53. What is the ‘parakletos’?

The ‘parakletos’ is the Greek term used to describe the Holy Spirit. It is used mainly in the Book of Acts. Many Christian commentators call the Book of Acts the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit. This book records how the Holy Spirit was sent by God to empower the disciples to do the work of the kingdom of God on earth, not in their own strength but in the power of the Holy Spirit. Because they relied on the power of the Holy Spirit they saw many miracles take place.

In his book ‘Is Muhammad mentioned in the Bible?’ Mr Sy’eed of Auckland, New Zealand wrote that the parakletos (Greek for Holy Spirit) was Muhammad. Mr Sy’eed very kindly invited Bpk Pengajar Rohani to his house one evening to discuss his book. He was very proud of his efforts. Bpk Pengajar pointed out to Mr Sy’eed that the parakletos (Holy Spirit) could not have been Muhammad because the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples at Pentecost in 33 AD in Jerusalem but Muhammad was not born until 570AD. Muhammad was not reincarnated when he was born in 570 AD. The late Ahmed Deedat of ‘The South African Islâmic Propagation Centre’ also made this claim in one of his lectures in England. A simple understanding of Biblical hermeneutics would disprove this possibility.

Other commentators on Islâm claim that the Angel Gabriel is the parakletos or the Holy Spirit. That would mean that the Holy Spirit dictated the Qur’an to Muhammed. It should be expected then that the Qur’an and the Bible would be in agreement seeing the Bible itself states that it was derived from holy men and women of God moved upon by the Holy Spirit to write its contents.