Muhammadan Objections

198	OBJECTIONS ON THE GROUND OF MUHAMMAD'S

in John i. 17 do not imply that Jesus gave no law, for elsewhere we are told that He did, but a spiritual and not a carnal one (Rom. viii. 2; Gal. vi. 2; Jas. i. 25; ii. 8; cf. Heb. viii. 10; x. 16). Moses wrought many miracles (Surah VII., Al A'raf, 101-116, 160), but we have seen that, according to the Qur'an (Surah XVII., Al Asra', 61), God did not send Muhammad with miracles. (See above §§ 126-129.)

This last is a very important matter indeed: for, if you read in Deut. xxxiv, 10-12, the points in which the Israelites expected the promised prophet to be like Moses, you will find that they were not those you mention but only two: (1) personal knowledge of God, and (2) mighty works¹. Now the Gospels prove that Christ resembled Moses in both matters, though excelling him immensely. If you compare what the Qur'an says about Moses (whom you style كليم الله) with what it says about Jesus (whom the Qur'an teaches you to call كلمة الله), you will see that here both the Gospel and the Qur'an agree.

Finally, observe that God Himself has shown that Deut. xviii. 15-18, refers to Christ. Compare the words (verse 15) "Unto him ye shall hearken"

¹ Perhaps the most important element in the "likeness" lies in the mediatorship of Moses and Christ. Moses interceded for his people, and when about to be taken away he foretold the coming of the one true and effectual Mediator, of whom he was the type in interceding with God. (Dr. H. M. Clark.)

DIVINE MISSION AS LAST OF THE PROPHETS

199

(see also verse 19) with Matt. xvii. 5, "Hear ye Him" (cf. Mark ix. 2; Luke ix. 35).

In fact, what you have to do is first of all to prove Muhammad to be a prophet. It will then be time enough to proceed to prove, if you can, that he is the prophet referred to in Deut. xviii. 15, 18.

205. M. There are many other prophecies regarding Muhammad¹ in the Old Testament.

For example Gen. xlix. 10. Here "Shiloh" is a title of Muhammad, whose very name may be said to occur in verse 8; "Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise": for Muhammad means "he who is much praised."

C. The Torah was not written in Arabic but in Hebrew, and the word in the original which is rendered "shall praise" is not in the slightest degree like "Muhammad," but is the verb from which "Judah" is derived. Verse 8 refers the praise to Judah. Muhammad was not a Jew. Shiloh means "he to whom it belongs," and the old Jewish commentators rightly explained it as a title of the Messiah². [Onk., Targ. of Jonathan, Targum of Jerusalem, "until the coming of king Messiah." The Tract Sanhedrin of the Talmud says it is the

¹ Many of those here mentioned are brought forward in the Izharu'l Haqq, and well refuted at considerable length by Naqula Ya'qub Ghabril in his Ibhathu'l Mujtahidin (Cairo, 1901).
² Some commentators think that Shiloh here is the name of the place so often mentioned in later books (e.g. Judges xxi. 19, 21), and render "until he come to Shiloh." But this is unlikely. In any case it has no possible reference to Muhammad.)

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