The Role of Holy Imams in Revival of Religion

The Holy Quran's Catagorical Judgement

The Qurans judgement with regard to the text and meaning of the narratives under discussion is quite definate. If we were to ignore the worthlessness of their documentation we could reveal their defects by relying on the Quran.

By paying close attention to and inquiry into the Holy Scripture of Islam it becomes clear to us that prophethood of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w) was not a secret and unexpected event but was propounded in various aspects and was presented in different ways.

Belief in his prophethood was required of all of the prophets in the form of an emphatic covenant, and a promise was taken from them to aid him.

The great prophets gave news of his existence, appearance and mission. He and some of his followers had names and signs in the Torah and Gospel.

The people of the book (the Jews and Christians) knew him very well and accepted him or denied him with complete knowledge of his characteristics, qualities, name and means of recognition.

These types of verses and a short discussion of each may be seen below:

"And when Allah made a covenant through the prophets: Certainly what I have given you of Book and wisdom - then an apostle comes to you verifying that which is with you, you must believe in him, and you must aid him. He said: Do you affirm and accept My compact in this (matter)? They said: We do affirm. He said: Then bear witness, and I (too) am of the bearers of witness with you". 241

According to our belief there were 124,000 prophets and of that number a little over 300 were chosen for the prophetic mission or message. 242 This means that all of this group are related to the heavens and the hidden world, but only the messengers and bearers of the mission are authorized to deliver their knowledge of the hidden world to the people.

In this noble verse the covenant and promise made through the prophets (meaning the total 124,000), is spoken of so that they will keep the two responsibilities towards the apostle who will come afterwards and confirm the truths they possess: These two responsibilities are to;

A) Believe in him:

B) Aid him:

There are two opinions on the interpretation of this verse. One opinion is based on the creditable narratives existing in the Caliphate and Imamate schools. These narratives clearly and plainly show that this covenant was taken from all of the Prophets from Adam to the last of them -(a.s)- so that they would believe in the "last Prophet" Mohammad (s.a.w) and aid him if they were present during his lifetime.

It is then commanded of them to extract a covenant from their nation on these matters.

It is related from Ali Ibn Abi Talib (a.s) that:

"God never appointed a prophet without extracting a covenant from him regarding Mohammad, saying that if he were alive when that prophet was appointed he must certainly believe in him and aid him, and it was also commanded of him to extract the same promise from his own supporters". 243

In another more detail narrative of the Imam he says:

"God took a covenant from his prophets (a.s), to inform and give tidings to their nations of the last Prophets' mission and his exalted rank, and to command them (if they lived during his lifetime) to certify him". 244

  1. "And when Isa (Jesus) son of Marium said: O' children of Israel.' surely I am the apostle of Allah to you, verifying that which is before me of the Tavrat and giving the good news of an apostle who will come after me, his name being Ahmad. but when he came to them with clear arguments they said: This is clear magic". 245

The message in this verse is quite clear. This verse clearly announces that the Prophet of Islam with his own name was mentioned during the time of Jesus' prophetic mission and that Jesus gave tidings of his coming and mission in one of his sermons.

It could never be correct to think that this is but a mere claim; since we know that the Quran was revealed in an environment of hatred full of enemies, if this had been only a claim the enemies of Islam who strove to their utmost to battle against it (Islam), would have never remained quiet. Those who gathered thousands of warriors and soldiers to battle the followers of the Quran, could have made use of just one mistake or false claim to easily nip Islam in the bud.

Previous remarks to that effect were all based on the assumption that the above-mentioned tidings were not included in todays Bibles. Fortunately, however, older translation and printings of the Bible give us examples of this tidings. For example, in the Persian translation of the book "John" by the French Reverent F. Lameneh, and the Arabic translation of this very book by the English minister Robinson, in chapter 14 verses, 16,17,25, and 26 and in chapter 15 verse 26 and chapter 16 verse 7,12,13, and 4 the name "Fargheleet" which is "Perikleetos" in Greek and "Ahmad" in Arabic is mentioned along with a mention of his qualities and description. 246

'---Arabic text---'

"Those who follow the Apostle-Prophet, the Ummi, whom they find written down with them in the Tavrat and the Injeel, (who) enjoins them good and forbids them evil, and makes lawful to them the good things and makes unlawful to them impure things......" 247

In the noble verse above, in addition to what was stated in the previous verse, it says that not only does the New Testament contain the name and signs of the Prophet of Islam so does the Torah. We also know that in that environment which was full of enmity and with the existence of Jewish scholars in the Arab community there could be no possibility for making such a claim if it were false. However, in addition to this reason, we may fortunately say that in some of the older versions of the Old-Testament we come across verses which contain clear indications of Islams' messenger.

In Deuteronomy 33:1-3 we read thus:

1- These are the blessings that Moses, the man of God, pronounced on the people of Israel before he died.

2- The Lord came from Mount Sinai;he rose like the sun over Edom and shone on his people from Mount PARAN He entered with ten thousand of the esteemed a fiery religious law at his right hand

3-He Loves the people and protects those who belong to him. 248

In these verses three places are spoken of, Sinai, Edom and Paran.

(Sinai)- according to official Jewish and Christian texts Sinai is the place where God revealed his religious creed, laws and commandments to Moses (a.s). In the Old-Testament, Leviticus 7:37-38 we read: [These, then, are the regulations for the burnt offerings .......There on Mount Sinai in the desert the Lord gave these commands.....] and again in the same book chapter 25, verse I we read: [The lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai and commanded him......] When speaking of Moses on Mount Sinai and his meeting with God, the second book in the Old-Testament, Exodus 24:15-18 says: [Moses went up Mount Sinai, and a cloud covered it. The dazzling light of the Lords' presence came down on the mountain......The cloud covered the mountain for six days and on the seventh day the lord called to Moses from the cloud......There he stayed for forty days and nights]. 249

Christian religious scholars have described Sinai as such: "A mountain in the Islam-like Sinai peninsula, and the Lord delivered his religious creed to the tribe of Israel from its' peak". 250

(Edom) - (Saeer) 251 = A mountainous land in the south of Palestine which is also called Edom or land of Edomites.

According to the opinion of geography experts it was in these mountains that the scripture was revealed to Jesus for the first time.

(Paran) - In official Christian texts there is no final definate explanation for this word. They say for example: [The mountain of Paran is the mountain from which the lord appeared in Glory] and then they add this remark: [And the most authoritative opinion is that Mount Paran is the Southern part of the mountains in the North-Eastern part of the desert in which the Israelites wandered.....] 252 There are, however, signs and indication at hand which clearly show Parans location. For example, in the book Genesis chapter 21 we read: [Early the next morning Abraham gave Hagar some food and a leather bag full of water. He put the child on her back and sent her away. She left and wandered about in the wilderness of Beersheba. When the water was all gone she left the child under a bush and sat down about a hundred yards away. She said to herself, "I can't bear to see my child die". While she was sitting there she began to cry. God heard the boy crying, and from heaven the angel of God spoke to Hagar, "What are you troubled about Hagar? Don' t be afraid. God has heard the boy crying. Get up, go and pick him up and comfort him. I will make a great nation out of his descendants". Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well. She went and filled the leather bag with water and gave some to the boy. God was with the boy as he grew up: he lived in the wilderness of paran and became a skilful hunter......." 253

Hagar and Ishmael are spoken of here and we all know that they lived in the deserts of Hejaz and Mecca, and the well of Zamzam sprang up there for the first time for Ishmael. The graves of Hagar and Ishmael are in the Masjid al-Haram of Mecca and are quite well known and famous. 254 The great nation which was to come from him and which Abraham was promised was the Arab nation and the tribe of Quraish which turned out to be one of the history making nations during the age of Islam and afterwards.

In this way, Parans location becomes quite clear. Older geographical experts also attest to this fact. 255

If we pay close attention to what was said earlier it is quite clear that this verse refers to the appearance of three great religions at the hands of Moses, Jesus, and the Prophet of Islam of which the first appeared at Mount Sinai, the second at Saeer or Edom and the third in Hejaz and Mount Paran on the outskirts of Mecca. The other signs in this verse coorelate exactly with the Prophet of Islam. Such as:

  1. [Shone on his people from Mount Paran and entered with ten-thousand of the esteemed] Just as we have seen, in this verse three divine appearances are spoken of, or three great missions and the appointment of three Arch prophets bearing religious creeds. It is also explained that the third of these prophets and the third mission was to be from Mount Paran. We also know that the first Divine revelation delivered to the Last Prophet was in a cave in Hira (Paran) one of the mountains on the outskirts of Mecca (the desert of Paran), and we also know that it was He who a few years later entered Mecca with ten-thousand soldiers and conquested it. The story of being accompanied by ten-thousand of the esteemed only occured during the Holy Prophets' lifetime; this is because in the beginning Moses was accompanied by only his brother Aaron and in the exodus by the entire tribe of Israel which some Christian scholars have said to have been more than 60,000, 256 and up until the end of Jesus' ministry he gained only a very few followers estimated at being approximately 120 persons 257 of whom only twelve were chosen as his disciples and special followers. 258

By altering this verse in the old-testament the Christians have tried to collate it to Jesus' appearance. For this reason, in some of the newer copies we see instead of the above-mentioned phrase:

"He became luminous from Mount Paran and came from the Holy heights (Palestine and Jerusalem)". 259 In addition to this alteration, in this copy there is no mention of the accompaniers. In one Farsi translation 260 instead of ten-thousand they write: (He entered with thousands and thousands).

2- (A fiery religious creed at his right hand). This interpretation is a clear indication of Islam. We know that Islam is a religious creed in which "Jihad" is seen as a form of worship, being a pillar of the religion. This matter (Jehad) has not been referred to in this way in any of the other religious creeds and has not attained these particular aspects.

3- (He loves the people). This is another precise indicator of Islam and its' Prophet and in the Quran the same has been said:

"And we have not sent you but as a mercy to the worlds". 261

"Thus it is due to mercy from Allah that you deal with them gently". 262

In the older copies of the Old-Testament it is said that all of the people, nations and in short all of the worlds' inhabitants are loved by the Prophet who will come from Mount Paran. Quranic verses also announce and agree with this quality possessed by the Prophet of Islam. Afterwards, however, in the newer copies of the Old-Testament this interpretation has also been altered to - (He loved his people). 263 This was done so that the world-wide scope of the affection beneficence of the Prophet of Mount Paran would be thus denied and be restricted to only the tribe of Israel and be correlated to Jesus Christ (a.s)

"Mohammad is the Apostle of Allah, and those with him are firm of heart against the unbelievers, compassionate among themselves; you will see them bowing down, prostrating themselves, seeking grace from Allah and pleasure; their marks are in their faces because of the effect of prostration; that is their description in the Tavrat and their description in the Injeel; like as seed-produce that puts forth its' sprout; then strengthens it, so it becomes stout and stands firmly on its' stem, delighting the sowers that He may enrage the unbelievers on account of them". 264

Here we see that not only the Prophet but also his supporters were mentioned in the old and new testaments with reference to their own particular qualities, centuries before the appearance of Islam.

5-

"And when there came to them a book from Allah verifying that which they have, and aforetime they used to pray for victory against those who disbelieve, but when there came to them (Prophet) that which they did not recognize, they disbelieved in him; so Allahs' curse is on the unbelievers. 265

Judaism spread to the Arabian Peninsula from Yemen. The Jews who lived in Medina and its outskirts had moved there to await the Last Prophet of God and in hopes of seeing him. The Jews in Fadak, Khaybar and Medina had left their original homeland for this very reason. The Medinan Jews were later confronted by the migration of the Arab tribes of Yemen. The Yemenese Arabs who migrated to Medina increased in number and formed two vast tribes names Aws and Khazraj. Sometimes conflicts would arise between these two groups, the Jews on one side and on the other side the idolatrous Arabs, Aws and Khazraj. It was during these battles that the Jews would pray, just as all other worshippers of God, asking God for victory in the name of and in respect for the great future prophet. The Quran mentions this with the phrase: "Also, sometimes when they were defeated they would tell the Aws and Khazrajites that, "a prophet will soon appear in this land and we will follow him and get our revenge from you". It was due to these murmers that the Aws and Khazrajites or in other words the non-jewish Arab tribes of Medina became familiar with the name and qualities of the Prophet of Islam. It was for this very reason that they accepted him on seeing him for the first time in Mecca while they had only gone there to obtain military aid from the Quraish. 266

The Result:

By paying close attention to all of the previous discussions we see how correct and beautiful the Quran explanation is in its two verses (Baqareh: 146 and Anam: 20). In the first verse God says:

"Those to whom we gave the (Heavenly) Book know him (The Prophet of Islam) as their own son. (However) certainly a group of them knowingly concealed the truth". 267

and in the second verse:

"Those of them who we gave the Book know him just as their own son".

What we have seen in the group of verses mentioned above is that according to the Holy Quran and in agreement with the Old and New Testaments and also historical confirmations, the matter of the Holy prophets' prophethood with all of its' indications and particularities, was pointed out before his appearance and many Christians, Jews and idolatrous Arabs had previous knowledge of them. The people of his own city and country, foreigners and those distant to him, the Jews and Christians, the scholars and learned, all knew of his appearance and its' time, his spiritual and physical characteristics and his religion and scripture. Taking all of this into consideration doesn't the Prophets' own unfamiliarity with these facts and with his own destiny and character seem improbable and absurd?

Therefore, the accounts of the first revelation which speak of the Prophets doubts, misgivings and disbelief regarding his own prophethood, in addition to having fundamental problems in their documentation, are completely worthless in content; because they are irrevocable contradictory and derogatory to decisive assertations in the Quran, the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, history and even reason.

Now we will proceed to a study of the narratives and the historical events surrounding the Prophets' lifetime and also of the persons who were familiar with the appearance and appointment of the Last Prophet before the "Besat", who all have sufficient proof of and reasons for the fact we are discussing, and are themselves our second factual theorem to prove the falsity of the narratives concerning the first revelation.