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‘Ahmad in the Bible?’
No, of course not!
Acolleague told me the average attention span is 47 seconds. So here’s a 47 second version of ‘Ahmad in the Bible’:
I don’t usually engage with Muslim apologetics, especially in blogs. I’m not critiquing Islam itself, but apologetics often goes too far and poorly, which seems to have influenced Muslim apologists. This blog addresses the claim: Jesus said “Ahmad” in John 15–16. The video introduces the Greek word ‘parakletos’ from John 16.7, which is debated among scholars for its meaning. The presenter argues that ‘parakletos’ refers to Ahmad, based on Qur’an 61:6, which mentions Ahmad (i.e. Muhammad). This claim lacks scholarly backing, the argument hinges on speculative wordplay rather than evidence.
The video dismisses the linguistic complexities of ‘parakletos’ in favor of an unsubstantiated translation. The presenter also ignores the fact that Jesus wasn’t speaking in Greek, making the argument about translating ‘Ahmad’ back into Greek irrelevant …
Ultimately, this is a poor example of apologetics, filled with conjecture and ignoring context. It’s a shame that time is spent on such arguments rather than engaging with texts more deeply and thoughtfully.
with thanks to ChatGPT, especially for its robust style!
