Grant us
good things in this world and in the life to come. We turn to You.’ God said,
‘I bring My punishment on whoever I will, but My mercy encompasses all things.
‘I shall ordain My mercy for those who are conscious of God and pay the
prescribed alms; who believe in Our Revelations; who follow the Messenger– the
unlettered prophet they find
described in the Torah that is with them, and in the Gospel– who commands
them to do right and forbids them to do wrong, who makes good things lawful to
them and bad things unlawful, and relieves them of their burdens, and the iron
collars b that were on them. So it is those who believe him, honour and help
him, and who follow the light which has been sent down with him, who will
succeed.’ [Surah 7:156-157]
Christians typically appeal to
these verses by claiming that the name of the Prophet Muhammed Pbuh is explicitly mentioned in the Torah and the Gospels. However, when they
search for such a reference, they are unable to locate it. The issue lies in a
misrepresentation of the verse, arising from a superficial or selective reading
of the text. This interpretation assumes that the verse refers to the explicit
mention of Muhammed Pbuh name in the Torah and the Gospel, whereas the text
does not make such a claim.
Ibn al-Qayyim
comments on this issue in his tafsīr of Surah 7:157.
“The questioner said: It is famous among you in the Book and the Sunnah
that your Prophet was written with them in the Torah and the Gospel, but they
erased him from both for the reason of leadership and worldly gain. Reason
finds this problematic: did they all agree to erase his name from the revealed
books from the Lord of the worlds in the East and West, South and North?! This
is a matter that reason finds more problematic than their mere verbal denial;
for it is possible to recant what they said with their tongues, but to return
to what they have erased is more remote.
The Answer: This question is built upon a corrupt understanding, which
is that Muslims believe that the Prophet’s ﷺ explicit name—which is
Muḥammad in Arabic—is mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel—the two books
containing the two laws—and that Muslims believe that the Jews and Christians
in all regions of the earth erased that name and omitted it entirely from the churches,
and conspired upon that, far and wide, East and West. No scholar from the
scholars of the Muslims has said this, nor did Allah, glorified and exalted be
He, inform of it in His Book concerning them, nor did His Messenger, nor did he
rebuke them for it even for a single day, nor did any of the Companions say it,
nor the Imāms after them, nor the scholars of exegesis, nor those concerned
with the reports of nations and their histories. If it is assumed that some of
the common Muslims said it, intending by it to support the Messenger, it has
been said: "An ignorant friend causes more harm than an intelligent
enemy." These people were only afflicted by a lack of understanding of the
Qurʾān, and they thought that the statement of the Exalted: "Those who follow
the Messenger, the Unlettered Prophet, whom they find written with them in the
Torah and the Gospel" [al-Aʿrāf: 157] indicated the specific name in
Arabic in the specific Torah and Gospel, and that such was not found at all.”
From the above verse and commentary by Ibn al-Qayyim the word “name” is
not use in the ayah thus, the Christian argument falls flat on his face. Ibn al-Qayyim
also writes as to why the mentioning of name is not significant.
Now that we’ve cleared the name claim, let us move on to next claim, “where
is the “description” of Prophet Muhmmed Pbuh found in the bible? The answer to
this also found in the Qur’an.
“God took a pledge from the
Children of Israel. We made twelve leaders arise among them, and God said, ‘I
am with you: if you keep up the prayer, pay the prescribed alms, believe in My
messengers and support them, and lend God a good loan, a I will wipe out your
sins and admit you into Gardens graced with flowing streams. Any of you who now
ignore this [pledge] will be far from the right path.’
But they broke their pledge, so
We distanced them [from Us] and hardened their hearts. They distort the meaning
of [revealed] words and have forgotten some of what they were told to remember:
you [Prophet] will always find treachery in all but a few of them. Overlook
this and pardon them: God loves those who do good.
We also took a pledge from those
who say, ‘We are Christians,’ but they too forgot some of what they were told
to remember, so We stirred up enmity and hatred among them until the Day of
Resurrection, when God will tell them what they have done.”
[Surah 5:12:14]
They have no grasp of God’s true
measure when they say, ‘God has sent nothing down to a mere mortal.’ Say, ‘Who
was it who sent down the Scripture, which Moses brought as a light and a guide
to people, which you made into separate sheets, showing some but hiding many?
You were taught things that neither you nor your forefathers had known.’ Say,
‘God [sent it down],’ then leave them engrossed in their vain talk. [Surah
6:91]
The verses mentioned above help clarify the meaning of Surah 7:157.
This becomes clearer in Surah 5:12–14, which speaks about the covenant made
with the Children of Israel and the Christians, and how they broke that
covenant by neglecting or “forgetting” parts of what they were commanded to
uphold. The threw the book of Allah behind their backs Surah 3:187.
They also took their rabbis and monks as lords besides Allah (Surah
9:31), disregarding the laws that had been given to them and seeking loopholes
to evade them.
What, then,
did they forget? According to Tafsīr al-Jalalayn, they forgot the description,
the advent, and the prophecies concerning the Prophet Muhammed Pbuh.
The Jews dismissed what was revealed to them concerning the Prophet
Muhammed Pbuh and rejected the message of the prophets that had been
transmitted to them. Surah 6:91 also refers to the actions of the Jews, noting
their handling of scripture specifically the revelation given to Moses Pbuh at
Mount Sinai. The verse describes how portions of the revelation were made
public while much of it was concealed.
Surah 2:79 describes how some of the Jews wrote the scripture with
their own hands and claimed it was a revelation from God, seeking only a small
gain in return. Surah 3:78 notes that they attribute to Allah a book which was not from Him. Surah 4:46
explains how they distort words with their tongues, and Surah 7:162 records how
they altered the words of the revelation that had been communicated to them.
Yet the Quran clearly inform the Jews and Christians, that the
Messenger of Allah, Prophet Muhammed Pbuh came with the truth and to reveal what
they were hiding.
O People of the Scripture, there
has come to you Our Messenger making clear to you much of what you used to
conceal of the Scripture and overlooking much. There has come to you from Allah
a light and a clear Book.[Quran 5:15]
The believers mentioned in Surah 7:157 namely, the reverts are those
who possessed the description of the final Messenger, Prophet Muhammed Pbuh, as
it was known to them from the Torah and the Gospel (Injīl). This knowledge,
whether passed down to them or preserved in part, enabled them to recognize the
True Messenger Pbuh.
What many Christians fail to recognize is that the description of
Prophet Muhammed Pbuh is mentioned in the very verses they cite in their search
for him.
who follow
the Messenger– the unlettered prophet they
find described in the Torah that is with them, and in the Gospel– who
commands them to do right and forbids them to do wrong, who makes good things
lawful to them and bad things unlawful, and relieves them of their burdens, and
the iron collars b that were on them. So it is those who believe him, honour
and help him, and who follow the light which has been sent down with him, who
will succeed.’ [Surah 7:156-157]
The following hadith attests to this.
Ibn Saʿd, al-Bukhārī, Ibn Jarīr,
and al-Bayhaqī in al-Dalāʾil narrated from ʿAṭāʾ ibn Yasār: I met ʿAbdullāh ibn
ʿAmr ibn al-ʿĀṣ and said: "Inform me of the description of the Messenger
of Allah ﷺ." He said:
"Yes, by Allah, he is certainly described in the Torah with some of his
description in the Qurʾān: 'O Prophet, indeed We have sent you as a witness, a
bringer of glad tidings, a warner, and a protection for the unlettered. You are
My servant and My Messenger; I have named you the Trusting (al-Mutawakkil). He
is neither coarse, nor harsh, nor a shouter in the markets. He does not repay
evil with evil, but rather he pardons and overlooks. Allah will not take him
[in death] until He straightens through him the crooked creed by their saying:
"There is no god but Allah," and opens through him blind eyes, deaf
ears, and wrapped hearts.'"
The description itself serves as the proof. Let us break it down. Surah
7:157 affirms the Prophethood of Muhammed Pbuh as mentioned in the previous
scriptures, the scriptures that both
Jews and Christians neglected, rejected, concealed, or altered, as they were
admonished for. Christians must consider this: if the description of Prophet
Muhammed Pbuh is truly absent from their books, then how can they claim to
possess the authentic revelation given to the earlier prophets?
