Esau. (1) That is to say, “You are about to pass (2) through the frontier of your brothers, the sons of Esau.”

Cases of this sort are too many to enumerate. Take the expression “meʾod meʾod,” for example: you will find it the closest possible equivalent to the name Muḥammad. If you wish to verify this, compare Hebrew vocabulary with Arabic. Likewise they say: “isbuʿ ʾo lo hem hom,” meaning, “The finger of God wrote the Torah for him.”

The presence of the preposition b in the phrase “bi-meʾod meʾod” points to this meaning, for no one says, “I exalt him by ‘very, very,’” whereas one can say, “I exalt him by means of Muḥammad.” And so it was: Ishmael was honored through him, his dignity rising from one eminence to another. Indeed, Ishmael’s exaltation through Muḥammad ﷺ surpasses the honor any father gains from a son of great stature; Allah—glorified be He—magnified him through Muḥammad ﷺ.

Whichever of the two interpretations you adopt, the text remains one of the clearest proclamations of glad tidings about him. On the second reading, its indication is altogether obvious; (3) on the first, the point is that Ishmael was made great—far, far greater than Isaac—through his son Muḥammad ﷺ.

When, therefore, you compare the meaning of “Paraclete” with that of “meʾod meʾod,” with the names Muḥammad and Aḥmad; when you consider the many facets of praise inherent in him—the fact that his community are called al-ḥammādūn (the constant praisers), that his Book opens with al-ḥamd, that the ritual prayer begins with al-ḥamd, (and that each rakaʿa ends with al-ḥamd) (4); the abundance of praiseworthy qualities found in him, in his nation, in his faith, and in his scripture; and when you reflect on how he delivered the world from every variety of polytheism, unbelief, sin, innovation, and speaking of Allah without knowledge, and on how Allah by means of him strengthened the truth and its people and subdued falsehood and its followers—you will be certain that he is indeed the Paraclete.