Page 46 - Demo

Muhammad in the Bible David Benjamin KeldaniEdited & Annotated by: Prof. Dawud M. R. Alhanbali & Prof, Dr. Kaseb A. Albadran ( 46 )Everybody knows that the Christian Churches have always regarded John the Baptist (pbuh) as a subordinate of Jesus(pbuh), and his herald. All the Christian commenters show Jesus(pbuh) as the object of John’s witness and prophecy.Although the language of the Evangelists has been distorted by interpolators to that direction, yet the fraud or error cannot forever escape the searching eye of a critic and an impartial examiner. Jesus(pbuh)could not be the object of John’s witness because:1) The very preposition “after” clearly excludes Jesus(pbuh) from being the foretold Prophet. They were both contemporaries and were born in the same year. “He that is coming after me” Says John, “is stronger than I.” this “after,” indicates the future to be atsome indefinite distance; and in the prophetical language, it expresses one or more cycles of time.Leaving aside the exaggerations, which have been evidently added to the Gospels, we fully believe that the Baptist introduced Jesus (pbuh) as the true Messiah, and advised the multitudes to obey him and follow his injunctions and his gospel. However, he clearly told his people that there was another and the last, great Luminary, who was so glorious and dignified in the presence of Allah that he, John, was not fit to undo the laces of his shoes.2) It was not Jesus Christ (pbuh) who could be intended by John, because ifsuch were the case he would have followed Jesus(pbuh) and submitted to him like a disciple and a subordinate. However,such was not the case. On the contrary, we find him preaching, baptizing, receiving initiates and disciples, chastising King Herod, scolding the Jewish hierarchy, and foretelling the coming of another Prophet “more powerful” than himself, without taking the least notice of the presence of his cousin in Judea or Galilee.