This unexpected Biblical sign strengthened my faith in Islam
As-salamu alaykum. When we listen to people giving dawah, we often hear many strong proofs for Islam: fulfilled prophecies, scientific signs, wonders in creation, and so on. All of those are powerful. But the piece that personally convinced me most was actually the Bible and Torah. Yes, we believe they were altered over time - no doubt about that - but even within them there are striking pointers to the true message. Think about Jesus in the Gospel: he didn’t eat pork, he prayed prostrating with his face to the ground, he observed long fasts, greeted people with peace (Ashalom Aleykum in Aramaic), called God “Elah,” never called himself God, told people to worship the Father as the one worthy of worship, avoided drunkenness, was circumcised, gave in charity, and was a clear monotheist. In many ways his actions reflect a Muslim. When you read the passages that are used to claim Jesus declared himself divine and check their context, it’s hard to find a straightforward statement where he claims to be God. Instead, Jesus consistently speaks of the Father as God, says the Father is greater, calls himself the Messiah, and urges worship of the Father. The Qur’an even points out how some distort the Scriptures to make them seem to say things they do not. What really sealed it for me was a passage that speaks of a messenger whose description appears in the Torah and the Gospel. It says he will command good, forbid evil, make lawful what is lawful and forbid what is impure, and relieve people of their burdens and shackles. Only those who believe in him, honor and support him, and follow the light sent to him will be successful (see Qur’an 7:157). To me, that description fits the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in a way that is unmistakable. Deuteronomy 18:15–18, Deuteronomy 33:2, John 14:16 and other verses have been pointed to as descriptions that align with him. If anyone wants a short read where I looked at one of these passages closely, I wrote a brief analysis some time ago (about a 1-minute read). Jazakum Allah khair for reading - I’m curious if others have found similar signs in the Scriptures that strengthened their iman.