[Many of our readers have asked us this question, so we have posted the following answer to help]
“Do you believe Muhammad is a messenger of God?”
This question put forth in just a few words is actually quite vast in its scope, and as I ponder how to answer with all the clearness and honesty that any inquirer deserves, I must say that I can only go so far in my reply in writing.…
Naik claims a prophecy of Muhammad in the Bible’s Song of Solomon 5:16:
“His mouth is sweetness itself; he is altogether lovely;
This is my lover, this my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.” (Songs 5:16)
Carefully omitting the context given above, he argues that since the Hebrew for “lovely” is מחמד (MHMD, Arabic محمد), this is a prophecy of Muhammad.…
Since the alleged ‘prophecies’ of Muhammad seem so far-fetched, some critics go so far as to claim that Christians or Jews have maliciously removed prophecies of Muhammad. There are three reasons that this is impossible:
Let us move now to comparing these alleged prophecies with those of the Messiah (Al-Masih) in the Hebrew scriptures. We will start with the most famous prophecy, found in `Īsāiah 53. For those familiar with the details of Jesus’ life, it is truly remarkable that this passage, written hundreds of years earlier, is so abundantly clear:
…Who has believed our message
and to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
…“If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
Zakir Naik likes to quote, in his words, “the book of Isaiah, chapter number 12, verse number 29”1 (actually, it is chapter 29, verse 12! ) as a prophecy of Muhammad in the Bible. As Dr Naik quotes it, it seems an impressive prophecy:
“the book is given to a prophet who is not learned”2
However if we actually open any Bible and look at this verse ourselves, we see first of all that Naik has deceptively inserted the word “prophet” which doesn’t appear in the original Hebrew text:
“…give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, ‘I cannot read'” (Isaiah 29:12)
Now if we look at the wider context, this verse is speaking of how the Israelites make lame excuses for ignoring Isaiah’s revelation.…
Polemicists such as Naik and Deedat have argued that Deuteronomy 18 refers not to Jesus but Muhammad:
…15The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.
The short answer is no, the Bible does not support slavery, it undermines it. In fact, it was mainly committed followers of Jesus (such as William Wilberforce, Clarkson and Charles Finney) who ended the slave trade and abolished slavery.…
There are many books and websites with far more detailed information and tafseer than this book. We would encourage readers to study more at these sources:
The Bible & The Qur’ān : A Question of Integrity by Dr. Masood (Authentic, 2001)
Steven Masood, who grew up an Ahmadi Muslim in Pakistan, compares the textual integrity of the Bible and the Qur’ān with extensive documentation.…
Al-Kitabul Muqaddas (الكتاب المقدس) means simply “The Holy Book” in Arabic, just as “Holy Bible” comes from the Latin for “Holy Book.” It is comprised of:
In the Taurah or Torah revealed to the Prophet Moses three and a half thousand years ago, we find the account of creation and the history of all the prophets up until the time of Moses, including Adam (p), Noah (p), Abraham (p), `Īsāac (p) and Jacob (p).…