THE PROMISED MESSIAH

No question of expecting the Promised Messiah as he had already come and gone.
A mind-boggling discovery was made in the ‘Dead Sea Scrolls’ (3rd century BCE – 1st century CE). It was about the promised two Messiahs, and not one as taught by the early Christian Church which was mostly busy monopolizing Christianity and destroying earlier recordings of Jesus Christ and his true disciples [such as banning the authentic books and blacklisting them at the Nicene Council held in 325 CE].
The prediction of two messiah is something that many scholars in Judaism very well know.
These scrolls also refer to the two messiahs as 1) priestly messiah, and 2) lay messiah.
In ‘The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered’ by Robert Eisenman and Michael Wise, we read that although the early scrolls spoke of two messiahs, but later on the communities of Jews began to combine them into one messiah.
“As we have suggested, contrary to the well-known ‘two-Messiah’ theory of early Qumran scholarship, these references to the ‘Messiah of Aaron and Israel’ in the Damascus Document are singular not plural… and one possible explanation for it is that it is evoking a Messiah with both priestly and kingly implications, like the somewhat similar recitations of Hebrews.”
(The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered, Robert Eisenman and Michael Wise, p. 162)
“According to the dominant view in the sectarian texts from Qumran, two messiahs were to lead the congregation in the End of Days, one priestly, and the other lay.”
(Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls, Lawrence H. Schiffman, pp. 321-322)
So the Jews had prophecies of “two messiahs”. The first was best known to them for his “religious” or “priestly” works which he would perform. The second was best known to them for his “kingly” works; his bringing of an epoch of peace.
These prophecies of two messiahs refer to none other than Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them).

Jesus (peace be upon him) was best known for his “priestly” works. However, he never lead an army and never established a kingdom or a government. Quite the opposite, he called to peace and submissiveness, and to leave the rule of the land to others (Matthew 22:21). He told his followers that he yet had many things to teach them but they could not bear them at that time and that another would be coming after him who would teach them the complete truth (John 16:7-14).
Muhammad (peace be upon him) too began his ministry preaching submissiveness and passiveness. However, his ministry was nurtured by God almighty to a point where it was able to defend itself and establish righteousness on the face of earth and abolish evil. His followers fought several wars in self-defence and against injustice. The Islamic empire finally stretched from China to Spain and even those who did not follow Muhammad knew him well. But what did they know him for? They knew him for his “kingly” actions and not for the “priestly” side of him that his followers knew.
Prophet Muhammad was a prophet who could neither read nor write, and so he was a Lay Messiah in that respect.
Interestingly, after learning of the prophecies in the early Jewish scriptures [such as the promised Messiah would be from the Ishmailites], historical evidence shows, many Jewish sects migrated to Arabia and started living there in anticipation of the arising of their Saviour. And from amongst them were the devoted Jews who willingly converted to Islam when Muhammad (peace be upon him) proclaimed his prophethood as they at once recognized him by the signs they knew of the Promised Messiah.
But there were other Jews who chose to ignore him despite knowing him to be the Ultimate Messiah. Their state was described by the Almighty thus:
“Those unto whom We gave the Scripture recognize him (Muhammad) as they recognize their sons. But verily, a party of them conceal the truth while they know [it].” (Qur’an 2:146)

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