Epigraph:

And remember when Jesus, son of Mary, said, ‘O children of Israel, surely I am Allah’s Messenger unto you, fulfilling that which is before me of the Torah, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger who will come after me. His name will be Ahmad.’ And when he came to them with clear proofs, they said, ‘This is clear sorcery.’ (Al Quran 61:6)

By Zia H Shah MD

Jeffery Schwartz was a Jew, who became an evangelical Christian. It is not a big stretch to imagine, what if he were a Muslim.

He is a famous research psychiatrist and also a writer. His focus has been on obsessive compulsive disorder but his insights have much wider applications on human consciousness, our habits, personality and practice of mindfulness or meditation.

In the above video he quotes the Biblical verses about Paraclete that means advocate, comforter or councilor in English and Schwart interprets the term to mean our inner voice. The Muslims believe these verses to be a prophecy about the coming of the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him, six centuries after Jesus, may peace be on him.

The term Paraclete (παράκλητος) appears four times in the Gospel according to John (Jn 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7):

If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. (John 14:15-17)

All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you. (John 14:25-27)

When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me. And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning. (John 15:26-27)

But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16:7)

What is referred to as Paraclete in the Gospel of John, the Muslims believe is mentioned in a verse of Surah Saff that has been quoted above as epigraph:

And remember when Jesus, son of Mary, said, ‘O children of Israel, surely I am Allah’s Messenger unto you, fulfilling that which is before me of the Torah, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger who will come after me. His name will be Ahmad.’ And when he came to them with clear proofs, they said, ‘This is clear sorcery.’ (Al Quran 61:6)

Ahmad was another name of the prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him.

We are not going into a Muslim versus Christian debate about these verses. All I am suggesting is that if Muslim readers enjoy the above video in a Muslim paradigm, we can really learn self analysis and meditation from the insightful psychiatrist.

Some of the other videos by Dr. Schwartz to learn how his presentation helps us better understand mindfulness, human conscious, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) and a refusal of absolute materialism / physicalism in contemporary philosophy and science:

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