A PROPHET

However, there are basically only two forces in the Universe. The force for good led by God and the force for evil led by Satan. After much reading and studying the writings of Muhammad, although I wasn't prepared to write Muhammad off as siding with Satan and a force for evil, I wasn't prepared to elevate him to the position of honor, at least in my mind, to that of a prophet. A wise sage; a teacher; a good shepherd; a savior, a redeemer, even a messiah to his people, yes! But a prophet? No!

So, I set out on a personal quest to understand a little better, the age old question, "What is a prophet?"

The American Heritage Dictionary defines a prophet as:

proph·et n. 1. A person who speaks by divine inspiration or as the interpreter through whom the will of a god is expressed. 2. A person gifted with profound moral insight and exceptional powers of expression. 3. A predictor; a soothsayer. 4. The chief spokesperson of a movement or cause. 5. Prophets used with a sing. or pl. verb Bible The second of the three divisions of the Hebrew Scriptures, comprising the books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Twelve. See note at Bible.

[ Middle English prophete from Old French from Latin propheta from Greek prophetes pro- before; See pro- 2 -phetes speaker (from phanai to speak); See bha- 2 in Indo-European Roots.]
proph'et·hood' n.

bha- 2. Important derivatives are: fable fate infant preface prophet abandon banish bandit fame phono- symphony confess blame
To speak. I. Contracted from *bhaú-. 1. FABLE, FATE; AFFABLE, (FANTOCCINI), INEFFABLE, INFANT, (INFANTRY), PREFACE, from Latin fari, to speak. 2. -PHASIA; APOPHASIS, PROPHET, from Greek phanai, to speak. 3. a. BAN 1, from Old English bannan, to summon, proclaim, and Old Norse banna, to prohibit, curse; b. BANAL, BANNS; ABANDON, from Old French ban, feudal jurisdiction, summons to military service, proclamation, Old French bandon, power, and Old English gebann, proclamation; c. BANISH, from Old French banir, to banish; d. CONTRABAND, from Late Latin bannus, bannum, proclamation; e. BANDIT, from Italian bandire, to muster, band together (< "to have been summoned"). a, b, c, d, and e all from Germanic suffixed form *ban-wan, *bannan, to speak publicly (used of particular kinds of proclamation in feudal or prefeudal custom; "to proclaim under penalty, summon to the levy, declare outlaw"). 4. Suffixed form *bha-ni-. a. BOON 1, from Old Norse bon, prayer, request; b. BEE 1, perhaps from Old English ben, prayer, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse bon, prayer. Both a and b from Germanic *boni-. 5. Suffixed form *bha-ma. a. FAME, FAMOUS; DEFAME, INFAMOUS, from Latin fama, talk, reputation, fame; b. EUPHEMISM, from Greek pheme, saying, speech. 6. Suffixed o-grade form *bho-na. PHONE 2, -PHONE, PHONEME, PHONETIC, PHONO-, -PHONY; ANTHEM, (ANTIPHON), APHONIA, CACOPHONOUS, EUPHONY, SYMPHONY, from Greek phone, voice, sound, and (denominative) phonein, to speak. 7. Suffixed zero-grade form *bhé-to-. CONFESS, PROFESS, from Latin fateri, to acknowledge, admit. 8. (BLAME), BLASPHEME, from Greek blasphemous, evil-speaking, blasphemous (first element obscure). [ Pokorny 2. bha- 105.]

That pretty much confirmed my original interpretation. I reasoned that Muhammad was a spiritual teacher but he prophesied nothing.

The Webster Unabridged defines a prophet as:

One who speaks for God or a deity : a divinely inspired revealer, interpret or spokesman: as a: a person believed in ancient Israel to be possessed of clairvoyance <is there no ~ of the Lord here, through whom we can inquire of the Lord? -2 Kings 3:11 (RSV) b: a member of a band of religious ecstatic believed in ancient Israel to be wonder workers and soothsayers <a band of ~s coming down from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them prophesying - 1 Sam10:5 (RSV) c: often cap : the writer of one of the prophetic books of the old testament d: an officer in a Christian Church; specif : one in the earlier church interpreting God's will under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit e usu cap : a person regarded by a group of followers as the final authoritative revealer of God's will <Muhammad the prophet of Allah to Muslims><to his followers Zoroaster is the prophet> 1 usu cap : the accredited leader of a religious group (as the Mormons) 2 one gifted with more than ordinary spiritual and moral insight : SEER <mighty ~... on whom those truths do rest which we are toiling all out lives to find - William Wordsworth>; esp : an inspired poet, 3: one who foretells future events : PREDICTOR <in defiance of all the ~s of doom> <weather ~> 4: an effective or leading spokesman for a cause, doctrine, or group <the ~ of higher education for the many - J.S. Reeves> <one of the ~s of socialism> <~ of literary realism> 5: Christian Science a: spiritual seer b: disappearance of material sense before conscious facts of spiritual Truth

Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, even before it did an about face and defined Muhammad as a prophet, emphasized that a prophet is a predictor of the future. Very distressing to me was my inability to duplicate the majority of my initial research which stressed in plain language that a prophet was merely a teacher. I remember thinking, 'Therefore, according to the definition, my grade school teacher must have also been a prophet!' Because my initial research did not stress that a prophet had to be a predictor of the future, I had subsequently concluded that Muhammad was in fact a prophet.

Then God reminded me that John the Baptist, the harbinger of the ministry of Jesus Christ, both had been written about with reverence by Muhammad in the Koran, it was John the Baptist's role to prepare the way for Christ to preach the Gospel. Christ called John the Baptist a prophet when He asked the Jews what they went out in the wilderness expecting to see, a prophet or a reed blowing in the wind?

Matthew 11:7-9
And as they departed, Jesus began to say unto the multitudes concerning John, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind?

But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? behold, they that wear soft [clothing] are in kings' houses.

But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet.

Therefore, a prophet need not predict the future!

Since the Law of Moses was to prepare the Israelites to accept the Gospel of Jesus, the principles of which Moses had when he first came down the first time from Mount Sinai, it was John the Baptist's mission to prepare the Jews to make the transition from the very basic Law of Moses to the higher law and more freedom or the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In like fashion, the descendants of Ishmael were a nomadic, pagan people. It was Muhammad's task, like Moses, the prepare the Arabs to accept the higher law of Jesus Christ. Muhammad speaks with reverence of the ancient prophets of John the Baptist, of Jesus Christ and the His Gospel. The prophecies and teachings of Muhammad were subsequently altered by xenophobic Arabs who sought to use this new religion, as a political base with which to solidify their power and hegemony over the people.

No time to rest on your laurels. While the Gospel of Jesus Christ as spoken of by Muhammad, is a higher law than either the Law of Moses or Islam, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is only two-thirds of the way home. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is to prepare the people to accept the highest law, the Principles of Eloheim or the Principles of God the Father or as the Muslims would say, The Principles of Allah!
 
 

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