You Say Periklute, I Say Paraclete: Towards a Reconciliation Between the Bible and the Quran

[EasternQibla]

I had another paper published in the Iranian journal, Religious Inquiries, earlier this year, 2020. Here is the summary:

The Quranic statement that Jesus predicted Muhammad by name is examined in light of the expectation of what the “kingdom of God” was. The concept of the kingdom of God as being the light or fire of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost is contrasted with the Sufi concept of the “Light of Muhammad.” Pentecost could be the Light of Muhammad coming upon the apostles of Christ; the Light is the same, but known under a different name. However, on the other hand, it is shown that some Jewish Christians could have been looking for an earthly “kingdom of Israel” to be restored. In this case, they would be expecting a human person to bring this about. The name “Muhammad” is then wordplay on the term “Paraclete” via the related Greek word “periklute,” having the same approximate meaning as the name “Muhammad.” In this way, the term “Paraclete” remains unchanged in the Bible, referring to Pentecost, while enabling Jewish Christians to give it a double meaning, because these two Greek words appeared identical when written in Semitic languages before the invention of vowel points. Finally, non-biblical references to Jesus talking about the Paraclete are examined and shown to have some relevance

The pdf can be downloaded from:

http://ri.urd.ac.ir/article_113824.html

Please let me know what you think.

Richard

Edited December 29, 2020 by EasternQibla
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[Northwest]

I was thinking about this topic recently and have the following to note, keeping in mind that it has no bearing, one way or another, on the veracity of Islam: John 14:16–7 makes clear, contextually, that the direct reference is to the Spirit rather than the Prophet Muhammad per se: for a future Prophet could not be said to be presently dwelling among the disciples and to soon be “in” them (v. 17). Also, the following parallelism would seem to exclude a reference to the Prophet: in emulating God, Jesus is empowered by the Spirit, who represents the Divine presence. As God’s penultimate Representative, the Messiah, Jesus is “one” with Him through His Spirit, and in his absence is “in” his followers by the Spirit he passes on (vv. 18,20). Moreover, Jesus is said to personally “send” or pass on the Paraclete (John 14:26, 15:26, 16:7) through God’s agency, something that cannot be said in relation to the Prophet. All the while Jesus is addressing his disciples rather than a future, unknown generation.

In general, the Bible, whether in the Old (Tanakh) or New Testament, seems to contain few, if any, references to Islamic personalities. (The “Lamb”/“Word” of Revelation 5:9–10, 17:14, 19:16 is explicitly said to be martyred and to return in judgment, so he cannot be said to be either Imam Hussein or the Mahdi, for instance.) It may well allude to them—the message of the Bible and the Quran being one, at least in its original form—but does not see them as distinct from earlier Divine Representatives who laid the foundations of faith, i.e., Abraham, Moses, and so on. After all, the Quran is said to confirm all that was revealed before, going as far back as Adam, and in this sense is not original at all. The Prophet’s message is the same as that of his predecessors, with some corrections and clarifications here and there. (On this basis, all God’s Representatives can be said to reflect the primordial Divine Light.) So I do not think that the Bible can be used to disprove (or prove) Islam.