God has sent down His messages from time to time to guide humanity to a right direction due to deviation, misguidance and misleading from His path to maintain their faith and practices upholding His guidance. But they have divided themselves into groups ignoring and misinterpreting His command, even killing their prophet and messenger sent to them as bearers of good news and warning being hostile to one another. Thus, the people of Moses turned themselves to Judaism, the people of Jesus turned themselves to Christainity and the people of Muhammad turned themselves to Muhammadenism abandoning God’s religion of Monotheism and practices of His religion given to Abraham.
- The messenger of the covenant in the Old Testament
According to a prevalent Jewish tradition, Malachi was the last prophet, even though there is no statement at the end of his book or anywhere else in the Bible stating the cessation of prophethood after Malachi. The basis for the Jewish belief that Malachi was the last prophet is the Talmud, which states that the period of prophecy, or nevuah, ended with the death of the last prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, in the mid-5th century BCE, marking the departure of divine presence from Israel. But in the book of Malachi says about the messenger of the covenant to come as a refiner of fire and fuller’s soap:
Malachi 3:1 Behold. I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord, whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom you delight in: behold, he shall come, says the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:2 But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap.
Malachi 3:3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto to the LORD an offering in righteousness.
Malachi’s prophecies foretell a messenger who will prepare the way for the Lord, which Christians understand as a reference to John the Baptist, who then introduces Jesus, while some Muslim scholars understand it as a reference to the messenger of the covenant that God has taken a covenant from the prophets to send a messenger after delivering all the scripture to prepare the people of the world when the end of the world is not too far from then as found in the Quran 3:81 and 33:7.
- I will pray the Father another Comforter in the Gospel
John in his Gospel records a very long speech of Jesus at the Last Supper to his disciples, while Jesus announces that he will leave his last instructions and gives them his last spiritual testament. The dominating feature of this narration seen in the crowning speech is the view of man’s future that Jesus describes his care in addressing his disciples, and through them the whole humanity. His recommendations and commandments and his concern to specify the guide whom man must follow after his departure:
14:15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
14:16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever.
14:17 Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot perceive, because it sees him not, neither knows him, for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.
14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things for your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
15:26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceeds from the Father, he shall testify of me.
15:27 And you shall bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.
16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you: but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world, and of judgment.
16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will shew you things to come.
16:14 He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it onto you.
In the Bible, the term “Comforter” primarily refers to the Holy Spirit. Jesus, during his final discourse with his disciples, promised to send the Holy Spirit, who would act as another Comforter in his absence. The Greek word used for Comforter in this context is “Parakletos,” which is “Paraclete” can also be translated as “Advocate,” “Helper,” or “Counselor”.
According to John, when Jesus says, “And I will pray the Father, and he will give you another Comforter”, what he is saying that ‘another’ saver will be sent to man like he himself during his earthly life. Jesus, therefore, in his formal speech predicts that God will later send a human being to earth to take up a role as defined by John, i.e. to be a prophet who hears God’s word and repeats his message. But the presence of the term ‘Holy Spirit’ in the text that creates confusion or contradiction could easily have come from a later addition made quite deliberately. It may have been intended to change the original meaning which predicted the advent of a prophet subsequent to Jesus, and therefore in contradiction with the teachings of the Christian churches at the time of their formation resulting in maintaining that Jesus was the last of the prophets and denied Muhammad as a prophet, believing that Jesus’s arrival marks the end of the prophetic era in the sense of new, universal, and binding revelations, and his teachings and sacrifice complete God’s plan for humanity.
- God’s messenger of the covenant in the Quran
The prophecy in the Quran to send a messenger after delivering all the scripture that all of us should believe in him and support him when he has been sent with his mission being supported by God:
[3:81] And when God has taken a covenant of the prophets that what I have given you from scripture and wisdom, then there has come to you a messenger confirming that which is with yourselves. That you must believe in him and that you must support him.” He said: “Have you affirmed and taken My covenant on that?” They said: “We have affirmed.” He said: “So you shall bear witness, and I am with you among the witnesses.”
[33:7] And when we have taken their covenant from the prophets, and from you (Muhammad), and from Noah, and Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus, son of Mary. And we have taken from them a solemn covenant.
[74:1] O you the hidden one,
[74:2] You shall stand that you shall warn.
[74:3] And your Lord that you shall glorify.
[74:4] And your garments that you shall purify.
[74:11] Let Me deal with the one whom I created.
[74:12] And I gave him abundant wealth.
[74:13] And children to witness.
[74:14] I made easy for him.
The prophecy in the Quran implies that it has been placed in every scripture to send a messenger after delivering all the scripture has been fulfilled in 1974 through unveiling the mathematical coding of the Quran (74:30) to be a reminder for the human race (74:31) followed by the fulfillment of the relevant prophecy and promise (27:82 and 15:9). The unveiling of the Quran’s built-in mathematical system unveiled by a God’s messenger of the covenant is a blessing from God to help the present generation and the generation to come confirming the authenticity of the Quran to be a revelation from God as well as to bring people back to His revelations presenting factual not to have any doubt in their firm beliefs and accurate practices. But it is unfortunate to mention that those who were expecting his arrival killed him when he had come, rejecting his message because of their belief that Muhammad was the last of the prophets as well as the last messenger ignoring the difference between prophet and messenger in the Quran as well as misinterpreting the verse 33:40, which clearly says that even Muhammad has not been given a son but he has been given the message, which is a messenger of God and a seal of the prophets to be a great importance for him and for the world.
Conclusion
God has introduced the religion of Monotheism for mankind to worship Him alone and has sent down the scripture from time to time as guidance to maintain it, which is the basis of it, while Abraham has been given a complete set of practices of His religion being Abraham a father of Muslims. Down the generations the people of scripture have divided this religion into Judaism, Christianity and Islam: the Jews claim that they follow the Torah taught to Moses compiled into the Old Testament being their religion is Judaism, while the Christians claim that they follow the Old Testament as well as and the Gospel taught to Jesus compiled into the New Testament being their religion is Christianity, and the Muslims claim that they follow the Quran revealed to Muhammad and their religion is Islam, but they have turned themselves to Muhammedans converting their religion to Muhammedanism for excessive focus on Muhammad as well as his sayings and deeds making it a personality cult and paganism. Thus, the people of scripture at different points diverted themselves from God’s religion of Monotheism abandoning or corrupting its practices given to Abraham.
In fact, the Jews rejected the Gospel given to Jusus to maintain their religion claiming that Malachi was the last of the prophets, marking the departure of divine presence from Israel about 400 years BC, even the Bible does not contain a direct statement declaring the cessation of prophecy after Malachi, while John the Baptist is recognized as the last prophet of the Old Testament and a forerunner to Jesus, the Christians rejected the Quran given to Muhammad to maintain their religion considering Jesus the ultimate prophet and the culmination of God’s prophetic revelation, believing that his teachings and sacrifice complete God’s plan for humanity, and the Muhammedans rejected the Quran’s mathematical coding unveiled by a God’s messenger of the covenant to maintain their religion considering Muhammad as the last prophet disregarding the difference between prophet and messenger given in the Quran. However, it is conclusive that the origin of the religious faith of the people of the scripture is Abraham being a father of Muslims, but they have abandoned it, even rejecting the guidance of God came to them with sufficient proof at their turning point to get back to God’s religion, ignoring and misinterpreting commands in their respective scripture, which is very clear to those who can reflect with their God given wisdom.
If the people of the scripture: Jews, Christians and Muhammedans would understand that the Quran is the most updated and authentic among the existing scripture and could practice Islam belonging to God’s religion of Monotheism to get away from their made up religion: Judaism, Christianity and Muhammedanism, which are being unduly presented to the world by the so called scholars and their leaders, may deserve the blessing of God as promised in the scripture upon their return to their Lord. While the Quran’s mathematical coding is an opportunity open a door for all as a blessing from God to get back to a religion of Abraham confirming with factual being appropriate for the people of the present generation and the generations to come with their modern knowledge.
Peaceful Friday, salaam and God bless.
Tafazzal (08/29/2025).