34 Jesus, Prophet of Islammystery surrounds these men, and not muchis known about them.
This is understandable. Theybelonged to the closest circle of Je
sus's followers, andtheiridentities had to be hiddenfromtheeyes
of the Roman spi es.
Jesus gave the command to his followers: 'But now he that hath
a purse, let him take it and likewise his scrip; and he that hath no
sword, let him sell his garments and buy one.' (Luke 22: 36). And
the number of his followers, inspired also by his teaching and mira
cles, grew. The net result of all these preparations was that Pilate's
successor, Sossianus Hierocles, (quoted by the Church father,
Lactanius), says offhandedly that Jesus was the leader of a band of
highway robbers numbering nine hundred men. A mediaeval He
brew copy of a lost version of a work by[osephus also reports that
Jesus had between 2,000 to 4,000 armed followers with him. 12
Jesus took great care not to deviate from the teaching of the
Essenes, which is known by the fact that 'the rites and precepts of
the Gospels and the Epistles are to be found on every page of the
literature of the sect.' 13 During his mission, however, Jesus did not
disclose the totality of his teaching to most of his followers. The
whole truth was known to very few:
1 have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot
bear them now. Howbeit, when he, the Spirit of truth, is
come, he will guide you into all truth, but he shall not
speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall
he speak. (John 16: 12-14).Itis interesting to note in passing that this passage is said to be one
of the few passages referring to the coming of the Prophet Mu
hammad, blessings and peace be on him, which has not been re
moved from the four official Gospels. The 'Spirit of truth' to which
the above verses refer .is identified by John with 'the Paraclete',
The Greek ward for Paraclete is 'Parakletœ' or 'Parakleiios', mean
ing 'the Comforter' or 'the Praised One'. Usequivalent in Arabie is
,Ahmad', meaning 'the Most Praiseworthy', 'the One who Distin
guishes betweenTruth and Falsehood', and 'the Comforter' - and
Ahmad is one of the names of the Prophet Muhammad. DrBucaille,
after considering the four references to the Paraclete in the New
Testament (who is only mentioned by [ohn, but notby anyone else),
and after considering the textual variations in the various versions,
as well as the natural meaning of the vocabulary used, concludes:http://www.islamicbulletin.com