Names of Mohammad and ‘Ali (SBUT) in the Bible

Part 6

We are now going to look at another biblical statement mentioned by Thomas McElwain which also contains the word Hamda:

“There is an occurrence of the word Hamda in the construct in Haggai 2:7ff ‘And I will shake all nations, and the Hamda of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give Islam [shalom], saith the LORD of hosts.’”

Dr. McElwain in regard to translation of “Hamda of all nations” in this passage says: “Perhaps a middle ground translation of the term would best express the meaning of the text: ‘the desired one of all nations.’ …”

And in regard to the translation of shalom as Islam, he states: “The translation of shalom as Islam rather than the generalized term “peace” is predicated on the tone of the sentence, which is specific. The grace of a particular event is implied.”

In one of our communications with him we suggested another reasonable interpretation for Haggai 2:7ff. We suggested that “the desired one of all nations” must be referring to Hadrat Mahdi (SBUH) whose name is Mohammad too and whom all nations have been waiting his advent … and surely his coming will be a shaking of all nations, separating the righteous from the unrighteous … and finally at time of his coming the righteous shall inherit the earth as predicted in bible, book of psalms 37:11, 17, 18, 21, 22, 29, 34, 37 … and in the Majestic Qur’an Surah Anbiya (21):105 …

At time of the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) in Medina the Prophet was commanded by Allah to change the direction of Qiblah from Bayt al-Maqdas and turn toward the Ka’bah; and thus “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former” and “and in this place will I give Islam”; surely the advent of Islam by Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) was at the Ka’bah, and the second advent of True Islam shall again be at the Ka’bah when Hadrat Mahdi (SBUH) will appear next to the Ka’bah and declare his emergence and the advent of True Islam once again …

And “I will fill this house with glory” … Here it is noteworthy to mention that although the Ka’bah has been glorified formally and publicly by the last Prophet of Allah for the entire humankind, but in fact Ka’bah has been the very first House ever built for humankind (in this regard we refer readers to part 11 of the article “The Najran Pact, Mobaahelah (Mubahilah)” in this site: kindfather.com).

In response Dr. McElwain- while acknowledging that it is difficult to achieve absolute certainty in these cases- stated: “Your view of Haggai 2:7ff appears consistent and reasonable to me.”

Finally, he, at the end of his lecture 8, refers to another interesting passage containing another form of the word Hamda:

“There is a single occurrence of an interesting form of the word [Hamda] including the participial prefix as in Arabic, and what appears to be a plural suffix in form. This is mahamadim in Song of Solomon 5:16. This cannot be a plural, however, since the referent is clearly stated to be masculine singular in the preceding words. Song of Solomon 5:16 ‘His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely (Hebrew: Mahamadim). This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.’”

Thomas McElwain is drawing our attention to the fact that the word Mahamadim is a form of the word Hamda (desired one), which he has analyzed in detail, and we have also presented many of his explanations in previous parts of this writing. There are also bible translations which have actually translated Mahamadim as desirable, for instance:

Young's Literal Translation

Song of Solomon 5:16 His mouth is sweetness -- and all of him desirable, This is my beloved, and this my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem! 

The book of sixteenelevenbook Song of Solomon chapter 5 from the original 1611 KJV (King James Bible) has presented the following transliteration for Song of Solomon 5:16 "Hikko Mamittakim we kullo Muhammadim Zehdoodeh wa Zehraee Bayna Jerusalem."

The original ancient Hebrew, as it appears in statement sixteen, is: מחמד (which according to Ben Yehuda's Hebrew-English Dictionary, it is correctly pronounced as "Mahammadim") in the place of "altogether lovely" which has been appearing in recent English translations. Thus the Hebrew for what is being translated as "lovely" or “desirable” is מחמד or MHMD without phonetics which appear as vowels in English; or the Arabic محمد.

Another point that Thomas McElwain has mentioned is that Mahamadim is not plural, “since the referent is clearly stated to be masculine singular in the preceding words”; there are scholars who say that “Mahamad-im”may be in form of plural with the ending letters 'im' being a plural of respect, majesty and grandeur for God’s Last and most supreme Prophet, just as in the word Eloh-im.

It is noteworthy to mention that in general in regard to the song of Solomon many things have been said; this is what a christian scholar has said:

"This book has received more varied interpretations than perhaps any other book in the Bible. Some writers believe it presents the reader with the "greatest hermeneutical challenge in the Old Testament”. One excellent exegete called it "the most obscure book in the Old Testament". (Franz Delitzsch: Biblical Commentary on the Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes, quoted by Dr Thomas L. Constable in his Notes on Song of Solomon)

The Song of Solomon has a unique place among the books of the bible because it seems to be a woman’s love poem! But a majority of jewish and christian interpreters favor this view that it is an allegory. To these interpreters, what the writer said was only a symbolic husk for a deeper spiritual meaning … (Greg W. Parsons:  "Guidelines for Understanding and Utilizing the Song of Songs," Bibliotheca Sacra 156:624 (October-December 1999):399-422; quoted by Dr Thomas L. Constable in his Notes on Song of Solomon)

So if we take the Song as an allegory, and "Mahamadim" as a name of "the beloved", someone for whom the world was waiting for … this fits the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) perfectly; the epithet Habib of Allah حبیب الله which means “beloved of Allah” is an Allah-bestowed epithet for the Prophet (SAWA) and surely every one has been waiting for him …

It is also noteworthy to mention that in the older versions of bible translations- such as a printed English version in London in 1800 C.E.- which is available, the word “Mahamadim”, being considered as a proper name, was left exactly as such, but it was in later translations-when Islam was gaining popularity in Europe …- that they have attempted to translate Mahamadim to different terms in an effort to conceal the true identity of the Promised person whose mouth is most sweet, he who is the Habib (beloved) and Khalil (friend) of Allah …

Additionally, in case of the possibility of Mahamadim being plural, another logical explanation is that Hadrat Solaymaan (SBUH) was perhaps praising both Hadrat Mohammad (SAWA) and his last chosen Successor, Hadrat Mahdi (SBUH)- whose name is Mohammad too- …

Let us move on … Shifa Mustapha has referred to many more biblical passages referring to Hadrat Mohammad (SAWA) … here we wish to refer to another passage from the book of the Prophet Isaiah which she has also referred to; she has presented this passage from King James Version of the translation of the bible:

Isaiah 21:7 (KJV) “And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed.”

Then she has stated:

“It is very easy to see that the chariot of asses refers to the Prophethood of Jesus.  John 12:14 states, “And Jesus, when he had found a young ass, sat thereon; as it is written.”  The two horsemen may perhaps be more obscure, although I found myself thinking of David and Solomon, both being renowned horsemen.  However, the chariot of camels could only be that of Muhammad.  This may have pointed to the succession of prophets: David and Solomon, Jesus, and finally Muhammad.”

Here we wish to present another English translation of bible of the same passage:

Isaiah chapter21 statement 7, version Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (DRC): “And he saw a chariot with two horsemen, a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel: and he beheld them diligently with much heed.”

Notice it clearly refers to “a rider upon an ass, and a rider upon a camel”.

And according to a beautiful Hadith from Imam Reza (SBUH)- which we have presented in the article “Mohammad, the Promise of Enjil (Gospel)”- when debating a jewish scholar:

“Imam Riza (SBUH): … And the Prophet Esha'ya (Isaiah) has said in that which you and your companions say in Tawrat: I saw two riders which the earth became bright for them, one of them was on ass, and the other one on camel; so who rode the ass, and who the camel?

Ra's al-Jaaloot: I do not know those two; so inform me of them.

The Imam (SBUH): The rider of ass was ‘Eesa          (Jesus), and the rider of camel, Mohammad. Do you deny that from Tawrat?

Ra's al-Jaaloot: No, I do not deny …”

(Tawheed of Shaikh Sadooq, ‘Oyoon Akhbaar Reza, Tafsir Noor al-Thaqalain, …)

These have only been few references to Hadrat Mohammad (SAWA) in that which is called the bible today … may Allah hasten the second comings of Hadrats Mahdi and ‘Eesa … (SBUT) when the original Torah, Injil, Zaboor and … will be divulged … AAMEEN …

Before closing this part of this writing which has mainly concentrated on the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA), let us have another careful look at bible OT Deut. 18:18 and NT John 16:13 which we have previously analyzed, here we are going to emphasise on another point mentioned in these statements:

Deut. 18:18 ‘I[God]  will raise up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee [Moses], and I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.'

John 16:13 Howbeit when he, "the Spirit of Truth", is come, he will guide you into "All Truth": for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 

Let us pay attention to the very significant point mentioned in both these statements:

“I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.”

“he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak”

The important point- which we wish to highlight here- is that which we mentioned in part 1 of this writing:

“Another vital point to keep in mind is that according to Hadrat Mohammad (SAWA) while the Qur’an was revealed as direct Revelation of separate verses and Surahs to Hadrat (SAWA) in various times and places متفرقاً- and this is one reason Qur’an is also called Forqaan فرقان-, The original Zaboor (Psalms …), Torah and Enjil (Gospel …) were bestowed upon the Prophets (SBUT) as Tablets and Plates. (Bihar al-Anwaar, vol. 9, p. 337; …)”

The two aforesaid biblical statements- one from what is called torah and the other, gospel- actually support the above Hadith from Hadrat Muhammad (SAWA); while surely God communicated, one way or another, with all His Chosen Prophets (SBUT), but the scriptures He gave them were not revealed word by word … rather they were in form of written Tablets and … This is why in Deut 18:18 and John 16:13 in regard to the very last Promised Prophet it is emphasized that the Book which was going to be given to him and he was going to give it to his nation was different from the previous ones; this time the Prophet was not going to read written Tablets and then talk himself about them to his nation, rather this time God’s words were going to be put directly in his mouth; he was going to tell his nation exactly what he was commanded; he was not going to speak of himself; whatsoever he was going to hear, that he was going to speak …

I.e. his Qur’an is the only Book ever bestowed on any Prophet and Rasool which was revealed directly word by word … and the Prophet Mohammad (SAWA) has been the only Prophet whom all his words were absolutely Divinely revealed:

Qur’an 53:3 Nor does he speak out of desire.

Qur’an 53:4 It is naught but Revelation that is Revealed,

Qur’an 53:5 The Lord of Mighty Power has taught him.

Yes … His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is Mahamadim. This is my
beloved, and this is my friend … (Song of Solomon 5:16)

It is no wonder that every one- with awake Allah bestowed innate
Ma’refat (cognition …)- was waiting for him (SAWA) … and now every
one- with awake Allah bestowed innate Ma’refat- is waiting for his
Mahdi (SBUH) … MAY AALLAH HASTEN HIS APPEARANCE … AAMEEN …

To be continued …