Imagining the End: Visions of

ismuhu ahmadu

)’. W. Montgomery Watt has

argued persuasively for an adjectival reading of  the term 

ahmad

.

42

 Given one

possible meaning of  the term as ‘greater in praising’, the Qur'anic statement

is a reasonable paraphrase of  the promise of  the coming of  the Paraclete in

John 



:

 

–



: ‘when the Spirit of  truth comes … he will not be speaking

of  his own accord but will only say what he has been told; and he will reveal

to you the things to come. He will glorify me.’ Quite apart from the identity

of  the terms for ‘praising’ and ‘glorifying’ the Lord, this passage is sub-

stantively important because it corresponds exactly to the Qur'anic concept of

the revelation as the unaltered recitation, by the Prophet, of  the divine words

brought down by Gabriel (Q. 



:

 

–



) who is indeed the [holy/trustworthy]

Spirit (

ruh

) (Q. 



:

 

[



], 



:

 

[



], 



:

 

). The Qur'an (Recitation)

is the latest revealed portion of  the heavenly book, the Preserved Tablet (

lawh

mahfaz

) (Q. 



:

  

). The influence of  the Gospel of  John may have been

reinforced through Manichaeism.

43

 Indeed, Biruni’s statement is a striking

presentation of  the great Babylonian prophet, Mani (d. 



) as the forerunner

of  Muhammad: ‘In his gospel … he says that he is the Paraclete announced

by the Messiah, and that he is the seal of  the prophets (

i.e.

 the last of  them).’

44

The Qur'an also adopted the apocalyptic belief  in the second coming of

Christ. Jesus ‘is the sign of  the Hour’ (Q. 



:

  

). Jesus will return to

Jerusalem and kill the Antichrist. This assures Jerusalem a central place in

the topography of  the Islamic apocalyptic tradition. The Sea of  Tiberias, on

whose shores Jesus had revealed himself  to the disciples after crucifixion

( John 



), also figures in the Islamic apocalyptic topography. In one interesting

set of  traditions, Gog and Magog first appear there and drink its water dry.

45

There can be no doubt that Muhammad himself  set out to contain messianic

expectations 

pari passu

 his political success in the unification of  Arabia. The

very term ‘Seal of  the Prophets’ occurs in a mundane, indeed defensive context.

The final de-apocalypticization of  political messianism and its historicization

into triumphal ‘realized Messianism’ is documented in the remarkably coherent

Victory Chapter of  the Qur'an that celebrates the final conquest of  Mecca in



. The angelic army of  the apocalyptic first battle of  Badr is transformed

into the divine succour in the form of  Shechina descending upon the warriors

of  faith whose heart God knows (Q

.  

:

  

; 



). Those who obey God and

---

113

Messianism, Millennialism and Revolution

his Messenger will enter ‘the garden underneath which rivers flow’ (Q.

 

:

 

).

Whereas Jesus, as we have seen, had been the ‘bearer of  the good tiding’ of

the coming of  the Paraclete/Ahmad, Muhammad is ‘but the witness, the bearer

of  the good tiding (