History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v3.c38.s4.6

v3.c38.s4.6

His attitude to Muhammad was one of deep respect. He extolled the Arabian Prophet as a latterday Joseph, a more weighty Sun; "Muhammad is to Joseph what the red rose is to the yellow; he is to the Sun what a heavy thing is to a light one." But, on several points of Muslim theology and tradition, his opinions were unorthodox. For instance, he taught that the Old Testament denies the prophetship of Christ, and that the words in the books of the Prophets which the Christians take as referring to the coming Messiah are either applied by Daniel and Isaiah to their own selves, or bear a palpably different interpretation from that put by the Christians. And, again, he held that the advent of Muhammad as a messenger of God is not foreshadowed in the Talmud, but that the Jews are there warned against accepting his faith or joining his followers; that Muhammad was the Scourge of God prophesied in the Pentateuch as coming in future to chastise the sinning children of Israel; and that circumcision was an exclusively Jewish sacrament to which the Muslims had no right.