Page 141 - World Religions I - Islam

written by a man named Barnabas who it is claimed was a disciple of Jesus.
 "Then said the priest: 'How shall the Messiah be called?' ... Jesus answered: 'The name of
the Messiah is admirable ... Mohammed is his blessed name.'" (Gospel of Barnabas,
chapter 97)
 The Gospel of Barnabas is promoted as a book of antiquity, written in the 1st century.
In fact, the book is easily dated to the 14th century.
• There are no copies of the Gospel of Barnabas among the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Some Muslims have put pictures of the Dead Sea Scrolls on the cover of their
additions of the Gospel of Barnabas in order to deceive people into thinking
that it is an ancient document.
• The writer was not familiar with the language, history, or geography of the
time of Jesus.
• The Gospel of Barnabas contains several 14th century ideas, and the oldest
copies are written in Italian and Spanish and are dated from the 15th century or
later.
 Even some Islamic scholars agree of the nature of the Gospel of Barnabas:
• "As regards the 'Gospel of Barnabas' itself, there is no question that it is of
medieval origin,...apparently written to curry favor with Muslims of the time. It
contains numerous anachronisms which can date only from the Middle Ages
and not before, and has factual errors about geography and history, and shows
a garbled comprehension of Islamic doctrines, calling the Prophet "the
Messiah", which Islam does not claim for him. Besides its farcical notion of
sacred history, stylistically it is a mediocre parody of the Gospels, as the writings
of Baha' Allah are of the Koran." (Cyril Glassé, The New Encyclopedia of Islam, Third
Edition, 2008, p. 88)
• If Muhammad really was foretold in the Gospel, there would be no need for Muslims to rewrite the
Gospel with Muhammad now foretold in it.

Conclusion
It should not be hard for Muslims to see the reasoning behind validating one's claim to prophecy. Just imagine
another man coming today, claiming to be a prophet (or speaking with divine authority), and saying exactly what
Muhammad said (that he came to confirm what the earlier prophets said). Muslims would surely not accept him
as a prophet on the basis that he claims to confirm the teachings of Muhammad, because in claiming that he
would be contradicting the Qur'an's testimony that Muhammad is the seal of the prophets. Thus, Christians are just
as right in testing the prophecies of Muhammad based on the former scriptures.

Essentially the Bah'ullah (found of the Baha'i faith) and Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (founder of Ahmadiyya) both
acknowledge Muhammad as a prophet and the Qur'an as divine revelation but add their own words to it.
Muslims reject their teaching as false.

Anyone who claims to be a prophet must be prepared to have his prophecy tested - it is a command from God!
The prophecy of Muhammad is the Qur'an and the Qur'an makes three claims that
can be tested. This article concludes that the Qur'an does not confirm the teachings of the Bible; it does not make
clearer the teachings of the Bible; and Muhammad is not foretold in the Bible. Therefore, since the prophecies of
Muhammad cannot be confirmed as true, the prophethood of Muhammad cannot be accepted as legitimate.

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