3. The third argument draws heavily from what is known as Bhavishya Purana or Book of Prophecies. Prati Sarg Parv III: 3, 3, verses 5-27 give detailed descriptions of Mohammed's doings, the establishment of the new religion and even gets the Prophet's name right. So we immediately come to the question of how authentic this book is. According to most scholars, this book is a work of compilation that went on through centuries, with the writers pretending to pass off historical knowledge as prophecies of the future. The writer argues, "A case has been made that the present Puranas are not the same collection that Vedas refer to and the real books were lost". I would be very astonished if any Hindu had actually made such a claim, because it is common knowledge that Puranas were written after the Vedas and the Vedas never mention any Purnanas. However this allows Mr. Haq and Dr.Naik to set up an useful non-existent strawman for them to demolish. He also argues that materials could not have been added in later dates because Puranas were read in public and so could not have been altered. However, only the more popular stories from the 18 Puranas were read in assemblies and Bhavishya Purana is a text that was seldom read out in public. Even if we accept the book as authentic, two questions arise. One is, why does the book contain prophecies only till Victoria 's reign? Why did God suddenly decide to suspend his revelations at that particular moment? Surely it would have been more proper to continue it (even through Muslim holy men) or to end all such prophecies with the emergence of Islam and the 'perfect' Book of Qur’an which was to replace all others. Secondly, the Purana is filled with stories of the doings of various gods and concludes that the only god who is worthy of worship is the Surya, the sun-god. If the book is authentic then all such stories are also true and therefore it is the sun we must worship. However, most Muslims have not read the whole book; those who have, argue that all such portions are corruptions. But Hindus can too use such pick-and-choose methods by declaring that it is the portions relating to Islam which are degenerations. The Bhavishya Purana is precisely described as :

“ Bhavishya Purana. This is what is told to Manu by Surya (Sun). This contains statements about future events. The book praises the worship of Surya (Sun), Agni (fire) and Naga (serpent). There is an annexure dealing with the several holy places of Bharata and the rights of pilgrims. The book contains fourteen thousand verses and it is considered to be uttama (best) to give this book along with treacle as a gift to a brahmin on the full-moon day in the month of Pausha “

Bhavishya purana also is allegedly claiming that JESUS has come to INDIA . You can find such an argument here. If muslims believe Bhavishya Purana predicts Muhammad, then why don’t they believe Jesus came to INDIA and learnt tricks from Siddhas? Bhavishya Purana also praises worship of Surya, Agni and Naga. Muslims will pray any of these?  When they never will approbate any of these, how come they only believe that some unrelated verses point to Muhammad? Can you see the desperation among these two men?

4. Prophecy in Vedas:

(The Vedas are the oldest scriptures of Hinduism. They date back to around 4000BC approximately or even older. They are written in an archaic language, so ancient that when Sanskrit as a language was codified ordinary people had already started forgetting the meanings of the verses. The great pundits of the time therefore started to write commentaries and grammar books on them. Even today, it is not possible to translate the verses without these texts. However today's scholars also have the help of comparing them with other languages.)

Dr.Zakir Naik and Dr.Haq declare that Atharva Veda, Kanda (chapter) 20, Mantras 126-137 prefigures about Muhammad. This portion is known as Kuntap sukta. He says that the word Kuntap means to consume sin and misery, and it is composed from Kuh (sin and misery) and tap (to consume). This is not wholly correct. The Gopatha Brahman defines the term as "that which burns away whatever is evil or ugly". However the meaning is close enough. But he goes onto say that the word Kuntap also means "the ‘hidden glands in the abdomen,’ inferring the true meaning to be revealed only to those who are able to develop sufficient insight". It is a pity that he does not give his source for this meaning. But apparently he has developed sufficient insight to read its hidden meaning: that this meaning proves it is actually a reference to Mecca which is called navel of the earth by Muslims. Then Dr.Naik and Dr. Haq "shows that the word "Kuntap is derived from Bakkah (Makkah). In the analysis of Sanskrit and Arabic words having the same meaning … , the word ‘b’ in Arabic is used as ‘p’ in Sanskrit (in our times, one example is that of soft drink Pepsi; it is written and pronounced as Bebsi in the Arab world). A certain ‘t’ in Arabic becomes silent and pronounced as h depending on its position in that word … For example, ‘tun’ in Medinatun is replaced by h when pronounced (both t and n are dropped). Further, many Sanskrit words having parallel in Arabic are written backwards … Thus one can see the similarity between the word Kuntap and Bakkah (each containing letters k, n, t, p)".

This once again is absolutely childish, on the same level as Brahma and Abraham. "Kuyang ang nam kutsitang bhavati taddopatti , tasmat [from there] Kuntap" --- the letters k, u, n, t, a, p all come from the Sanskrit words in the definition. (I have used Roman alphabets for the ordinary reader, though the pronunciation is not absolutely accurately transcribed thereby). Also, another term for the Kuntap sukt is left out. It is also called 'Khila-parva' meaning supplement; these verses are taken mostly from the Rig-Veda and are not considered to be of any great importance. Indeed many translations skip this chapter altogether, which no doubt Dr.Naik and Dr. Vidyarthi felt can only help their cause.

(Just to muddy the waters further, a Hindu has argued that the word Mecca comes from the Sanskrit root Makh or Yajna; the name Mohammad is a derivative of Krishna's another name, Madan Mohan and the word Aab (water) comes from the pure Sanskrit word Aap meaning water. We have exactly the same type of argument here that Vidyarthi/Haq gives, except that it is turned upside down: but the latter is equally valid in its methodology as the former. In fact since no analysis is given that can expose its weaknesses, -- only an assertion is made --- the Hindu claim appears more valid!).

The writers say that the third Mantra of the Kuntap Sukt translated by someone called Pandit Raja Ram is:

"He gave the Mamah Rishi a hundred gold coins, ten chaplets, three hundred steeds and ten thousand cows."

They go onto explain " The root of the word Mamah is Mah which means to esteem highly, honor, revere, to magnify and to exalt. The word "Mohammad" means "the praised one" in Arabic. Therefore, Mamah is synonymous with Mohammad when the full meaning of the verse is considered. The 'd' dropped as in the case of Mamah (Mohammad, which is derived from root letters h, m, and d)". It is a very ingenious explanation. Alas! the only problem is that Mamah is not a single word nor a name. It is a combination of two words 'mamo' and 'ahe', meaning "to me".

Then Dr.Naik and Dr.Haq go on to explain the 'hidden' (!) symbolism in the line. The hundred gold coins apparently refer to the early companions of Prophet Muhammad,. The ten chaplets refer to ten companions of Prophet Muhammad, who were given the good news of Paradise by the Prophet. Three Hundred Good Steeds (horses of Arab Breed) refers to those companions of Prophet Muhammad who fought at ‘Badr.’ We are told that though their actual number was 313, in many prophecies the numbers are usually rounded up. Ten Thousand Cows refer to ten thousand companions who accompanied the Prophet when he conquered Mecca . The interpretation is based on a hadith in Sahih Al-Bukhari, Vol. 9, number 159, where Muhammad narrates a dream where cows symbolize the believers. Is there any other evidence to suggest that the hymn is a symbol of anything, far less of the meaning the writers finds? There is not. Also both of them reveal their shoddy Vedic scholarship when they declare "The Sanskrit word Arvah means a swift Arab horse particularly used by Asuras (non-Aryans)". In the Vedas the Asuras are not non-Aryans; gods like Indra and Varuna are addressed as 'Asur' which simply means 'lord'. It was far later that Asuras came to symbolize demons.

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