Mohammed claimed to be the Person referred to by Christ in John 14:16. The Greek word translated 'Comforter' in this verse is parakletos, meaning 'one called alongside to help'. It is translated 'advocate' in 1 John 2:1.

Sura 61:6 reads: And remember, Jesus, the son of Mary, said: '0 children of Israel! I am the apostle of God (sent) to you, confirming the Law (which came) before me, and giving glad tidings of an Apostle to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad.' But when he came to them with Clear Signs, they said, 'This is evident sorcery!'

Moslems claim that in the original Greek manuscript the word was spelt paraklutos, meaning 'a praised one', having the same meaning as 'Ahmed', but that the Christians altered the spelling to parakletos in order to get rid of Christ's testimony to Mohammed as His successor. What they fail to realize is that we have hundreds of ancient Greek manuscripts of the scriptures, (or portions of them), which include this verse. In not a single case is there any variation in the spelling of parakletos. Not one manuscript has the spelling paraklytos (When the Greek 'u' (upsilon) is translated into English it is not translated by the English 'u' but by 'y' (gamma) and spelt paraklytos).
The above evidence of the New Testament manuscripts is not the only evidence which proves that in John 14:16 Christ is referring to the Holy Spirit, and not Mohammed.
Christ said that the Holy Spirit was to be given to His disciples shortly after His ascension (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-6; John 7:37-39). The following verses reveal the fulfillment of the promise: Acts 2:14,33,38; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:13,14; 5:18; Romans 8:9,11,13-16. This came about hundreds of years before Mohammed who was not born until circa AD570.

Let us also note the following:
a. The Spirit was to indwell believers and be the source of their power and success in witness to Christ (John 14:16; Acts 1:8).

b. He was to indwell them 'forever' (John 14:16).

c. The reason the world could not receive Him, was because they could not see Him, or know Him as He is an invisible spiritual Being (John 14:17).

d. The Holy Spirit was not to speak of Himself, unlike Mohammed. He was only to speak of Christ (John 16:13; 15:26).

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e. The Holy Spirit was to help people remember all the things that Christ had spoken (John 14:26).

f. He was to convict men of sin for not believing in Christ (John 16:8,9).

g. He was to reveal to Christ's disciples things to come (John 16:13).

h. He was to guide them into all truth so that their testimony in preaching and writing would be divine truth in everything (John 16:13).

i. His one ministry would have, for its object, the glory of Christ, not Mohammed (John 16:14).

The only unpardonable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, who is therefore a Divine Person because only God can be blasphemed (Matt. 12:31,32). This also conclusively proves that Christ has made full payment for all other sins, since God cannot forgive sins accept on the ground of Christ's bearing for us the curse of the Law.
The Moslem who is a true seeker after God must choose between the unknowable God of the Koran and the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible has revealed Himself through Jesus Christ as the God of Redemption, giving the gift of Eternal Life to those who accept who He is and what He has done for us. In contrast, no statements can be made positively or factually concerning Allah since he is spoken of as 'Unknowable.'

If Allah is not bound to do what is righteous then there can be no certainty as to what he may decide to do on the Judgment Day. Allah is a dictator whose decisions are inconsistent and arbitrary. One Muslim tradition relates that in a certain village two men died about the same time. One was a pious Muslim who always kept the fast, said his prayers, had gone on a pilgrimage to Mecca and observed the law of God. The other man totally neglected his religious duties and did all manner of evil. One night the village priest had a dream, in which he saw the good man writhing in the torments of hell, and the evil man enjoying the wine and houris (maidens) of paradise. When in his dream he complained to God of this obvious injustice, Allah replied: 'Have I not the right to do as I please with my own?'

Belief in such an inconsistent God must lead to great fear, as does the belief that salvation depends on good works outweighing evil works. This fear arises because no-one can be sure that he has done enough! Another Muslim tradition (Shi'a) says, 'Ali fainted seventy times a night from fear of the Day of Judgment.'
The difference between the God of the Bible and Allah of the Koran is so great. Allah has decreed both the good and bad actions of all men, whilst in

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the Bible all men's actions are seen as their own choice. In the Koran we see that Allah has predestined the majority of men to damnation. In the Bible we see that God has made a way for all to come to repentance. He has provided salvation for all men. In the Koran salvation depends on one's own personal merits. No-one living by his or her own merits can have the joy and peace that comes from knowing he is saved already. In the Bible every believer in Christ already possesses eternal salvation. It is a gift that has been given to him and he cannot lose it(John 5:24; 10:28-29; Matt. 15:13; Rom. 8:35-39). In the Koran there can be no Father-child relationship with God, since God is only seen as the unknowable Creator. The decrees of this Creator also make prayer absolutely useless - everything has already been predetermined! In the Bible, God is 'Our Father in Heaven,' and believers are the children of God in the spiritual sense. As the anthropologist Wilhelm Schmidt has shown in his monumental work The Origin of Religion, even the most primitive tribes have a name for God which means 'father', as does the name 'Jupiter' which the Romans give to their supreme deity.
In the paradise of the Koran, its joys are all to be found in natural enjoyments of the 'wine and women' type. Nothing is said of enjoying fellowship with Allah. In the Bible, the believer's chief joy on earth is 'fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ' (1 John 1:3). In heaven, with its multiplicity of eternal joys, the supreme and surpassing joy of the redeemed will be seeing God face to face with unclouded vision. We will have unhindered fellowship with Him (Rev. 22:3,4; 21:3).
The Allah of the Koran is the unknowable, because he has not created man in his image, or after his likeness. In light of this one can hardly call the Koran a revelation. It conceals the very God it is supposed to reveal. In the Bible we find things vastly different. The God of the Bible creates us in His likeness (Gen 1:26). We are created moral beings with the ability to communicate with God through the medium of language. Love, justice, mercy, truth, goodness, righteousness and evil are to mean the same thing for man as they do for God. With Allah this is not so, hence the impossibility of ever knowing Him. This is illustrated by Ibn Hazm's comment on the Koran's use of the term 'merciful', which stands at the head of every Sura. He writes:

'While the Koran uses the name for God which means "the most merciful of those who show mercy", this cannot mean that he is merciful in the way that we understand the word. For God is evidently not merciful. He tortures His children with all manner of sickness, warfare, and sorrow. What then does the

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Koran mean? Simply that merciful is one of God's names, a name that is not in any way descriptive of God or throws any light on his nature. We use it because the Koran uses it, but do not pretend to understand what is meant by it.'

The Moslem who is a true seeker after God needs to choose between the unknowable Allah of the Koran, and the God of the Bible who has revealed Himself fully through Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ we see that He is the God of Redemption, and is life eternal (John 17:3).

The Effects of Moslem Beliefs
S.B. John, in his book. The Finality of Christ, says:

The conception of God finds its reflex in the Moslem view of man. If God be conceived as Supreme Will, the highest relation that man can attain to is that of a servant. There can be nothing in the way of fellowship. Hence, quite logically, Islam is the name of this religion. It demands unhesitating and unquestioning obedience...
Upon its womankind, the blighting effect has fallen most. Arbitrariness in God creates the standard for arbitrariness in human relations, and woman, as the weaker vessel, has always been the victim of man's caprice in the Moslem world. She is not his equal, or his companion...she exists for his pleasure, and every kind of degradation has been hers. It is significant that contact with Western culture and Christian ideas produces a revolt among Moslem woman against their position of servitude.

Dr Elder in his book. Biblical Approach to the Muslim, writes:

"The Koran asserts that man is superior to woman. In Sura 4:34 we read:
"Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what God would have them guard As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next), refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience seek not against them means (of annoyance)."’

Moslem teachers, showing some compassion, have ruled that in beating his wife a man 'must use a rod no thicker than his thumb.' They have also tried to 'water down' the mention of beating by including the word 'lightly', which is not in the Arabic!
The Koran also legalizes polygamy. Sura 4:3 reads:

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'If ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly with the orphans marry women of your choice, two or three, or four; but if ye fear that ye shall not be able to deal justly (with them), then only one, or (a captive) that your right hands possess. That will be more suitable, to prevent you from doing injustice.'

Throughout the 1,300 years of Islam their scholars have said the meaning of 'equably' is that a man must treat all his wives alike in material things. If he gives a ring or dress to one, he must do the same for the others. However the Koran does not imply this, and Mohammed did not go along with the practice. He caused friction in his household because he made it evident that Ayesha was his favorite wife.
Interestingly, in modern times many Moslem teachers interpret this verse in a new way. This interpretation may have sprung from contact with nations where polygamy is a crime. Possibly they realized that women rebel against the thought of husbands having other wives. In any event these teachers are now opposing polygamy, and claim that in this verse Mohammed is actually forbidding polygamy, because it is impossible for a man to treat several wives equally as far as his feelings are concerned. Therefore they say that a man should take only one wife.
The Lord Jesus' teaching gave no preference to men over women. The laws of His kingdom were equally for both.
Devout and wealthy women followed Him from Galilee and provided for the group from their means. He welcomed Mary of Bethany as a student when she sat at His feet to learn His teaching. Although she was a foreigner and a sinner, Jesus taught the woman at Jacob's well about the water of life. Among His last words from the cross was His command to John to care for His mother. It was to a woman, Mary Magdalene, that he first revealed Himself after His resurrection (John 4:28-30,39). Even prostitutes found Him sympathetic and understanding, as He restored them to a new dignity (John 4:13-15; 8:7-11; Matt. 21:31).
In the Church itself we find women not only placed in the same category as men (in relation to everything spiritual, Gal. 3:28), but they also received the gifts of the Holy Spirit equally with male disciples (Acts 2:17,18; 21:9; 1 Cor. 11:4-5). Not only in the Church, but in every sphere of life, Christ's teaching and example has liberated women socially and politically, as well as indirectly through teaching children at home.
The relationship of husbands and wives is set before us in Ephesians 5:22-33, where the headship

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in domestic relations is vested in the husband. The husband is exhorted to love his wife 'as Christ loved the Church', with a pure sacrificial love, as he himself acknowledges the headship of Christ in his personal life. The husband's authority is Christ's authority in his own life delegated through him, and does not extend beyond or outside of Christ's authority in his own life.

The Koran states that forgiveness of sin depends on so-called 'good deeds' that outweigh evil deeds. This denies the Biblical doctrine, which states that salvation depends on faith in Christ. It is only Jesus who has satisfied the twofold claims of the law both precept and penalty, on our behalf.
The following three Suras will be of interest to us. The first states that none will be helped on the Day of Judgment. Yet the second and third show that angels will intercede for people. This is rather strange: surely stating that salvation depends entirely on good deeds outweighing bad deeds excludes all intercession?

2.48: Then guard yourselves against a day when one shall not avail another nor shall intercession be accepted for her, nor shall compensation be taken from her, nor shall anyone be helped (from outside).

40:7: Those who sustain the Throne (of God) and those around it sing Glory and Praise to their Lord; believe in Him; and implore Forgiveness for those who believe: "Our Lord! Thy reach is over all things, in Mercy and Knowledge.

Forgive, then, those who turn in Repentance, and follow Thy Path; and preserve them from the Penalty of the Blazing Fire!

42:5: The heavens are almost rent asunder from above them (by His Glory): and the angels celebrate the Praises of their Lord, and pray for forgiveness for (all) beings on earth: Behold! Verily God is He, the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

Mohammed says that any contradiction in the Koran would disprove its divine origin.

Substitution — the Highest Expression of Love
Human love has often been expressed by a person

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bearing another's punishment, even if this meant death. An example of this substitution is found in Schamyl, a great Circassian leader.
Schamyl (a Moslem) championed his people's cause and liberty. For over thirty years he held up the advance of Russia in the Caucasus, finally dying in 1871. At one period of his rule, bribery and corruption was so rife that he needed to take harsh measures to eliminate it. One hundred lashes would be given to anyone found guilty of any of the above crimes. Shortly after this decree, his own mother was found guilty. Schamyl shut himself away in a tent and fasted for two days. If he made an exception for his mother he would no longer be seen as either a just lawgiver, or man of his word. But how could he have his mother lashed? His love for his mother could hardly be reconciled with the execution of the sentence that his justice as lawgiver demanded. Schamyl eventually found the solution. After his mother had been whipped five times he called a halt to the whipping. He then received the remaining ninety-five lashes.
Another example of substitution is as follows:
The Greek King of Locris made the loss of two eyes the penalty for breaking one of his laws. His own son was brought before him as the first offender. He upheld the authority of his law, yet at the same time exercised mercy. He had one of his own eyes put out to save his son from becoming blind. Throughout all history we find amazing stories of sacrifice.
After the Second World War there were many stories told of men and women who sacrificed their lives for others in the prison camps. One noted occasion occurred when men were selected to die by starvation because another prisoner had escaped. Among those selected was a Polish soldier named Gajowniczek who cried out: 'My wife! My poor children!' As the guards prepared to march off the doomed men, a Roman Catholic priest stepped forward and said he wanted to take the place of Gajowniczek. The German officer thought he was mad, but granted his request. So the priest died that another might live.
In order to receive God's love man needs to repent of sin and desire true righteousness.
He can find neither true repentance nor true righteousness within himself. All his efforts and good works are already flawed. He is an imperfect being, and his idea of righteousness falls far below the demands of the Holy One.
It is only the death of Christ that secures both adequate repentance and righteousness. The cross shows both the righteousness and love of God. It shows man just how much God hates sin, and also

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reveals how much God loves man. A substitute dies in our place, so that we can receive His righteousness as our own. This substitute willingly gave His own life. Today, many millions seeing what God did at Calvary, have been brought to repentance. In seeing true holiness and love men and women have become aware of their sin and need of salvation. They understand true righteousness, and through Christ's gift of life, they can claim it as their own.
God cannot bypass our evil ways and treat us as dear and loyal children without making sin to appear trivial. He will not set aside His law of righteousness. Forgiveness can come only through a medium that safeguards righteousness. The substitution of Christ's death for our punishment answers this purpose. It more effectually binds us to God and righteousness than our own punishment would have done. It is not our suffering that God desires. What He desires is a permanent establishment in holiness, which unites us to Him. The two great ends of punishment (homage to law and reformation of the law-breaker) are both secured by the death of Christ.
The death of Christ, then, has made forgiveness possible, because it enables men to repent with an adequate repentance, and because it magnifies righteousness and binds men to God.