Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh brother Ahamd,
I wouldn't even try to imagine that Is. 53 is talking about Muhammad (pbuh),
53: 2= ... ''He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.''
I have came across some interpretation, I lost sources of it, in regards to this, they did say that it talks about the Isrealite nation between the nations after exile, and many jewish interpretation agree with it.
Christian Infidel Trinitarians on the other hand believe it reffers to Isa (pbuh)
some interpertations say it talk about 2 diffrent persona, one righteous but opressed and other punished
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnCf7EotIco&t=2455s , scroll to 28:35 , were brother Ibrahim is analyzing in righteous serverant in Is 53.
53: 2= He grew up before him like a tender shoot,
and like a root out of dry ground. this is the orgin ofthe isrealtis=
Surah Yusuf (12:100)
"And he raised his parents upon the throne, and they all fell down to him in prostration. And he said, 'O my father, this is the explanation of my vision of before. My Lord has made it a reality. And He was certainly good to me when He took me out of prison and brought you [all here] from the desert (البَدْوِ) after Satan had induced discord between me and my brothers. Indeed, my Lord is Subtle in what He wills. Indeed, it is He who is the Knowing, the Wise.'"
Now lets look at the Book Abraham fulfilled comment on Is. 53=
Book {
https://sapienceinstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Abraham-Fulfilled-A-Biblical-Study-of-Gods-Plan-for-Ishmael-and-Arabia.pdf }
Go read the following pages concerning Is. 53= 324 - 325 - 326 - 327 - 328
Here is the text of the pages=
Another example is the 53rd chapter of the Book of Isaiah which is the crown
jewel of Christian apologetics. They claim that it is a prophecy about the
crucifixion of Jesus:
Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the
Lord been revealed?
He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of
dry ground.
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his
appearance that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering,
and familiar with pain.
Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and
we held him in low esteem.
Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and
by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our
own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its
shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away.
Yet who of his generation protested?
For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression
of my people he was punished.
He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in
his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit
in his mouth.
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will
prosper in his hand.
After he has suffered, he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he
will bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will
divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life
unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. [Isaiah 53:1-12]
Now, statements such as “for the transgression of my people he was punished” and “he bore the sin of many” do, at face value, seem to bear a striking
resemblance to the theology of the crucifixion. However, when we analyse
this chapter in its entirety, we will see that it cannot be a prophecy about
Jesus. Verse 10 states “he will see his offspring and prolong his days”. The
Hebrew word used for “offspring”, ‘zera’, carries the meaning of progeny
and semen. So, in the context of this verse, it means he (whoever “he” is)
will see his children. This cannot be a reference to Jesus as nowhere does
the New Testament state that Jesus had children. The verse also mentions
that his days “will be prolonged”. This statement makes no sense in the
light of the Christian Trinitarian belief that Jesus is God. A mortal man’s
days can be prolonged, but God is eternal. A being that is eternal cannot
have their lives prolonged.
Now, those who consider this prophecy to be a reference to Jesus tend
to interpret such verses metaphorically, as a literal interpretation is problematic. The issue with this approach is one of inconsistency. Why interpret
the mention of those things that support the crucifixion, such as suffering,
literally, whereas those things that go against Jesus, such as having children and a prolonged life, are interpreted metaphorically? The suffering,
offspring, and prolonged days are all mentioned together within verse 10,
and yet there is nothing within the context of the verse which indicates a
mixture of literal and metaphorical interpretation:
Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see
his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will
prosper in his hand.
So, to be consistent, we should interpret all the statements literally or metaphorically, rather than picking and choosing according to our desires.
The question then arises: if Isaiah 53 is not talking about Jesus, then whom
or what is it referring to? The Jewish people have historically associated
the chapter with the suffering of the Israelites. There are even prominent
Christian sources which agree with the common Jewish perspective. For
example, the Harper Collins Study Bible says:
The early church identified the servant in this passage [Isaiah
52:13-53:12] with Jesus, and Jesus’ own sense of identity and mission
may have been shaped by this figure. In the original historical
context, however, the servant appears to have been exiled Israel.
The commentary found in the Oxford Study Edition of The New English
Bible associates Isaiah’s mention of death with the destruction and exile
of Israel:
The crowds, pagan nations, among whom the servant (Israel)
lived, speak here (through v. 9), saying that the significance of
Israel’s humiliation and exaltation is hard to believe... The death
probably refers to the destruction and Exile of Israel.
In fact, Isaiah 53 can be applied to any people of God that suffer. There
is support for this interpretation in the Old Testament book of Jeremiah.
Prophet Jeremiah faithfully communicated God’s words to the people of
Israel, warning them about the impending Babylonian captivity that was
sure to come unless they repented. But no-one listened to him; he was
rejected, even by his own family: “Your relatives, members of your own
family— even they have betrayed you” [Jeremiah 12:6]. Jeremiah suffered
greatly as he was beaten and imprisoned: “They were angry with Jeremiah
and had him beaten and imprisoned in the house of Jonathan the secretary,
which they had made into a prison” [Jeremiah 37:15]. Here Jeremiah seems
to quote Isaiah 53 and applies it to himself:
Jeremiah 11:18-19 =
Because the Lord revealed their plot
to me, I knew it, for at that time he
showed me what they were doing. I
had been like a gentle lamb led to the
slaughter; I did not realize that they
had plotted against me, saying, “Let
us destroy the tree and its fruit; let
us cut him off from the land of the
living, that his name be remembered
no more.”
Compare it with Isaiah 53:7-8 =
He was oppressed and afflicted, yet
he did not open his mouth; he was
led like a lamb to the slaughter, and
as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
...For he was cut off from the land of
the living; for the transgression of my
people he was punished.
In conclusion, we have looked at a number of alleged biblical prophecies
about Jesus and have seen that they suffer from some serious inconsistencies. If one has no problem accepting such a standard for Jesus, then in
the name of fairness one should also accept the prophecies we have presented about Muhammad as they are far more consistent. These Arabian
prophecies, which have been covered in great detail, hold to a much higher
standard as they suffer from none of the issues that have been highlighted
with regards to Jesus. A methodology that is fair and balanced ought to be
adopted when it comes to analysing biblical prophecies about both Jesus
and Muhammad. Having one set of standards for Jesus and another for
Muhammad is the hallmark of religious partisanship. END [from the book Abraham fulfilled]
For me, the textual analysis made by one of the brothers or together, brothers Adnan Rashid, Abu Zakariya, and Zakir Hussain is very valid arguments!
