SECRET BIBLE PREDICTING THE COMING OF PROPHET MUHAMMAD UNEARTHED IN TURKEY

The following is a report from the British paper Daily Mail. As per its title, it appears self-explanatory. But my immediate reaction:

1. The part about the “secret Bible” may be new and could be a significant discovery, but only if proven to be not only genuine but also to contain new revelations, rather than reiteration of old news such as references to Prophet Muhammad (saw) in the Gospel of Barnabas. Even if it’s true, any discovery that question the very foundation of Christianity would, needless to say, be immediately criticized or even hidden from public scrutiny. Hence it’s no surprise that the Daily Mail put a damper on the news.

2. The part about “Jesus predicts coming of Prophet Muhammad” is nothing new as many Muslim scholars have already written about it. Notable examples include the late Ahmad Deedat’s books, What the Bible Says About Muhammad and Muhummed – The Natural Successor to Christ, which are one of the earliest accounts about the prediction. Google “Muhammad in the Bible” and you will find loads of articles on this matter.

Here’s the full report (with comments where appropriate)…

Secret £14million Bible in which 'Jesus predicts coming of Prophet Muhammad' unearthed in Turkey
By Daily Mail, 24 February 2012.

A secret Bible in which Jesus is believed to predict the coming of the Prophet Muhammad to Earth has sparked serious interest from the Vatican.

Pope Benedict XVI is claimed to want to see the 1,500-year-old book, which many say is the Gospel of Barnabas, that has been hidden by the Turkish state for the last 12 years.

Comment: No surprise the Pope is interested as it concerns the very foundation of Christianity. But is it the original Gospel of Barnabas? There have been reports that the original Gospel has survived to this day and its copies are in the custody of the British Museum and the Library of the Congress, Washington - despite claims of forgery by Christian scholars. The Gospel can be viewed in the website The Gospel of Barnabas, which is dedicated to exposing the truth about the Gospel (read the page How the Gospel of Barnabas Survived; the entire Gospel can also be read or downloaded there). In this survived Gospel, many explicit references were made to Prophet Muhammad (saw). This is nothing new; it has been told and retold countless times, now even more so with the advent of internet.

So, is the discovered secret Bible just another copy of the original Gospel of Barnabas? Or, given the Pope’s interest, is it something else – something new and more earth-shaking? The report further states:

The £14million handwritten gold lettered tome, penned in Jesus' native Aramaic language, is said to contain his early teachings and a prediction of the Prophet's coming.

Secret Bible: The 1,500-year-old tome was is said to contain Jesus' early

teachings and his prediction of the Prophet's coming

Ancient: The leather-bound text, written on animal hide, was discovered by

Turkish police during an anti-smuggling operation in 2000

The leather-bound text, written on animal hide, was discovered by Turkish police during an anti-smuggling operation in 2000.

It was closely guarded until 2010, when it was finally handed over to the Ankara Ethnography Museum, and will soon be put back on public display following a minor restoration.

A photocopy of a single page from the handwritten ancient manuscript is thought to be worth £1.5million.

Turkish culture and tourism minister Ertugrul Gunay said the book could be an authentic version of the Gospel, which was suppressed by the Christian Church for its strong parallels with the Islamic view of Jesus.

He also said the Vatican had made an official request to see the scripture - a controversial text which Muslims claim is an addition to the original gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.

In line with Islamic belief, the Gospel treats Jesus as a human being and not a God.

Serious interest: The Vatican, under Pope Benedict XVI, is said to want to see

the recently re-discovered Bible

Historic: The £14million handwritten gold lettered tome is penned in Jesus' native

Aramaic language

It rejects the ideas of the Holy Trinity and the Crucifixion and reveals that Jesus predicted the coming of the Prophet Muhammad.

Comment: Again the current Bible references to the rejection of Jesus as God and of the Holy Trinity have already been cited by Muslim writers and are generally well known. Read, for example, Ahmad Deedat’s Crucifixion Or Cruci-fiction. The report adds:

In one version of the gospel, he is said to have told a priest: 'How shall the Messiah be called? Muhammad is his blessed name'.

And in another Jesus denied being the Messiah, claiming that he or she would be Ishmaelite, the term used for an Arab.

Comment: Here a direct reference is made in the secret Bible to the name “Muhammad” and that he is an “Ishmaelite” (descendant of Prophet Ismail as). As per my comment above, the name “Muhammad” is also contained in the survived Gospel of Barnabas which can be read in the website The Gospel of Barnabas. In Ahmad Deedat’s books and those of other Muslim writers, the allusions to Prophet Muhammad (saw) came from such words as “Paraclete”, “Land of Kedar”, and “Paran” in the Old Testament, which could only be related to the Prophet and no one else. Read Ahmad Deedat’s books linked above for further explanation.

But then the Daily Mail immediately doused cold water over the news, stating:

Despite the interest in the newly re-discovered book, some believe it is a fake and only dates back to the 16th century.

The oldest copies of the book date back to that time, and are written in Spanish and Italian.

Protestant pastor İhsan Özbek said it was unlikely to be authentic.

This is because St Barnabas lived in the first century and was one of the Apostles of Jesus, in contrast to this version which is said to come from the fifth or sixth century.

He told the Today Zaman newspaper: 'The copy in Ankara might have been written by one of the followers of St Barnabas.

'Since there is around 500 years in between St Barnabas and the writing of the Bible copy, Muslims may be disappointed to see that this copy does not include things they would like to see.

'It might have no relation with the content of the Gospel of Barnabas.'

Theology professor Ömer Faruk Harman said a scientific scan of the bible may be the only way to reveal how old it really is.

Comment: Yes, only a scientific scan and further meticulous study can reveal the truth. More importantly, the results of the study must be open to public scrutiny and not hidden, even if its contents as reported above turn out to be true or it is itself not the Gospel of Barnabas but is something else.

But given the controversial nature of this subject, I remain sceptical… And until the truth is known, I would not want to dip further my hands into it.