sup>2</sup>  Holy Quran, Al Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 128
• <sup>3</sup>  Holy Quran, Al Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 129
• <sup>4</sup>  Holy Quran, Al Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 151
• <sup>5</sup>  Holy Quran, Aale Imran (The Family of Imran) 3: 164
• <sup>6</sup>  Holy Quran, Al Juma`h (The Congregation) 62: 2