The Muslim makes the claim that the Bible foretold the coming of Muhammad, and because of this, the Christian needs to submit to the teachings of Muhammad. They make the claim based on what is taught in the Qur’an, not what is taught in the Bible.
Their are a couple passages they begin with in making their arguments:
“Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel” (Surah 7:157) [1]
“And [mention] 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.'” (61:6)
Since these two passages teach that the Bible (and even Jesus) spoke of the coming of Muhammad, the Muslim opens up the Bible to try to find the passages which speak about Muhammad. Let’s examine some of the common passages the Muslim points to that they claim speak of Muhammad.
Deuteronomy 18:15-19
15 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ 17 And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.
Muslims like to quote this passage and then show some similarities/parallels between Moses and Muhammad to prove that Muhammad is spoken of in this passage when Moses speaks of “a Prophet like me.” When one examines this text within it’s context, this is not a conclusion that one can come to. I say this for many reasons:
First, This text itself limits the fulfillment to a Jewish person; an Israelite. Moses, who is speaking to the Jews before they enter the promised land, says in this passage that “The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren.” Some translations translate the noun “brethren” as “countrymen.” Both are possible translations of the Hebrew word “ach”. This word is used elsewhere within the context (Deut 18:1-2) to show that when Moses uses the word here he is only referring to the Jews:
1 “The priests, the Levites–all the tribe of Levi–shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and His portion. 2 Therefore they shall have no inheritance among their brethren (Heb – ach); the LORD is their inheritance, as He said to them. (Deuteronomy 18:1-2)
This passage is talking about the Levitical priests and their work amongst the Israelites. It is talking about what is going to happen when the land is allotted to them when they enter the promised land. He is clearly talking about the Jews when he uses the Hebrew word ‘ach’.
Second, there are passages within the New Testament which say that Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of this passage. Here is one example:
22 “Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you. 23 ~’And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ 24 “And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days. 25 “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’ 26 “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.” (Acts 3:22-2)
Peter in this passage is tying this prophecy directly to Jesus. It is His words that one must listen to. It is His words that we will be held accountable for not listening to.
John 14-16
16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you. (John 14:16-17)
In Jesus’ discourse to the Apostles before His death, He tells them of a coming “comforter” or “helper” who would come and teach the truth. The Muslim believes that this is speaking of Muhammad. But is it?
If we allow the Gospel of John to speak for itself, based on the earliest manuscripts that we have (which predate Muhammad), then we can clearly see that Muhammad is not the one this text is speaking of. When examining the context of John 14-16, it can be see that Muhammad:
-was not with God’s people forever (14:16)
-does not dwell within God’s people (14:17)
-is not with believers (14:17)
-was not how Jesus came to His disciples (14:18)
-did not bring to remembrance the things that Jesus said to the Apostles whom He is speaking to in this text (14:26)
-is not the Holy Spirit, who is identified as the helper in 14:26
-was not sent by the authority of Jesus Christ (14:26)
-was not sent “from” the Father (15:26). This passage is saying that the Helper would come from the Father; from Heaven.
-was not sent by Jesus after Jesus ascended to Heaven (16:7)
-did not give the Apostles the words of Christ (16:13-15)
-did not come to the Apostles, the men Jesus is talking to in this text.
None of the above things can be spoken of Muhammad. They are all clearly referring to the Holy Spirit, the One Jesus sent to the Apostles after He ascended to Heaven; the member of the Godhead Who does dwell within God’s people and revealed all truth to the Apostles.
Muslims respond by claiming that Christians changed the text in John so the original view (that it was talking about Muhammad) was hidden. This is nothing more than a theory; an inference. This theory is assumed without any manuscript evidence that actually proves the text was changed.
Psalm 118:22-23 and Matthew 21:42-44
These are the final texts we will examine.
22 The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. 23 This was the LORD’S doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. (Psalm 118:22-23)
42 Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’S doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes’? 43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. (Matthew 21:42-43)
The Muslim points to these passages and say that Muhammad is the one who was rejected who God has exalted to be the final prophet of God. They then quote the Matthew passage above to say that Jesus is saying that the kingdom would be taken away from Jews and Christians and given to Muslims based on Muhammad being the “chief cornerstone” spoken of in this text. As in the other texts, it is obvious that both of these passages are referring, not to Muhammad, but Jesus. Within the context of Psalm 118:22-23 is also the prophecy about the praises Jesus would receive as He entered Jerusalem:
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! (Psalm 118:26)
Also, within the context of the Matthew passage, Jesus is talking about Himself as the stone who would be rejected by the builders (the Jews). He gave the Jews a parable that spoke of Him as being cast out of the vineyard and killed by the tenants of the vineyard. After this, Jesus quotes the passage from Psalms in reference to Himself. The Jews knew that Jesus was speaking of them in this passage. He was not talking to Christians here. The kingdom would be taken from the Jews and given to those who would “bear its fruits”. It would be given to Jesus’ disciples; to Christians. It is Christians who are often referred to as the kingdom citizens within the book of Matthew.
Conclusion
Claiming that these passages are speaking about Muhammad is a far cry from proving they are speaking about Him. The context of all of these passages are ignored by the Muslim. The text that the Muslim points to in the Bible that they believe are speaking of Muhammad would not be taken this way by anyone who is honestly studying them within their context. They read Muhammad into the passages without careful study of the passages so they can continue in their beliefs and rejection of the true Jesus Christ.
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[1] All quotations from the Qur’an are from the Sahih International translation of the Qur’an, quran.com
