prophecy of Abraham

Appeared in Egyptian gazette on Friday 13^th October, 2006

The prophecy of Abraham about Annabey

The Arabic word "Annabey" means the prophet. In the Middle East, “Annaby” refers to Mohammad bin Abd Allah (PBUH), the messenger of God who preached Islam. "Annabey" is for him a proper name. Many prophets predicted the coming of a very special prophet. In the Old Testament, he was named "Prophet" with a capital P.

The Gospel of Barnabas, which is not recognized by the Christian churches, contains many prophecies about a prophet who would be a descendant of Ishmael (PBUH) who would be sent to all nations of the earth, named Mohammad. Some of these prophecies were unfulfilled, others were wrong, which affirms that Muslims had not written this Gospel, as the churches claim, and that whoever wrote this text did not live at the time of prophet Mohammad (PBUH) or any time after him.

We will discuss here after these prophecies in the Gospel of Barnabas and other sources to find whether Mohammad is the prophet whose coming was foretold.

God promised Abraham (PBUH) that one of his descendants, he and his son Ishmael, would be a massager of God and rebuild the Holy Kaa'bah in Mecca (paran in the Old Testament). In the Holy Quran we read “And remember Abraham and Isma'il raised the foundations of the House (with this prayer): "Our Lord! Accept (this service) from us: for Thou art the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing. Our Lord! Make of us Muslims bowing to Thy (Will); and of our progeny a people Muslim, bowing to Thy (Will); and show us our places for the celebration of (due) rites; and turn unto us (in Mercy); for Thou art the Oft-Returning, Most Merciful.” (Baqarah 2: 127,128). We don't know for crtain whether this happened before he was tested with the order to slaughter his son Ishmael (PBUH) or after. Although the name of Ishmael was not mentioned in the verse; it confirms this.

In Barnabas 44: 1-12 “Thereupon said the disciples: ‘O master, it is thus written in the book of Moses that in Isaac was the promise made.’ Jesus answered, with a groan: ‘It is so written, but Moses wrote it not, nor Joshua, but rather our rabbis, who fear not God. Verily I say unto you, that if ye consider the words of the angel Gabriel, ye shall discover the malice of our scribes and doctors. For the angel said: “Abraham, all the world shall know how God loveth thee, but how shall the world know the love that thou bearest to God? Assuredly it is necessary that thou do something for love of God.” Abraham answered: “Behold the servant of God, ready to do all that which God shall will.” Then spake God saying to Abraham: “Take thy son thy firstborn Ishmael, and come up the mountain to sacrifice him.” How is Isaac firstborn, if when Isaac was born Ishmael was seven years old?’ Then said the disciples: ‘Clear is the deception of our doctors’”.

Also we find in Barnabas 208: 6- 8 “Jesus answered: ‘the zeal of thine honour, O God, enflameth me and I cannot hold my peace. Verily I say, the son of Abraham was Ishmael, from whom must be descended the Messiah promised to Abraham, that in him should all the tribes of the earth be blessed".

But in the Old Testament “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”

The attempted sacrifice by Ishmael took place over a mountain beside Mecca in a city named now Menah. One of the of pilgrimage rituals is to walk between two hills one of them is named “Marwa”. It is very close to the word “Moriah”. May be these territories was named then Moriah land. In Quran Baqarah 2: 158 “Behold! Safa and Marwa are among the Symbols of Allah. So if those who visit the House in the Season or at other times, should compass them round, it is no sin in them. And if any one obeyeth his own impulse to Good, be sure that Allah is He Who recogniseth and knoweth.”

And in Genesis 22: 15- 18 “And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”

The words “thine only son” means that who was about to be sacrificed was Ishmael before Isaac was born (PBUT). The words “thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest” which exists in the first verse, if it was really said, means that Abraham loved Isaac only, and that he did not love his firstborn child Ishmael. This is not acceptable from any person, and should be rejected more if this person is a prophet as Abraham. We also find in Genesis 17: 18 Abraham (PBUH) saying “And Abraham said unto God, O that Ishmael might live before thee!” We find also in Genesis 17: 20 God say “And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee: Behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation.” Why did Abraham not love him? On the contrary we find in Barnabas 99: 10 “Abraham loved his son Ishmael a little more than was right, wherefore God commanded, in order to kill that evil love out the heart of Abraham, that he should slay his son: which be would have done had the knife cut”. It is therefore certain that word “Isaac” should be inserted in this verse.

There is an agreement that Ishmael is the firstborn of Abraham (PBUT) and the firstborn of Hajar, while Isaac is only the firstborn of Sarah. The difference between them in age differs from source to another. It is 14 years in the Old Testament, 7 years in Barnabas; most probably it is around 10 years according to Quran.

We find also in Barnabas 13: 15, 16 “The angel Gabriel answered: ‘Arise, Jesus, and remember Abraham, who being willing to make sacrifice to God of his only-begotten son lshmael, to fulfil the word of God, and the knife not being able to cut his son, at my word offered in sacrifice a sheep.”

According to train of events in the Old Testament God had promised Abraham much before the sacrifice, in the same Chapter that God spoke about Ishmael, to have many descendants. Then there was no temptation, as Abraham would be sure that his son would survive and have children. We can suspect that the event true position is right before he was given this promise in Geneses 17: 4- 21.

Another proof that Ishmael was the one, who was to be sacrificed, is that according to the commandments of Moses the sacrifice is offered for the firstborn only, following Abraham (PBUT).

We can understand then that God's messenger to all people (“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed” as expressed in the Old Testament) should be from the descendants of who was to be sacrificed (Ishmael).