Prophet Muhammad ﷺ In The Light Of Quran – Divine Proof

All the prophets and messengers of Allah prophesized about the arrival of the Last Prophet and also their respective holy books consisted on these details. As we know that subsequently, their followers have altered all these books. Nevertheless, the Holy Quran and Ahadith saved all these good news and predictions about his arrival in them till the Day of Judgment. This chapter will discuss verses of the Holy Quran and ahadith having comprehensive and authentic details of Prophet Muhammad’s arrival and its fame at the time of his advent.

Ahmed, the Noble Messenger

As the Holy Quran states:

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 6¹

And remember when Eisa 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.”

The above verse states that Jesus referred to the arrival of Muhammad by the name, ‘Ahmed’. It is worth noting that the name ‘Ahmed’ is one of the names of Prophet Muhammad mentioned in the authentic books of hadith. Jubair Bin Mata’m told that:

قال رسول اللّٰه صلى اللّٰه عليه وسلم ان لى اسماء انا محمد انا احمد وانا الحاشر الذى یحشر الناس على قدمى. ²

“The Holy Prophet said: I have many names. I am Muhammad, I am Ahmed, I am Al-Hashir because people will be judged under my feet (On the day of judgment).”

This name is very common among the followers of the Prophet Muhammad . Hassan bin Thabit , the first and the most notable poet of the Holy Prophet , commonly used this name in his beautiful poetry to praise the Holy Prophet in the gathering . He said that:

صلى الا له ومن یحف بعرشه والطیبون على المبارک احمد. ³

“Allah, upholders of the Divine Throne and all the pious people, send Peace and Blessings to the auspicious personality whose name is Ahmed.”

Ahmed means “The person who praises Allah the most” and he was the one most praised by God Himself. Since he was praised by the God, His angels and all other creatures, he became Muhammad , “The one who is praised the most.”

There is no one who is equal to Muhammad , not even among the angels or the prophets. Moreover, no one can gain the rank which is given to him by Allah Almighty. Likewise, in the entire humanity and all other creatures, this kind of unparalleled protocol and praise is only for the Last Prophet and no one can acquire that enormous amount of praise ever. As per God’s order, Every being of this world whether natural or supernatural will praise him not only in this world but in the Hereafter, on the Day of Judgment and even after that, Allah will always praise him. Allah loves him the most among all the humanity, and he will have great dignity among all. In reality, humanity will see his true greatness and dignity when Prophet Muhammad will appear on ‘Maqam-e-Mehmood’ (The Zenith Point), and he will receive the gift of ‘Luway-e-Humd’ (the praise of Allah) in his hands.

It is worthwhile to mention that before the arrival of Prophet Muhammad , no one had the name “Ahmed”. Thus, there should be no doubt about the fact that the name “Ahmed” only belongs to Prophet Muhammad . After the completion of this prophecy, the name Ahmed had become surprisingly famous and common among the world, and from that time till now there are millions of people with this blessed name are present in the world.

The Noble Messenger who would endorse the earlier revealed books

Before the arrival of the Last Prophet , people knew about the several predictions that in the time to come a final prophet would come, his name will be Muhammad. Consequently, many parents named their children Muhammad with a hope that their kid might be selected as the last prophet of Allah. In the past, we found several people who had the name Muhammad, but they did not declare prophethood. This is the very pleasing plan of Allah that he has chosen these particular names for his beloved Prophet . As the Holy Quran states:

وَلَمَّا جَاءَهُمْ رَسُولٌ مِنْ عِنْدِ اللَّهِ مُصَدِّقٌ لِمَا مَعَهُمْ نَبَذَ فَرِيقٌ مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ كِتَابَ اللَّهِ وَرَاءَ ظُهُورِهِمْ كَأَنَّهُمْ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ 101⁴

And when a Noble Messenger from Allah came to them, confirming the Book(s) which they possessed, a group of those who have received the Book(s) flung the Book of Allah behind their backs as if they were totally unaware!

According to the above verse of the Holy Quran, the attributes and characteristics of the Last Prophet were written in the Old and New Testaments. Nevertheless, when the Last Prophet arrived in this world, Jews and Christens observed these qualities in the Prophet , but instead of following him, they ignored their own holy books and changed their path towards darkness. They rejected all the indications and their teachings, and became the enemy of Prophet Muhammad .

While commenting on this verse, an eminent Islamic scholar, Ghulam Rasool Saeedi wrote:

hen Prophet Muhammad arrived, he demonstrated the complete characterization of the predictions that were told in Bible. Such as monotheism, Day of Judgment, reward, and punishment, affirmation of the prophets and messengers of Allah. Despite this, they pushed aside all these proofs and disobeyed the teachings of the Holy Quran as well as their own holy books. That is why Allah said that: “A group of those who have received the book(s) flung the Book of Allah behind their backs.” They did not completely disobey their holy books entirely, but only those portions where it was stated that the Last Prophet would come from the generation of Abraham . Moreover, the final prophet is no one other than the Muhammad .” ⁵

As the Holy Quran states,

يَاأَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولُنَا يُبَيِّنُ لَكُمْ كَثِيرًا مِمَّا كُنْتُمْ تُخْفُونَ مِنَ الْكِتَابِ وَيَعْفُو عَنْ كَثِيرٍ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ مِنَ اللَّهِ نُورٌ وَكِتَابٌ مُبِينٌ 15⁶

“O People given the Book(s)! Indeed this Noble Messenger (Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) of Ours has come to you, revealing to you a lot of the things which you had hidden in the Book, and forgiving a lot of them; indeed towards you has come a light from Allah, and a clear Book.”

Justice Peer Muhammad Karam Shah wrote:

“This verse is the evident proof of prophecy of the Holy Prophet and his comprehensive and authentic teachings. Prophet Muhammad used to show the true verses and issues of the previous revealed books, which were concealed by the scholars of Jews and Christians for the several years. About this matter, Allah Almighty said: My Prophet will not present all of the hidden details of your matter. However, he will reveal some of the details towards you, because from revealing those details you will able to get some spiritual benefits and he never reveals all those details which will make you regret or disrespect the people.” ⁷ {{subhead

As the Holy Quran states:

يَاأَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ قَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولُنَا يُبَيِّنُ لَكُمْ عَلَى فَتْرَةٍ مِنَ الرُّسُلِ أَنْ تَقُولُوا مَا جَاءَنَا مِنْ بَشِيرٍ وَلَا نَذِيرٍ فَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ بَشِيرٌ وَنَذِيرٌ وَاللَّهُ عَلَى كُلِّ شَيْءٍ قَدِيرٌ 19⁸

O People given the Book(s)! Indeed this Noble Messenger (Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) of Ours has come to you, revealing to you Our commands, after the Noble Messengers had stopped arriving for ages, for you might claim, “Never did any Harbinger of Glad Tidings or Herald of Warning come to us” – so this Harbinger of Glad Tidings and Herald of Warning has come to you, and Allah is Able to do all things.

When something suddenly stops working it is known as “Fatar-ul-Shai” (فترالشی), and if any work is going very enthusiastically and stops abruptly, it is also called Fatar. The period between the two different prophets is also known as Fatratah. In this verse, the meaning of “Fatrat” is the same as described above. The time of arrival of Prophet Muhammad is 570 A.D, and the announcement of his prophethood is in the 610 A.D - the time of declaration of the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad and the time of Jesus is approximately 610 years. Thus, the people of the book are told that in the future, the last prophet will come and guide you towards the true path. So follow him. If you would not follow him, then do not blame God on the Day of Judgment. At that time, God will not listen to your false reasons that no prophet came towards us to guide us the path of Solidarity.

Regarding this verse, Syed Abu Aala Modoudi states:

“On this condition, this sentence is extremely eloquent and pleasurable. It also means that Allah, Who sent the previous prophets to warn the wrongdoers, He appointed Muhammad for this kind of preaching, and He has authority for doing it. The second meaning is that if you do not obey the orders of the Messenger of good and alarming news, then He can give every punishment whatever He will wish to give.” ⁹

From this, we also learn that the Holy Prophet is the prophet of all previous nations as well since he is the prophet of all human beings. Long before his advent, the arrival of other prophets had ended. This created great anticipation for the arrival of the last messenger of Allah who would clean the society from all sort of evils and finalise all the matters of divine guidence.

The unlettered prophet who would command to do good and forbid the obscene

The Holy Prophet was unlettered and did not acquire any form of education from any man. As the Holy Quran states:

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 157¹⁰

Those who will obey this Noble Messenger (Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him), 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."

Reference to the Prophet in this verse as 'ummi' (unlettered) is significant as the Israelites branded all other nations as Gentiles (ummis). Steeped in racial prejudice, they did not consider members of other nations as their equals, let alone accept any person not belonging to them as a Prophet. The Quran also states the Jewish belief that they would not be taken to ask for whatever they might do to non-Jews. Employing the same term which they themselves had used, the Quran tells them that their destiny was linked with the ummi Prophet. By obeying him they would become deserving of God's mercy. As for disobedience to the Prophet , it would continue to arise God's wrath which had been afflicted upon them for centuries. ¹¹

Commenting on this verse, Abdul Haq Haqqani Dehalvi writes that Allah said to Moses that: O Moses ! The special graces which you are seeking for, in your era will be bestowed upon the person, who will possess the following characteristics:

1. He will be a prophet.
2. He will be a messenger. (After “prophet” the mention of messenger is the sign of dignity that he will not be the prophet of a common type, but he will be a distinct messenger in the line of prophets.)

Despite this prophecy, he will be “Ummi”, ¹² did not receive knowledge or education from any mortal but by Allah Himself. He was born with divinely endowed wisdom and remained the same, without letting any worldly agency influence his self, tutored and perfected by Allah Himself.] He will not receive external education from anyone. Nevertheless, his knowledge will be superior to the previous and the last ones.

1. These people will find the name of that last prophet written in Gospel and Psalms.
2. He will teach virtues to his people.
3. He will forbid evil deeds: (No historian doubts that no one’s teachings and advice affected the world, enlightened the darkness, cut the roots of idol worshiping and turned the beasts like people to the angelic quality individuals than the teachings of Prophet Muhammad .)
4. He will make clean and pure things legitimate (Halal) for the people.
5. He will make unclean and contaminated things illegitimate (Haram) in his Sharia, which comprises on the innate precepts of familiar sensation. The people of common sense will not have any difficulty in accepting the Sharia of Prophet Muhammad .

The companions of the Holy Prophet

It means those extreme commands which were made compulsory over Children of Israel, such as, the killing of the soul in the revenge of soul (there was no forgiveness in the form of blood money), or if a dress became filthy, it was compulsory to cut that piece of cloth from the dress so that it could be purified. As The Holy Quran states:

مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ أَشِدَّاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ تَرَاهُمْ رُكَّعًا سُجَّدًا يَبْتَغُونَ فَضْلًا مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرِضْوَانًا سِيمَاهُمْ فِي وُجُوهِهِمْ مِنْ أَثَرِ السُّجُودِ ذَلِكَ مَثَلُهُمْ فِي التَّوْرَاةِ وَمَثَلُهُمْ فِي الْإِنْجِيلِ كَزَرْعٍ أَخْرَجَ شَطْأَهُ فَآزَرَهُ فَاسْتَغْلَظَ فَاسْتَوَى عَلَى سُوقِهِ يُعْجِبُ الزُّرَّاعَ لِيَغِيظَ بِهِمُ الْكُفَّارَ وَعَدَ اللَّهُ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ مِنْهُمْ مَغْفِرَةً وَأَجْرًا عَظِيمًا 29¹³

“Mohammed (peace and blessings be upon him) is the Noble Messenger of Allah, and his companions are stern with the disbelievers and merciful among themselves – you will see them bowing and falling in prostration, seeking Allah’s munificence and His pleasure; their signs are on their faces, from the effects of their prostration; this trait of theirs is mentioned in the Taurat; and their trait is mentioned in the Injeel; like a cultivation that sprouted its shoot, then strengthened it, then thickened and then stood firm upon its stem, pleasing the farmer – in order to enrage the disbelievers with them; Allah has promised forgiveness and a great reward to those among them who have faith and do good deeds.”

In this verse, Allah discussed the characteristics of followers of Prophet Muhammad . We can of understand their rank and status before Allah from this verse. All the ranks they acquired were only because that they obeyed the Holy Prophet . The Holy Quran, as well as the other Holy Scriptures also discuss the qualities of his followers.

In the explanation of this verse, Ibn-e-Katheer writes:

قال بعض السلف من كثرت صلوته باللیل حسن وجهه بالنهار.

It is said by Orthodox: “The one who prays all the night, his face look bright in the morning.”

Furthermore, he said:

والصحیح انه موقوف وقال بعضهم ان للحسنة نوراً فى الوجه وسعة فى الرزق ومحبة فى قلوب الناس.

“Some of the scholars said that by doing good deeds, a distinct kind of light enlightens in the heart, the face becomes bright, sustenance become voluminous and people will start loving him (who does good deeds).”

Imam Malik said, “When Christians of that time saw the followers of the Holy Prophet , who conquered the Syria they all said that:

لواللّّٰٰه لهولاء خیر من الحوارین.

“Swear to God! These people are much better than the disciples of Jesus .”¹⁴

Regarding the verse quoted above, Ghulam Rasool Saeedi states:

“One explanation of this verse is also that” "وَالَّذِينَ مَعَهُ" means Abu Bakr , because after accepting Islam Abu Bakr helped the most in spreading Islam. After that "أَشِدَّاءُ عَلَى الْكُفَّارِ" means Umar , because Umar was famous for his rigidity to non-Muslims, and "رُحَمَاءُ بَيْنَهُمْ" means Uthman , he was famous for his kind heartedness and "تَرَاهُمْ رُكَّعًا سُجَّدًا" means Ali as the nights of Ali used to be spent in worshiping. (As compared to many others).” ¹⁵

Thus, the Holy Quran confirms the arrival and the prophethood of Prophet Muhammad and it also affirms the predictions given by the previouse prophets regarding his advent.

• ¹  Holy Quran, As-Saff (The Rank) 61: 6
• ²  Ahmed bin Muhammad Abu ‘Abdullah Al-Shibani (1421 A.H), Musnad-e-Imam Ahmed Bin Hanmbul, Hadith Jubair bin Muta’m: Hadith: 16734, Al-Maus’sisa-tul-Risala, Cairo, Egypt, Vol. 27, Pg. 293.
• ³  Mehmood Bin ‘Abdullah Shahab Uddin Al-Aalosi (1415A.H), Rooh-ul-Ma’ani, Al-Saff (The Rank) 61: 1-6, Dar-ul-Kutub Al-‘Ilmiyah, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 14, Pg. 280.
• ⁴  Holy Quran, Al-Baqara (The Cow) 2: 101
• ⁵  Ghulam Rasool Saeedi (2013), Tibyan-ul-Quran, Fareed Book Stall, Lahore, Pakistan, Vol. 1, Pg. 458.
• ⁶  Holy Quran, Al-Maaida (The Table spread with Food) 5: 15
• ⁷  Muhammad Karam Shah Al-Azhari (2014), Zia-ul-Quran, Zia-ul-Quran Publications, Lahore, Pakistan, Vol. 1, Pg. 453.
• ⁸  Holy Quran, Al-Maaida (The Table spread with Food) 5: 19
• ⁹  Syed Abul A’la’ Maududi (2008), Tafheem-ul-Quran, Company Tarjuman-ul-Quran, Lahore, Pakistan, Vol. 1, Pg. 458.
• ¹⁰  Holy Quran, Al-A’raaf (The Wall with Elevation) 7: 157
• ¹¹  Toward Understanding the Quran: http://www.islamicstudies.info/tafheem.php?sura=7&verse=152&to-157: Retrieved: 11-02-18
• ¹²  There are different explanations of the Arabic word “Ummi”. However, the best one is that; Ummi is derived from the word “umm”, the mother. Ummi means the person who remains the same in his native endowments as was born, without receiving any education or training from any (outside) source. The Holy Prophet [symbol, en, 9
• ¹³  Holy Quran, Al-Fath (The Victory) 48: 29
• ¹⁴  Ismail Bin Umer Abu Fidah Al-Damishqi (1419 A.H), Tafseer Ibn-e-Katheer (Tafseer-ul-Quran Al-Azeem), Dar-ul-Kutub Al-‘Ilmiyah, Beirut, Lebanon, Vol. 7, Pg. 338.
• ¹⁵  Ghulam Rasool Saeedi (2013), Tibyan-ul-Quran, Fareed Book Stall, Lahore, Pakistan, Vol. 11, Pg. 268-269.