The Bible is the sacred Scripture of the Jews and Christians. The Christian Bible consists of the New Testament and the Old Testament. At the same time, the Bible has a little more Catholics and Orthodox than Protestants, for the reason that Protestants do not consider some books of Catholics and Orthodox by the Holy Scriptures.
The Bible of the Jews includes only those books that are known in Christianity as the Old Testament. Moreover, the order of the arrangement of Christian and Jewish holy books in the Bible is very different. About Muhammad, both the Old and the New Testaments prophesy.
It is believed that Jesus and his apostles spoke Aramaic. This language was widely used until around 650 AD, until it was replaced by Arabic (Encyclopedia Britannica). Today’s Bible is not based on Aramaic manuscripts, but on their Greek and Latin versions.
Muslims cite some quotes from the Bible, but this does not mean that they fully accept the modern Bible for God’s Revelation.
Prophets were considered not only those whose parish was predicted by other messengers. So, about Moses – God’s prophet, sent to Pharaoh, Abraham sent to Nimrod, Noah, Lot and many others, the Lord did not warn people about their coming. Therefore, the authenticity of the prophet is confirmed not by predictions, but by the message with which he came.
In general, conversations and discussion of prophets – a thing extremely delicate. This requires deep knowledge of all versions of the Bible, its translations, newly discovered manuscripts, the translation of certain moments from Hebrew, Greek and Aramaic for subsequent research. The task is complicated by the fact that the texts of the Bible that existed before the invention of the press had several variants (Encyclopedia Britannica). A simple person can not cope here. Therefore, let us turn to the help of experts in this field who recognize the prophets.
Let us turn to the early Jewish and Christian scholars who confirmed that Muhammad was the prophet the Bible spoke of.
Expected Prophet
Before the advent of Islam, the Jews and Christians of Arabia awaited the prophet. Before the appearance of Muhammad, the Arabian Peninsula was the home of the Jews, Christians and Gentiles, who from time to time fought each other. The Jews and Christians said: “There will come an hour when an illiterate prophet comes who will revive the religion of Abraham. We will join its ranks and begin to wage war with you. ” When Muhammad finally appeared, someone followed him, and someone turned away from him. Therefore the Lord sent down:
“The Scripture came to them from God, confirming the truthfulness of what they had. Before, they prayed for victory over the unbelievers. When they came to them with what they had learned, they refused to believe in him. May the curse of Allah be upon the unbelievers! (Quran 2:89)
One of the first who recognized in the young Muhammad the prophet predicted was the monk Buhaira. He informed the uncle of the future prophet:
“… your nephew expects a great future. Therefore, take him home soon “
The second was Varaka bin Naafal, a Christian scholar who died shortly after a personal meeting with Muhammad. Baraka confirmed that Muhammad was a new prophet, the same as Moses and Jesus.
The third and fourth became Rabbis Abdullah bin Salam and Muhairik. They were residents of Medina, who eagerly awaited the arrival of the prophet.
The sixth and seventh witness of Muhammad’s prophecy was the rabbis from Yemen – Wahb ibn Munabbi and Kaab Al-Akhbar (656 CE). Kaab cited a long passage from the Bible, where the prophet, prophesied by Moses, was described and praised.
The Quran says:
‘Is it not a sign to them that the learned sons of Israel know him?’ (Quran 26: 197)
