Page 9 - New English Book L
P. 9
8
naturally induce them to believe that their Lord was the
person alluded to by the Baptist.
However, there is another difficulty in the way. How
can a person rely on the testimony of a book admittedly
filled up with folklore? The genuineness of the Bible
has been universally questioned. Without going into the
question of its genuineness, we may at least say that we
cannot depend on its statements concerning Jesus(pbuh) and
his miracles. Some even go so far as to assert that his
existence as an historical person is questionable, and that
on the authority of the Gospels it would be dangerous to
arrive at any apparently safe conclusion in this matter.
A Christian of the Fundamentalist type cannot well say
anything against my statement of the case. Ifa“stray
sentence” and detached words in the Old Testament can
be singled out by synoptic writers as applicable to Jesus
(pbuh), the comments of the learned writer of these erudite
and absorbing articles must command every respect and
appreciation even from the Clergy. I write in the same
strain, but I have tried to base my arguments on portions
of the Bible, which hardly allow of any linguistic dispute.
I would not go to Latin, Greek, or Aramaic, for that would
be useless: I just give the following quotation in the very
words of the Revised Version as published by the British
and Foreign Bible Society.
We read the following words in the Book of
Deuteronomy, chapter xviii. Verse 18: “I will raise them up
a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I
will put my words in his mouth. If these words do not apply
to Muhammad (pbuh), they remain unfulfilled. Jesus (pbuh)
himself never claimed to be the Prophet alluded to. Even
his disciples were of the same opinion: They looked to
the second coming of Jesus (pbuh) for the fulfilment of the
prophecy. [1] So far, it is undisputed that the first coming of
[1] “21 whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things,