Christian Missionaries On Surah 61:6
by
Bassam Zawadi
Christian Missionary Argument:
Surah 61:6 shows Jesus saying that there will be another Prophet to come after him whose name is Ahmad. This cannot be referring to Muhammad because his name is not Ahmad.
My Response:
Imam Al Qurtubi said...
و " أَحْمَد " اِسْم نَبِيّنَا صَلَّى اللَّه عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ . وَهُوَ اِسْم عَلَم مَنْقُول مِنْ صِفَة لَا مِنْ فِعْل ; فَتِلْكَ الصِّفَة أَفْعَل الَّتِي يُرَاد بِهَا التَّفْضِيل . فَمَعْنَى " أَحْمَد " أَيْ أَحْمَد الْحَامِدِينَ لِرَبِّهِ . وَالْأَنْبِيَاء صَلَوَات اللَّه عَلَيْهِمْ كُلّهمْ حَامِدُونَ اللَّه , وَنَبِيّنَا أَحْمَد أَكْثَرهمْ حَمْدًا . وَأَمَّا مُحَمَّد فَمَنْقُول مِنْ صِفَة أَيْضًا , وَهِيَ فِي مَعْنَى مَحْمُود ; وَلَكِنْ فِيهِ مَعْنَى الْمُبَالَغَة وَالتَّكْرَار .فَالْمُحَمَّد هُوَ الَّذِي حُمِدَ مَرَّة بَعْد مَرَّة . كَمَا أَنَّ الْمُكَرَّم مِنْ الْكَرَم مَرَّة بَعْد مَرَّة . وَكَذَلِكَ الْمُمَدَّح وَنَحْو ذَلِكَ . فَاسْم مُحَمَّد مُطَابِق لِمَعْنَاهُ , وَاَللَّه سُبْحَانه سَمَّاهُ قَبْل أَنْ يُسَمِّيَ بِهِ نَفْسه . فَهَذَا عَلَم مِنْ أَعْلَام نُبُوَّته , إِذْ كَانَ اِسْمه صَادِقًا عَلَيْهِ ; فَهُوَ مَحْمُود فِي الدُّنْيَا لِمَا هُدِيَ إِلَيْهِ وَنَفَعَ بِهِ مِنْ الْعِلْم وَالْحِكْمَة . وَهُوَ مَحْمُود فِي الْآخِرَة بِالشَّفَاعَةِ . فَقَدْ تَكَرَّرَ مَعْنَى الْحَمْد كَمَا يَقْتَضِي اللَّفْظ . ثُمَّ إِنَّهُ لَمْ يَكُنْ مُحَمَّدًا حَتَّى كَانَ أَحْمَد , حَمِدَ رَبّه فَنَبَّأَهُ وَشَرَّفَهُ ; فَلِذَلِكَ تَقَدَّمَ اِسْم أَحْمَد عَلَى الِاسْم الَّذِي هُوَ مُحَمَّد فَذَكَرَهُ عِيسَى عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام فَقَالَ : " اِسْمه أَحْمَد " . وَذَكَرَهُ مُوسَى عَلَيْهِ السَّلَام حِين قَالَ لَهُ رَبّه : تِلْكَ أُمَّة أَحْمَد, فَقَالَ : اللَّهُمَّ اِجْعَلْنِي مِنْ أُمَّة أَحْمَد . فَبِأَحْمَد ذَكَرَهُ قَبْل أَنْ يَذْكُرهُ بِمُحَمَّدٍ , لِأَنَّ حَمْده لِرَبِّهِ كَانَ قَبْل حَمْد النَّاس لَهُ . فَلَمَّا وُجِدَ وَبُعِثَ كَانَ مُحَمَّدًا بِالْفِعْلِ .
The name 'Ahmad' is the name of our Prophet (peace be upon him), which is derived from an adjective not a verb. The structure of this adjective in grammar gives the meaning of preferable ness. Therefore, 'Ahmad' means: the one who praises his lord (Allah) the most. All prophets are praising Allah but our prophet (peace be upon him) is the most one who praises Allah. On other note, the name "Muhammad" is derived from an adjective, as well, which gives the meaning of being praised by others frequently and excessively. Muhammad as a name means: is the one who is praised once over and over... thus, the name Muhammad matches it's meaning.
Allah named him before he is named by others, which is one of the signs of his Prophethood as his name matched his status and character because he is praised in this life due to the guidance, wisdom and knowledge that he obtained and benefited from others with and he is praised in the here-after because of the intercession that he was honored with by Allah. Therefore the meaning of praising was used as suitable.
He was never " Muhammad" (praised by others) until he was Ahmad (praising Allah a lot). He praised Allah so much so that Allah granted him prophecy and honored him. That is the reason why the name Ahmad comes before the name Muhammad. This is noticed when Issa (peace be upon him) used "Ahamd" when he mentioned him by saying:" his name is Ahmad" and so did Musa (peace be upon him) when Allah said to him " that is the nation of Ahmad" which upon Musa (peace be upon him) said: "O Allah let me be one of the ummah of Ahmad". So, as you notice the name Ahmad is always used before Muhammad because the Prophet's praising of Allah happened before people start praising him. Thus, when he was born and sent as a messenger he became for real 'Muhammad'. (Abu 'Abdullah Al-Qurtubi, Tasfir al Jami' li-ahkam al-Qur'an, Commentary on Surah 15:9, Source)
So Jesus was predicting the coming of someone not by his actual name but by the feature or characteristic of the person. For example, Abdul Rahman is a great companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him), but he was nicknamed Abu Hurayrah, which means "father of the kitten" because he had a habit of holding a kitten with him wherever he went. So his nickname was given based on a characteristic that he had.
Also, the reason why the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was called Ahmad first is because he first used to praise God and then in return he was praised. Thus he was called Ahmad before Muhammad.
Secondly, it's not wrong to say that Ahmad was actually another name of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) for he had several names that he claimed for himself and Ahmad is only one of them:
Saheeh Bukhari
Volume 4, Book 56, Number 732:
Narrated Jubair bin Mutim:
Allah's Apostle said, "I have five names: I am Muhammad and Ahmad; I am Al-Mahi through whom Allah will eliminate infidelity; I am Al-Hashir who will be the first to be resurrected, the people being resurrected there after; and I am also Al-'Aqib (i.e. There will be no prophet after me)."
Volume 6, Book 60, Number 419:
Narrated Jubair bin Mutim:
I heard Allah's Apostle saying, 'I have several names: I am Muhammad and I am Ahmad, and I am Al-Mahi with whom Allah obliterates Kufr (disbelief), and I am Al-Hashir (gatherer) at whose feet (i.e. behind whom) the people will be gathered (on the Day of Resurrection), and I am Al-Aqib (i.e. who succeeds the other prophets in bringing about good)."
Saheeh Muslim
Book 030, Number 5810:
Jubair b. Mut'im reported on the authority of his father that he heard Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: I am Muhammad and I am Ahmad, and I am al-Mahi (the obliterator) by whom unbelief would be obliterated, and I am Hashir (the gatherer) at whose feet mankind will be gathered, and I am 'Aqib (the last to come) after whom there will be no Prophet.
Book 030, Number 5811:
Jubair b. Mut'im reported on the authority of his father that he heard Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: I have many names: I am Muhammad, I am Ahmad, I am al-Mahi through whom Allah obliterates unbelief, and I am Hashir (the gatherer) at whose feet people will be gathered, and I am 'Aqib (after whom there would be none), and Allah has named him as compassionate and merciful.
Book 030, Number 5813:
Abu Musa Ash'ari reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) mentioned many names of his and said: I am Muhammad, Ahmad. Muqaffi (the last in succession), Hashir, the Prophet of repentance, and the Prophet of Mercy.
Malik's Muwatta
Book 61, Number 61.1.1:
Malik related to me from Ibn Shihab from Muhammad ibn Jubayr ibn Mutim that the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, "I have five names. I am Muhammad.I am Ahmad. I am al-Mahi (the effacer), by whom Allah effaces kufr. I am al-Hashir (the gatherer), before whom people are gathered. I am al-Aqib (the last)."
If Christian missionaries become stubborn and still refuse to accept this argument then you can use this argument against them from their own Bible.
In the Bible it says...
Matthew 1:22-23
22All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"- which means, "God with us."
Matthew is quoting Isaiah 7:14 in order to show that this prophecy is fulfilled in Jesus. However, notice that the prophecy says that the child will be called Immanuel. Nowhere in the Bible is Jesus called Immanuel and nowhere in the Bible does Jesus claim the name Immanuel to be one of his names. However, Christians like this one would simply argue back what I just did in this article.
However, the argument from the Muslim side is stronger because at least Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) claimed to be Ahmad. Nowhere does Jesus claim to be Immanuel.
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