Jesus (PBUH) made Simon the Sapha (Stone) and his Church the Mispha (Watch-Tower) ; for the office and the duty of the Mispha was to watch and look for the Last Apostle
This is a very deep and interesting subject; it deserves patient study.
Jesus (PBUH) named Simon Bar Yona (principal disciple) as = Kipha (Syriac version Pshitta/Aramaic) /Kipa (Stone)/Sapha ≠ and not (Petros / Peter) Why? Explained below:
what does the word Mispa mean? It is generally translated into a "watch-tower." It belongs to that class of Semitic nouns-Asma' Z"arf-which take or drive their name from the thing that they enclose or contain.
Mispa is the place or building which derives its name from sapha, an archaic word for "stone." The usual word for stone
a) in Hebrew is iben, and
b) in Arabic hajar.
c) In Syriac for stone is kipa.
When Jesus Christ surnamed his first disciple Shim'on (Simon) with the significant title of "Petros" (Peter), he must evidently have had in his mind this ancient sacred Sapha which had been lost long ago! But, alas! we cannot positively set out the exact word which he expressed in his own language. The Greek form Petros in the masculine gender-Petra in the feminine-is so unclassical and unGreek, that one is astonished at its being ever adopted by the Churches. Did Jesus or any other Jew ever dream of calling the fisherman Bar Yona, Petros? Decidedly not. The Syriac version called Pshitta has frequently rendered this Greek form into Kipha (Kipa). And the very fact that even the Greek text has preserved the original name "Kephas," which the English versions have reproduced in the shape of "Cephas," shows that Christ spoke the Aramaic language arid gave the surname "Kipha" to his principal disciple.
The old Arabic versions of the New Testament have frequently written St. Peter's name as "Sham'un as-Sapha"; that is to say, "Simon the Stone." The words of Christ: "Thou art Peter," etc., have theirequivalent in the Arabic version in the form of "Antas-Sapha" (Matthew xvi:18; John i:42, etc.).
It follows, therefore, that if Simon be the Sapha, the Church which was to be built on it would naturally be the Mispha. That Christ should liken Simon to Sapha and the Church to Mispha is very remarkable; but when I come to divulge the mystery hidden in this similitude and the wisdom embodied in the Sapha, then it must be accepted as the most marvellous truth of Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be on him)'s merit to his glorious title: "THE MUSTAPHA"! explained below:
As to the meaning-or rather meanings-of the Sapha (Stone), I have already referred to them as qualities of the stone.
The word consists of the consonants "sadi' and "pi" ending with the vowel "hi" both as a verb and noun. It means, in its qal form, "to purify, to watch, to gaze from distance, and to choose." It also has the meanings of "to be firm and sound"; in its pi 'el paradigm, which is causative, it simply means "to make a choice, to cause to elect," and so on.
A man who watched from a tower was called Sophi (2 Kings ix: 17, etc.).
In ancient times-that is, before the building of the Temple of Solomon-the Prophet or the "Man of God" was called Roi or Hozi, which means the "seer" (1 Samuel ix:9).
The Hebrew scholars are, of course, familiar with the word Msaphpi, or rather Msappi, which is equivalent in orthography to the Arabic musaphphi, which signifies "one who endeavours to elect that which is pure, sound, firm," and so forth.
The watchman on the Tower of Yizrael, as quoted above, was gazing and watching sharply from a great distance to distinguish a company of persons coming on towards the town. He saw the first messenger of the King who arrived and joined the group but did not return. The same was the case with the second and the third envoy. It was later on that the Sophi could distinguish the chief of the group as Jehu. Now, what then was the business and the office of that watchman? It was to look out sharply from some distance to distinguish one among the others with a view to understanding his identity and his movements, if at all possible, and then to inform his king. If you ask: What was the business and the office of the solitary Sophi of the Mispa? the answer-which would merely be that he used to watch from the minaret of the Misppha (Mispa) in order to distinguish the identity of the pilgrims in the desert, or that he used to keep watch against some danger- could not satisfy an eager inquirer. If so, the Mispha would lose its religious and sacred character, and would rather seem to assume that of a military watchtower.
But the case with the Sophi of the Mispha was quite different.
Originally the Mispha was only a simple shrine on a solitary high place in Gal'ead where the Sophi with his family or attendants used to live.
After the conquest and occupation of the land of Canaan by Israel, the number of the Misphas increases, and they soon become great religious centres and develop into institutions of learning and confraternities. They had schools attached to the Mispha, where the Law, the religion, the Hebrew literature and other branches of knowledge were taught.
But over and above this educational work, the Sophi was the supreme head of a community of initiates whom he used to instruct and teach the esoteric or mystic religion which we know under the name of Sophia. Indeed, what we term today Suphees (sufees or sufis) were then called nbiyim or "prophets," and what is called, in Islamic takkas, zikr or invocation in prayer, they used to term "prophesying."
In the time of the Prophet Samuel, who was the head of the State as well as that of the Mispha institutions, these disciples and initiates had become very numerous; and when Saul was anointed and crowned, he joined the zikr or religious practice of invocation with the initiates and was announced everywhere: "Behold Saul also among the Prophets." And this saying became a proverb; for he was also "prophesying" with the group of prophets (1 Samuel x:9-13).
The Suphism among the Hebrews continued to be an esoteric religious confraternity under the supremacy of the Prophet of the time until the death of King Solomon. After the division of the kingdom into two, it appears that a great schism had taken place among the Sophis too.
In the time of the Prophet Elias, about 900 B.C., we are told that he was the only true Prophet left and that all others were killed; and that there were eight hundred and fifty prophets of the Baal and Ishra who "ate at the table of Queen Izabel" (1 Kings xviii: 19). But only a few years later, Elias's disciple and successor, the Prophet Elisha, at Bethel and at Jericho is met by scores of the "sons of Prophets" who foretell him about the imminent ascension of his master Elias (2 Kings ii).
Whatever may have been the real position of the Hebrew Sophis (or Sophees) after the great religious and national schism, one thing is certain, namely, that the true knowledge of God and the esoteric science of religion was preserved until the appearance of Jesus Christ, who built his Community of the Initiates in the Inner Religion upon Simon the Sapha, and that the true Sophis or seers of the Christian Mispha perpetuated this knowledge and watched over it until the appearance of the Elect of Allah, Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be on him) al-Mustapha-the Hebrew "Mustaphi"!
The Bible mentions-as I said above-numerous prophets attached to the Misphas; but we must well understand that, as the Qur'an clearly declares, God knows best whom He shall appoint for His Messenger; that He does not bestow the gift of prophecy on a person on account of his nobility, riches, or even piety, but for His own pleasure. The faith and all works of piety, meditations, spiritual exercises, prayers, fasting, and divine knowledge may raise a novice to become a spiritual murshid or guide, or to the rank of a saint, but never to the status of a prophet; for prophecy is not procured by effort, but is a gift of God. Even among the Prophets there are only a few who were Apostles or Messengers favoured with a special book and commissioned to direct a certain people or with a particular mission. Therefore the term "prophets" as used in the Hebrew Scriptures is often ambiguous.
I must also remark in this connection that probably the majority of the material of the Bible was the work or production of these Misphas before the Babylonian Captivity or even earlier, but afterwards has been revised by unknown hands until it has taken the shape which we nowadays have.
It now remains to say few words about the Muslim Sufism and the Greek word Sophia (wisdom); and a discussion of these two systems of high knowledge does lie outside the scope of this article.
Philosophy, in the wider sense of the term, is the study or science of the first principles of being; in other words, it transcends the limits of physics to study the pure being, and leaves behind the study of causes or laws of that which happens or is seen in Nature. It takes the greatest pains to find the truth.
The Muslim Sufism is the contemplation on Allah and self, and takes the greatest pains to achieve a union between the two. The superiority of the Islamic Sophia to the Greek philosophy is manifest from the object it views at. And it is decidedly superior to the Christian celibacy and monasticism in its indifference towards the consciences and the beliefs of other people. A Muslim Sophi (ufl) always entertains respect for other religious, laughs at the idea of "heresy" and abhors all persecutions and oppressions. Most of the Christian Saints were either persecutors of or the persecuted by heretics, and their celebrity consists in their excess of intolerance. This is, alas, but only too true.
As a secondary remark I should like to add that the Muslim authors have always written the Greek word "philosophy" in the form of Phelsepha with sin instead of sadi or tzadi, which is one of the constituent letters in the Hebrew and Arabic words Sapha and Sophi. I think this form was introduced into the Arabic literature by the Assyrian translators who formerly belonged to the Nestorian sect. The Turks write the name St. Sophia of Constantinople with sadi, but philosophy with sin, like the samekh of the Hebrews. I believe that the Greek Sophia is to be identified etymologically with the Hebrew word; and the idea that the Muslim word sophia (sowfiya) is derived from the soph, which means "wool," ought to be abandoned.
The true Sophia-or wisdom-the true knowledge of God, the true science of religion and morality, and the infallible selection of the Last Apostle of Allah from among all His Messengers, belonged to the ancient institution of Israel called Mispha, until it was transformed into the Mispha of the Nassara or Christian. It is indeed marvellous to see how complete is the analogy and how the economy of God concerning His dealings with man is carried on with absolute uniformity and order. The Mispha is the filter where all the data and persons are filtered and strained by the Musaphphi (Hebrew, Mosappi) as by a colander (for such is the meaning of the word); so that the genuine is distinguished and separated from the false, and the pure from the impure; yet centuries succeed each other, myriads of Prophets come and go, still the Mustapha, the Elected One, does not appear. Then comes the Holy Jesus; but he is rejected and persecuted, because there existed no longer in Israel that official Mispha which would have recognized and announced him as a true Messenger of God who was sent to bear witness to the Mustapha that was the Last Prophet to follow him. The "Grand Assembly of the Synagogue" convoked and instituted by Ezra and Nehemiah, the last member of which was "Simeon the Just" (ob 310 B.C.), was succeeded by the Supreme Tribunal of Jerusalem, called the "Sahedrin"; but this latter Assembly, whose President was the Nassi or the "Prince," condemned Jesus to death because it did not recognize his person and the nature of his divine mission.
A few Sophis, however, knew Jesus and believed in his prophetical mission; but the crowds at one time mistook him for the Mustapha or the "elected" Apostle of Allah, and seized and acclaimed him king, but he vanished and disappeared from among them. He was not the Mustapha, otherwise it would be ridiculous to make Simon the Sapha and his Church the Mispha; for the office and the duty of the Mispha was to watch and look for the Last Apostle, so that when he came he would be proclaimed as the Elected and Chosen One-the Mustapha. If Jesus were the Mustapha, there would be no need for the institution of the Mispha any longer. This is a very deep and interesting subject; it deserves patient study. Muhammad (Peace and blessings of Allah be on him) al- Mustapha is the mystery of the Mispha, and the treasure of the Sophia.
Dead sea Scrolls prove Islam . Proof they were looking for the Last and final Prophet Ahmad (Muhammad PBUH)
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