Answering Christianity Research Center

And In the Qur'an, the spirit word is passed in singular form. The word "ervah", which is a plural of spirit, never goes in verses. This gives us another proof of the absence of souls.

Salam aleikum everyone,

Being aware that the argument of Hira being mentioned in Isaiah 29:12, sooner or later, will have to face some criticism (especially from Christian apologists), I have figure out or typed several possible objections against this claim along with answers to each objection. I'll be insha'Allah gradually posting here my answers to these objections that will likely be posed by critics.


OBJECTION #1 The website’s inbuilt critical apparatus points to the originality of the sigma letter in the word χιρας

Some critics might say that the critical apparatus designed for the Codex Sinaiticus in the official website (attached to the transcription on the right window, see the link here: https://www.codexsinaiticus.org/en/manuscript.aspx) indicates that sigma (ς), at the end of the word χιρας (chiras), is original and not a later insertion made by the corrector Cb3. This means that the previous form originally written by scribe B was χιρας (chiras), not χιρα (chira).

ANSWER

First, it is important to ask: does sigma at the end of χιρας represent a lowercase final form, or is it a result of the „letter compression”?
 
Second, even if sigma was original (i.e. written by scribe B, not Cb3), it does not necessarily discredit the claim that χιρας (chiras) might still be reflecting a proper form name for Hira, and this is simply because in Ancient Greek the letter sigma was usually added at the end of place names. There are many examples in the Septuagint of transliterated proper names with a typical Hellenized ending -ας (as). Perhaps a perfect example is חִירָה (Ḥîrāh) from Genesis 38:1, a name of certain Adullamite person, which is transliterated in the Septuagint as Ιρας (Iras). Here, unexpectedly, for some unknown reasons, authors of the Septuagint chose ι (iota) instead of χ (chi) despite the fact that e.g. Jerome’s Latin Vulgate, for example, has transliterated this name as Hiras (applying H not I). Later, in OBJECTION #4, I will show that the Septuagint has, in fact, transliterated many Hebrew names with initial letter ח (ha) using χ (chi) not ι (iota).

Now, as to the ending -ας added to place names, in the Book of Isaiah alone we find many examples: in Isaiah 8:4 we have שׁמרון (Samaria) which is transliterated by Septuagint as Σαμαρείας (Samareias), clearly having sigma at the end. The Greek text of Isaiah 11:11 mentions three place names (though they do not occur in the Hebrew text): Βαβυλωνίας (Babulonias = Babylon), Αἰθιοπίας (Aithiopias = Ethiopia) and Ἀραβίας (Arabias = Arabia), again having sigma attached at the end. Another example is Γομορρας (Gomorras = Gomora) in Isaiah 1:10. For instance, in Isaiah 11:13, the Hebrew personal name יהודה (Judah) is transliterated by the Septuagint as Ιουδας (Ioudas), with the sigma addition.

So yes, linguistically speaking, an ancient textual Greek form for the name Hira may well have had sigma at the end since it was something characteristic for Koine Greek to add this particular letter at the very end of proper names. In other words, the name Hira might well be written in ancient Greek as χιρας (chiras) or even χειρας (cheiras) since, surprisingly, there are orthographical variations of the same proper names, e.g. Χιραμ (Hiram) vs. Χειραμ (Heiram), and these variants are detectable especially when we collate/compare the so-called four great uncial codices: Sinaiticus, Alexandrinus, Vaticanus, Ephraemi. Regarding the initially proposed text-form χιρα (without sigma), it may be considered as its post-biblical “modernized” version, exactly as it appears in modern Greek literature about Islam, which I already demonstrated in my research here in the blog.

On the other hand, it is equally possible that the variant χιρας (with the sigma ending) is just a declinable form since in Greek proper nouns changes depending on the gender, number, and case (inflection rules). Also, biblical scholars acknowledges certain instances where the Greek translator of the Septuagint employs declinable forms for some "obscure" place names he couldn't recognize.

Take care,
Idris

As'salamu Alaikum dear brother Idris and Everyone,

Masha'Allah and may Allah Almighty continue to protect you and bless you with knowledge and skills, akhi, people care a lot about your research.  Your posts on this blog have 10s of thousands of hits, walhamdulillah.

Keep up the great work akhi.

Take care,
Osama Abdallah

As'salamu Alaikum Everyone,

Welcome back akhi Idris.  I wanted to point out that we have to be mindful that not every Prophecy is necessarily about Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.  The OT makes prophecies about two Prophets to come, and like the ones about the Prophet who will come from Arabia, and demolish the idols through Holy Wars against the pagans, establish GOD's House and Covenant in Arabia, - who is Prophet Muhammad, - there are also ones about the coming Messiah, who will be born in Bethlehem.  Jesus perfectly fulfilled this:

Micah 5:2
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, are only a small village among all the people of Judah. Yet a ruler of Israel, whose origins are in the distant past, will come from you on my behalf.

Matthew 2:6
‘And you, O Bethlehem in the land of Judah, are not least among the ruling cities of Judah, for a ruler will come from you who will be the shepherd for my people Israel.’”

Matthew 2:1
Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the reign of King Herod. About that time some wise men from eastern lands arrived in Jerusalem, asking,


Now Prophet Muhammad certainly has ample Prophecies in the OT and NT:  www.answering-christianity.com/predict.htm



In regards to Isaiah 53, it doesn't talk about GOD Almighty will come down and be a suffering servant like the invented christianity claims.  All it issaying is that the Prophet-to-come will suffer from the Jews' plots and wickedness, but GOD Almighty in the end will save him from harm and death:

www.answering-christianity.com/isaiah_53.htm
www.answering-christianity.com/psalm_91.htm
www.answering-christianity.com/psalm_116_117_118.htm



Mary and Jesus thanked GOD:

In Psalm 116:16, Jesus and his mother thanked GOD for saving Jesus from death and harm.  See Psalm 91:3, 8, 10, 11, 12 and 15.  So Isaiah 53 could be talking about Jesus.  I personally have no issues with it at all, and I don't see in it support for the false religion of satan, christianity; that he will die for our sins and rise on the third day.  The NT and OT thoroughly refute christianity's lies. 

www.answering-christianity.com/psalm_116_117_118.htm


Take care,
Osama Abdallah

As-salam aleikum wa rahmatullah,

I'm happy to see a brother who have a courage and creative mind to interpret Isaiah 53 as refering to Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ). And yes, based on my analysis I can confirm that Isaiah 53 is indeed, paradoxically, about Rasulullah (ﷺ), not Jesus (AS). After I finish Isaiah 29:12 (God willing), I will show insha'Allah in few points how Isaiah 53 actually depicts Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), and especially one detail alludes to him in a truly spectacular way.

Take care,
Idris (Ahmed)