Prophecies About Prophet Muhammad ﷺ By Prophet Zephaniah

(Cite: Khan, Dr. (Mufti) Imran & Hamdani, Mufti Shah Rafi Uddin. (2018), Prophecies About Prophet Muhammad By Prophet Zephaniah , Encyclopedia of Muhammad , Seerat Research Center, Karachi, Pakistan, Vol. 1, Pg. 344-348.)

Zephaniah spoke boldly against religious and moral subversion. His words have three divisions. In the first and second sections, he warns not only Judah and Jerusalem, but almost the entire universe against the "Day of the Lord", that is, the punishment to descend. In the third part, 9-20, Zephaniah has a prophetic glance at the "Kingdom of God of the future," in which nations will turn to God Almighty and unite. The most significant points of this prophecy are as follows:

لِأَنِّي حِينَئِذٍ أُحَوِّلُ ٱلشُّعُوبَ إِلَى شَفَةٍ نَقِيَّةٍ، لِيَدْعُوا كُلُّهُمْ بِٱسْمِ ٱلرَّبِّ، لِيَعْبُدُوهُ بِكَتِفٍ وَاحِدَةٍ. مِنْ عَبْرِ أَنْهَارِ كُوشٍ ٱلْمُتَضَرِّعُونَ إِلَيَّ، مُتَبَدِّدِيَّ، يُقَدِّمُونَ تَقْدِمَتِي. فِي ذَلِكَ ٱلْيَوْمِ لَا تَخْزَيْنَ مِنْ كُلِّ أَعْمَالِكِ ٱلَّتِي تَعَدَّيْتِ بِهَا عَلَيَّ. لِأَنِّي حِينَئِذٍ أَنْزِعُ مِنْ وَسَطِكِ مُبْتَهِجِي كِبْرِيَائِكِ، وَلَنْ تَعُودِي بَعْدُ إِلَى ٱلتَّكَبُّرِ فِي جَبَلِ قُدْسِي. وَأُبْقِي فِي وَسَطِكِ شَعْبًا بَائِسًا وَمِسْكِينًا، فَيَتَوَكَّلُونَ عَلَى ٱسْمِ ٱلرَّبِّ . . . فِي ٱلْوَقْتِ ٱلَّذِي فِيهِ آتِي بِكُمْ وَفِي وَقْتِ جَمْعِي إِيَّاكُمْ. لِأَنِّي أُصَيِّرُكُمُ ٱسْمًا وَتَسْبِيحَةً فِي شُعُوبِ ٱلْأَرْضِ كُلِّهَا، حِينَ أَرُدُّ مَسْبِيِّيكُمْ قُدَّامَ أَعْيُنِكُمْ، قَالَ ٱلرَّبُّ. ¹

“Then I will change the people of the nations, and they will pray to me alone and not to other gods. They will all obey me. Even from distant Ethiopia, my scattered people will bring offerings to me. At that time you, my people, will no longer need to be ashamed that you rebelled against me. I will remove everyone who is proud and arrogant, and you will never again rebel against me on my sacred hill. I will leave there a humble and lowly people, who will come to me for help . . . The time is coming! I will bring your scattered people home; I will make you famous throughout the world and make you prosperous once again.” The Lord has spoken.

Bible commentators argue that this prophecy applies to the second coming of Jesus towards the end of time. However, while some of them understand from "Pure Language" (saphah Berurah) that God will turn to the nations through His holy servants, some others interpret it in the sense that God will turn to the nations with a pure lip, by purifying their sinful lips. That He will convert them that they may be able to call upon Him with pure lips. This second group asserts that people will no longer call upon idols, but every tongue will confess the One True God. In other words, the Jews will give up idolatry, and convert under the Gospel. Nevertheless, there are still other commentators who read "Pure Language" as a clear, easily intelligible, unmistakable language. For example, David Kimchi interprets this language as purified Hebrew, and those of the same opinion claim that the official language of Jesus’s government will be Hebrew, and this government will be established after the battle of God. According to them, while this purification of the lips does not exclude forgiveness of sins through faith in Jesus , the context suggests appropriate ceremonial behaviour as well, and it is thus very likely that Hebrew will be the requisite (sometimes mandatory) language for the worship at Jerusalem. ²

God's Turning to Nations with a Book with a Pure Tongue

Without any prejudices, it is unquestionably clear that with all its signs this prophecy of Zephaniah points to the Holy Prophet and the Holy Quran. First of all, God Almighty has turned to all nations with the Holy Quran, which was revealed in the pure and clear Arabic language. God declares in the Holy Quran that this fact was prefigured in previous Divine Scriptures:

نَزَلَ بِهِ الرُّوحُ الْأَمِينُ 193 عَلَى قَلْبِكَ لِتَكُونَ مِنَ الْمُنْذِرِينَ 194 بِلِسَانٍ عَرَبِيٍّ مُبِينٍ 195 وَإِنَّهُ لَفِي زُبُرِ الْأَوَّلِينَ 196 أَوَلَمْ يَكُنْ لَهُمْ آيَةً أَنْ يَعْلَمَهُ عُلَمَاءُ بَنِي إِسْرَائِيلَ 197³

The Trustworthy Spirit brought it down. (Angel Jibreel – peace be upon him) Upon your heart, for you to convey a warning. In plain Arabic language. And indeed it is mentioned in the earlier Books. And was this not a sign for them, that the scholars of the Descendants of Israel may recognise this Prophet?

Secondly, no Scripture other than the Holy Quran has been preserved in its original language, for the followers of all the previous scriptures, worship God in different tongues. However, the Muslims throughout the world have been worshipping God in the same language of the Holy Quran since the first day of its revelation. Thirdly, being a universal religion with the Holy Quran is its pure tongue, Islam has made all of its followers from every language, nation and race into a single community and Muslims worship the Lord together in mosques five times a day and during the pilgrimage. The forms of worship are also the same for all Muslims regardless of differences of native language, race and nationality. That is, Muslims worship God Almighty with one consent: Fourthly, it has been Islam, which decisively forbids all types of idolatry and polytheism. It eradicated idolatry wherever it has spread.

Other Signs in Zephaniah’s Prophecy for the Holy Prophet

Just like the first sign in Zephaniah’s prophecy under discussion, the other signs are also about the Holy Prophet and Islam. God Almighty has promised in the Holy Quran:

وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَأَنْتَ فِيهِمْ وَمَا كَانَ اللَّهُ مُعَذِّبَهُمْ وَهُمْ يَسْتَغْفِرُونَ 33⁴

And it is not for Allah to punish them while you O dear Prophet (Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him) are amongst them, and Allah will not punish them as long as they are seeking forgiveness. (Prophet Mohammed – peace and blessings be upon him – is a mercy unto mankind.)

It states That so long as Muhammad is among people or his way (Sunna) is followed, and so long people turn to Him in repentance for their sins, He will not punish them. That is, God will not put them to shame for their doings. The other sign is that Islam earnestly advocates humility and modesty, and vehemently forbids haughtiness. It also orders helping the weak, orphans, the needy and the poor. It is only Islam which has instituted this mutual helping and social solidarity as a prescribed religious duty under the name of Zakah. It is also only the Muslims who begin reading the Quran with "I seek refuge in God from Satan, the accursed," and every good deed with "In the Name of God, the All-Merciful, the All-Compassionate." In other words, it is only the Muslims who call upon the Name of the Lord and take refuge in His Name.

As for the terms Zion, Israel, Jerusalem, etc. in the prophecy, they are either interpolations or, as explained several times before, mean other similar cities and, those tribes of Israel who became Muslims in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

CONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER

All the prophets who came to this world had an identical mission. They taught that man’s life on earth was but an infinitesimal part of his eternal life. In this world he was sent for the test. Reward or punishment would come in the next. After death, if he had followed the Lord’s path, he would find his eternal abode in heaven. But, if he had strayed from it, he would be plunged straight into hell. His damnation would be everlasting. This was the reality of life taught by each and every one of the prophets.

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Adam was the first man on earth and also the first prophet. He was succeeded by a long line of prophet’s right up to the time of Jesus . Altogether there have been some 124,000 prophets of God who appeared in different lands and among different people.

From Adam till Jesus , each prophet had two primary duties. They preached the divine religion of monotheism and gave the glad tidings about the arrival of the Holy Prophet . When all prophets preached the same concept of monotheism, then why did different religions appear? Different religions appeared after the demise of the prophet of a particular nation, when people amended the divine religions and the divine law according to their will. When each nation amended the religion according to their will, different religions emerged.

It should be clear that all religions of this world consider themselves as ‘true’ and their followers also provide the evidences to prove it. If we screen out other religions and just take a look at the history of revealed religions, then, the three major religions of earth are emerged: Judaism, Christianity and Islam.

The conflict between these religions is just as old as the emergence of Christianity and Islam themself. There may be different religious, political, social and cultural reasons for this discord, but the basic disagreement was based on that sermon of Moses , in which he gave his people, the following guidance:

أُقِيمُ لَهُمْ نَبِيًّا مِنْ وَسَطِ إِخْوَتِهِمْ مِثْلَكَ، وَأَجْعَلُ كَلَامِي فِي فَمِهِ، فَيُكَلِّمُهُمْ بِكُلِّ مَا أُوصِيهِ بِهِ. ⁵

“I will send them a prophet like you from among their own people; I will tell him what to say, and he will tell the people everything I command”

For centuries this prophecy has been the epicenter of interest and arguments of many religious scholars. On one side, Christians believe that the prophet which Moses prophesied was Jesus , and he has appeared. On the contrary, Jews argue that the prophet has not appeared till date, while the Muslims refute both of their claims and assert that the prophet mentioned in prognostication is none other than Prophet Muhammad . The logical conclusion of this dissonance is that if the Christians are right, then the beliefs of Jews are deemed false, who are still waiting for that prophet. Secondly, the claim of the Muslims would also be refuted. If the Jews are right then it would mean that the Christians and Muslims have been deceived in the decipherment of the prophet and if Islam’s claim is accurate, then the foundation of Christianity and Judaism is shaken.

But, as can be seen from the in-depth analysis and discussion presented in this chapter, the prophecies provided by the divine messengers hold true for no one other than Prophet Muhammad . It also shows the mistakes committed by the Christian and Jew scholars while translating the biblical verses, and interpreting the prophecies which lead to such global dissonance. If these scholars look at these prophecies with an open mind, hopefully, they will find the truth shining brighter than the sun. May Allah guide us all to the right way.

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• ¹  The Bible, Zephaniah 3: 9-12 & 20
• ²  Anthony J. Kliznsmit (1992), The History of linguistics in the Low Countries, John Benjamin, Publishing Company, Amsterdam, Netherland, Pg. 190; Dr. Robert D. Luginbill, The Coming Tribulation: A History of the Apocalypse, http://ichthys.com/Tribulation Part 6. htm;http://bible.cc/hosea/3-4.htm
• ³  Holy Quran Al-Shu’ra (The Poets) 26: 193-197
• ⁴  Quran, Al-Anfal (The War Booty) 8: 33
• ⁵  The Bible, Deuteronomy 18: 18