Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 74
74 and which yet tasted bitter to some nations. And it is he who is called (and is true to the description) Muhammad. Christian writers are wont to say that the beloved promised in this prophecy has been called Mahamaddim not Muhammad. But this objection does not go very far. The Old Testament name for God is Elohim. In Hebrew it is common to show consideration and reverence by using a plural for a single person. We do the same in Urdu. Lecturing in Urdu, a lecturer might easily conclude his tribute to the Prophet by saying Yeh hain hamare Muhammad , meaning, these are our Muhammad. (b) In the Song of Solomon, we have another prophecy about the Holy Prophet of Islam. This is in 4:9-12. In these verses Solomon addresses his beloved as both sister and spouse (4:9; 4:10; 4:12). The simultaneous use of the two forms of address— sister and spouse—is not without significance. "Sister" indicates that the Promised Prophet would be an Ishmaelite, one of the brethren of the Israelites; and "spouse" indicates that the Message of the Promised Prophet will not be confined to his own people, as were the Messages of all the Israelite Prophets. It would be open to other nations and peoples as well. We should not be misled by the feminine form of address used here. The passage is couched in poetical language, full of metaphors. The last line of the chapter uses the masculine form, which is contradictory, but significant. Thus we have: "Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits. 80 The prophecy (4:9-12), therefore, applies only to the Holy Prophet of Islam. Jesus was not one of the brethren of Israel, nor was his teaching addressed to any people other than Israel. (c) We also have in the Song of Solomon (1:5-6): I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Look not upon me, because I am black. From this description it appears that Solomon foretold the advent of a Prophet who would come from the south, and he (or his people) would be black of skin as compared with the descendants of Isaac. It is well-known that the people of Syria and Palestine have a fairer complexion than the people of Arabia. The Prophet of Islam was an Arab. (d) In the same place another sign of the Promised One is given as follows: My mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. 81 This is a description of the people to which the Promised One was to belong. The Arabs, at the advent of the Prophet of Islam, were an unambitious people. They accepted employment under Romans and Iranians, but of their own country they thought but little. The Holy Prophet came and Arabia rose from her slumber. The