Heroes of Muridiyya: The Second Isaiah (Is. 40-55/66)

The Second Isaiah is one of the unknown prophets referenced in Islamic tradition. He had, in the words of C.C. Torrey, "his own peculiar message, his new truth...[that of] the inclusion of the whole Gentile world, side by side with Israel, in the family of the One God...Here, then, is a great landmark in the history of the world's religious thought. In Judea, centuries before the Christian era, we are told of the love of God the Father for his children of whatever race, and of the destined co-operation of all good men in his service, in their many lands and various forms of worship, in the happy time to come. We have good reason to believe that no such announcement was ever made before" [Torrey, The Second Isaiah, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (1928), 118].

In his study of this prophet, Klaus Koch elaborates on his "new truth":

When the estrangement between God and human beings ends, the alienation between human beings will end as well. The visionary colours deepen as the prophets paint in utopian terms the salvation that wells up from common faithfulness to the community of all. The divine sedeq that will then rain down will make people everywhere act spontaneously in sedaqa (Isa. 45:8) [i.e., "in accordance with the needs of the community," see Koch, p. 124]. The messiah belongs within the same context. He is hardly ever described in warlike terms, let alone as dictator. His chief task is a moral and religious one--indeed his blessing will extend to nature itself. All this belongs to his sedaqa (Isa. 9:7; 11:1-9). Administrative and political functions recede into the background.

Klaus Koch, The Prophets, vol. 2, tr. M. Kohl, Philadelphia: Fortress Press (1982), 200-201.

Miracle of miracles, the axis mundi of the universal brotherhood of humankind is, for the Second Isaiah, the temple mount in Jerusalem.

There are famous utopias in the world's literature, and they have played their important part in arousing and inspiring men. The work of our poet-prophet belongs only partially in this class, for it deals mainly with the preliminaries, the end of the old order and the dawn of the new. Always present, however, whether in the dim background or brought forward in bright colors, is the picture of a better world; with a glorious renovated Zion, worship of One God throughout the earth, peace and kindliness among men, and everywhere the just rule inaugurated by the Anointed of the Lord. The prophet does not concern himself with the restoration of the Hebrew kingdom, appears not to think at all of a Jewish state. He has neither political nor social program to recommend, no form of worship to prescribe as essential. There is nothing to indicate that he has attempted to visualize the actual regime of the Messiah. He writes as a fervently loyal Israelite and in the traditional formulas, it is needless to say, but his doctrine is not limited, nor his humanity. What he heralds is the triumph of pure religion, meaning just those few things which the prophet Micah and the apostle James declare to be the essentials. He knew well that only this, nothing more nor less, could make common ground for all men. The "saved remnants of the nations," led by a repentant and purified Israel, must come together here.

C.C. Torrey, The Second Isaiah, x.