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Muhammad in the Bible David Benjamin KeldaniEdited & Annotated by: Prof. Dawud M. R. Alhanbali & Prof, Dr. Kaseb A. Albadran ( 56 )it as a great honour before my Creator. I consider the pretentions of a Christian priest about the baptism as a means of purification of the soul from original sin and all the rest of it as of a piece with the claims of a sorcerer. The baptism with water was only a symbol of baptism with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and after the establishment of Islam as the official kingdom of God all the three previous baptisms vanished and were abolished.From the meager and scant account in the Gospels, we cannot get a positive definition of the true nature of the baptism practiced by John and Jesus(pbuh). The claim that the Church is the depository of the Divine revelation and its true interpreter is as absurd as is ridiculous the claim that the baptized infant or adultreceivesthe Holy Spirit and becomes a child of God.If the Greek word “baptismos” is the exact word for the Aramaic “Sab’utha” or “Sbhu’tha,” which I am sure it is, then the Arabic “Sibghat” in the Qur-ān, not only does it solve the problem and uncover the veil hiding the mysterious prophecy of John the Baptist (pbuh), but also is a marvellous proof that the sacred scripture of Islam is a direct revelation of Allah, and that His Apostle wasinspired and the real person whom John predicted! The baptist (“Saba،ā”) plunges or immerses his neophyte or an infant into a pond, as a dyer or a fuller plunges a cloth or garment into a kettle of dye. It is easily understood that baptism is not a “thāra,” purification or washing, nor “tabhāla,” an immersion, nor even a “rāhsa,” a bathing or washing, but “sab’aitha,” a dyeing, acolouring. Itis extremely importantto know these distinctions. Just asa “saba’a,” a dyer gives a new colour to garment by dipping it into a kettle of tincture, so a baptist gives his convert a new spiritual hue.Here we must make a fundamental distinction between a proselytes Gentile and a penitent Jew and Ishmaelite Arab.The former was
