Page 49 - Demo

Muhammad in the Bible David Benjamin KeldaniEdited & Annotated by: Prof. Dawud M. R. Alhanbali & Prof, Dr. Kaseb A. Albadran ( 49 )have, to say the least, shown himself straightforward, and to have frankly declared: “John is the Eliah who was sent as a precursor to prepare the way for me!” or, ifsuch was not the case, then he could have made the following declaration: “John isthe Eliah who wassentto prepare the way for Mohammad (pbuh).” Perhaps this is due to the love of Jesus(pbuh) for ambiguity. There are, in fact, several instances —as reported in the Gospels— where Jesus(pbuh) gives an answer or makes a statement, which is obscure and entirely unintelligible. Leaving his God head aside, as a Prophet, nay even as a teacher, he was expected to be a straightforward teacher and leader.The other remark is shrouded in still a thicker mystery. “No man born of woman was ever greater than John the Baptist (pbuh),” saysJesus (pbuh), “but the least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than John.” DoesJesus Christ(pbuh) mean to teach us that John the Baptist (pbuh) and all the Prophets (pbuh) and the righteous men were outside the Kingdom of God? Who is the “least? That was “greater” than John (pbuh), and consequently than all the people of God preceding the Baptist? Does Jesus(pbuh) mean by the “least” himself, or the “least” among the baptized Christians? It cannot be himself, because in his time that Kingdom was not yet established on earth. If it were, then he could not be the “least” in it since he was its founder. The Churches —rather each Church, orthodox or heterodox, from its own peculiar point of view—have discovered a very abstruse or a very absurd solution for this problem; and that solution is that the “least” Christian washed with the blood of Jesus (pbuh) — either through the Sacrament of Baptism, according to the belief of the Sacredotalists, or through the regeneration of some kind, according to the superstition of the Evangelicals—becomes “greater” than the Baptist and all the army of the holy men and women, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David , Eliah,