Priest Fender’s Objections and Alhindi’s Response

priest fender raised some issues, which he thinks they could refute the muslims’ saying that the parakletos is prophet muhammad (pbuh).

first: it was mentioned three times that the parakletos is “the spirit of the truth”, and in a fourth time that he is “the holy spirit” 1 and, as the priest fender said, these words are alike and indicate the holy spirit.

in his great book “the truth revealed”, the learned muslim scholar, rahmatu allah    al hindi agrees with the likeness of these words. he confirms that, the phrase (the spirit of god) is an indication to the prophets too, as in what came in john's first epistle: "beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from god: for many false prophets have gone out into the world. but this you know the spirit of god: every spirit that confesses that jesus christ has come in the flesh is from god." (john 1: 4/1-2), the true honest prophets are the spirit of god, while the false prophets are the spirit of devil.

john explained how to differentiate the spirit of truth from the spirit of misguidance, in other words, to know the true honest prophets and differentiate them from the false prophets. he said, "hereby you know the spirit of god: every spirit that confesses that jesus christ has come in the flesh is from god .and every spirit that does not confess jesus is not from god. this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming; and now is in the world already. little children, you are from god and have overcome them: for he who is in you, is greater than he who is in the world.  they are from the world, therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. we are from god: whoever knows god listens to us, whoever is not of god, hear us not; by this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error." (john1: 4/2-6).

our prophet muhammad (pbuh) is the spirit of truth as john said. he recognizes jesus (pbuh) as a human and a messenger from god, that he is flesh and blood, and that he is from god just as the rest of humanity is from god, meaning that god created them. paul was the spirit of misguidance, who considered jesus god, and he who was in the world at that time.

second: in the book of john the addressing was towards the apostles as in his saying "to teach you" and "i will send him to you", so the parakletos must have been in their time.

rahmatu allah al hindi did not agree with this understanding, he said that jesus meant christians in general. this way of expression is common in the new testament, as what came in matthew regarding the jesus’ speech to the high priests, the elders and the council. "jesus said to him, you have said so. but i tell you, from now on you will see the son of man seated at the right hand of power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." (matthew: 26/64), and the addressees have died and perished, and they did not see him coming on the clouds of heaven.

similarly, is what jesus (pbuh) said: "and he said to him, truly, truly, i say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of god ascending and descending on the son of man." (john: 1/51)

third: that people will not see or know the parakletos, as in the verse, "the world cannot accept him, because they cannot see him or know him, but you will know him because he is staying with you, and he will be among you" while muhammad (pbuh) was known and seen by people.

rahmatu allah al hindi’s response to this, that this is nothing, because according to them the holy spirit is god or the spirit of god, and the world knows their god more than they know muhammad (pbuh), so it is not applicable to their interpretation in anyway.

in addition, al hindi sees that what was meant with the verse is that, the world does not know the true knowledge of this prophet (meaning his prophecy), but you (the christians) and the jews knew him, because jesus (pbuh) and the prophets informed you about him.

the rest of the people, they are as jesus said: "this is why i speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand."  (matthew: 13/13). 1

when jesus said, "the world cannot accept him, because they cannot see him or know him, but you will know him because he is staying with you, and he will be among you". he did not mean the sight 'to see' or the actual knowledge, but the heart knowledge. he mentioned the same about himself when he said, "they said to him therefore, where is your father? jesus answered; you know neither me, nor my father: if you know me, you would know my father also." (john: 8/19). there are many of similar verses in the gospels. in his interpretation to the book of john, mathew henry said, that “the word ('to see') in the greek text does not mean the eye sight, but the insight.”

moreover, perhaps they do not know the expected coming prophet because he was a stranger and not jewish "but we know where this man comes from: and when the christ appears, no one will know whence he comes from."  (john: 7/27).

fourth: it was mentioned that the parakletos "resides by you and that he is among you", that indicated (according to priest fender's opinion) that he was with the apostles, and that does not apply to muhammad (pbuh).

rahmatu allah al hindi sees that the text in other translations and editions stated as, "he is settled with you and he will be among you", and in others, "he dwells with you and he will be in you". that in any case means the future and not that time; in other words, he will reside by you or stay with you.

that is because the text indicated that. it tells that the parakletos was not among them at that time. "i said to you before it come to pass (before he comes), so when he comes you will believe", and "if i do not go the parakletos will not come to you",and that is what the christians say, as they believe that his coming and his arrival was in the fiftieth day.

similarly, ezekiel told about the appearance of the gog and the magog people in the present tense, while they had not yet appeared. he said, "behold, it is coming, and it will be brought about, declares the lord god; this is the day of which i have spoken." (ezekiel: 39/8), and the same in (john: 5/25).

fifth: in acts: "and while staying with them he ordered them not to depart from jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the father, which, he said, you heard from me.  for john baptized with water; but you will be baptized with the holy spirit not many days from now." (acts: 1/4-5) fender sees that this "indicates that the parakletos is the spirit that came down on the fiftieth day, because the parakletos is what was meant by the father's promise".

responding to this, rahamtu allah al hindi explains that what came in the book of acts is a different promise that is not related to the parakletos that john mentioned, as they were promised with the coming of the holy spirit in another occasion, and the promise was fulfilled with what luke mentioned in the book of acts. what john mentioned about the coming of the parakletos has nothing to do with this issue.

some other christians object that this prophecy is applicable to prophet muhammad (pbuh), because jesus (pbuh) is the one who will send the parakletos. "but if i left i will send him to you", similarly, when he said, "the comforter that i will send to you from the father", while muhammad is the messenger of god and not jesus.

christians forgot the words of god, "the comforter, the holy spirit, who will be sent by the father", so he is a messenger of the father, and saying that jesus will send him is metaphoric and not real. similarly, what came in genesis, "the angel of the lord also said to her, i will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude." (genesis: 16/10) even though, the multiplier and the one who blesses the offspring of hagar and others god is and not his angel. however, since the angel was the informer, then the act attributed to him.

in addition, what came in the book of kings, when prophet elijah attributed the divine punishment to himself, the punishment that god meant for the king ahab. "ahab said to elijah, have you found me, o my enemy? he answered; i have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the lord. behold, i will bring disaster upon you, i will utterly burn you up, and will cut off from ahab every male, bond or free, in israel," (kings 1: 21/20-21)

prophet elijah attributed to himself what is in reality the act of god, so this attribution was not real, but he deserved it by being god's informer of this punishment. similarly is what jesus (pbuh) said in his prophecy about the parakletos.

consequently, we find in the parakletos the prophecy that is mentioned in the holy quran {and (remember) when 'iesa (jesus), son of maryam (mary), said: "o children of israel! i am the messenger of allâh unto you confirming the taurât [(torah) which came] before me, and giving glad tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name shall be ahmed. however, when he (ahmed i.e. muhammad) came to them with clear proofs, they said: "this is plain magic."} (al-saf: 6).

1 morris bokay and muhammad abdul halim abu al saad mentioned that the text in the senaih manuscript did not mention the holy spirit. the torah, the bible, the quran and science, by: morris bokay (132), analytical critical study of the book of mark, by: muhammad abdul halim abu al saad (192).

1 look in: revealing the truth, by: rahamtu allah al hindi (4/1198-1204)