Truth Prevails — Page 29
( 29 ) To impose a bar against the advent of a Nabi , Mr. Faruqi has referred to these three reports. Then, on page 12 and 13 of his book, out of the reports we quote in support of our view, in regard to the claim of the Promised Messiah, he has reproduced a bare translation of only two Reports, in a futile endeavour to demolish our argument. The sense of one of these two Reports he has given as follows: “Prophets are brothers in a way, though their mothers are different. They preach one religion. I am the nearest to Jesus, son of Mary, as there was no prophet between him and me. He will certainly be appointed, so that when you witness his coming…” Mr. Faruqi, we note, has not given the rest of the translation of this Report, then he writes: “Here Jesus, son of Mary, refers to the Israelite prophet Jesus Christ, as the Prophet Mohammad, peace and the blessings of God be upon him, includes him amongst his brethren prophets. It is obvious that the Promised Messiah, yet to come, would be a member of the Muslim Community (as Jesus Christ had died and none returns back alive to this world after death) and as such his relation to the Holy Prophet Mohammad would be that of a spiritual son , not as a spiritual brother. When the Holy Prophet said ‘Jesus’ son of Mary, will come, he meant of course his ‘duplicate’ in attributes and qualities. ” (Truth Triumphs, page 12) Our Reply In the light of statements by the Promised Messiah, we take this Report as applicable to the Messiah of the dispensation of Mohammad not that the portion before ‘ innahu nazilun ’ applies to Jesus, the Messiah for the Jews; and the portion after this expression applies to the other Messiah, the Promised Messiah for the Muslims. There is, thus, no need why we should understand the pronoun, implied in innahu , to stand for a pronoun implying a sense of similarity. Both we and Mr. Faruqi accept that Hazrat Isa, son of Mary, is dead. Therefore, the Isa, son of Mary, spoken of here is the Promised Messiah of the Ummat of the Holy Prophet Mohammad; and this Report, from i. e. among all persons I am nearest in relation to Isa son of Mary, to the last word of the report, refers to the Promised Messiah of the Ummat of Mohammad; the words ‘Isa son of Mary’ have been used in a figurative sense, in respect of the Promised Messiah expected by the Muslims just as in the Report in Sahih Bokhari, namely, ‘ kaifa antum ’… the words ‘Ibni Maryam’ are taken both by us and Mr. Faruqi, as a similitude denoting the Promised Messiah of the Muslims, as firmly indicated by the words of the Report Imamokum minkum , (Sahih Bukhari) and fa-ammakum minkum. (Sahih Muslim) that this expression applies to the Promised Messiah, Imam of the Muslims, raised among the Muslims. Similarly the words Isa bin Maryam in a Report in Musnad Ahmad bin Hambal Vol. II, from Hazrat Abu Horaira