6.12: Glorifies
Jesus(pbuh)
"Beloved, believe not every spirit (prophet), but try
the spirits whether they are of God: because many false
prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that
confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not
of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now
already is it in the world."
1 John 4:1-3
This one is very easy to understand: Every prophet who
does not confess that Jesus (pbuh) came in the flesh was not
sent by God. He is a false prophet. But any prophet that
confesses that Jesus (pbuh) came in the flesh was sent by
God. What does the Qur'an and Muhammad (pbuh) say about
Jesus (pbuh)? They say that a Muslim is not a Muslim
if he does not believe in Jesus (pbuh), in his miraculous
birth, in his giving life to the dead by God's permission,
in his healing of the lepers and the blind by God's
permission, in his piety and chastity, in his truthfulness,
and in the fact that he was the Messiah (the Christ). The
Qur'an contains many verses to this effect. For example, in
A'al-Umran(3):40 we read:
"And the angles said 'O Mary, Allah gives you glad
tidings of a Word from Him, his name is Messiah, Jesus son
of Mary, High honored in this world and the next, of those
near stationed to Allah."
So now we must ask: Has Muhammad (pbuh) fulfilled this
criteria or not? This is all the more remarkable when it is
contrasted with the popular opinion of the time such as the
claims of the Jews regarding Jesus (pbuh) and his mother
Mary (pbuh) as seen in part nine of section 6.3. As a matter
of fact, Jesus is referred to by name in the Qur'an fully
sixteen times, as compared to only four places in the whole
Qur'an where Muhammad (pbuh) is mentioned by name.
No other religion in the whole world outside Christianity
makes it an article of faith for its adherents to
believe in, love and honor Jesus except Islam. Reading the
Qur'an bears testimony to that (see for example (19):16-36,
A'al-Umran(3):33-68, Al-Nissa(5): 72-77). Here we have the
testimony of Jesus himself in the Bible that Muhammad
was a prophet of God. If Jesus' words carry any weight at
all with us then we must concede that Muhammad was a prophet
of God and therefore spoke in the name of God.
Further, Jesus gives a second criteria to judge the
truthfulness of a prophet. He says:
"Beware of false prophets, which come to you in
sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye
shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of
thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree
bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth
evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit,
neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down,
and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall
know them."
Matthew 7:15-20
So, according to the testimony of Jesus, if we wish to
know whether prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was a true prophet or
not we need to see what sort of "fruit" his message
produced. A moderately detailed description of these fruits
can be found in chapters 9 and 10, however, let us listen to
the words of the Hindu Professor K. S. Ramakrishna Rao. He
says:
"Historical records show that all contemporaries of
Muhammad, both friend and foes, acknowledged the sterling
qualities, the spotless honesty, the noble virtues, the
absolute sincerity, and the absolute trustworthiness of the
apostle of Islam in all walks of life and in every sphere of
human activity. Even the Jews and those who did not believe
in his message accepted him as arbitrator in their personal
disputes on account of his scrupulous impartiality"
Muhammad the Prophet of Islam, K. S. Ramakrishna Rao, p.
13
(Please read chapter nine for more
on the fruit of the message of Muhammad, pbuh)
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