Allah
(Azza wa Jall) says in the Suhufan Mutahharah:
هُوَ
سَمَّاكُمُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ مِن قَبْلُ
وَفِي هَـٰذَا لِيَكُونَ الرَّسُولُ
شَهِيدًا عَلَيْكُمْ وَتَكُونُوا
شُهَدَاءَ عَلَى النَّاسِ
He
it is Who has named you as Muslims both before and in this (Book),
that the Messenger be a witness over you and you be witnesses over
mankind (22:78)
Here
Allah has claimed that the name “Muslim” has been given even
before the present Revelation (of the Qur'an).
I
would like to give all Muslims the good news that I have discovered
the text in which the name Muslim has been given before the
revelation of the Qur'an.
In
the Book of Isaiah, chapter 42, verse 19, it is written:
מִ֤י
עִוֵּר֙ כִּ֣י אִם־עַבְדִּ֔י וְחֵרֵ֖שׁ
כְּמַלְאָכִ֣י אֶשְׁלָ֑ח מִ֤י עִוֵּר֙
כִּמְשֻׁלָּ֔ם
וְעִוֵּ֖ר כְּעֶ֥בֶד יְהוָֽה
Translation: Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I send? who is blind as he that is at peace with me, and blind as Jehovah's servant? (Isaiah 42:19, American Standard Version)
The
Hebrew word used in this verse is Měshullâm
which
is the Hebrew equivalent of the Arabic Muslim.
I have reproduced quotations from several Bible commentaries which
affirm this fact:
The
meaning of the Heb. měshullâm (a proper name in 2
Kings 22:3; Ezra
8:16, and often) is uncertain. Many take it as the equivalent of
the Arabic “Moslim,” = “the surrendered one” (Cheyne, Comm.).
It is no objection to this that it is based on an Aramaic use of the
verb (commentary of Cambridge
Bible for Schools and Colleges)
The
Hebrew meshullam is interesting, as connected with the modern Moslem
and Islam, the man resigned to the will of God. (Ellicott's
Commentary for English Readers)
The
word used is connected etymologically with the Arabic muslim (our
"Moslem") (Pulpit
Commentary)
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