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חכו ממתקים וכלו מחמדים זה דודיוזה רעי בנותירושלם׃
His mouth is sweetness -- and he is 'MUHAMMAD', This is my beloved, and this my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem!(Song of Solomon 5:16)
direct translation from the hebrew text from my rabbi.
SONG OF SONGS 5:16
This is the most controversial part of the text. When discussing the "
Machamad" in verse 16 of Chapter 5 in Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs), most of the emphasis is placed on the first half of the verse. However, this has caused a major disregard for the rest of the verse in Hebrew which has extremely seriously connotations when properly translated. They may be even more serious then the usage of the name "
Muhammad" in itself. May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon the Prophet Muhammad. Allow me to repost the verse in English as well as Hebrew:
"His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem."
"Chikko mamtakeem, v'chulo
MUCHAMADIM, ze DODEE v'ze RA'EE, bano Yarushalaym" [Hebrew transliteration of Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs) 5:16]
Now let us break up this verse into parts and deal with each aspect separately.
1. MACHAMMADIM - From "MACHAMAD" which in this particular verse, the words "altogether lovely" was translated from mahmad (). is translated into "lovely". "Altogether" is added as a contextual reference to "v'chulo" which means "in entirety" or "absolutely". "MACHAMAD" means "desirable, praiseworthy, beautiful, etc". Though it is archaic, it is found elsewhere in the Bible to describe precious and coveted items. The fact that this "MACHAMAD" evidently may well be the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) has already been thoroughly outlined and established.
To add further weight to these argument, let us take a closer look at this four character word. The way this word is written is Hebrew is . That happens to be the EXACT same way Muhammad's name is written in Hebrew.
Now, when writing in Hebrew, there is no difference between the word mahmad () and Muhammad (). The only difference is in the vowels used when pronouncing this word. Hebrew is an ancient language, and there are no vowels. It is made up of 22 consonants. In ancient times, the reader decided on his own which vowels to add in. It was not until the 8th century that vowels were introduced, in the form of dots and lines. However, this has nothing to do with real Hebrew. The word mahmad () in ancient times would most likely have been pronounced "mahamad".
According to Ben Yehuda's Hebrew-English Dictionary, is correctly pronounced "mahamad" (not mahmad) which is very close to Muhammad.
Ben Yehuda's Hebrew-English Dictionary defines "" as "lovely, coveted one, precious one, praised one". The correct way to say "praised one" in Arabic is Muhammad, so this is the same word!
As was stated before, the name Muhammad () and the word mahmad () are spelled exactly the same way in Hebrew, and both have the same meaning. The only reason they are pronounced different is because of vowels (dots and lines) introduced in the eighth century.
2. DODEE - From "DOWD" (pronounced d - long "o" - d). In this particular verse it is translated into "beloved". However, "DOWD" also means "paternal uncle", that is to mean the father's brother, in Hebrew. This complicates the verse and makes it all the more interesting. In the book of Leviticus the word "dowd" is found 5 times [10:4, 20:20 (twice in this verse), 25:49 (twice in this verse)] and used as "paternal uncle" only and not used any other way. The verse Numbers 36:11, where it is said "..were married unto their FATHER'S BROTHERS' sons", the word used is "DOWD". There are many other examples where "DOWD" is used as "paternal uncle" (father's brother) and not "beloved".
3. RA'EE - From "RAY'AA" which is translated in this particular verse into "friend". However, "RA'YAA" in Hebrew means "co-worker in same area, field or margin". It is translated as "neighbor" 102 times in the Old Testament. Actually, it is translated as "neighbor" more than any other definition in the Old Testament. It is used to mean one member of the same organization or group. In chapter 11 of Genesis it is used in reference to the group of builders raising the Tower of Babel. Co-workers, comrades, etc. would all be considered "RAY'AA".
Thus, if the "MACHAMAD" in this verse 5:16 of Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs) is a mere reference to some love sick girl's object of desire why is this "MACHAMAD" called the girl's "PATERNAL UNCLE" as well as "COMRADE" or "CO-WORKER"? If a girl was merely describing her obsession why would she use such utterly unromantic terms such as these which allude to a male co-worker who is possibly a paternal uncle?
The Prophet Muhammad (may Allah's Peace and Blessings be upon him) was a direct descendant from Ishmael (peace be upon him) who is the paternal uncle of the Nation of Israel who are descended from Ishmael's younger brother, Isaac (peace be upon him). Thus, calling an Arab a paternal uncle would not be an erroneous idiom at all.
The Prophet Muhammad (May Allah's Peace and Blessings be upon him) came with the same message as the Israelite prophets such as Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, David and Solomon (among others). Thus, he would have been a "RA'YAA" of the Prophets. Not using the shallow definition of "friend" but the true and proper definition as it is found 102 times in the Bible as "neighbor".
So the correct translation would be:
"His mouth is most sweet: yea, he is MUHAMMAD. This is my (paternal) UNCLE, and this is my COMRADE, O daughters of Jerusalem." [Correct translation of Shir Hashirim (Song of Songs) 5:16]
This is definitely not erroneous if weighed against any work of scholarship regarding the Hebrew language. There are many, many, serious implications when these outlined words are taken in context as they were understood based upon the Bible's own usage in its other books.
"Abu Musa al Ash`ari reported that Allah's Messenger (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) mentioned many names of his and said, 'I AM MUHAMMAD, AHMAD. Muqaffi, Hashir, the Prophet of Repentance, and the Prophet of Mercy." [Saheeh Muslim, 30:5813]
Note: Haggai 2:7 states "And I will shake all nations, AND THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS SHALL COME: and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts."
In the Hebrew text it says "CHMD" pronounceable as "ACHMAD" (which is "AHMAD" in Arabic) in the place of "desire of all nations". Thus, the translation would be, "And I will shake all nations, AND AHMAD SHALL COME: and I will fill this house with glory saith the Lord of hosts."
Immediately after that, Haggai 2:9 says "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former: and in this place will I give PEACE, saith the Lord of hosts."
So which latter house? Since the last temple was destroyed by the Romans there has been no Jewish temple rebuilt there. There only stands the Dome of the Rock and Masjid al-Aqsa which is certainly a place of "Peace" or Islam.
"...and never have I seen anyone more handsome than Allah's Apostle (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)." [Saheeh Muslim, 30:5770]
