اﻟﺮﺣﯿﻢ اﻟﺮﺣﻤﻦ ﷲ ﺑﺴﻢ
All praise be to God who, out of His mercy, sent guidance for all of mankind; and may the best
benedictions and peace be upon all of the Prophets and Messengers sent by Him. To proceed:
The Comforter to Come
Introduction –
In the Qur’an we read two particular verses –
“And on Judgement Day God will say,
O Jesus, son of Mary, remember My favor upon you and your mother,
How I supported you with the Holy Spirit…”
(5:110)
And,
“Remember when Jesus, son of Mary, said,
‘O Children of Israel,
I am truly the Servant of God, confirming the Torah which came before me,
And giving the good news of a messenger after me whose name shall be Ahmad.”
(61:6)
While, as a Muslim, I do not believe to be the books of the New Testament, nor the collection thereof, to
be the Divine Word of God, I do believe that sincere men who identified themselves as Christians in the
first century of the common era set about to intentionally record what they had heard about the mission of
Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص, and some, such as in the case of Paul and James, set about conveying, in written form, what
they believed his message was. While we do not know with any certainty who all of the authors were nor
which portions were original and which were later additions, it is fair to state that the authors wrote what
they believed to be true from their own creedal perspectives. Some of those writings were directly written
to oppose other Christians who were also writing and circulating their beliefs in the same areas and
period. Unfortunately, most of those books were systematically destroyed over the first three centuries.
Due to this, the earliest writings from which we have to work is the canonical writings and remnants of
early Christians deemed apocryphal (although not always false) by the fourth century Church. When
looking at these writings, a greater justice is served when we understand that the authors of these works
never intended that their writings be called “scripture” nor that they be compiled in a canonized text. In
this way, rather than seeing them as intended as complimentary to one another, we can weigh one by the
other. An interesting point that should be pointed out is that the gospel attributed to Luke was written
decades after Mark and incorporates the majority of Mark’s content and structure…but also differed in the
telling…demonstrating that he did not feel that the Gospel attributed to Mark was the inerrant inspired
word of God. If he did, why would he seek to improve upon it?
So, when asked, why am I using the New Testament Canon if I do not believe it to be the inerrant Word of
God, while also holding that there are inherent contradictions and errors therein, the answer is – because it
is the recorded sources available to us. That they were sincere does not entail the authors, nor any later
scribe, was divinely protected from error. In this regard, it is similar to reading any other historical
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account from any other period in history – or even reports in our own time – it has to be navigated with
fair textual criticism.1
Having said that, the topic at hand is the Prophesying of Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص of one who would come after him, the
description he gave and whether or not the Holy Spirit most closely fulfilled the prophecy or the Prophet
Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص. To offer a bit of clarity, I believe it is necessary to point out that what is meant by “the
Holy Spirit” here is very narrowly used by Christians to mean the experience of the disciples on the day
of Pentecost. I will attempt to be mindful of this also and limit myself to this usage.
My methodology in addressing this topic will be to bring the verses of the four canonical gospels
mentioning the prophecy, clarifying what was actually said, looking at the events of the Day of Pentecost
and what followed, and then looking at the Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص. I intend to then offer a brief
conclusion thereafter. With that, let us begin.
1.) The Prophecies –
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the
Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know
Him because He abides with you and will be in you.”
(John 14:16,17)
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and
bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”
(John 14:26)
“But when the Comforter comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who
proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”
(John 15:26)
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the
Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will
convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me;
of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more of judgment, because the ruler of
this world is judged. I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when
He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own
authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me,
for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.
(John 16:7-14)
2.) Clarification –
The description given by Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص is that this coming comforter will be
– another Helper
– a Comforter
– the Spirit of Truth
– Sent by the Father
– He will glorify Me
Due to the intended brevity of this paper, I will not go into detail of the criterion I am using and I hope that1
what I have already said suffices.
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– He will testify of Me
– He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you
– bring to your remembrance all that I said to you
– He will teach you all things
– He will guide you into all truth
– He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak
– He will convict the world of sin – of sin, because they do not believe in Me
– and of righteousness – of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more
– and of judgment – of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged
– He will tell you things to come
– the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him
– you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you
– will “be with you forever”
To summarize, he will be another helper and a comforter sent by God with the spirit of Truth. He will
glorify and testify regarding the Messiah Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص, reminding people and teaching the same good news
which Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص taught regarding Salvation. He will teach the people all things and guide to the Truth,
never speaking of his own authority but rather, only saying that which has been revealed to him. He will
“convict the world of sin because they have turned away from the Good News; convict the world of
righteousness (meaning that he will verify the righteousness of the righteous after the ascension of Jesus
ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص); convict the world of judgement (meaning that either he defeats evil or that he establishes a law by
which all the rulers of the world will be measured by). He will also prophecy of things to come and he
(his teachings/effects) will be with you forever (until the Hour). What is more, the world (worldly?) does
not receive him as they cannot recognize him … but those who hold fast to the teachings of Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص will
recognize him and thus be able to receive him.
This is not meant to be mental gymnastics at all. It is also not meant to somehow “tilt the scales” in my
favor. Rather, it is looking at various translations and interpretations readily available on Biblehub and
other Christian websites.
3.) The Day of Pentecost –
This of course is contained in what has become the second chapter of the “Book of Acts” wherein we
read,
“When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly
there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they
were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.
And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave
them utterance. And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under
heaven.”
[I want to pause here to point out an important point – here, “Jews, devout men, from every nation”
doesn’t mean the Twelve Tribes but rather, it is a reference to the followers of Jesus gathered. At this time,
they still upheld the laws and were understood as a sect amongst the Jews and not yet called “Christians”.
This is a very critical note if one reflects.]
“And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together, and were confused, because everyone heard
them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, “Look,
are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we
were born? … we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.” So they were all
amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “Whatever could this mean?” Others mocking said, “They
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are full of new wine.” But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, ‘…this is
what was spoken by the prophet Joel [another note, notice Peter is said to have referenced Joel and not the
prophecies of the Messiah ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص himself] -‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will
pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall see
visions, Your old men shall dream dreams…And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of
the Lord Shall be saved.’
“Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders,
and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know him, being delivered
by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified,
and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that
He should be held by it. … Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is
both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that
God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up
the Christ to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His
soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are
all witnesses. Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you now see and hear. … Therefore let all the house
of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men
and brethren, what shall we do?” Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For
the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will
call.” … And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse
generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand
souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the
breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all
who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and
divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and
breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising
God and having favor with all the people.”
The slight abridgment was not to hide anything being said but only to keep this paper short as I am
already over my intended three page limit.
4.) A Glimpse at the Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص and His Teachings –
When we look at the Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص we see a man known, called and trusted by his enemies as
As-Sadiq and Al-Amin – the Truthful and the Trustworthy. From his epithets is “Nabi Ar-Rahmah” – the
Prophet of Mercy. In the Qur’an we read, “And we did not send you except as a mercy to all the world”2
ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص. He was unlettered and is said to have received the Word of God directly, having it revealed upon his
heart for the guidance of humanity. Over twenty three years it was revealed in the Arabic language, here a
little and there a little, line upon line, precept upon precept. We read regarding this in the Qur’an, “Nor
does he speak of his own whims, rather, it is only a revelation sent down to him.”3
The Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص loved Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص and considered him his brother. He taught the world that
Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص was the Word of God and a Spirit from Him, born of the Virgin Mary, he was the Messiah and
Qur’an 21:1072
Qur’an 53:2,33
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was taken up into the heavens alive and will return in the Last days to fight and defeat the antichrist
before establishing a Kingdom of God upon the earth. But most importantly, he called people away from
the blaspheme and idolatry associated with Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص and to the actual teachings of Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص himself. And
in the Qur’an we read that Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص said from the cradle, “I am truly a servant of God. He has destined
me to be given scripture and to be a Prophet. He has made me a blessing wherever I go…”4
Over a twenty three year period, the Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص taught humanity everything that would
expose them to eternal salvation through the grace of God and distance them from the Fire of Hell. He
taught and exemplified what was upright and virtuous while warning against sin and vice. He established
for mankind the boundaries revealed by God, a system of law by which what was made obligatory and
what was made prohibited by God was made clear. That law, the Shariah, is the criteria by which one fifth
of the world measures righteousness vs transgression.
The Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص foretold of many events to come, some of these were minor signs and some
major signs of the Last Days, and some were other than this – such as the defeat of the Persian Empire and
the adornments of King Khosrow, every prophecy the Prophet ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص foretold (over 100) has come to pass
with he exception of the major signs that occur just before the Hour. Despite this fact (and it is a fact),
many still cannot see him as a Prophet sent by God due to their distance from the faith and teachings of
Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص, or simply due to their never having heard the truth about him, a fair and honest description of
his life . On the other hand, how many who are faithful and devout seekers, upon hearing of the Prophet5
ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص recognize him and enter into Islam?
After twenty three years of sacrifice and struggle to deliver the Message of God, he asked the more than
120,000 present at the Farewell Pilgrimage “have I delivered the message?”. He repeated this three times
and the entire gathering declared each time, “Indeed!”. Then he turned towards heaven and prayed, “Oh
God, I ask you to bear witness that I have have delivered Your Message”. Only then was the verse
revealed for mankind, “Today I have perfected for you your faith, completed my favor upon you and
chosen Islam as your way of life.”6
For the last 1400 years that message has been protected and preserved, spreading throughout the earth, not
by the sword like later Christianity, but from heart to heart and soul to soul. It continues to spread today
despite the millions of dollars and many hours of effort put into trying to extinguish its light – but God
promises, “They wish to extinguish God’s Light with their tongues but God will certainly perfect His
light, even to the dismay of the disbelievers”.7
Witnessing all of this, I would argue that to have a negative opinion of the Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص is to
harbor a negative opinion of God for, why would He permit a man to claim to speak in His name, to claim
to convey His very words, and yet, fortify him with miracles, deliver him from his enemies, allow the
mission to succeed and the message to spread…and to preserve it forever?
Qur’an 19:30,314
Excellent examples of neutral biographies, those written by neither a Muslim nor one who makes it their5
mission to take Islam as an enemy, would be, “Muhammad: A Biography of the Prophet” and “Muhammad: A
Prophet for Our Time” both by Karen Armstrong, or the two part biography written by W. Montgomery Watt.
Qur’an 5:36
Qur’an 61:87
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Conclusion –
“Say: The Holy Spirit has brought it down from your Lord with the Truth
to reassure the believers, and as a guide and good news for those who submit to God.”
(16:102)
Initially this was intended to be a short, two page summary. Seeking to do it justice, it quickly became
more than that. Despite the length, I remain hopeful that this is an easy read paper for those who are
interested in such a topic. I have done what I set out to do in a fair and balanced way – offering the
prophecies of Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص regarding a Comforter to come, outlining the description of that Comforter,
sharing the events of Pentecost and then giving an overview of the Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص. I earnestly
feel that I could leave it here without commentary and that the case makes itself. Still, I will add a few
closing remarks.
It is known that the Christian beliefs regarding all that Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص is recorded to had said is understood,
interpreted and believed in light of the Creed of the Pauline Church. This, we can say, is developed in
contrast to other Christian Churches that were built around faithful disciples of Jesus and their students.
Despite that, I believe it is a fair assessment on my part to say that the earliest Churches strove to
communicate what they deemed to be true.
Having said that, they did not live to see Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص. The lived experience for the earliest Churches
was the day of Pentecost and so, it is not unreasonable that they equated this with “the Comforter to
come”. Unfortunately, despite the divine marvels that overcame them, the events of that day did not fulfill
any of the descriptions foretold by Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص other than being a spirit of truth sent from God and
reminding them of the teachings of their Master, Jesus Christ ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص.
Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص was the first Comforter, the first Helper and he foretold of another to come after him. While he
was rejected, harassed and abused by many of the Children of Israel in his time, to the point they even
sought to have Rome kill him, the Comforter to come was to redeem him and testify regarding him. This
was not the outcome of Pentecost. To the contrary, despite the growth of the Church, the persecution also
grew stronger. It wasn’t until the life of the Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص that another, like Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص came and
testified, confirming the message of Christ Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص and redeeming him of all claims that besmirched
him.
Again, remembering that the beliefs of the Church were formulated long before the life of the Prophet
Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص, as were many commentaries on the books of the Bible, it is no surprise that when the
Pauline Church read, “Now this is the testimony of John [the Baptist], when the Jews sent priests and
Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, ‘I am
not the Christ.’ And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the
Prophet?’ And he answered, ‘No.’”, they claimed that, despite three distinct figures being mentioned, the
Christ and the Prophet were one – Jesus ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص. However, now we can clearly see that, John the Baptist was
declared Elijah by Jesus and Jesus himself was the Messiah (Christ). Who then was the third awaited
figure? I would argue that it was none other than the promised Comforter, The Prophet Muhammad ملسو هيلع هللا ىلص.
Completed on January 14, 2026/ Rajab 25 1447 in Baltimore, Md. by the one in need of the mercy of his
Lord, William (Halim) Breiannis. We ask God to accept this effort of ours and make it a means of good
and, ultimately, with Him alone is every success.
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