Page 168 - Demo

3 . That among all the sons of Adam (pbuh)164the name Muhammad (pbuh)should be given for the first time alone to the son of ‘Abdullah and Āmina in the town of Makkah, is a unique miracle in the history of religions. There could be no artificial device, attempt, or forgery in this respect. His parents and relatives were pagans and knew nothing ofthe propheciesin the Hebrew orChristian Scriptures concerning a great Prophet who waspromised to come to restore and establish the religion ofIslam. Their choice of the name Muhammad (pbuh) or Ahmad could not be explained away as a coincidence or an accidental event. It was surely providential and inspired.Whether the Arabian poets and men of letters had preserved the archaic signification of the Hebrew passive participle of the pi’el form of the verb hamad, or not, I have no means to prove one way or another. However, the Arabic passive Participle of the pi’el conjugation of the verb hammida is Muhammad (pbuh) , and that of the Hebrew himmid Mahmad or Mahamod. The affinity between the similarity and the identity ofthe two formsis unquestionable.I have faithfully reproduced the significations of the Hebrew forms as given by the lexicographers and translators. The intrinsical or spiritual sense of “Himdah” and “Mahamod” is “praise and praiseworthy, celebrity and celebrated, glory and glorious.” For among the created beings and things, what can be “more glorious, honourable, illustrious, and praised than thatwhich ismost coveted and desired?” It is in this practical sense that the Quran uses the word hamdu from which Ahmad (pbuh) and Muhammad (pbuh) are derivations, and hamdu is the same word as the Hebrew hemed. The glory of Muhammad (pbuh) surpasses that of any other creatures, as illustrated by Daniel (vii.), and in the oracle of Allah: “Law lā ka lamā Khalaqna ’lAflāka” - “Were it not for thee, were it not