Biblical Prophecies About Muhammad

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Greetings ak_m_f,

< style="color: rgb(0, 0, 255);">From Jamal Badawi's
article: 

<>b) The Qur�an is the
last, complete, authoritative and authentic revelation. It is the final arbiter
and the only criterion to correct any inaccuracy or misinterpretation which
might have occurred in the transmission of scriptures. It helps in discovering
human additions to or interpolations of previous revelations, even as it
reveals possible deletions which might have taken place through the centuries
prior to its revelation (the Qur�an). Indeed one of the names of the Qur�an is
al-Furqan (the criterion which distinguishes between right and wrong, truth and
falsehood). 

<>

This comment as well as others of the same vein are
incorrect and self-serving.

<>1.  It is
inconceivable that God would not protect his past revelations.  To say that he couldn't is to make him a
weak god, which is impossible.  God is
all-powerful.

<>2.  The Qur'an
nowhere says that God's prior revelations were tampered with.  In fact the Qur'an did not come to correct,
replace, annual, modify or do away with, it came to confirm as the following
ayas say: 

And believe in what I reveal, confirming the revelation which is with you... Surat-ul Baqara
(2):41 

And when there comes to them a Book
(Qur'an) ftom God, confirming
what is with them... Surat-ul Baqara (2):89 

... yet they reject all beside, even
if it (Qur'an) be truth confirming
what is with them. Surat-ul Baqara (2):91 

And when there came to them an apostle
(Muhammad) of God confirming
what was with them... Surat-ul Baqara (2):101 

And before this (Qur'an) was the Book
of Moses as a guide and a mercy; and this book (Qur'an) confirms (it) in the Arabic tongue. Surat-ul Ahqaf (46):12 

And this is a book (Qur'an) which We
have seat down, bringing blessings and confirming
(the revelations) which came before it. Surat-ul An'am (6):92 

To thee (Muhammad) We sent the
scripture (Qur'an) in truth confirming
the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety. Surat-ul Maida
(5):48 

<>The Qur'an says that the
previous revelations were sent to mankind as admonition, insight, mercy,
guidance, and light -- and, of course, this light is the only light that can
lead man from the darkness of sin and judgment into the splendor of salvation
and eternal life. Here are the testimonies of the Qur'an: 

And
He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this (the
Qur'an) as a guide to mankind.
Surat-u Ali-Imran (3):3 

It was We who revealed the Law (to
Moses); therein was guidance and light.
Surat-ul Maida (5):44 

We sent him (Jesus) the Gospel;
therein was guidance and light.
Surat-ul Maida (5):46 

We did reveal to Moses the book after
We had destroyed the earlier generations, (to give) insight to men, and guidance and mercy, that they might receive admonition. Surat-ul Qasas (28):43 

These are basically the same
revelations found in the Bible.  They
are signs from God and must be believed upon in faith, as the Qur'an says:

Then those who reject faith in the Signs of God will suffer
the severest penalty, and God is exalted in might, Lord of retribution.  Surat-u Ali-Imran (3):4 Those who reject the
Book and the (revelations) with which We sent Our apostles: but soon shall they
know, - when the yokes (shall be) round their necks, and the chains; they shall
be dragged along in the boiling fetid fluid; then in the Fire shall they be
burned. Surat-ul Mumin (40):70-72

It
was only with Muslim Ibn-Khazem, who died in Cordoba in 1064, that the charge
of falsification of the Bible was born. 

<>In his defense of Islam against Christians, Ibn-Khazem came
up against the contradictions between the Qur�an and the Gospels.  One obvious example was the Qur�anic
text,  �They slew him not, and they
crucified him not� (Surah 4,156). 
�Since the Qur�an must be true,� Ibn-Khazem argued, "it must be the
conflicting Gospel texts that are false. 
But Muhammad tells us to respect the Gospel.  Therefore the present text must have been falsified by the
Christians.�  His argument was not based
on historical facts, but purely on his own reasoning and on his wish to
safeguard the truth of the Qur�an.  Once
he was on this path, nothing could stop him from pursuing this accusation.  In fact, it seemed the easiest way to attack
the opponents.  �If we prove the
falsehood of their books, they lose the arguments they take from them�.  (And this is exactly what has happened.)  This led him eventually to make the cynical
statement:  �The Christians lost the
revealed Gospel except for a few traces which God left intact as argument
against them�. 

<>Many of the great Muslim thinkers have accepted the
authenticity of the New Testament text. Their testimony means that
Christian-Muslim dialogue need not forever be stymied by the allegation
introduced by Ibn-Khazem.  Two great
historians, Al-Mas�udi (died 956) and Ibn-Khaldun (died 1406), held the
authenticity of the Gospel text.  Four
well-known theologians agreed with this: Ali at-Tabari (died 855), Qasim
al-Khasani (died 860), �Amr al-Ghakhiz (died 869) and, last but not least, the
famous Al-Ghazzali (died 1111).  Their
view is shared by Abu Ali Husain Ibn Sina, who is known in the West as Avicenna
(died 1037).  Bukhari (died 870), who
acquired a great name by his collection of early traditions, quoted the Qur�an
itself (Sura 3,72.78) to prove that the text of the Bible is not falsified." 

3.  It would be
virtually impossible for the Jews to have changed their Scriptures without the
Christians knowing about it.  After all
the Jewish Scriptures were the Scriptures that the early Christians used as
their own Scriptures.

4.  The Bible was
copied and in circulation in the 200's AD; this included not only Greek
manuscripts but copies of those manuscripts into many, many languages.  This is at least 400 years prior to the
completion of the Qur'an.  So the Qur'an
commends the Scriptures that the Christians and Jews had in their possession at
the time of Muhammad.

More to come tomorrow.