Paran and Muhammad In The Bible Fulfilling Quranic Words of Surah Teen

Summary: 

Where today is the location of Mecca there was once nothing but a barren desert. Prophet Abraham was commanded by Allah to leave his wife and his son Ismael in this desert but provisions only lasted a day or two. Therefore Hajar ran inside the desert several times to find water or help but she couldn't. At last, Angel appeared and to her surprise water was coming out of the ground called the Zamzam well, and after they settled there. This interesting story is also mentioned in the bible and the location is referred to as Paran in Genesis 21. We find a similar prophecy of the prophet Muhammad about the location of Paran (in Deuteronomy 33:2) when it says: the lord came from Sinai referring to moses, and rose for seir unto them referring to Moses, he shined forth from Mount Paran referring to the prophet Muhammad with 10 thousand saints referring to companions number at the time of the conquest of Mecca. A similar passage is also described in the Quran referring to these three prophets in Surah Teen when it says By the fig and the olive ˹of Jerusalem˺ (referring to Jesus). And Mount Sinai (referring to Moses), and this secure city ˹of Mecca˺ (referring to Prophet Muhammad)! (95:1-3)

Explaination:

The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy informs us of a momentous prophecy spoken by Moses just before his death: 

"The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, he came with ten thousands of saints; from his right hand went a fiery law" [Deuteronomy 33:2]. 

Note the key locations highlighted in the prophecy Sinai, Seir, and Paran. The first location Sinai is the place where Moses encountered God and had already received the ten commandments according to this verse of bible.

 

"When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law..." [Exodus 31:18]

The second location seir is defined by the Bible to be a land in the country of Edom.

"Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau in the land of Seir, the country of Edom" [Genesis 32:3]

Edom was an ancient kingdom that included parts of Palestine and Jordan. This just happens to be the area where Jesus received and preached the word of God. This is fully in line with rabbinic messianic expectations as rabbis themselves believed the Messiah would be associated with Edom. So we can see that the prophecy here accurately foretold the coming of the Messiah.

Now the big question is which place is being referred to by the mention of the third location Paran. The strongest Bible dictionary defines Paran as "the desert of Arabia".

 Encyclopedia Biblica asserts that Paran refers to the Arab tribal names Farran or Faran. 

The Jewish commentary on Devarim associates Paran with the Arabic language.

The book of Jubilees is an ancient Jewish text that associates Paran with Ishmael who is the forefather of the Arabs. 

Paran relates to Arabia. Which just happens to be the region that Muhammad (upon whom be peace) received the revelation of the Quran. Note the prophecy's mention of light shining forth at Mount Paran. 

He shone forth from Mount Paran (Deuteronomy 33:2).

This serves as a clue to help us narrow down the location to a specific part of Arabia.

There is a mountain in Mecca known as Jabl e Nur which means the mountain of light. This mountain is famous for housing the Hira cave. This is where Muhammad first encountered the angel Gabriel and received the Quran. The Jews in Arabia who heard stories about Muhammad claiming to have encountered God at the mountain of light would have immediately recognized and made the connection to the prophecy. Thus for the Jews of Arabia, this part of the prophecy served as clear evidence for the truthfulness of Muhammad's claims of prophethood. 

In summary, this sequence happens to mirror the chronological order of the revelations of the Torah followed by the Injil, and finally the Quran. We can see that this prophecy laid out a road map for the revelations that God was going to send forth to the world. 

The next part of the prophecy informs us that the individual associated with Paran is said to come with 10,000 saints and possess a fiery law with regards to the emergence of 10,000 saints.  

He came with ten thousand saints; from his right hand went a fiery law" [Deuteronomy 33:2].

The original Hebrew word is Rababa which strictly means 10,000 but also carries the general meaning of an indefinitely large number. 

Whether you choose to interpret it literally or symbolically, either way, this just happens to mirror a historic event that took place during the lifetime of Muhammad known as the conquest of Mecca. 

When he and a large company of his followers 10,000 to be exact returned to their home city of Mecca after having been expelled from it by their pagan persecutors. As Muhammad (saw) companions narrated. The prophet left Medina for Mecca in the company of 10,000 Muslim warriors in the month of Ramadan.

This is an exact fulfillment of the prophecy foretelling the emergence of a large number of followers at Paran. 

The question has to be asked did Muhammad's companions fit the prophecy's description of his followers being saintly? They absolutely did because they sacrificed everything including their family ties wealth and lives to support and protect God's final messenger Muhammad, with regards to the prophecy's mention of a fiery law. Muhammad (upon whom be peace) was given the Quran. The law that was divinely revealed to him by God through the angel Gabriel.

In summary, we can see that the prophecy was fulfilled to the letter with the advent of Islam. There is no other person in the entire history of mankind who emerged from Arabia in such circumstances with multitudes of saintly followers and a divinely revealed law except the Prophet Muhammad (upon whom be peace). 

An interesting point worth mentioning is that this very prophecy seems to have been presented to the Prophet Muhammad by a Jewish man in Medina. 

The messenger of God said to a Jewish man: "Do you testify that I am the messenger of God?". The man refused to respond, so the messenger of God asked him: "Have you been mentioned in the Torah and in jail?". He replied: "Yes we find a description like yours coming out from your homeland We used to hope that you would be among us, then when you came out we realized that you were the one we find among his nation 70,000 who will enter paradise without being held to account." [Tabrani #16006]

We can see that the Jew highlighted three key details found in the Torah that foretold the advent of Muhammad, his homeland, the number of followers, and the characteristics of his followers. The Jews acknowledged that Muhammad's homeland (i.e Mecca) is the correct location, they were expecting a prophet to emerge from this fits Deuteronomy's mention of Paran regarding the mention of 70,000 followers in ancient Judaism Specific numbers such as 7, 70 and 1,000 often carried symbolic meanings beyond their literal sense. The Old Testament book of Samuel also mentions 70,000 to express a vast number of deaths rather than an exact figure. Even in the language of hadith 70,000 is used symbolically to mean a very large number. For example it is said that the djal will have 70,000 followers from among the Jews we can see that in the broader ancient neareastern literary tradition numbers such as 70,000 frequently serve as hyperbolic expressions to convey magnitude hence the mention of 70,000 followers fits Deuteronomy's mention of 10,000 in terms of meaning a very large group of people.

Finally, the mention of his nation entering paradise without being held to account fits Deuteronomy's mention of the multitude being saintly because both convey the same meaning of a people who will be highly virtuous and pious in character. In summary we can see that the prophecy presented by the Jew in Medina corresponds nicely with Deuteronomy not only do the key points match in terms of details but they are also mentioned in the same exact order. The fact that this same prophecy or at the very least something quite similar to it was present in the Torah, in Medina at the time of Muhammad is a strong indication that it is genuine divine revelation or wahi that has been preserved in the Bible to the present day. 

Jews objections:

Let's now spend some time looking at Jewish objections to my interpretation of the prophecy maimonides was a rabbi in the middle ages. Who is widely considered to be one of the most influential Jewish scholars in history. In his famous letter to Yemen he commented on Muslim claims about Muhammad and Deuteronomy 33 as follows:

The argument from the phrase," he shined forth from Mount Paran"is easily refutable. Shined is past tense. had scripture employed the future tense "he will shine forth from Mount paran" then the imposters might have had a semblance of truth on their side... Note also how scripture indicates the various gradations in the intensity of the divine splendor. It speaks of the light that glimmered from Mount paran which is further removed from Sinai but of the light that radiated from Mount Seir which is nearer to it and finally of the revelation of the full splendor of God on Sinai which was the goal of the theophony.

Here maimonides put forward his strongest objections against Muslim claims that Muhammad is prophecied in Deuteronomy 33. Firstly he made a linguistic argument that the prophecy is spoken in the past tense and hence it cannot be about a future event such as the coming of Muhammad. In response the use of the past tense is in fact a literary technique that is actually very common in biblical prophecies and is known as the prophetic perfect tense. It is used to describe future events that are so certain to happen that they are referred to in the past tense as if they have already happened there are numerous examples of this literary technique throughout the Old Testament. 

For example in the story of Noah, God told Noah to build the ark and then states that Noah had already entered the ark despite the ark not yet being built.

The prophetic perfect tense is being utilized in the story of Noah as a literary technique to make the point, that Noah would absolutely enter the ark with certainty now.

There are in fact explicit indications that the prophecy in Deuteronomy 33 points to a future event This is because a similar prophecy is repeated in another passage in the book of Habakkuk.

"God shall come from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran...”[Habakkuk 3:3]

Habakkuk has repeated the prophecy from Deuteronomy 33 rendering it in the future tense. Thus making it crystal clear that the prophecy from Deuteronomy 33 is about a future event. Note that Tamman has been mentioned in the place of Seir Tamman is actually a reference to Seir. They are one in the same location as the Jameson Faucet Brown Bible commentary confirms, hence Maimonides' linguistic argument that the prophecy in Deuteronomy 33 cannot be about a future event because it uses past tense verbs has been completely dismantled. Let's now tackle Maimonides' second objection which is a geographical one namely that the main focus of the prophecy is Mount Sinai as that is where God revealed himself with the light manifested at the other locations of Seir and Paran being mere reflections of the light emanating from Sinai in other words. These events are not three separate revelations at three different locations but rather a single revelation manifesting in Sinai which caused light to shine in multiple locations in response the details of the prophecy itself refute maimonides claim recall the prophecy's use of the metaphor about shining the Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir and shined forth from Mount Paran. Such statements do not fit with Maimonides's explanation that the source of the light is at Sinai because the prophecy itself declares that the light gradually increases. In intensity initially emerging at Sinai getting stronger at Seir and finally reaching its peak at Paran. Islam teaches that Muhammad is the final prophet and he was given the final revelation the Quran. Hence, it makes perfect sense that the shining is at its strongest in Muhammad's location of Arabia the prophecy's metaphor about shining light clearly better fits the interpretation of three separate revelations at three different locations and not just one revelation at Sinai as Maimonides wrongly argued. Moreover, recall that the book of Habakkuk repeats the prophecy but actually omits the mention of Sinai altogether another indication that Sinai is not the main focus of the commentary. Barn's notes on the Bible even go so far as to state that this omission of Sinai points to the coming of another lawgiver. Who will be similar to Moses Finally Jewish rabbis themselves have raised questions that seriously challenge Maimonides' position. The difficulty with this exesis is why the Torah employs three different verbs for describing God's arrival why did the Torah not simply lump all this together by writing he came from Sinai, Seir and Paran besides why did the Torah first mention the place when referring to Sinai whereas it describes God's shining or appearing before mentioning where this took place (i.e seir) or Paran respectively interpreting the prophecy in its apparent context of revelation coming from multiple locations culminating with the revelation of the Quran to the Arabs resolves all these linguistic and geographical issues acknowledged by rabbis. In conclusion, we have seen that even Maimonides one of the greatest rabbis in history struggled to refute Muslim claims about Muhammad being the fulfillment of the prophecy. For more information on biblical prophecies about the coming of Muhammad upon whom be peace please download your free copy of the book Abraham Fulfilled.  

In light of the Quran: 

The Holy Quran also mentions this exact passage referring to these three prophets. In Surah Teen Allah says :

By the fig and the olive ˹of Jerusalem˺, and Mount Sinai, and this secure city ˹of Mecca˺! (95:1-3)

Fig (Tin) and Olive (Zaytun) are the names of two hills in the vicinity of Jerusalem where Jesus’s field of action was situated. Mount Sinai (Tur Sinin) refers to the hill where God made His revelation to Moses. The ‘secure land’ (al-Baladu’l Amin) refers to Makkah where the Prophet Muhammad was born.

Ibn Kathir in his tafseer acknowledges that this refers to the phrase that's mentioned in Torah.

These are three different places, and Allah sent a Messenger to each of them from the Leading Messengers, who delivered the Great Codes of Law. The first place is that of the fig and the olive, which was Jerusalem, where Allah sent `Isa bin Maryam. The second place is Mount Sinin, which is Mount Sinai where Allah spoke to Musa bin `Imran. The third place is Makkah, and it is the city of security where whoever enters is safe. It is also the city in which Muhammad was sent. They have said that these three places are mentioned at the end of the Tawrah. The verse says, "Allah has come from Mount Sinai - meaning the one upon which Allah spoke to Musa bin `Imran; and shined from Sa`ir - meaning the mountain of Jerusalem from which Allah sent `Isa; and appeared from the mountains of Faran - meaning the mountains of Makkah from which Allah sent `Isa; and appeared from the mountains of Faran - meaning the mountains of Makkah from which Allah sent Muhammad ." Thus, He mentioned them to inform about them based upon their order of existence in time. This is why He swore by a noble place, then by a nobler place, and then by a place that is nobler than both of them. Ibn kathir tafseer (92:1-3)

Paran and mecca: 

Torah also mentions the story of Ismael and his mother haggar when Abraham left them in the desert. Prophet Abraham was commanded by Allah to leave his wife and his son Ismael in this desert but provisions only lasted a day or two. Therefore Hajar ran inside the desert several times to find water or help but she couldn't. At last, Angel appeared and to her surprise water was coming out of the ground called the Zamzam well, and after they settled there. In Islam, this desert was in Mecca where the kaaba was built by the Prophet but in the bible, this location is referred to as Paran which once again confirms that Paran is associated with Mecca where the kaaba was built and where Prophet Muhammad was born. 

The bible mention this story in genesis 21: 

8 The child grew and was weaned, and on the day Isaac was weaned Abraham held a great feast. 

9 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking, 

10 and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”

11 The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. 

12 But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring[b] will be reckoned.

 13 I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”

14 Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.

15 When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes. 16 Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she[c] began to sob.

17 God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there. 18 Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

19 Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

20 God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer. 21 While he was living in the Desert of Paran, his mother got a wife for him from Egypt.

This article is written with the collaboration of many prophets one message.