Introduction to the Prophecies of the Holy Bible

the holy scriptures call the coming prophet by many names, such as the king or the prophet, the mesia, and the messiah, which means the “savior”, all these names are titles given to the coming prophet, and they also give a description of this great prophet. however, the title “the messiah” is the most famous title, and that is because of the importance of this title among the jews.

some may claim that this title is exclusively meant for jesus (pbuh). to answer that, we say that calling him the messiah is a title and not a personal name. the jews call their prophets, kings and even other kings by that title. this title “messiah” comes from the semitic word "masaha" which means to anoint, for the jews used to anoint the bodies of their kings and prophets, they used to call them messiahs even though they were not anointed.

cyrus, the persian king, was called messiah "thus said the lord to his anointed, to cyrus" (isaiah 45:1). david also was called a messiah "and shows mercy to his anointed, to david, and to his seed forevermore" (psalms 18:50)

saul, the king, was called messiah "and david said to abishai, destroy him not: for who can stretch forth his hand against the lord’s anointed, and be guiltless?"  (1 samuel 26:7-9)

in psalms, "touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm."  (psalms 105:15), and in the book of kings, regarding the messiah priests, we read:  "and elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, if i be a man of god, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume you and your fifty. and there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty."  (2 kings 1:10)

it is clear that this honorable title “messiah” was not an exclusive title for jesus (pbuh). it was a title given to the "expected prophet" for whom, the jews, the children of israel have been waiting, because god will grant him a kingdom, success and blessings far much greater than those that given to the anointed kings of the jews.

the messiah is a title for the "expected prophet" for whom the jews were waiting and expecting, that is why they wondered when they saw john the baptist whether if  he was the next messiah or not, "he admitted and did not deny it, but admitted, "i am not the messiah." so they asked him, "what are you then? are you elijah?" (john1/21-22)

when the crowd of jews saw the miracles of jesus (pbuh), they used the title “messiah”: "when the messiah comes, will he perform more signs than this man has done?" (john 7/30-31)

the "expected prophet" was also called messia which gives the same meaning of messiah, that can be found in the book of john "we have found the messiah" 29 (which is translated anointed)." (john 1/41) the serianic word "ma sheeh" is pronounced "messia" in languages that do not have the letter ح"" which has no equal in english but it is close to the letter "h".

some people and they have the right of doing so, might demand that we have to present the verse or verses which clearly and indisputably indicate the name and description of muhammad (pbuh). however, there are two issues related to the holy bible and its translations, which block the clarity of these prophecies. these two issues are well known to those who are acquainted with the holy bible, those who know the reason why these prophecies are lost or intentionally suppressed.

the first issue is that the jews and the christians have the habit of translating names into their meanings, stating the meaning only without the name, and they may add a commentary to the sentence and insert it into the context. consequently, many clear prophecies will lose their indications. an example of these prophecies is jesus’ prophecy about the “parakletos”, which is “the comforter” in modern translation. another example is the prophet haggai’s prophecy, that indicates the coming of (mehmaad), but the translators of the holy bible changed it in order to suppress this clear and direct indication. “and the treasures of all the nations will come in” (haggai 2/7).

in psalms (84/6), (kjv 1959 and the majority of english translations), the name of the messiah’s city is mentioned. it called it “bacah valley” “hebrew [בְּעֵמֶק הַבָּכָא]. the translators of the holy bible translated it into “the valley of weeping”, only to misguide the reader of knowing that "bacah" is the town of muhammad'’s (pbuh) nativity.

{verily, the first house (of worship) appointed for mankind was that at bakkah (makkah), full of blessing, and a guidance for al-'alamîn (the mankind and jinns) } (al-emran: 96).

in his celebrated work (eth harul haq) “the truth revealed", rahmatu allah al-hindi, gives 13 examples of these mistranslations, he made a comparison between different translations of the bible, to prove how these actions suppress the original context.

he said, “in (1811) holy bible’s edition "abraham called the name of that place the lord will mercy its visitors" (genesis 22/14), the translator replaced the hebrew name by its meaning, in darby edition (1889), “called the name of that place jehovah-jireh”. by doing so, the correct name was lost, and the intended meaning of the verse was completely changed”.

he added:

“we have no doubt that these translators, who had done that, were capable of changing the fragment (messenger of god) to different words, as they have changed other words”.

in this regards, al-hindi quoted from haydar al-qurashee’s book "kholasat sayf al-muslemeen" (the essence of muslim’s sword), “that the armenian priest auskan translated the book of isaiah into the armenian language in the year 1666, and it was printed in 1733 by anthony portolly press. in this translation, in chapter 42 it was written: “sing to the lord a new song, the mark of his authority is in his back, and his name is ahmad”.

the second issue is that the holy bible is metaphoric and full of symbols and indications specially when talking about the future.

dr. samaan kahloon wrote in his book "the precious holy bible seekers’ guide", “expressions in the holy bible are very metaphoric and mysterious especially in the old testament”.

he also wrote, “expressions in the new testament are also very metaphoric, specially "causerie of our savior", and because some of the christian teachers used literal interpretation methods, many of the false and corrupted opinions were spread around…”2 

 therefore, the reader should realize the difficulties we are facing while we search for the original word or name that was suppressed by the translators. the reader will also realize, using his own intuition, the nature of the holy bible’s use of metaphors and puzzles to explain facts.

the people who use either the gematriacal[1] method or the like to prove that their books contain many prophecies, that have been realized, such as the establishment of the soviet union and israel, and even individuals like henry kissinger, will not notice these difficulties.

they also claim that there are hundreds of prophecies indicating the arrival of jesus (pbuh). they believe that there are one thousand prophecies about jesus (pbuh) in the old testament.

is it possible that the holy bible does not contain any prophecy about the man (muhammad, pbuh) who changed the course of history in the name of allah? should not he have a share of all these prophecies, at least just one prophecy warning or foretelling about him or his message? those who claim that they are the only qualified individuals to solve the holy bible’s puzzles and symbols are tongue-tied when answering this question.

the appearance of muhammad's (pbuh) word and religion is the key that opens the door to the prophecies of the old and the new testament. in the torah, there is a prophecy that uncovers the truth and clearly gives the condition and description of the prophet. in the book of deuteronomy "but the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which i have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die… thou shall not be afraid of him. " (deuteronomy 18/20-22)

gamaleil, the pharisee, spoke true words: "and now i say unto you, refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to naught but if it be of god, you cannot overthrow it; lest haply you be found even to fight against god" (acts 5:38-39).  the message of the prophet muhammad (pbuh) has not perished; instead, it ruled the world for many centuries.

 prophet muhammad (pbuh) was saved from murder attempts, he conquered his enemies, and his message and religion spread all over the world, this is evidence and proof of his honesty, sincerity and his prophet-hood. "for the lord knows the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish." (psalms 1/6).