📜 Haggai 2:7 and the Night Journey of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ: An Islamic Reading

🌟 Introduction

Haggai 2:7 declares:

“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.” (KJV)

From an Islamic perspective, this verse can be seen as an allusion to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and his Night Journey (al-Isrāʾ) to Jerusalem. The key lies in the Hebrew term חֶמְדָּה (ḥemdāh)—translated as “desire” or “delight”—which shares its root with the Arabic names Muhammad and Ahmad. ✨ Notably, the Hebrew word ḥemdāh is the feminine form of ḥemed, while the Arabic name Ahmad is another title of Muhammad ﷺ, prophesied by Jesus in Surah 61:6. This linguistic bridge offers a fascinating interfaith reflection on prophecy, sacred language, and divine promise.

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🔤 The Hebrew Root ח מ ד (ḥ-m-d)

The root ḥ-m-d in Hebrew conveys desirability, preciousness, and belovedness. Several Hebrew words derive from it:

• 📖 ḥāmed (חָמֵד): “desirable” or “coveted”

• 📖 ḥemdāh (חֶמְדָּה): “delight” or “precious object” (appearing in Haggai 2:7)

• 📖 neḥmād (נֶחְמָד): “pleasant” or “lovely”

• 📖 maḥmād (מַחְמָד): “delight” or “desirable thing”

All of these share the same root idea of something beloved or longed for 💖.

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🕌 “The Desire of All Nations Shall Come”

Haggai’s prophecy envisions a time when the house of God in Jerusalem will be filled with divine glory. For Muslims, this recalls the Prophet’s miraculous Night Journey (al-Isrāʾ), explicitly mentioned in the Qur’an:

“Exalted is He who took His Servant by night from al-Masjid al-Ḥarām to al-Masjid al-Aqṣā, whose surroundings We have blessed, to show him of Our signs. Indeed, He is the Hearing, the Seeing.” (Qur’an 17:1)

🌙 This verse establishes the link between the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, Mecca, and Jerusalem. His presence at al-Masjid al-Aqṣā sanctified the site, bringing a moment of divine glory to the Temple Mount. Thus, Haggai’s vision of the “desire of all nations” entering God’s house can be interpreted as pointing to Muhammad ﷺ, whose Night Journey symbolically unites all prophets and all nations 🌍 in worship of the One God.

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🔗 A Linguistic and Theological Bridge

The connection becomes clearer when Hebrew and Arabic are read side by side:

• ✡️ Hebrew: ḥemdāh → “delight” / “precious object”

• ✡️ Related forms: ḥāmed → “desirable,” neḥmād → “pleasant,” maḥmād → “delight”

• ☪️ Arabic: ḥ-m-d → Names Muhammad (“the praised one”) and Ahmad (“the most praiseworthy”)

The Qur’an itself records Jesus ✝️ foretelling the coming of a messenger named Ahmad:

“And [remember] when Jesus, the son of Mary, said, ‘O Children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to you, confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad.’” (Qur’an 61:6)

In both languages, the root carries the idea of something or someone deeply desired, beloved, praised, and precious. 🌹

Theologically, the prophecy of nations being “shaken” 🌍⚡ aligns with Islam’s transformative impact on world history. Within a generation of Muhammad’s Night Journey, the message of Islam spread across nations, fulfilling the vision of divine glory filling God’s house 🕋.

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⚖️ Limits and Interpretive Context

It is important to stress that this reading is an interpretive possibility rather than a universally held Islamic doctrine. Classical Muslim exegetes (mufassirūn) did not directly cite Haggai 2:7 as prophecy of the Night Journey. Rather, modern interfaith scholars and daʿwah perspectives highlight it as an example of linguistic and symbolic overlap between the Hebrew Bible and the Qurʾan.

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✅ Conclusion

From an Islamic perspective, Haggai 2:7 can be read as an anticipation of the Prophet Muhammad’s Night Journey 🌙 to Jerusalem. The shared Semitic root ḥ-m-d links the Hebrew ḥemdāh (“desire, delight”) with the Arabic Muhammad (“praised one”) and Ahmad, while the verse’s imagery of nations shaken 🌍 and the house of God filled with glory ✨ aligns with Islam’s transformative impact on world history and resonates deeply with the Prophet’s presence at al-Masjid al-Aqṣā (Qur’an 17:1).

Coupled with Jesus’ announcement of Ahmad in Qur’an 61:6, this interpretation reflects the profound ways in which language, prophecy, and sacred history intertwine across the Abrahamic traditions ☪️✡️✝️.

— Azahari Hassim

Founder, The World of Abrahamic Theology