So far, our hero has earned the unsolicited and ungrudging tributes from many non-Muslims of different religious persuasions and from varying intellectual fields of endeavour. But all this still remains incomplete without the Master's verdict; Muhammad's (pbuh) predecessor - Jesus Christ, (pbuh). We will now apply his own standard for evaluating greatness.
- John the Baptist, ["JOHN- not to be confused with John the disciple of Jesus (pbuh). A very common name among the Jews and Arabs, even today, like Tarik Aziz the recent Iraqi Minister of Foreign Affairs. Real name Tarik Hanna Aziz; Hanna short for Yuhanna meaning John. No one in the non-Arab Muslim world knowing that our friend is a Christian Marxist.] Known throughout the Muslim world as Hazrat Yahya Alaihis-salaam (Peace be upon him) was a contemporary prophet of the Messiah. They were also cousins. Here is what the Master has to say of him:
Verily
I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not
risen a greater than John the
Baptist Matthew 11:11
Every
son of man is "born of women." By this very fact John the
Baptist is greater than Moses, David,
Solomon, Abraham or Isaiah; none
of the Israelite prophets excluded. What gives John this ascendancy
over every
other prophet? It could not be any miracle, because the Bible
records none to his credit. It could not be
his teachings, because he brought
no new laws or regulations. Then what makes him the greatest?
Simply because
he was the heralder, a pre-cursor, a harbinger of the happy news of
the coming of the Messiah. This
is what made John the greatest,
but Jesus (pbuh) claims that he himself was even greater than the
greatest (ie.
John). Why?
But
I have greater witness than that of John (the Baptist): For The Works
which the Father hath given me to
finish: (Emphasis added) John
5:36
It
is the "witness," the commission which God Almighty had
entrusted him with, which makes Jesus (pbuh)
greater than even John. Applying
these very standards as enunciated by the Master, we find that -
- John the Baptist was the greatest of all the Israelite prophets, because he heralded the mighty Messiah (Jesus pbuh). Similarly Jesus (pbuh) would be greater than even John because he heralded "The Spirit of Truth, the Comforter," who was to guide mankind into all Truth (of the Gospel of St. John, chapter 16). [ For a detalted explanation about this prophecy, obtain today your FREE copy of the book -MUHUMMED (pbuh) the Natural Successor to CHRIST (pbuh) from the IPCI.]
- The diocese, the mission of Jesus (pbuh), or "the works which God had given him to accomplish," was limited to the Lost sheep of the House of Israel (Matthew 15:24), whereas the mission of Muhammad (pbuh) was universal. He had been told -
And
we have sent thee not (O Muhammad), but as a Mercy unto (all) the
worlds.
Holy Quran 21:107
In
keeping with his grand commission, Muhammad (pbuh) consistently
delivered his Message to one and all
who would hear, irrespective of
race, class or creed, He welcomed them all in the religion of God,
without any
discrimination. He had no
thought of dividing the creatures of God into "dogs and pigs"
(Matthew 7:6) or into
"sheep and goats"
(Matthew 25:32). He was the Messenger of the One True God, who was
sent as a Mercy unto
all mankind, nay, unto the whole universe (H.Q. 21:107 above). And,
he never forgot this mission even
right up to his dying day.
To Be Continued....
No comments:
Post a Comment