ভূমিকা

er or skeptic. One must admit the total lack of linguistic evidence for the names Hasan and Husayn (both of the same root) in the Hebrew Scriptures. Furthermore, the many references that speak to the Muslim mind about Husayn (as) are already co-opted by Christians in reference to Jesus (as), or by Jews in reference to the awaited Messiah (as).

Among these are the famous Isaiah 53 so often used by Christians as a prophecy of the crucifixion, but which seems so clearly to parallel the experiences of the martyred Husayn (as). There are other texts, less often noted by non-Muslims, that by their content lend themselves to application to the Imam (as). Among the best-known of these is Jeremiah 46:6,10. “Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates….

For this is the day of the Lord GOD of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord GOD of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.” The implication, from the Islamic point of view, is that this is a promise that God will avenge the attack on His beloved Husayn (as) and his companions at Karbala’, on the Euphrates River.

Despite the striking parallel of such passages to the events, there are many barriers to their acceptance as evidence of Biblical support for Islam. The liberal denial of prophecy altogether aside, the psychological resistance to such an interpretation is prodigious. The purpose of this study is to investigate the possibilities of more objective evidence. The weakness of linguistic evidence does not mitigate structural evidence.

Obviously structural evidence in itself is insufficient, but it provides a schema that greatly strengthens the objectivity of the evidence of content and context. What must be examined is the many series of twelve that exist in the Bible for evidence of characteristics for each of the twelve slots in the series, and whether or not those characteristics parallel those of the twelve Shi’ite Imams (as) and correspondingly of Imam Husayn (as) in particular.

These series are specifically the twelve reigning patriarchs of the Book of Genesis, the twelve sons of Ishmael (as), the twelve sons of Jacob (as), the twelve judges of the Book of Judges, the twelve righteous kings of Judah, and the twelve apostles of Jesus (as).