Study-Islam.org

XI

“The Prince Of This World”

John 14:30

One other so-called prophecy must claim our brief attention before we bring this little booklet to a close. It is contained in John 14:30, and reads as follows, ‘The prince of the world cometh: and he hath nothing in me.’ Many Muslim writers gravely quote these words as a prediction of the coming of the Prophet Muhammad, who, they point out, rose to be a prince over all Arabia. ⁴⁰

It has been well said that the best commentary on the Bible is the Bible itself. ⁴¹ This remark is well illustrated in the verse under discussion, and if we put before the reader those other passages of the Bible in which the ‘Prince of the world' is mentioned, he will see at once that the person there referred to, far from being the Arabian Prophet Muhammad, is none other than Satan himself! Thus in John 12:31 we read, ‘Now shall the prince of this world be cast out.’ Again in John 16:11 we read, ‘The prince of this world hath been judged,’ whilst in 2 Corinthians 4:4 we read, ‘The God of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them.’ Yet once again in Ephesians 2:1-2 we read, ‘And you did he quicken, when ye were dead through your trespasses and sins, wherein aforetime ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience.’ Comment upon these passages is needless. They show beyond question, that the words ‘prince of this world’ apply to Satan, and to no one else. Thus in ascribing the passage to Muhammad, Muslims have fallen into a most egregious error, and have illustrated in a very startling manner the un-wisdom of taking a single passage of Scripture, and, without reference to parallel passages, building upon it a theory of interpretation which makes them the laughing-stock of all intelligent people.

Our task is completed, and we desire to add little to what has been written above. We are, however, constrained, in closing, to give one piece of advice. Let Muslims first of all prove to the world that Muhammad was in any sense a true Prophet of God; and then it will be time enough for them to search the Bible for prophecies of his advent. For ourselves, we challenge any one to prove the presence in the Bible of a single prediction of Muhammad, except as a false Prophet. With respect to the latter the Lord Jesus Christ spoke with no uncertain sound, and He warned His followers in the gravest terms to beware of false prophets who should come after Him. Thus we read, ‘And many false prophets shall arise, and shall lead many astray’ (Matthew 24:11). ‘For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect’ (Matthew 24:24).

The truth is that if the Bible be studied with attention, the impossibility of any true Prophet coming after the Messiah will be clearly manifest. He Himself said, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away but my words shall not pass away’ (Mark 13:31), and He told His disciples that, ‘This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come’ (Matthew 24:14); consequently until the gospel, i.e. the Christian religion, has really been preached to all the world, no other dispensation can come from God to abrogate Christianity. Thus there is left no room for either Muhammad or the Qur'an. Moreover the angel Gabriel, when announcing to the virgin Mary the coming birth of her son Jesus, distinctly conveyed the message from God that, ‘Of his (i.e. Christ's) kingdom there shall be no end’ (Luke 1:33). Let the Muslim reader ponder upon these words, and he will see that Jesus is the Last Prophet and that there is not beside His, ‘any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12).

S.P.C.K. PRESS, VEPERY, MADRAS
1915