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Response to Misha'al Al-Kadhi: A Paraclete like Jesus
A response to 6.3
A Paraclete like Jesus
The Greek word "parakalein" (this is the infinitive) has the basic
meanings of "to call", "to call for". Further on, it can express the
meanings of (a) "to call for help", (b) "to call something to a person";
"to call upon", "to ask", "to admonish", (c) "to invite" and (d) "to
comfort", "to strengthen" and alike.
The participle present activ "parakaleon" or contracted "parakalon"
therefore has the meanings of "someone who calls", "calling", "calling
for help", "asking", "admonishing", "inviting", "comforting" and alike.
The verbal adjective "parakletos" - or according to later pronounciation
"paraklitos", the Greek spelling is unchanged - has the basic meaning of
"one who can be called" and can express the meanings of "counsel",
"counsel for defense", "legal advicer", "solicitor", "attorney",
"defender", "advocate" and alike. The argument of Abdul-'Ahad Dawud, that
"the proper Greek term for 'advocate' is Sunegorus" is erroneous:
(1) The Greek word which Abdul-'Ahad Dawud has in mind is "Synegoros".
(2) "Parakletos" is not only an appropriate Greek word for "advocate",
but the Latin word "advocatus", the origin of the English word
"advocate", has been formed by the Romans as precise verbal translation
of "parakletos".
What according to Abdul-'Ahad Dawud "should be noticed [viz.] that there
is a long alpha vowel after the consonant kappa in [verbal forms like]
'parakalon' which does not exist in the 'Paraclytos'" is wrong or
irrelevant for various reasons:
(1) We don't read any "Paraclytos", but "Parakletos". There is not one
old manuscript or fragment of the gospel existent showing the variant
"paraklytos" or even "periklytos", as many Muslims like to emend the word
"parakletos". This emendation is nothing than wishful thinking.
(2) The verbal adjective form "parakletos" - with the omission of the
alpha after the kappa - is a regular derivation from the infinitive
"parakalein".
(3) By the way, the quantity of the second alpha in "parakalon", whether
it is a long or short vowel, arguably is short.
It is evident from the context that exactly this connotation of legal
advice and defending in court is intended in Christ's prophecies of the
"Paraclet". Therefore the translation "comforter", though perhaps
defendable according to the older use of this word in the English
language, is not the most appropriate. In the following we use the word
"Paraclete", wherever the original Greek texts have "parakletos":
In Joh. 14:16 seq. Jesus Christ says: "And I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another Paraclete, that may abide with you forever, even
the Spirit of truth" showing that the "Paraclete" is the "Spirit of
truth".
In Joh. 14:26 seq. Christ knows that his prayer will be granted and
describes what the Paraclet is going to do: "But the Paraclete, whom the
Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things and bring all
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."
By the way, this prophecy precisely excludes that could happen, what is
the standard Muslim reproach against Christianity: that the Christians
would forget about or even would temper the revelations of Christ.
In Joh. 15:26 seq. Jesus Christ not only uses the expression that he
himself will send the Paraclet, but describes his actions by a term with
strong forensic connotations: "But when the Paraclet is come, whom I will
send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of the truth, which
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."
In Joh. 16:1 seq. explains Jesus Christ explains in which situations the
Paraclet will testify of him and why he is "another Paraclet", namely
another Paraclet besides Jesus himself who is going to the Father,
whereas the Paraclet will "abide whith you forever": "They [i.e. the
enemies of his followers] shall put you out of the synagogues; yea the
time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God
service. And theses things they will do unto you, because they have not
known the Father nor me... It is expedient for you that I go away: for if
I go not away, the Paraclete will not come unto you; but if I depart, I
will send him unto you."
Even more explicit in describing the situation in court and how the
Paraclete will be testifying of him is Jesus Christ in Matth. 10,17-19:
"And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a
testimony against them and the gentiles. But when they deliver you up,
take no thought what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that
same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father which speaketh."
By the way, it is evident from these quotations that the "Spirit of
truth" viz. the "Spirit of the Father" is no created thing, but of divine
nature. And Jesus Christ's words that he "will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another Paraclete", "whom I will send unto you from the
Father" underline his words "I and my Father are one" (Joh. 10:30).
It's absolutely mysterious to me how people can run away with the idea
that a Muhammad could have been meant by this prophecy of the Paraclete.
Concerning Al-Kadhi's section 6) "Parakletos" or "Periklytos"?
`Abdul-Ahad Dawud, who is introduced by the author as "Professor"
and former "Roman Catholic Bishop of Uramiah" (at least the second
qualification is a hoax and
Al-Kadhi has been informed of this a long time ago) displays his
inability in linguistics at various occasions, also in the matter
of Parakletos/Paraklytos/Periklytos. I already have pointed to this
fact, but may add the following remark:
`Abdul-Ahad Dawud is quoted to write in his "Muhammad in the Bible", pp.
208-209 "The Greek orthography of the word is Paraklytos which in
ecclesiastical literature is made to mean "one called to aid, advocate,
intercessor..."
That's humbug!
The word which has the meaning of "one called to aid, advocate,
intercessor..." is Parakletos (whith an eta instead of an ypsilon in the
third syllable; the author perhaps is mistaken because they both are
pronounced as the vowel "i", or for English speaking persons: "ee", in
later times). The word "Parakletos" arguably isn't present at all in the
whole Greek literature. If it were present, it would have a rather
negative connotation in the sense of "notorious", according to the rules
of the Greek lexic. Look for instance H. Stephanus, Thesaurus linguae
Graecae, 3rd edition by C.B. Hase, W. Dindorf, L. Dindorf, Paris 1842-47,
vol. VI, p. 291, where the lemma (i.e. a hypothetical word, not really
occurring in the known Greek literature) "Paraclytus" is presented with a
question mark and explained as "infamis" (i.e."infame"), "famosus" (i.e.
"notorious"), "opp. klytos" (i.e. "opposite to famous").
It's of course of less importance that `Abdul-Ahad Dawud shows himself as
moron in linguistics. But this humbug of reading "Paraklytos" instead of
"Parakletos" in John 14:16 etc. (and connecting it to a Greek root which
in some words has the meaning of "famous" or alike) indeed goes back to
the celebrated Muslim theologian Ibn Taimiyya of the 13th to 14th century
AD (see for instance the scholarly standard work of H. Stieglecker, Die
Glaubenslehren des Islam, Paderborn (Germany) 1962, p. 558)
As Al-Kadhi acknowledges his indebtedness to Akbarally Meherally (see
his preface)
the answer to A.M.
on this topic should be enough to rebut the rest of his claims.
Furthermore, there is also a very
detailed discussion on the Paraclete in Dr. Campbell's response to Dr. Bucaille.
We cannot refrain though, from making a remark about the following
quotation presented by Al-Kadhi:
1) Christian scholars see evidence of tampering:
In the famous "Anchor Bible" we find the following quote:
"The word parakletos is peculiar in the NT to the Johnannine literature.
In John ii Jesus is a parakletos (not a title), serving as a heavenly intercessor
with the Father ... Christian tradition has identified this figure (Paraclete) as
the Holy Spirit, but scholars like Spitta, Delafosse, Windisch, Sasse, Bultmann,
and Betz have doubted whether this identification is true to the original picture
and have suggested that the Paraclete was once an independent salvific figure,
later confused with the Holy Spirit."
The Anchor Bible, Doubleday & Company, Inc, Garden City, N.Y. 1970, Volume 29A, p. 1135
It is not completely clear who is taking from whom, but I tend to
think that this also is Al-Kadhi's plagiarism taken verbatim from
Akbarally Meherally's articles (General observation from the totality
of their writings: Meherally is an original thinker (though often
wrong), but Al-Kadhi is only a bad plagiarizer). Probably Al-Kadhi
has again not read the original sources
(which is bad enough), or if he has, he is just as dishonest
and lacking in integrity as Meherally, whose devious way of
citing regarding the above quotation is documented in detail
on this page. There is need to explain the same thing twice.
However, Al-Kadhi adds another "twist" here which is not present
in Meherally's paper. He thinks that this quotation is evidence
that (Christian?) scholars believe in tampering. In fact, this
quotation says no such thing. It clearly only talks about some
opinions of scholars who suggested a different interpretation
of the meaning of the text. No hint in the above of tampering
with the text. Only a disagreement what the text might mean.
Al-Kadhi adds his own ignorance and inability to understand
the quotation to Meherally's distortion of the clear meaning of
the quotation from the Anchor Bible.
The Rebuttal to "What Did Jesus Really Say?"
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