Let the Bible Speak about Pilgrimage=Hajj to Mecca
{“I will bow down toward your holy temple}-(Kaaba) and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. (From the NIV Bible, Psalm 138:2)”
Allah Almighty Said in the Glorious Quran:
“Behold! We gave the site, To Abraham, of the (Sacred) House (i.e., the Kaaba), (Saying): ‘Associate not anything (In worship) with Me; And sanctify My House For those who compass it round, or stand up, or bow, or prostrate themselves (Therein in prayer). And proclaim the Pilgrimage among men: they will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every kind of camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain highways; (The Noble Quran, 22:26-27)”
This Prophecy indeed gets fulfilled every single year during the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca.
Mecca, Bacca and Paran:
Let me paste for you the following Verses from the Bible and the Noble Quran:
“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. (From the NIV Bible, Psalms 84:5-6)”
“The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka full of blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings: In it are signs manifest; (for example) the Station of Abraham; whoever enters it attains security; pilgrimage thereto is a duty men owe to Allah those who can afford the journey; but if any deny faith Allah stands not in need of any of his creatures. (The Noble Quran, 3:96-97)”
“And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is.
Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink.
And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. (From the NIV Bible, Genesis 21:17-21)”
Pilgrimage (Act of worship done by Prophet Abraham PBUH) of islam is supported in Bible-indeed prophecy gets fulfils every year
Bible
{“I will bow down toward your holy temple} and will praise your name for your love and your faithfulness, for you have exalted above all things your name and your word. (Psalm 138:2)”
GOD Almighty’s Holy Temple in Islam is the Kaaba in Makkah
Allah Almighty Said in the Glorious Quran:
“Behold! We gave the site, To Abraham, of the (Sacred) House (i.e., the Kaaba), (Saying): ‘Associate not anything (In worship) with Me; And sanctify My House For those who compass it round, or stand up, Or bow, or prostrate themselves (Therein in prayer).
And proclaim the Pilgrimage among men: they will come to thee on foot and (mounted) on every kind of camel, lean on account of journeys through deep and distant mountain highways; (The Noble Quran, 22:26-27)”
This Prophecy indeed gets fulfilled every single year during the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca.
Mecca, Bacca and Paran:
Let me paste for you the following Verses from the Bible and the Noble Quran:
“Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee; in whose heart are the ways of them. Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well; the rain also filleth the pools. (From the NIV Bible, Psalms 84:5-6)”
“The first House (of worship) appointed for men was that at Bakka full of blessing and of guidance for all kinds of beings: In it are signs manifest; (for example) the Station of Abraham; whoever enters it attains security; pilgrimage thereto is a duty men owe to Allah those who can afford the journey; but if any deny faith Allah stands not in need of any of his creatures. (The Noble Quran, 3:96-97)”
“And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called Hagar out of heaven, and said unto her, What aileth thee, Hagar? fear not; for God hath heard the voice of the lad where he is. Arise, lift up the lad, and hold him in thine hand; for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the bottle with water, and gave the lad drink. And God was with the lad; and he grew, and dwelt in the wilderness, and became an archer. And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran: and his mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt. (From the NIV Bible, Genesis 21:17-21)”
Abraham peace be upon him sent Hagar and Ishmael to Paran:
Let us look at the following Verses: “Then God opened her [Hagar] eyes and she saw a well of water. So, she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink. God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt. At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, “God is with you in everything you do. (From the NIV Bible, Genesis 21:19-22)”
Hagar was an Arab. Abraham peace be upon him had Ishmael from her, who was 13 years older than Issac. After Sarah, Abraham’s wife gave birth to Issac, Abraham decided to let Hagar and her son Ishmael go. He sent to the desert of Arabia in the region of Paran.
Then GOD Almighty promised Ishmael that from him, He will increase his numbers and make from him a great nation, the Arab nation; “And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. (From the NIV Bible, Genesis 17:20)”
The Bible clearly says that Paran is south of Sinai in Egypt; “He said: ‘The LORD came from Sinai and dawned over them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran. He came with myriads of holy ones from the south, from his mountain slopes.’ (From the NIV Bible, Deuteronomy 33:2)”
Kedar came from Ishmael; “These are the names of the sons of Ishmael, listed in the order of their birth: Nebaioth the firstborn of Ishmael, Kedar, Adbeel, Mibsam, and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa, Hadar, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah: These are the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, by their towns, and by their castles; twelve princes according to their nations. Kedar and Ancient Arabs (From the NIV Bible, Genesis 25:13)” The Arabian desert region was named after Kedar.
The Ishmaelites were Arabs and not Egyptians. They came from the Arabian desert; “As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. (From the NIV Bible, Genesis 37:25)” “take them down to Egypt” means taking them to the land of Egypt.
It does not mean taking them toward the south direction. When for instance you say “my house is right down the street”, it doesn’t mean the house is south of the street. The house could be on the north side. The sentence means that the house is on the street or will be found if the person walks in the path that you lead him to.
The point however in the above Verse is that the Ishmaelites were not from Egypt. They came from another land. They had loaded camels and they were heading to Egypt. Arabs used to rely heavily on camels for traveling. And as we’ve seen from the above Verses regarding Ishmael and his mother (Hagar) living in the desert of Paran in the South, this clearly proves to us that the desert of Paran is located in Arabia and not in Egypt, since the Ishmaelites are not Egyptians.
Prophecy in Isaiah 42
Isaiah 42 Foretells Prophet Muhammad
Isaiah 42 is an interesting prophecy talking about Muhammad peace be upon him. This prophecy was told in the Hadiths, there is a lot of variation between it and what is said in Isaiah, but textual variants are present much in the Bible, and there are many inaccurate quotes of the Old Testament made by writers of the New Testament.
Characters of the Prophet foretold
Let us examine the Biblical prophecy:
Isaiah 42:1 Behold, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen, in whom my soul delighteth: I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the Gentiles.
The Chosen Servant of God
The first thing the prophecy talks about is that the one being foretold is a servant of God. This cannot be applied on Jesus (Peace be upon him) according to the Christian view since Christians say that Jesus is God. It may be said that this talks about the human nature of Jesus, but this will not be a logical solution because if God wants to foretell about his coming, He would have foretold about the divine nature not the human nature has since all of us are already human beings, so there will be nothing new in the prophecy.
Besides, the verse tells that this servant shall be chosen by God, God doesn’t choose Himself, but He chooses a man to be a prophet among human beings.
Prophecy of Prophet Muhammad in Isaiah 42.
Sent to the Gentiles
Then the prophecy says that he will bring justice to the gentiles, this also is not Jesus (Peace be upon him) because he said:
Matthew 15:24 I was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Some might say that he ordered the disciples to preach the gospel to the whole world, but actually these were the disciples not Jesus himself, and this was confirmed by Albert Barnes in his commentary on Mat 15:24:
“Mat_15:24 But he answered and said, I am not sent … – This answer was made to the woman, not to the disciples.
The “lost sheep of the house of Israel” were the Jews. He came first to them. He came as their expected Messiah. He came to preach the gospel himself to the Jews only. Afterward it was preached to the Gentiles, but the ministry of Jesus was confined almost entirely to the Jews.” (Source here)
Arabia shall Rejoice by His coming
Moving to Isaiah 42:11, we see that prophecy gives 2 special places; Kedar and Sela:
Isaiah 42:11 Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of Sela sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains.
Kedar is the second son of Ishmael (Genesis 25:13), Sela is a mountain in Medina, and it was mentioned in some hadiths. You may say that the Bible’s dictionary tells that Sela is Petra. However, it happens in the Bible that there is more than a place with the same name as the case of Seir for example:
H8165 say-eer’
Formed like H8163; rough; Seir, a mountain of Idumaea and its aboriginal occupants, also one in Palestine: – Seir.(Strong’s dictionary)
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So, if there is more than one Seir, there could be more than one Sela, especially when we see that nothing happened in Petra with Jesus (Peace be upon him), and even if it was Petra, Petra is in Jordan which is mainly a Muslim country.
It may be also said that this verse meant that all people will be happy with the coming of Jesus.
However, Christianity in Arabia was limited in Najran in Yemen, and in the borders with the Roman country which was mostly a political alliance not a real belief. But as for the overwhelming majority of Arabs, they were not Christians, and Christians were very few. Even before Islam comes, I never heard about a main Christian church in Arabia as that in Antioch, Alexandria, Ephesus, or Rome.
I never heard of an Arab church father. But when Islam came, all Arabs became Muslims. If the prophecy really meant Christianity, it would have mentioned a major Christian city not the center of Islam.
Isaiah 42 talks about a prophet with a new law
The prophecy continues saying:
Isaiah 42:4 He will not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set justice in the earth; and the isles shall wait for his law.
The prophecy approaches and says that the isles shall wait for his law, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him came with the final law, while Jesus (Peace be upon him) did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it, and then Christians claimed that the Mosaic law was for the Jews only but they are not committed to it, that’s why they don’t circumcise, eat pork,…etc.
At the same time, Jesus said that he just came to fulfill the law, not that he will have a new detailed law as the case of Moses and Muhammad peace be upon him. Besides, the Christian faith is mainly concerned with salvation through faith only not through law and works, so when we say that the isles shall wait for his law, this could not be applied on Jesus.
Fighting the enemies of God
Then the prophecy tells that he will fight God’s enemy which is certainly what Muhammad peace be upon him did, while Jesus (Peace be upon him) did not fight.
Isaiah 42:13 Jehovah will go forth as a mighty man; he will stir up his zeal like a man of war: he will cry, yea, he will shout aloud; he will do mightily against his enemies.
Is the final prophet sent in a pagan or a Jewish environment?
Then it tells that those who worship the idols would come into shame.
Isaiah 42:17 They shall be turned back, they shall be utterly put to shame, that trust in graven images, that say unto molten images, Ye are our gods.
Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was sent to a pagan environment, while Jesus (Peace be upon him) was sent to the Jews, and he was never concerned with worshiping images as the Old Testament was, because his conversation with the Jews was mainly to prove that he came from God and that he is the Messiah.
Morals of the Prophet Foretold
The prophecy talks about the morals of that servant of God saying, you can read the morals section to see who Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him was, see for example these hadiths:
Isaiah 42:2 He will not cry, nor lift up his voice, nor cause it to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed will he not break, and a dimly burning wick will he not quench: he will bring forth justice in truth.
Anas Ibn Malik reported:
I served the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) for ten years, and, by Allah, he never said to me any harsh word, and he never said to me about a thing as to why I had done that and as to why I had not done that. (Al Bukhari)
The Prophet peace be upon him never took revenge (over anybody) for his own sake but (he did) only when Allah’s Legal Bindings were outraged in which case he would take revenge for Allah’s Sake. And he never used bad language.
He used to say “The best amongst you are those who have the best manners and character. He never criticized any food (presented him), but he would eat it if he liked it; otherwise, he would leave it without expressing his dislike. (Al Bukhari more than one hadith)
Allah knows Best.