In the name of Allāh,
the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Peace and Blessings of Allāh on Mohammad.
DEDICATED TO
Allāh–the Glorious and the High,
Lord of the worlds
AND TO
Mohammad–who brought the world
to our feet and eternity to our arms.
*
“Son Of Man” (Barnasha)
Jesus says: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he (Jesus) that came down from heaven, even the son of man which is in heaven”–(John 3:13).
If Jesus is the “Son of God” who came down from heaven and the son of man was yet in heaven (to come), who is this son of man?
Prof. Abdul Ahad Dawud –“the former Reverend David Benjamin Keldani, B.D., a Roman Catholic priest of the Uniate-Chaldean sect”– has shown in his book Muhammad In The Bible that “Son of Man” as mentioned by Jesus in the Gospels refer to the Prophet Mohammad. I quote one instance:
“1. The most cogent and important proof that the Apocalyptic Barnasha is Muhammad is given in a wonderful description in the vision of Daniel (vii) already discussed in a previous article. In no way whatever the Barnasha therein described can be identified with any of the Maccabees’ heroes or with Jesus; nor can the terrible Beast which was utterly killed and destroyed by that Son of Man be a prototype of Antiochus Epiphanes or the Roman Caesar, Nero. The culminating evil of that dreadful Beast was the “Little Horn,” which uttered blasphemies against the Most High by associating with His essence three co-eternal divine persons and by its persecution of those who maintained the absolute one-ness of God. Constantine the Great is the person symbolized by that hideous Horn.
2. The Apocalypse of Enoch1 foretells the appearance of the Son of Man at a moment when the small flock of the sheep, though vigorously defended by a ram, will be fiercely attacked by the birds of prey from above and by the carnivorous beast on land. Among the enemies of the little flock are seen many other goats and sheep that had gone astray. The lord of the flock, like a good shepherd, suddenly appears and strikes the earth with his rod or sceptre; it opens its mouth and swallows up the assailing enemy; chases and drives away from the pastures the rest of the pernicious birds and brutes. Then a sword is given to the flock as an emblem of power and the weapon of destruction. After which the flock is no longer headed by a ram but by a white bull with two large black horns.
This parabolical vision is transparent enough. From Jacob downwards the “chosen people” is represented symbolically by the flock of sheep. The descendants of Esau are described as boars. Other heathen people and tribes are represented in the vision, according to their respective characteristics, as ravens, eagles, vultures, and different species of brutes, all thirsty to suck the blood of the sheep or hungry to devour them. Almost all Biblical scholars agree that the vision indicates the painful period of the Maccabees and their bloody struggles with the armies of Antiochus Epiphanes until the death of John Hurcanus in 110(?) B.C. This method of interpreting the vision is totally erroneous, and reduces the value of the whole book to nothing. That an antediluvian Prophet or a Seer should illustrate the history of the human race from a religious point of view, beginning with Adam, under the symbol of a White Bull, and ending with John Hurcanus or his brother Judah Maccabaeus (Maqbaya) as the Last White Bull, and then leave the flock of the “Believers” to be devoured again by the Romans, the Christians, and the Muslims to this very day, is ridiculous and shocking! In fact, the wars of the Maccabees and their consequence are not of such great significance in the history of the religion of God as to be the terminus of its development. None of the Maccabees was a Prophet, nor the founder of the so-called “Messianic reign” which the Gospels name the “Kingdom of God.” Besides, this interpretation of the vision is inconsistent with the characters represented in the drama under the figurative symbols of the master of the flock, sceptre in hand, the Ram, and the White Bull; and then with the large sword given to the shepherds with which they kill or drive away the impure animals and birds. Furthermore, this Christian interpretation of Enoch’s Apocalypse does not explain the mystical transplantation or the transportation of the terrestrial Jerusalem into a country farther to the south; and what meaning can be given to the new House of God built on the spot of the old one, larger and higher than the former sacred edifice, to which flock not only the believing sheep–the faithful Jews–but also the various pagan nationalities that have embraced the religion of the Son of Man who destroyed the enemies with his Sceptre or Rod! For all these particular acts and representations are seen and described in this dramatic vision. The chain that links together the events depicted in this figurative language begins with Adam and ends in the person of the Prophet of Mecca! There are several cogent arguments to prove this assertion.
(a) The two divisions of the sheep indicate the people of the Scriptures, whether Jews or Christians, among whom were those who were believers in the unity of God, and those who made Jesus and the Holy Spirit also equal and consubstantial with God. The Seer distinguishes the believers from the apostates. The Gospels report that on the day of the Last Judgment “the sheep will be separated from the goats”–(Matt. 25:32-46, etc)–which indicates the same view. As to the symbolical Ram, we may understand thereby Arius or some spiritual Unitarian leader for the true Nassara (Christian) and the chief Rabbi for the faithful Jews –because they both had the same common enemy. If we identify Constantine with the evil Horn, we may justly identify Arius with the Ram. In fact, Arius is entitled to this dignity because he headed the larger group in the Council of Nicea and vigorously defended the true religion against the monstrous doctrines of Trinitarian and Sacramentarian Churches. From a strictly Muslim point of view the Jews, from the moment they rejected and condemned Jesus Christ to death, ceased to be the “chosen people,” and that honorable title was given only to those who believed in his apostleship.
(b) The Son of Man who save the flock of sheep from its various enemies whom he sent down into the bosom of the earth by striking vehemently his pastoral staff on it, and gave a strong sword to the sheep to slaughter the impure brutes and birds of prey, was decidedly Muhammad. The sceptre (in Hebrew “shebet”–rod, staff) is the emblem of sovereignty, jurisdiction, and administration. The little sceptre accorded by God to the tribe of Judah–(Gen. 49:10)–was taken away, and a stronger and larger one was given to the Apostle of Allāh (the “Shiloah”) in its place. It is indeed marvelous how this prophetical vision of the Seer was literally fulfilled when Muhammad’s sceptre became the emblem of the Muslim sovereignty over all the countries –in Egypt, Assyria, Chaldea, Syria, and Arabia (every Muslim country’s flag should carry this Sword of Liberation)– where the people of God were persecuted by the pagan powers of those countries and by the foreign heathen powers of the Medo-Persians, Greeks, and Romans! What a glorious fulfilment of the vision is it when the flock of sheep, for many centuries having been exposed to the merciless beaks and claws of the birds of prey and to the sharp and terrible teeth and claws of the beasts, was now equipped with a large sword to defend which every Muslim carried until the blood of the Saints and Martyrs* was equitably avenged–(*Rev. 6:9-11).
(c) The White Bull. Until Ishmael, all the Prophets are represented as white bulls; but from Jacob downwards the princes of the chosen people appear in the form of rams. The universal religion had been reduced to a national one; and the Emperor had become a petty chief. Here is again another amazing fulfilment of the vision in the Mohammedan era. The leaders or the patriarchs of the ancient international religion are represented as white bulls, and those of the Muslim Commanders of the Faithful also as white bulls, with the only distinction that the latter have large black horns, emblem of twofold power, spiritual and temporal. Among all clean quadrupeds there is nothing more beautiful and noble than the white bull, and more so especially when it is crowned with a pair of large black horns. It looks most majestic and full of grace! It is very remarkable that the Imam of the believers, whether a Khalipha or a Sultan, or possessing both titles, is distinguished and perceived day and night by the purity of his faith and actions and by the solidity of his power and majesty at the head of the vast and innumerable hosts of the faithful composed of all races and languages! The vision expressly avows the entrance and admission of the apostates and unbelievers into the flock. Jews –thousands of Jews– Christians, and Sabians, as well as millions of Arabs and other heathen nationalities, believed in the oneness of Allāh and embraced Islam. In this connection it is worthy of note that all the blood shed in the wars of Badr, Ohud, and other campaigns led personally by the Prophet Muhammad, could not exceed one-hundredth of the blood shed by Joshua. Yet not a single instance of cruelty or injustice can be proved against the Apostle of Allāh. He was clement, noble, magnanimous, and forgiving.This is why he is alone among all the human race represented in all prophetical visions “the Son of Man,” like the first man before his fall!
(d) The Son of Man founds the Kingdom of Peace, the capital of which is no longer the old Jerusalem, but the new Jerusalem– the “Daru ‘s-Salam,” the “city or court of Peace.” The Sophee or Seer in this wonderful vision narrates how the terrestrial Jerusalem is lifted up and transplanted in a southern country; but a new Temple, larger and higher than the first one, is built upon the ruins of the old edifice! Gracious God! how wonderfully all this was accomplished by Thy most Illustrious and Holy Servant Muhammad! The new Jerusalem is none other than Mecca, for it is in a southern country, its two hills, the “Marwa” and “Sapha,” bear the same names as those of Moriah and Zion, of the same root and signification but originally earlier. “Irushalem” or “Urshalem” of old becomes a city of “Light and Peace.” It is for this reason, too, that Mecca as the seat of the sacred ka’aba became the “Qibla” –the direction towards which the Muslims turn their faces at prayer. Here every year tens of thousands (millions now) of pilgrim from all Muslim countries (and around the world) assemble, visit the Holy Ka’aba, offer sacrifices, and renew their fidelity to Allāh and promise to lead a new life worthy of a Musulman. Not only Mecca, but also Medina and the territory surrounding them, has become sacred and inviolable, and forbidden to any non-Muslim man or woman! It was in fulfilment of his vision of Idris or Enoch, too, that the second Khalipha, Omar, rebuilt the Sacred Mosque at Jerusalem on the hill of Moriah, on the spot of the Temple of Solomon! All these marvellously prove that the vision was seen by a Seer inspired by God, who saw the Muslim events in a far-distant future. Could Rome or Byzantium claim to be the New Jerusalem? Can the Pope or any schismatic Patriarch claim to be the Apocalyptic White Bull with two large horns? Can Christianity claim to be the Kingdom of Peace (Islam = “Shalom”) while it makes Jesus and the Holy Ghost coeval and consubstantial with the Absolute One God? Most decidedly not.
(e) In those chapters dealing with the Kingdom of Peace, the Messiah is called Son of Man, but in the description of the Last Judgment which follows at the end of this Reign of Islam or Peace he is called “Son of Woman” and “Son of God,” and made to share with God in the Judgment of the World. It is admitted by all scholars that these extravagant and foolish statements are not of Jewish origin but belong to the Christian imaginations, inserted and interpolated by them.
The other Apocalypses, those which bear the names of Moses, Baruch, Ezra, the Jubilees, and the Oracula Sibylliana, should be studied impartially, for it is then that they, like those of Daniel and Enoch, will not only be understood but also prove to be fulfilled in Muhammad and Islam.” (pp. 257-263; highlight added).
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Whereas Jesus was only a messenger of God sent to the Israelites to call them to “repentance” and “forgiveness”, Christians con-signed Jesus to the bed of celibacy, crowned him with Divinity and made him scapegoat for non-existent inherited sin. (See JESUS-LIKE DAVID).
Jesus says you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free (from lies, falsehood, and blasphemy). And the Divine truth is, Jesus was a prophet of God sent ONLY FOR JEWS and to foretell the coming of the COMFORTER(MOHAMMAD) who will guide into “all truth” and will “abide forever” and whom all are to follow; and
“THERE IS NO GOD BUT ALLĀH;
MOHAMMAD IS THE MESSENGER OF ALLĀH!”
While Allāh, God, would not call us to account for that which we do not know, when knowledge comes to us what reason or excuse can we have for not accepting and follow it? “But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath NEVER forgiveness but is in danger of ETERNAL DAMNATION”–(Mark 3:29).
While we are alive we have the grand opportunity to repent and have eternal life in Paradise. When we die there is no second chance.
What is holding you back from BAPTIZING
with Allāh, the Best of Baptizers?
(Qur’an 2:138).
*
NOTES
1. “I regret to say that the “Jewish Apocalypses” are inaccessible to me. The Encyclopaedias given only a compendium of each book, which does not satisfy my purpose of examining the text. I know that the Irish Archbishop Laurence has translated this Apocalypse into English, but it is, unfortunately, beyond my reach.”