The question of the presence of prophecies about Islam in Jewish and Christian books has interested Muslims since the Middle Ages. Knowing from the Holy Quran that Jesus spoke of a future missioner “named Ahmad,” Muslim scholars turned to Jewish and Christian texts to find predictions of the appearance of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ . Jews and Christians entered into polemics with Muslims, claiming that all the prophecies they found were said on a different occasion and related to other persons. The "Theological Conversations" between the Nestorian Patriarch of Baghdad and the Caliph al- Mahdi and the "Epistle to Yemen" by the Jewish philosopher Maimonides are striking examples of such polemics.
In the book “Biblical prophecies about Islam: proof of the spiritual unity of the Abrahamic religions”, Igor Bessonov, a specialist in the field of traditional culture and folk religiosity, not only gives examples of such texts, but also substantively shows the spiritual unity of the Abrahamic traditions. The research was carried out at a high scientific level, involving a significant amount of theological and scientific literature. At the conclusion of the work, the author derives the concept of a general system of biblical prophecies about Islam, the theses of which are presented in this article. Igor Bessonov himself doesn’t deny that many ideas may turn out to be inaccurate, but hopes for interest from other researchers.
Islam in the Bible is equated with other Abrahamic religions in a single chronological sequence. Similar texts are found in the book of Deuteronomy (three appearances of the Lord) and in the book of Isaiah (two horsemen on horses, a rider on a donkey and a rider on a camel). In this case, the view of Moses and Isaiah covers the entire history of Abrahamism, presenting to the reader three equal religions. In the first case, they are depicted as three stations of the chosen nation on the way from Egypt to the Promised Land. The second shows religions as three troops crushing pagan Babylon. A comparison of prophecies allows us to see not only the images of the Abrahamic religions, but also the symbols of the pagan world in sacred texts - Ancient Egypt and Babylon.
Sometimes in the texts of the Holy Scriptures Islam and Christianity are contrasted with Judaism as the religion of the “nations” to the religion of Israel. In some cases, they merge in one prediction: the blessing of the forefather Jacob speaks of the future Reconciler - this is both Jesus and Muhammad ﷺ . The prophecy of Moses speaks of the appearance of a prophet - this is again both Jesus and Muhammad ﷺ . In the first case, it is mainly about Jesus Christ, and in the second, it is mainly about the missioner ﷺ . Sometimes Christianity and Islam are portrayed as two successive prophecies for nations. In the book of Isaiah, the biblical prophet talks about Jesus Christ, the Servant of the Lord, and then moves on to the story of the sons of Kidar and the “New Song”.
Human history knows two prophetic periods: the prophecy for Israel, beginning with Moses and ending with Malachi, and the prophecy for the nations, beginning with John the Baptist and Jesus Christ and ending with Muhammad ﷺ. In a number of prophecies, the preaching of Jesus and the preaching of Muhammad ﷺ are contrasted as the beginning and end of prophecy for the nations. A striking example is found in the symbolic understanding of the period of 600 years as 50 days of counting the Omer. Primary Christianity is represented as flour mixed with Holy anointing oil - formed Christianity and Islam are depicted as two finished breads baked from this flour. The offering of two loaves of bread to the Temple indicates the orthodoxy of both Abrahamic religions.
Isaiah, in chapter 55, compares prophecy to the nations to free wine and milk. The symbolism of the days of counting the omer connects Christianity with Passover, a day whose main drink was wine, and Islam with Shavuot, whose main food was milk. The metaphor of Christianity and Islam as Passover and Shavuot and wine and milk is also confirmed by the prophecy of Jesus Christ about the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete (“Comforter”). The Holy Spirit descended on the apostle precisely on the day of Shavuot. Prophecy can serve as Christian confirmation of the truth of Muhammad ﷺ . Jesus was the founder of the New Testament for his community. Likewise, Moses said almost nothing about the Christian messiah, limiting himself to a brief mention of the future prophet.
Each of the Testaments is self-sufficient and complete, and therefore the sacred books contain only a brief statement about future Testaments - the justification for their orthodoxy. It is interesting that the prophecy of Moses about the future prophet and the prophecy of Jesus about the Paraclete seem similar: Moses speaks of one like him, Jesus speaks of “another Comforter”. Both prophecies can be understood both as an indication of an indefinite number of future prophets, and as a prediction of the future appearance of Jesus Christ and Muhammad ﷺ . However, the Jewish tradition didn’t receive its symbolic representation in the discovered prophecies.
If Passover, wine and the Song of Songs correspond to Christianity, and Shavuot, milk and the book of Ruth correspond to Islam, then what symbolic series can be correlated with Judaism? The answer to this question is impossible, since the Jewish sacred texts and the Jewish calendar are used as a metalanguage from which Christianity and Islam were described. Religiously and historically, this approach seems correct because both Christianity and Islam represent the development of certain symbols and ideas. The religions of the “nations of the world” are derived from the religion of Israel. Judaism, like the original Abrahamism, represents the whole mass of possibilities for future development, gradually turning into two different religions.
The entire period of “prophecy for Israel”, which resulted in the emergence of the Jewish religion, corresponds to the entire period of “prophecy for the nations”, when Christianity and Islam, which spread among the “nations of the world”, were born. They represent legitimate ways to individual and collective salvation. It is possible that specific religious concepts, doctrines, and practices may be wrong, false, and even vicious. But the spiritual principle inherent in the three Abrahamic traditions can always lead the believer to the right way.
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