THE AWAITED PROPHET IN THE GOSPELS

More emphatically and frequently than any other Prophet, Prophet Jesus gave good tidings of Muhammad. In the Gospel of John, Jesus promises his arrival using several names: But I tell you the truth: It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Paraklit will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment (John, 16:7-8).

In these verses, Prophet Muhammad is referred to as the Paraklit. This Greek word means “the Distinguisher between Truth and Falsehood.” Christian interpreters have given it various meanings, such as Counselor (Gideons International), Helper (American Bible Society), or Comforter (the Company of the Holy Bible), and claim that it refers to the Holy Spirit. However, they have never been able to establish whether the Holy Spirit came down after Jesus and did what Jesus said it would do.

If, according to Christians, the Holy Spirit is Archangel Gabriel, he came many times to Prophet Muhammad to bring Divine Revelations. Further, Jesus mentioned and predicted the Paraklit with other names but the same function, as seen below:

When Paraklit comes—the Spirit of truth—who comes from the Father, he will testify about me. (John 15:26)

I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking what is mine and making it known to you. (John 16:12–14)

I will not speak with you much longer, for the Prince of this world is coming. And I posses nothing of him. (John 14:30)

Who has come after Jesus other than Prophet Muhammad, as the Comforter who has comforted human beings against their fear of death, worries of the future, and spiritual ailments? As the Helper, who has helped humanity attain real peace and happiness in both worlds? As the Prince of the world, who has ruled almost half the world for fourteen centuries and has become the beloved of billions? As the Spirit of truth, who has testified to Jesus, brought glory to him by declaring his Prophethood against the Jews’ denial and the Christians’ false deification, and restoring his religion to its pristine purity through the Book revealed to him?

What shortcomings do Western Christians attribute to Prophet Muhammad, in contrast to Jesus and other Prophets, that, while almost all Middle Eastern Christians believed in him and became Muslim within a few decades of his death, they persist in denying him?

Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi, a great Sufi saint, expresses in the following stanza the good tidings of Prophet Muhammad found in the Gospel:

In the Gospel Mustafa is mentioned with his attributes. In him is the mystery of all the Prophets; he is the bringer of happiness. The Gospel mentions him with his external form and features, and also with his personal virtues and Prophetic qualities.

The Old and New Testaments, despite the questionable authenticity of their current versions, still contain references to Prophet Muhammad. We have quoted some of these. If, one day, the original copies or the least altered copies of the Torah and the Gospel are discovered, they will contain explicit references to the last Messenger. This may be deduced from the Traditions that say Christianity will be purified of its borrowed elements.