From Habakkuk, we read when Prophet Habakkuk P.B.U.H. was invoking Allah for mercy after seeing a vision of the Chaldeans destroying his people’s towns and cities. Habakkuk then wondered why Allah would allow this to happen to the Israelites, trying to find excuses for their sins which he knows and even spells some of them in verse (1:4). Allah revealed to him that he punishes all spoilers and evildoers for their deeds one by another, and that the Chaldeans shall be punished as well for their evil works. Then Habakkuk invokes upon Allah to revive His laws and religion again after that, and to clarify it so that people may follow its guidance. So Allah revealed to him in a vision the following signs:

{3:3} God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. {3:4} And [his] brightness was as the light, he had horns [coming] out of his hand: and there [was] the hiding of his power. {3:5} Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. {3:6} He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways [are] everlasting.

Paran is mentioned many times in connection with a holy person and a praised one coming from it. The rest of the verse describes his glory as covering the heavens, which is something that we can never recognize as we are earth inhabitants. But the second half of the verse says that: “the earth is full of his praise.” As stated in my previous post, “Muhammad” literally means: “The one praised continuously.” Muslims all around the world never utter the prophet’s name except that they follow it with the sentence: “Peace and Blessings be upon him,” and in some translations “Praises and Blessings be upon him,” which we interpret as P.B.U.H. Muslims pray five obligatory prayers every day from dawn till night. Before each prayer, the muezzin says during his call: “I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.” Of course, the reader should be able to understand that at every second there is dawn somewhere on earth, there is sunset somewhere else, noon, night and after noon in continuous succession, which means that in every second there are thousands of muezzins somewhere calling for prayers and raising their voices with this sentence, after which Muslims gather and pray. In their prayers, they recite what is called “Tashahud” or “Giving the Testimonies,” every Muslim says in it “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah and that Muhammad is His messenger,” and then follow these words with the same invocation saying: “O, Allah Praise Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as you have praised Abraham and the family of Abraham, and Bless Muhammad and the family of Muhammad as you have blessed Abraham and the family of Abraham”. The 5 prayers take place in succession all round the world from one place to the next, as the sun moves from east to west. Taking into account that there are 1.6 billion Muslims living on earth, this means that there isn’t a second in the 24 hours of the day except that somewhere on earth there are millions of people praising Prophet Muhammad’s name. This is what I can absolutely understand as: “the earth is full of his praise.”

Now to the next verse which says: “And [his] brightness was as the light, he had horns [coming] out of his hand: and there [was] the hiding of his power”, which is translated also as:

“{His} radiance is like the sunlight, He has rays {flashing} from His hand, And there is the hiding of His power” The New American Standard Version (1995).
“And `his’ brightness was as the light, He had rays `coming forth’ from his hand, And there was the hiding of his power” The American Standard Version (1901).
“His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden” The World English Bible.

Again this holy one’s appearance is alluded to in a way that totally matches Prophet Muhammad’s description as was given by his companions, and stated in my previous post. Then the verse continues describing the secret of his power as horns or light rays from his hand; this is related to another earlier prophecy given by Moses P.B.U.H. in verse (33:2) of Deuteronomy where he said: “from his right hand [went] a fiery law for them,” it was also describing the prophet from Paran. These two verses are obviously describing the same prophet of Paran, and they both fairly complete each other when referring to his hand or his right hand as more accurately described in Deuteronomy’s verse from which a fiery law, horns of light or rays of light as described in Habakkuk, shall come. Inside this law shell the secret of his power lie. This fiery law according to my interpretation of those signs and prophecies is the Qur’an, our creator’s final message to all people. All of the pure actions and divine laws mentioned in the Qur’an or taught by Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H. are what’s described in the previous verses of Deuteronomy and Habakkuk as “fiery law” and “horns or rays of light”.

Habakkuk’s verse then continues saying: “Before him went the pestilence”:

Before Prophet Muhammad’s immigration to Madinah, the city was known of its pestilence and this pestilence was known all over Hejaz as “Yathreb’s fever”. All Muslims who immigrated caught this fever and fell terribly sick. Lady ‘Āʾishah reported this incident saying: “When the prophet arrived at Madinah, Abu-Bakr and Belal¹ fell very sick, when I entered on them, I said: “How are you father? How are you Belal?” She continued saying: “whenever Abu-Bakr was in great pain, he would say: “Every man wakes up between his family, and death is closer to him than the soles of his footwear.” Belal was mostly unconscious but whenever he was aware a little, he would say these few poetry lines: “Oh my poetry, how I hope to spend a night in a valley surrounded by Ezkhar and Galil², Oh shall I one day stand by Mganna’s³ waters, shall I see again Shama and Tophil⁴”.
Lady ‘Āʾishah then said: “I went to the prophet and informed him of their sickness and he said: ‘Oh Allah, make Madinah beloved to us as Makkah and more, Oh Allah, bless its Weighs and its Bushels and move its fever to Jahfa⁵.’ ”
Lady ‘Āʾishah then commented saying: “We came to Madinah and it was the most pestilential of all lands.” [Recorded by Bukhari].

1: Belal was a very famous companion originally from Abyssinia. He was the prophet’s muezzin and Abu-Bark’s freed slave.
2: Ezkhar and Galil : Plants that grow in Makkah.
3: Majanna : One of the Arab’s Markets in Makkah.
4: Shama and Tophil : Two of Makkah’s mountains.
5: Jahfa : A desert place far away from Madinah, near Sham.

The prophet’s blessed invocation was fulfilled and all the companions were cured and the pestilence of Madinah ever since that day, and till this moment disappeared from Madinah without any return. What’s truly amazing is the second half of this verse which says: “and burning coals went forth at his feet”, which is a clear reference to the high fever that infected the companions and was cured by the prophet’s invocation. If you check the different translations of this verse, you will find it translated as follows:

“Before him went disease, and flames went out at his feet” (The Basic English Bible). The bold word under discussion here which is “רשף” in Hebrew, has the following meanings: “flame”, “coal or burning coal” and “Plague or pestilence.” So the verse is implying that this pestilence is like flames or burning coal, or what we know in short as fever. This pestilence shall fade away at the feet of the awaited prophet coming from Paran. This is confirmed in King James 2000 Bible: “Before him went the pestilence, and burning fever went forth at his feet.” When we try to clarify that the Bible at hand has some mistranslations, people of the book hate us for it. Fine, the previous are your own priests’ translations, not ours.

Then finally the awaited prophet’s description ends with this verse: “He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways [are] everlasting.”

This verse is clearly stating that this final prophet whose ways are everlasting shall fight and gain triumph over the other nations, which is also the case with Prophet Muhammad. After his coming and success in delivering Allah’s final message and law, Muslims led by his companions (i.e. the ones described earlier as saints) triumphed over all of the tyrant military empires that occupied and ruled over the people during their time. The like of this prophecy is in Daniel’s interpretation of king Nebuchadnezzar’s dream in {2:36-45}. Babylon was opened for Islam as was predicted by Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H., so was Persia and Constantinople, the largest capitals that ruled the inhabited world back then. Finally, his ways are everlasting for certain, the prophet passed away more than 1400 years ago, and his teachings are still followed by millions of people every second of the day, and the number of those who embraced his teachings never decreased.

Now my question is, do you know any other person whose life matches the above mentioned verses of Habakkuk more than Prophet Muhammad? I leave the answer for your conscience.

Prophet Muhammad P.B.U.H. said: “My case and the prophets before me is as that of a man who established a building, beautified and adorned it except for one final missing corner stone. People kept on wandering around it admiring it and saying “If only this stone was put in its place”, (the prophet then said): “Verily, I am this stone and I am the seal of the prophets”. [Recorded by Bukhari, Ahmad, An-Nasā’ī and others].

May Allah guide us and all people to the truth, Amen.

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Written By: Ehab Shawky

For complete understanding, read my relevant posts: Locating Paran, The Prophecy of Isaiah, The Man In the “Song of Songs” & The Final Testament.