In Islam, Muslims have a particular set of beliefs besides the general faith in Allah and in Prophecy of Muhammad (PBUH). Muslims believe that Allah is One, they have to pray in front of Him, offer Zakah, keep fasts and perform pilgrimage. However, besides that there are other values and beliefs that Muslims share all over the world.

One of the major beliefs that Muslims all across the globe share equally is that all the Prophets and the respective Scriptures they came with had the prediction of the arrival of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). The lines below discuss the prediction of arrival of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) in the light of different religious scriptures.

Allah Almighty says in Quran:

“Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered prophet of whom they find written in their sources, in the Torah and the Gospel, He directs them to what is just and forbids them from evil. And he permits them wholesome things and forbids them filthy things. He removes their burden from them, and the yokes that were on them.” (7:157)

From this ayah of Quran it is clear that the Arrival of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was predicted in the two renowned religious scriptures of that time. According to Quran, the mention of arrival of Prophet (PBUH) can be found in both Torah the book of Jews and Gospel the book of Christians.

In Gospel of John it is written:

“This is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent to him priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” and he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ, “They asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” And he said “Iam not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No”. (1:19-21)

From these lines of Gospel it is clear that when John was questioned of his status he denied being Christ, Elijah or the Prophet. Christ and Elijah were both the Prophets before or at that time, hence the mention of ‘The Prophet’ refers to Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) which implies that Jews knew about Prophet (PBUH) and knew that He would come one day and will be the true Prophet. Moreover, these lines from Gospel also assert that Christ, Elijah and Prophet are three different people about which the Jews knew, therefore, Jews ought to have known about the Prophet and the fact that He is not the Christ or Elijah, rather He would come later on.

At another instance in Gospel it is mentioned:

“Some of the people, therefore, when they heard these words were saying this certainly is the Prophet. Others were saying, This is the Christ’.”  (7:40-41)

These lines from Gospel of John again make it clear that Christ and the Prophet were two different people and the Jews were aware of the fact that both are men of God and they will come to exist in this world. Hence, the Jews were aware of the coming of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and His mentions in the Christian scriptures show that the latter Christians also knew about the arrival of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).

In short, the arrival of Muhammad (PBUH) as a Prophet is not something that happened out of the blue and about which the earlier religions had no clue, rather the major religions of the world in general and Abrahmic religions in particular knew about the arrival of Prophet (PBUH) the mentions of which can be found in their religious texts and scriptures.

Anisa Fatima works for QuranTutor.com where students know and understand how to learn Quran and develop an understanding of its meanings as well.