Was Muhammad a true
prophet?
Noah Webster's original 1828
dictionary defines a prophet as:
1. One that fortells future events;
a predicter; a foreteller
2. In Scripture, a person
illuminated, inspired or
instructed by God to announce
future events
3. One who pretends to foretell;
an imposter; as a false prophet
Muslims claim Muhammad was
the last and final prophet, the
final messenger of God declaring
the same message to mankind
as all the previous prophets.
This bold claim contains
assumptions that must be
answered if we are going to
accept as true the claim at
face value.
1. How do we know Muhammad
was a prophet outside his own
claim to be so? By what criteria
is a prophet measured, and
does Muhammad measure up?
2. How do we know Muhammad
brought the same message as
the prior prophets? How can an
accurate assessment of this
claim be made?
Criteria of a Prophet
True prophets must provide
evidence of such to back up
the claim; otherwise anyone can
claim to be a prophet and how
are we to know?
Fulfilled prophecies or
miraculous attestation
Biblical prophets always
demonstrated their prophetic
calling in one of two ways:
either their prophecies came
true within a short time and
thus their foreknowledge of
events proved divine
inspiration, or they were given
the ability to perform miracles
as proof of their prophetic
calling.
Muhammad never made a
specific, predictive prophecy,
and so fails the first test.
The Arabs of Muhammad's time
thus demanded a miracle or a
sign to confirm Muhammad as a
prophet, Yet the Quran itself
speaks of Muhammad as
nothing more than someone
sent to sound a warning.
Do they not reflect that their
companion has not unsoundness
in mind; he is only a plain
warner. (Sura 7:184)
Say: I do not control any
benefit or harm for my own
soul except as Allah please; and
had I known the unseen
I would
have had much of good and no
evil would have touched me; I
am nothing but a warner and
the giver of good news to a
people who believe. (Sura 7:188)
Then, it may be that you will
give up part of what is
revealed to you and your
Bosom will become straitened
by it because they say: Why
has not a treasure been sent
down upon him or an angel
come with him? You are only a
warner; and Allah is custodian
over all things. (Sura 11:12)
And those who disbelieve say:
Why has not a sign been sent
down upon him from his Lord?
You are only a warner and
(there is) a guide for every
people. (Sura 13:7)
And they say: Why are not
signs sent down upon him from
his Lord? Say: The signs are
only with Allah, and I am only a
plain warner. (Sura 29:50)
Muhammad denied the ability to
perform miracles, as requested
by the Jews, as proof of his
prophetic calling. His response: "I
am sent only as a warner."
Translation: "I cannot provide
you with the miracle you ask
for." Muhammad thus fails the
second test.
Does Muhammad's message
conform to prior
prophets?
No, it does not. That's the
short answer. I could provide
multiple examples; one alone will
suffice.
The Qur'an, the revelation
received as divine by
Muhammad, denies the
crucifixion of Jesus. Sura 4:157
reads:
They [the Jews] say, "We have
killed the Messiah, Isa (Jesus),
son of Maryam, the Rasool of
Allah." Whereas in fact, neither
did they kill him nor did they
crucify him but they thought
they did because the matter
was made dubious for them.
Those who differ therein are in
doubt. They have no real
knowledge, they follow nothing
but merely a conjecture,
certainly, they did not kill him
(Jesus). [English translation by
Muhammad Farooq-i-Azam Malik,
Institute of Islamic Knowledge]
Since Jesus is also regarded as
a prophet in Islam, let's take a
look at what he had to say
about his own crucifixion.
For as Jonah was in the belly of
the great fish three days and
three nights, so the Son of Man
will be in the heart of the
earth three days and three
nights. - Matthew 12:40
From then on Jesus began to
point out to His disciples that
He must go to Jerusalem and
suffer many things from the
elders, chief priests, and
scribes, be killed, and be raised
the third day. - Matthew 16:21
While going up to Jerusalem,
Jesus took the 12 disciples
aside privately and said to
them on the way; "Listen! We
are going up to Jerusalem. The
Son of Man will be handed over
to the chief priests and scribes,
and they will condemn Him to
death. Then they will hand him
over to the Gentiles to be
mocked, flogged, and crucified,
and He will be resurrected on
the third day." - Matthew
20:17-19
The words of Jesus here are
not ambiguous. Jesus clearly
predicted his own crucifixion,
not the crucifixion of an
imposter as the Qur'an implies.
But did the crucifixion actually
take place? Absolutely.
We need not look at the Biblical
evedence to establish the fact
that the crucifixion actually
occurred, thought the evidence
from the Bible is overwhelming.
The crucifixion is one of the
best established facts in
history.
Thallos (55 A.D.): An ancient
historian who wrote a three-
volume history. In volume 3,
Thallos mentions the darkness
that occurred at the death of
Jesus, just as recorded in
Matthew 27:45, Mark 15:33, and
Luke 23:44. Thallos certainly
was no friend of Christians; he
attempted to attribute the
darkness to a solar eclipse, a
natural phenomenon, rather
than a miracle as scripture and
tradition proclaimed. Julius
Africanus rebuffed Thallos'
argument years later by noting
that Jesus was crucified during
Passover, which occurs during a
full moon.
Posted: at 11-07-2012 12:40 PM (12 years ago) | Newbie |
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