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of the River Jordan, where he used to baptize the penitent
sinners who confessed their sins to him. While Matthew
knows nothing of his relationship with Jesus (pbuh) , or
does not care to report it, Luke, who wrote his Gospel, not
from a revelation, but from the works of the disciples of
the Master, records the homage rendered by to Jesus (pbuh)
when both in the wombs of their mothers (Luke i. 39-46).
He baptizes Jesus (pbuh) in the waters of the River Jordan
like everybody else, and is reported to have said that he
(John) was “not worthy to bow down to untie the laces of
the shoes” (Mark i. 7) of Jesus, and according to the Fourth
Gospel he (John) exclaimed that Jesus (pbtuhem) was “the Lamb
of God that takes away the sins of the world” ( i. 29). That he
knew Jesus (pbuh) and recognized him to be the Christ is quite
evident. Yet when he was imprisoned he sends his disciples
to Jesus (pbuh) , asking him: “Art thou he who is to come, or
should we anticipate another one?” (Matt. xi. 3, etc.). The
Baptist was martyred in the prison because he reprimanded
an infidel Edomite, King Herod the Tetrarch, for having
married the wife of his own brother. Thus ends, according
to the narrative of the Evangelists, the life of a very chaste
and holy prophet (pbuh) .

It is strange that the Jews did not receive as a prophet.
It is also stranger still to find that the Gospel of Barnabas
does not mention the Baptist; and what is more, it puts
the words said to have been uttered by concerning Christ
into the mouth of the latter about Muhammad (pbuh) , the
Apostle of Allah. The Quran mentions the miraculous
birth of under the name of (Yahya),” but does not refer to
his mission of baptism.

The description of his sermon is given in the third chapter
of Matthew. He seems to have announced the approach of
the Kingdom of Heaven and the advent of a Great Apostle
and Prophet of God who would baptize the believers, not
with water, “but with fire and with the holy spirit.”