“When Hagar ran away from Sara, the Lord’s angel said to her, “Hagar, where have you come from and where are you going?” She explained the situation to him and he said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her authority.

I will greatly multiply your descendants,” and the Lord’s angel added, “so that they will be too numerous to count.” Then the Lord’s angel said to her, “You are now pregnant and are about to give birth to a son. You are to name him Ishmael, for the Lord has heard your painful groans. He will be a wild man. His hand (i.e. strength and power) will be over everyone and everyone’s hand will be with (the help of) him. He will live to the edge of society (to the East) of his brothers.”[1] [Genesis 16:12]

According to ibn al-Qayyim, “It is known that, before the Prophetic mission of Muhammad [peace be upon him], the hands of the descendants of Ishmael (i.e. the Arabs) were not over the hands of the descendants of Isâc (i.e. the Israelites) who had the Prophethood and Scripture in their hands. They entered Egypt along with Jacob during the time of Joseph [peace be upon them] and, at that time, the Arabs had no hand over them.

Then, they came out of it when Moses [peace be upon him] was sent as a Prophet and with him they became the most powerful of inhabitants on earth and no one had power over them. They remained as such with Joshua, till the time of David (the Prophet) and the dominion of Solomon [peace be upon them], the like of which has never been given to anyone. During all this time, the hand of the descendants of Ishmael was not over them. Then, Allâh sent the Messiah [peace be upon him] whom they belied and disbelieved in, and this led to their destruction and the obliteration of their dominion, after which they never returned to power again.

On the contrary, Allâh divided them into different sects on earth and they lived under the sovereignty of the Romans, Persians and others. Nevertheless, the descendants of Ishmael had no hand over them nor was their hand over the hands of all the people until Allâh sent Muhammad [peace be upon him] with His message and honored him with Prophethood. It is by virtue of his Prophetic mission that the hand of the descendants of Ishmael became over the hands of all the people and there remained no authority on earth stronger than theirs which overpowered the Persians, Romans, Turks, Daylamans, Jews, Christians, Magians, Sabeans and idolaters. This is the interpretation of His statement in the Torah: “His hand will be over everyone and everyone’s hand will be with (the help of) him.” This will remain till the end of time.

“We do not refute this,” the Jews say, “but these glad tidings are about his dominion, power and sovereignty and not his Apostleship and Prophethood.” In response, the Muslims say: “There are two types of dominions: one without Prophethood, being a forceful dictatorial sovereignty, and the other is Prophethood in itself.

The glad tidings did not pertain to the first type, especially when one claims Prophethood and Apostleship, even if he invents lies against Allâh. With no doubt, he would be one of the worst, most wicked and disbelieving of creation about whose dominion there are no glad tidings, in so much as there should be warnings of his trial, as is the case with the warning of the trial of the Antichrist. Such is more evil than Sennacherib[2], Nebuchadnezzar[3] and other wrongful wicked kings who attribute lies to Allâh.

By no means should news of them be glad tidings, a source of happiness for Abraham and Hagar or a reward for her submission and humiliation (to Sara), whose complaints were heard by Allâh Almighty Who, in return, would exalt that newborn and make him the father of a great nation. In the sight of those who deny, this is like saying: You will give birth to an oppressive, wrongful tyrant who will overpower the people with falsehood, kill the allies of Allâh, take their women as captives, illegally seize their property, alter the religions of the Prophets, attribute lies to Allâh…etc. Whoever construes such to be glad tidings is, indeed, the strongest of slanderers and inventors of lies against Allâh. This is not unlikely fit for the people who incurred upon themselves the wrath of Allâh, killed the Prophets and invented lies.”[4]

In spite of these distortions made in the Torah across time, there are still some texts which clearly indicate to the coming of the Last of the Prophets about whom Moses [peace be upon him] gave glad tidings and, even more so, wished to be of his followers.

Ibn Taymiyah says: “I have seen, myself, a version of the Psalms in which there is a clear statement about the Prophethood of Muhammad [peace be upon him], by name. Whereas in another version I have also seen, there is no such statement. It is not unlikely then that a version (of the Psalms) may have of the news about the Prophet which another version may not have.”[5]

[1]Adapted from Hidâyat al-Hayâra, ibn al-Qayyim, p. 147, given that the current text goes as follows: “His hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand will be against him. He will live away from his brothers.”

[2] Sennacherib was the son of Sargon II, whom he succeeded on the throne of Assyria (705 – 681 BC). In 701 BC, a rebellion backed by Egypt and Babylonia broke out in Judah, led by King Hezekiah. In response, Sennacherib sacked a number of cities in Judah. He laid siege to Jerusalem but soon returned to Nineveh, with Jerusalem not having been sacked, in order to put down an attempted coup.This event was recorded by Sennacherib himself, Herodotus and several Biblical writers. According to the Bible, Sennacherib also withdrew because the "angel of Yahweh came out and put to death 185,000 in the Assyrian camp" (2 Kings 19:35).

[3] Nebuchadnezzar (634-562 BC) was king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire, who reigned between 605-562 BC. According to the Bible, he conquered Judah and Jerusalem and sent the Jews into exile. He is credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and is also known for the destruction of the First Temple. He is featured in the Book of Daniel and is also mentioned in several other books of the Bible. The Akkadian name, Nabû-kudurri-u?ur, means "Oh god Nabu, preserve/defend my firstborn son". Nabu is the Babylonian deity of wisdom and son of the god, Marduk. [translator] This is almost the same interpretation given to it in Arabic. See ibn Manthûr, Lisân al-‘Arab, Nasara, 5:210.

[4] Hidâyat al-Hayâra, 149.

[5] ibn Taymiyah, al-Jawâb as-Sahîh, 3:50-51.