Jewish, especially as Muhammad (Peace Be Unto Him) presented himself as a Successor of earlier Prophets, not as a divinity.”1
The seventh-century Armenian bishop Sebeos described the Arab conquest of Palestine as the descendants of Ishmael coming to the aid of the descendants of Isaac against the Byzantine Empire, in fulfillment of God’s promise to their common ancestor Abraham.2
A contemporary Rabbi also wrote in a letter:
God it was who inspired [Muhammad, PBUH], the Ishmaelite kingdom to aid us. When they spread forth and captured the Land of the Hind from the hand of Edom and reached Jerusalem, there were Israelites among them. They showed them the place of the Temple and have dwelled with them to this day. They made it a condition that they preserve the place of the Temple from any abomination and would pray at its gates and none would gainsay them.3
Keith Ward, who was Regius Professor of Theology at Oxford, has written:
Christians can see Muhammad [PBUH] as truly inspired by God, as called to proclaim a strict monotheism faith, and as chosen by God for that purpose. In seeing him thus, they can place him on the same level as all the prophets of Israel and the apostles of the early Christian Church. It may even be possible to place him, for an authentically Christian viewpoint, on the same level as Jesus [PBUH], insofar as prophet-hood is concerned. In other words, a Christian can see Muhammad [PBUH] as inspired in the same sense as Jewish and Christian Prophets, and thus accord him the highest honour as a true Prophet.4
Thus, all these chronicles herald to us the one and the same message that: There is no God but ALLAH, Who, in ages of time sent His chosen servants to be His Prophets for the guidance of humankind and to herald the tidings of the coming of His Beloved Messenger, Muhammad (Peace Be Unto Him). Among them was Adam and Noah, Abraham and Amran, Ishmael and Isaac, Moses and Aaron, John and Jesus. Indeed, it is with His last Prophet and Messenger, Muhammad (Peace Be Unto them) that ALLAH Himself sealed the message of the revelations by sending His everlasting unalterable Quran for the guidance of all mankind and for all times to come.
Before we conclude our preface and begin our work, we urge every human to join hands with each other on the commonalities of beliefs as essentials of a religion are concerned and look for the better glory of human civilization as is the call of the “Glorious Quran”.
“Say (O Prophet Muhammad, Salla ALLAH Hu Alaihi Wa Alihi Wa Sallam): O People of the Scripture! Come to Common terms between us and you: that we shall worship none but ALLAH, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords besides ALLAH. And if they turn away, then say: Bear witness that we are they who have Surrendered (unto Him)” – (Quran 3:64).
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- Shlomo Sand and Yael Lotan. The Invention of the Jewish People, New York: Verso, 2008, p.181.
- (Ibid, p.182).
- Shlomo Dov Goitein. Palestinian Jewry in Early Islamic and Crusader Times, Jerusalem: Ben Zvi Publications, 1980 (in Hebrew), p.11.
- Marcus Braybrooke, Islam: A Christian Approach, Raleigh: Lulu.com, 2013, p.28
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