Islam - The Summit of Religious Evolution — Page 67
67 necessary based on additional discoveries of earlier manuscripts or the better understanding of earlier Biblical texts, then the Bible may be in for a major overhaul because of the recent discoveries in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent. This inconsistence in Biblical text causes great problems for a critical study of this nature where the absolute meaning of the word is required. It is strongly speculated that these changes in the text are deliberate attempts to destroy their actual meaning and may be aimed at preventing such objective comparisons. THE PROPHECY IN JEREMIAH Again Jeremiah tells of God’s plan to preserve his yet to be revealed law and to protect it against human interpolations: 88 I will put my Law within them and I will write it upon their hearts. This prophecy is fulfilled in its entirety in the way the Quranic revelations were preserved. These revelations were memorized soon after their receipt by the Prophet and were literally “put within the people and written on their hearts”. Even today, millions of Muslims remember the entire Quran by heart and this practice has continued unabated ever since its institution by the Holy Prophet after he received the first revelation. This is again God’s way to show how the prophecies made by His messengers are fulfilled. PROPHECIES OF DANIEL The book of Daniel describes the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian King, which he nor his advisors could interpret. After seeking Divine help through prayers, the dream and its interpretation were revealed to Daniel. According to the Bible, the dream was as follows: 89 Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible. This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth. Daniel's interpretation of this dream, according to the Bible, is as follows: 90 Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third