Prophecies Of Abraham In The Old Testament

(Cite: Khan, Dr. (Mufti) Imran & Hamdani, Mufti Shah Rafi Uddin. (2018), Prophecies of Prophet Abraham in The Old Testament, Encyclopedia of Muhammad , Seerat Research Center, Karachi, Pakistan, Vol. 1, Pg. 140-145.)

Arrival of Muhammad was not only discussed in the Holy Quran but also found in the other sacred texts such as the Old and the New Testaments etc. Abraham discussion about Prophet Muhammad’s arrival is found in the Old Testament even after its manipulation. As The Bible states:

فَأَجْعَلَكَ أُمَّةً عَظِيمَةً وَأُبَارِكَكَ وَأُعَظِّمَ ٱسْمَكَ، وَتَكُونَ بَرَكَةً. وَأُبَارِكُ مُبَارِكِيكَ، وَلَاعِنَكَ أَلْعَنُهُ. وَتَتَبَارَكُ فِيكَ جَمِيعُ قَبَائِلِ ٱلْأَرْضِ. ¹

I will give you many descendants, and they will become a great nation. I will bless you and make your name famous, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. But I will curse those who curse you. And through you I will bless all the nations.

Abraham’s prediction holds the discussion of four points:

• Your offspring will give birth to a great nation.
• That great nation will be the successor of the blessings of Abraham .
• The nation will be recognised by turning the prayers of blessings of Abraham into a virtue.
• The rest of the nations of the world will be blessed because of the nation of Abraham .

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The prophecy of Abraham holds considerable attention to the point “I will bless those who bless you.” It is a universal fact, and no one can deny that Muslims are the only ones who send greetings upon Abraham five times a day in their worship rituals in the form of ‘Durood-e-Ibrahimi in Namaz’. No other nation sends blessings upon Abraham , upon his children, all other prophets and messengers this frequently. Several researchers of comparative religion admit this fact that no such nation exists like the Muslims who regularly send such extensive amount of greetings and salutations for their prophets.

Second Part Of The Prophecy

The second part of the prophecy, “And through you, I will bless all the nations” also indicates one of the salient features of Islam that it is the only religion that makes the preaching of religion a compulsory responsibility of all its believers. As the Holy Prophet says:

بَلِّغُوا عَنِّي وَلَوْ آيَة. ²

Convey from me, even if a verse.

This duty helps in spreading the message of peace, love, justice, faith and blessings to every house, village, country and state or even every corner of the World. Thus, Muhammad is the only prophet in the World who was sent to all the humanity, and Abraham brought blessings for the people by praying for him.

Allah says in the Holy Quran:

قُلْ يَاأَيُّهَا النَّاسُ إِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكُمْ جَمِيعًا الَّذِي لَهُ مُلْكُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ يُحْيِي وَيُمِيتُ فَآمِنُوا بِاللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ النَّبِيِّ الْأُمِّيِّ الَّذِي يُؤْمِنُ بِاللَّهِ وَكَلِمَاتِهِ وَاتَّبِعُوهُ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ 158³

Say (O dear Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him), “O people! Indeed I am, towards you all, the Noble Messenger of Allah – for Whom (Allah) only is the kingship of the heavens and the earth; there is none worthy of worship, except Him – giving life and giving death; therefore believe in Allah and His Noble Messenger, the Prophet who is untutored (except by Allah), who believes in Allah and His Words, and obey him (the Prophet) to attain guidance.”

Muhammad is the one who was sent for peace and spreading the blessings of Allah for humanity. Those who do not accept this should go through the following authentic evidence.

Judaism

Jews are the people of the Book, but they do not believe in the preaching of their religion and their beliefs hold no discussion of this obligation. Therefore, the verse “And through you, I will bless all the nations,” is not applicable to them.

Christianity

Christians are also the carrier of the Book. The Bible holds the verse related to Jesus :

فَأَجَابَ وَقَالَ: لَمْ أُرْسَلْ إِلَّا إِلَى خِرَافِ بَيْتِ إِسْرَائِيلَ ٱلضَّالَّةِ. ⁴

Then Jesus replied, “I have been sent only to the lost sheep of the people of Israel.”

It clarifies that Jesus was not responsible for spreading the message of Allah except in Bani Israel. According to the Bible, it is not his concerned responsibility to propagate peace and blessings to all the nations of the world.

Hinduism

Hindus are not the believers of any divine religions or scriptures. Thus, there is no evidence in their teachings that all the Hindus are allowed to preach their religion or should preach it to the entire world. Only the Brahmins are specified for this purpose and the Shudras are not allowed to preach their religion. ⁵ Even if they specify the Brahmins for this purpose for this purpose only the Brahmans and do not allow the others such as Shudras to preach their religion. So “And through you, I will bless all the nations” is not true for them as well because it demands complete devotion of preaching the message of love, peace and blessing to all the states and nations of the world.

The respective predictions hold more salient points in the Bible that prove that the Muhammad is a self-evident personality of the Islam. The following pages contain the verses of the Bible which show that these predictions are sheer indicated towards Prophet Muhammad .

(1) The people who are circumcised, they shall inherit the covenant of God. The Bible states:

يُخْتَنُ خِتَانًا وَلِيدُ بَيْتِكَ وَٱلْمُبْتَاعُ بِفِضَّتِكَ، فَيَكُونُ عَهْدِي فِي لَحْمِكُمْ عَهْدًا أَبَدِيًّا. وَأَمَّا ٱلذَّكَرُ ٱلْأَغْلَفُ ٱلَّذِي لَا يُخْتَنُ فِي لَحْمِ غُرْلَتِهِ فَتُقْطَعُ تِلْكَ ٱلنَّفْسُ مِنْ شَعْبِهَا. إِنَّهُ قَدْ نَكَثَ عَهْدِي. ⁶⁷

Each one must be circumcised, and this will be a physical sign to show that my covenant with you is everlasting. Any male who has not been circumcised will no longer be considered one of my people, because he has not kept the covenant with me.”

(2) The prayer of Ishmael is accepted. That is a great nation to be born. As the Bible states:

وَأَمَّا إِسْمَاعِيلُ فَقَدْ سَمِعْتُ لَكَ فِيهِ. هَا أَنَا أُبَارِكُهُ وَأُثْمِرُهُ وَأُكَثِّرُهُ كَثِيرًا جِدًّا. اِثْنَيْ عَشَرَ رَئِيسًا يَلِدُ، وَأَجْعَلُهُ أُمَّةً كَبِيرَةً. ⁸

I have heard your request about Ishmael, so I will bless him and give him many children and many descendants. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make a great nation of his descendants.

(3) The promise of the angel to Hagar that your son will lead a great nation. The Bible states:

قُومِي ٱحْمِلِي ٱلْغُلَامَ وَشُدِّي يَدَكِ بِهِ، لِأَنِّي سَأَجْعَلُهُ أُمَّةً عَظِيمَةً. ⁹

Get up, go and pick him up, and comfort him. I will make a great nation out of his descendants.

The predictions mentioned above do not need any further explanation. However, they can be confirmed by another Holy Book, the Gospel of Barnabas. It says:

لا تضطرب قلوبكم ولا تخافوا، لاَني لست انا الذیى خلقكم بل اللّٰه الذي خلقكم یحمیكم، اما من خصوصي فإني قداتیت لاَھیِّء الطریق لرسول اللّٰه الذي سیاتي بخلاص العالم، ولكن احذروا إن تغشوا لاَنه سیاتي انبیاء كذبة كثیرون یاخذون كلامي وینجسون انجیلى، حینئذ قال اندراوس: یا معلم أذكر لنا علامةلنعرفاجاب یسوع: إنه لا یاتي في زمنكم بل یاتي بعد كم بعدة سنین حینمایبطل انجیلي ولایكاد یوجد ثلاثون مومنا، في ذلك الوقت یرحم ةالعالم فیرسل رسوله الذى تستقر على راسه غمامة بیضاء یعرفه احد مختاري اللّٰه وھو سیظھره للعالم، وسیاتي بقوة عظیمة على الفجار ویبید عبادة الأصنام من العالم، واني اسر بذلك لانه بواسطته سیعلن ویمجد اللّٰه ویظھر صدقي، وسینتقم من الذین سیقولون اني اكبر من انسان، الحق اقول لكم ان القمر سیعطیه رقادا في صباه ومتى كبر ھو اخذه ركفیَّه، فلیحذر العالم ان ینبذه لانه سیفتك بعبدة الأصنام، فإن موسی عبد اللّٰه قتل اكثر من ذلك كثیرا ولم یبق یشوع على المدن التي احرقوھا وقتلوا الأطفال، لان القرحة المزمنة یستعمل لها الكي، وسیجى ء بحق اجلى من سائر الانبیاء وسیوبخ من لا یحسن السلوك في العالم، وستحیي طربا أبراج مدینة ابائنا بعضھا بعضا، فمتى شوھد سقوط عبادة الأصنام إلى الأرض واعترف باني بشر كسائر البشر فالحق اقول لكم أن نبي اللّٰه حینئذ یاتي. ¹⁰

“Let your heart not to be frightened, nor be terrified, because I did not create you, rather God our creator, who created you, will save you. And me, I will pave the path for the prophet and will bring salvation to the world. But be warned, be aware, don’t be deceived because many people will disguise themselves as prophets. Who will say my name and will spoil my Gospel”. Then Andreas asked: “tell us a sign to recognise him”. Prophet Jesus replied: “he will not come in your time but after a few years, when my Gospel will be banned, such that only thirty believers will be left. By that time God will have mercy on the earth, and will send his prophet, who will have a white cloud upon him, and will be known the Prophet of God and will be known, to the world. He will be of great power upon the non-believers, and will eliminate monotheism on the earth, and will bring happiness to me, because he will glory and majesty upon God, and will be the truth and will take my revenge from those who believed I was more than a human… and he will be more obvious than the other prophets”.

The supplication of Abraham ¹¹ and the prophecies of Jesus categorically express that humanity will wait a long time for the arrival of Prophet Muhammad because the holy book as the Bible has made predictions of the coming of the last prophet, Muhammad . Nevertheless, many believers of the holy books still do not believe in the prophethood of Muhammad . Allah states the following in the Holy Quran:

الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ يَعْرِفُونَهُ كَمَا يَعْرِفُونَ أَبْنَاءَهُمْ وَإِنَّ فَرِيقًا مِنْهُمْ لَيَكْتُمُونَ الْحَقَّ وَهُمْ يَعْلَمُونَ 146¹²

Those to whom We gave the Book(s) recognize the Prophet (Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) as men (or they) recognize their own sons; and undoubtedly a group among them purposely conceals the truth.

As a father has knowledge about his son before his birth and he recognises his son from concrete proofs. Likewise, Christians and Jews knew about the Holy Prophet before his blessed birth through their religious scriptures. Despite all these real proofs and realities, the denial of the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad is sheer folly.

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• ¹  The Bible, Genesis 12: 2-3
• ²  Abu Abdullah Muhammad Bin Ismail Al-Bukhari (1999), Sahih Bukhari, Kitabu Ahadith-ul-Anbiya, Hadith: 3461, Darussalam, Riyadh, Saudia, Pg. 582.
• ³  Holy Quran, Al Aa`raf (The Heights) 7: 158
• ⁴  The Bible, Matthew 15: 24
• ⁵  It is a punishable sin to read, write, listen or preach the message of the religious scriptures for this class of Hindus.
• ⁶  The Bible, Genesis 17: 13-14
• ⁷  The respective parts of the verses do not depend completely upon the prophecy of Abraham but there are points directing towards Muhammad which were full filled practically in his life.
• ⁸  The Bible, Genesis 17: 20
• ⁹  The Bible, Genesis 21: 18
• ¹⁰  Gospel of Barnabas (2014), Chapter 72, Nigar Shaat Publishers, Lahore, Pakistan, Pg. 102.
• ¹¹  Imam Baihaqi narrates that the Prophet Muhammad said:
  دعوة أبي ابراهيم ، و بشارة عيسي قومه ، ورؤيا أمي التي رأت انه خرج منها نور أضاءت منه قصور الشام-
  Translation: I am the pray of my father Ibrahim, the forecast of Jesus and the dream of my mother which was seen at the time of my birth that a light exhibits from her (body) that illuminated the palaces of Syria.
  (Ahmed Bin Husain Abu Bakar Al Husain Abu Bakar Al Baihaqi (1988), Dalael Al-Nabuah, Zikar Molood-ul-Mustafa, Dar-ul-Kitab Al-Ilmiya, Dar-ul-Riyan Al-Turas, Beruit, Lebanon, Vol. 1, Pg. 83.)
• ¹²  Holy Quran, Al-Baqarah (The Cow) 2: 146