after me whose name is Ahmad (Q 61:6), for when the Torah foretold him and his prophethood, his very appearance verified it. He then brought the glad tidings of a messenger who would come after him; accordingly, the advent of that foretold messenger(1) confirmed him, just as his own advent had confirmed the Torah. Such is Allah’s way with His messengers: the earlier one heralds the later, and the later one attests to the earlier.

Had Muhammad ibn ʿAbd Allah not appeared(2) and been sent, the prophethood of all the prophets before him would have been nullified.

Allah, exalted is He, never breaks His promise and His report is never false. He had given Abraham and Hagar unmistakable glad tidings, and we have not seen them fulfilled or manifested except through the appearance of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Indeed, Hagar was given glad tidings concerning Ishmael in a manner accorded to no woman in the worlds save Mary the daughter of ʿImrān regarding the Messiah. Yet Mary received her good news only once, whereas Hagar was given the good news about Ishmael twice, and Abraham received it many times. Thereafter Allah—glorified be He—mentioned Hagar(3) after her death as though addressing her, upon the tongues of the prophets.

Thus the Torah states: “God the Exalted said to Abraham: I have answered your prayer regarding Ishmael, blessed him, increased him, and magnified him very greatly; he will beget a mighty son, and I shall make of him a great nation.”(4)(5)

Such is the wording in one group of translators’ rendition, whereas in the version produced by the seventy-two rabbis of the Jews it reads: “And he will beget twelve nations from—"