NOTICE: This article is a reproduction from Submitters Perspective No 45, September 1988.
An article entitled “THE PROPHET OF THE COVENANT” (Notice: A copy of the article is attached at the end of this article) was published in the latest issue of South Africa’s MUSLIM DIGEST. Hasan Rawat bases his whole article on Verse 3:81. As shown in the photocopied portion of the article, Mr. Rawat acknowledges that Allah has taken a covenant from the prophets, whereby they pledged to believe in and support an apostle who will come after them. Mr. Rawat’s basic understanding of 3:81 was correct. However, his identification of Muhammad as that particular apostle was founded on a number of glaring mistakes:
(1) Mr. Rawat’s mistakes begin with the title of his article; Verse 3:81 proclaims the advent of an “apostle” (Rasool) who will confirm all the “prophets” (Nabis). The correct title should have been “THE APOSTLE (RASOOL) OF THE COVENAT,” since the Verse talked about “Rasool” (messenger or apostle ), not a “Nabi” (prophet).
(2) The prophet Muhammad certainly was a prophet (Nabi), the final prophet, and must be included in “the prophets” (Nabiyyeen) of 3:81. Verse 3:81 talks about “THE PROPHETS” without any exclusions. It does not say “the previous prophets,” or “the prophets prior to Muhammad,” or any such exceptions. Why did Hasan Rawat exclude Muhammad from “the prophets”? This is his second glaring mistake.
(3) Obviously, Mr. Rawat is not at all aware that the Qur’an did specifically tell us that Muhammad was one of the prophets who gave that solemn pledge to God. God of course knew that some people, like Mr. Rawat, will exalt Muhammad beyond the truth, and make him the “Apostle of the Covenant.” Consequently, God’s infinite wisdom saw to it that Muhammad is specifically shown to have been one of those prophets who pledged to support the APOSTLE OF THE COVENANT. Verse 7 in Sura 33 tells the world that Muhammad was one of the prophets who made that historic pledge: “We took a covenant from all the prophets; from you (Muhammad), and from Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus the son of Mary. We took a solemn covenant from them” 33:7.
Any objective and sincere believer in the Qur’an will readily see that Muhammad could not possibly be the “Apostle of the Covenant.” In the last few issues of M.P., irrefutable evidence was presented to prove that Rashad Khalifa is indeed the “Apostle of the Covenant.” Through mathematical coding, the Qur’an identifies Rashad Khalifa, by name, as God’s messenger or apostle who will confirm all the prophets and restore all their messages. Prominent among those proofs are:
1. Unveiling the Qur’an’s miraculous, 19-based mathematical code after it had remained a divinely guarded secret for 1400 years.
2. The root word for “Rashad” in all its forms is mentioned in the Qur’an precisely 19 times (see INDEX TO THE WORDS OF QUR’AN, Page 320).
3. When we add the numbers of the suras and verses where “Rashad” and “Khalifa” are mentioned, the total comes to 1463, or 19×77.
4. If we get specific, and look for the specific names “Rashad” and the human “Khalifa” (38:26), and add the numbers of suras and verses where these two names are found, the total comes to 171, or 19×9.
5. The gematrical value of the whole verse 3:81 is 13148, or 19 x 692.
6. The gematrical value of the statement within 3:81 that specifically says “Then comes to you an apostle confirming what is with you,” is 836, or 19×44.
7. Verse 33:7 that informs us that Muhammad was one of the prophets who made that famous pledge consists of 76 letters, or 19×4, and this is the same number of letters as the first Qur’anic revelation (96:1-5). Additionally, when we add the sura number (33) to the verse number (7), we get the verse number in the same sura (Verse 40) which informs us that Muhammad was the last prophet (Nabi).
8. The gematrical value of Moses (116) plus Jesus (150) is a multiple of 19, the gematrical value of Ismail (211) plus Isaac (169) is a multiple of 19, and the gematrical value of the apostles of Islam Abraham (258) and Muhammad (92) is not completed to a multiple of 19 unless we add the gematrical value of Rashad (505). Thus, the gematrical value is a multiple of 19 only when we add the values of the three messengers of Islam Abraham, Muhammad, and Rashad (see details in the June issue of M.P.).
Finally, the MUSLIM DIGEST tried to “prove” that Rashad Khalifa is NOT a messenger of God on the basis of glaring mistakes that a first grader in any Arabic school can see. Here are their comic reasons for rejecting Rashad as God’s messenger !!!:
1. Rashad lied when he said that the Qur’an is perfectly preserved, then declared that 9:128-129 are false, human-made verses.
2. The Basmalah (1:1) “consists of 23 letters, not 19.”
3. The word “Allah” occurs in the Qur’an “more than 2698 times.” They don’t know how many times, but they are sure that it occurs more than 2698 times.
If these are the MUSLIM DIGEST’s objections, then the MUSLIM DIGEST has just confessed that Rashad Khalifa is God’s messenger, THE APOSTLE OF THE COVENANT. For all three allegations against Rashad are easily refuted as follows:
[1] Rashad has always maintained that the Qur’an is perfectly preserved. The overwhelming evidence that 9:128-129 are false actually proves the perfect preservation of the Qur’an, and the inability of God’s enemies to inject any falsehood into the Qur’an. The realization that these two verses are false began long time ago, and Al-Bukhari is one of the many classic references that proclaimed that 9:128-129 are suspect. The Qur’an’s mathematical code proved beyond doubt that these two sentences are false. In fact, one of Rashad’s major missions is to confirm the pure and perfect Qur’an, and to nullify the flimsy attempt to tamper with God’s final message to the world.
[2] Anyone who reads Arabic and looks at any Qur’an in the world will see clearly that Basmalah (1:1) does consist of 19 letters. The whole Muslim World knows that the famous gematrical value of Basmalahis 786, which is the sum total of 19 letters’ gematrical values, not 23. This is an incontrovertible physical fact.
[3] Equally incontrovertible is the physical fact that the word “Allah” occurs in the Qur’an 2698 times, 19×142. Just look up INDEX TO THE WORDS OF QURAN (Pages 40-75) and count the occurrences of the word “Allah.” You will find the total 2698 (of course, you have to remove the two false sentences at the end of Sura 9).
PS.: The MUSLIM DIGEST’s article is in Vol. 38 (19×2), Nos. 9 & 10 (19).
The Muslim Digest
INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE OF MUSLIM AFFAIRS Founded by His Eminence MOHAMMED ABDUL ALEEM SIODIQUE, AL-QADERI
Vol. 38, No. 9 & 10 Ramadan 1408 April/May, 1988
THE PROPHET OF THE COVENANT
By HASAN M. RAWAT. M.A.
Of Barolia, Gujarat, India.
BEHOLD! Allah took the Covenant from the prophets (in the world of souls before the creation of Adam) saying:“I give you a Book and Wisdom. Then comes to you an Apostle confirming what is with you; do ye believe in him and render him help.” Allah said: “Do ye agree and take this covenant as binding on you?” They said,“(Yes), We agree.” He (Allah) said, “Then bear witness and I am with you among the witnesses.” (Sura Al-i-Imran: Verse 81 Qur’an).
When Allah made this solemn covenant with His prophets about an Apostle to come, that Apostle should not only be the best and the most important, but also the last to come, so He (Allah) gathered His prophets and made a covenant with them. The prophets agreed with Him. The Apostle of the Covenant was Muhammad (s.a.w.). Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib (R.A.) and Abd-Allah ibn Abbas said that this Mithaq- e -Nabiyyin (Covenant of the Prophets) was for Muhammad (s.a.w.). Allama Subki says that all the prophets promised to believe in the prophethood of Muhammad (s.a.w.) and advise their followers to have faith in his (Muhammad’s) prophethood; and, as such, they would be counted as members of his (Muhammad’s) Ummah. So he was the prophet of all the prophets. The words: ثُمَّ جَاءَكُمْ “Then comes to you”) indicates that such a great Apostle was to come as the last of all of them.
The words: مُصَدِّقٌ لِمَا مَعَكُمْ also say that he will vouchsafe all the knowledge given to the’ prophets of the past; and thereby, too, it is suggested that he will come as the last of all the prophets.
So the Apostle of Allah said: “If Nabi Musa (A.S.) were alive he would have no alternative but to obey me.”
And when Nabi Isa (A.S.) descends (in his second advent), he will follow the teachings of the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad’s (s.a.w.) commands. (lbn Kathir).
In the Covenant of the Prophets with Allah the prophets gave Him the promise to fulfil the duties of their prophethood, help one another, vouchsafing one another’s truthfulness, and announce to their peoples that Muhammad (S) is the last prophet of Allah and there is no prophet after him (Muzhari).
THE PROPHET OF THE PROPHECIES OF THE PROPHETS
The Ahle’ Kitab (The Jews and the Christians) knew about the Apostle of the Covenant from their Scriptures (Pentateuch and Evangel of the
April/May, 1988 THE MUSLIM DIGEST Page 199)