Page 39 - Demo

35I have translated the above paragraph from theonly copy of the Bible at my disposal, lent to me by an Assyrian woman cousin in her own vernacular language. Nevertheless, let us consult the English versions of the Bible, which we find have rendered the original Hebrew words himda and shalom into “desire” and “peace” respectively.Jewish and Christian commentators alike have given the utmost importance to the double promise contained in the above prophecy. They both understand a messianic prediction in the word Himda. Indeed, here is a wonderful prophecy confirmed by the usual biblical formula of the divine oath, “says the Lord Sabaoth,” four times repeated. If this prophecy were taken in the abstract sense of the words himda and shalom as “desire” and “peace,” then the prophecy becomes nothing more than an unintelligible aspiration. However, if we understand by the term himda a concrete idea, a person and reality, and in the word shalom, not a condition, but a living and active force and a definitely established religion, then this prophecy must be admittedly true and fulfilled in the person of Ahmed and the establishment of Islam. For himda and shalom - or shlama have precisely the same significance respectively as Ahmed and Islam.Before endeavouring to prove the fulfilment of this prophecy, it will be well to explain the etymology of the two words as briefly as possible:-(a) Himda. Unless I am mistaken, the clause in the original Hebrew text reads thus. “ve yavu himdath kol haggoyim,” which literally rendered into English would be “and will come the Himda of all nations.” The final hi in Hebrew, asinArabic, is changed into th, or t when in the genitive case.Theword is derived froman archaicHebrew-or rather Aramaic- root hmd (consonants pronounced hemed).In Hebrew hemed is generally used in the sense of