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There are various prophecies mentioned in the Quran which specifically
addressed Prophet Muhammad. The fulfillment of these prophecies has been well
documented in the books of seerah, or the biography of the Prophet as
recorded by his disciples.
Entering
Mecca’s Grand Mosque (al-Masjid al-Haram)
In the sixth
year after the Prophet was forced to migrate from Mecca to Medina, he saw
himself visiting Mecca and performing pilgrimage in a vision mentioned in the
Quran:
“Certainly has
God showed to His Messenger the vision (i.e. dream) in truth. You will surely enter al-Haram mosque, if
God wills, in safety, with your heads shaved and [hair] shortened[1], not
fearing [anyone]. He knew what you did
not know and has arranged before that a conquest near [at hand].” (Quran
48:27)
God made three
promises:
(a) Muhammad would enter into Mecca’s Grand
Mosque.
(b) Muhammad would enter in a state of
security.
(c) Muhammad and his companions would get to
perform pilgrimage and fulfill its rituals.
Ignoring the
hostility of Meccans, Prophet Muhammad gathered his companions and embarked
on a peaceful journey to Mecca. But
the Meccans continued to be hostile and he was forced to return to Medina. The vision remained unfulfilled; however,
an important treaty was signed between the Prophet and the Meccans, which
would prove of great significance. It
is due to this treaty that Muhammad performed a peaceful pilgrimage with his
companions the very next year. The
vision had found its fulfillment.
The Quranic
Prophecy; ‘The Unbelievers Will Lose’
Muslims were
subject to severe persecution in Mecca at the hand of pagans. At one time they were boycotted for three
years, and the perpetual shortage of food sometimes bordered on famine. Any
talk of victory was unimaginable.
Despite all
odds, God prophesized in Mecca:
“[The pagans’]
assembly will be defeated, and they shall turn their backs [in flight]!.”
(Quran 54:45)
The Arabic
verb yuhzamu is preceded by sa (an Arabic prefix denoting the future tense),
making it a distinct prophecy awaiting fulfillment in future. And so it was in the holy month of Ramadan,
two years after the Prophet’s migration from Mecca to Medina that the Meccans
were defeated in the Battle of Badr and forced to retreat.[4] Umar, the second caliph of the Muslims
after the Prophet, used to say that they did not know how the Quranic
prophecy would be fulfilled until they themselves witnessed it coming true at
the famous battle of Badr! (Saheeh Al-Bukhari)
The Quranic
Prophecy; ‘Believers Will Get Political Authority’
Despite severe
oppression at the hands of Meccans, Muslims were given good news from God:
“God has
promised those who have believed among you and done righteous deeds that He
will surely grant them succession [to authority] upon the earth just as He
granted it to those before them and that He will surely establish [therein]
their religion which He has preferred for them and that He will surely
substitute for them, after their fear, security, [for] they worship Me, not
associating anything with Me. But
whoever disbelieves after that - then those are the defiantly disobedient.”
(Quran 24:55)
How such a
promise from Almighty God would be fulfilled to the oppressed, brutalized
Muslims in Mecca was impossible to imagine at the time it was made. It was
fulfilled, nevertheless.
Indeed, God made Muslims secure and gave them political sway in a
matter of years.
“And Our word
[decree] has already preceded for Our slaves, the messengers, [that] indeed,
they would be those given victory.” (Quran 37:171-172)
At first, the
Muslims established their own state, by the invitation of the people of
Medina, when God commanded they migrate there from Mecca. Then, within the lifetime of the Prophet,
that state expanded to hold sway over the whole of the Arabian Peninsula,
from the Gulf of Aqaba and the Arabian Gulf to the Arabian Sea in the south,
including the place from whence the Muslims had been driven out (Mecca
itself). This decree was ongoing, for
the expansion of the Muslim political and religious dominion did not stop at
the Arabian Peninsula. History gives a living testimony that the Muslims
addressed by these verses ruled the lands of the former Persian and Roman
empires, an expansion that amazed and won admiration of world
historians. In the words of
Encyclopedia Britannica:
“Within 12
years after Muhammad’s death, the armies of Islam took possession of Syria,
Iraq, Persia, Armenia, Egypt, and Cyrenaica (in modern Libya).”
The Quran’s
Prophecy Regarding the Hypocrites and the Tribe of Banu Nadhir
God says in
the Quran:
“Surely, if
they are expelled, never will they (hypocrites) go out with them, and if they
are attacked, they will never help them.
And if they do help them, they (hypocrites) will turn their backs, so
they will not be victorious.” (Quran 59:12)
Pickthall (For)
indeed if they are driven out they go not out with them, and indeed if they
are attacked they help them not, and indeed if they had helped them they
would have turned and fled, and then they would not have been victorious.
“Have you not
observed how those who are hypocrites, tell their brothers (i.e. associates)
among the People of the Scripture who disbelieved, ‘If you are expelled, we
will surely also leave with you, and we will never anyone against you; and if
you are attacked (i.e. by the Muslim militia), we will surely aid you.’ But God bears witness that they are
liars. If they (i.e. the Jews) are expelled,
they (i.e. the hypocrites) will not leave with them, and if they are fought,
they will not aid them. And [even] if
they were to aid them, they will surely turn their backs; then they will not
be aided.” (Quran 59:11-12)
The prophecy
was fulfilled when the Banu Nadhir were expelled in August 625 CE from
Medina; the hypocrites did not accompany them or come to their aid.
The Quranic
Prophecies concerning Future Confrontations
“They will not
harm you except for [some] annoyance.
And if they fight you, they will show you their backs (i.e., flee);
then they will not be aided.” (Quran 3:111)
“And if those
(Meccans) who disbelieve were to fight you, they would certainly turn their backs
(i.e., flee). Then they would not find
a protector or a helper.” (Quran 48:22)
Historically,
after these verses were revealed, the unbelievers in the Arabian Peninsula
were never able to withstand the Muslims again.
We see from
the prophecies discussed in these articles that the claim many detractors of
Muhammad’s Prophethood are utterly unfounded.
They have based their criticism on the challenge to show that what
Muhammad, may the blessing and mercy of God be upon him, foretold, if
anything, and what came true of his foretelling.[8] Demonstrably, he did prophesize, with God’s
guidance, and demonstrably, what he was directed to tell us did actually
occur. Therefore, by the criterion of
the detractors, Muhammad was the Messenger of God, and the last of the
prophets to be sent, by both his statements in the Sunnah (narrations from
his life) and the word of the Quran.
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