PROPHET MUHAMMAD ﷺ WAS PROPHESISED IN THE BIBLE.

The Jews in Madinah used to tell the Arabs there, Aws and Khazraj, whenever they would have a dispute, that one day there was going to be a Prophet sent among them. And when that happened, the fate of non-Jews there would be that of the people of Ad, whom Allah destroyed.

This was a divine method of preparation for Aws and Khazraj, who would hear it from the Jews. They were aware, unlike other Arabs, that a Prophet was coming. When they met Muhammad ﷺ in Makkah, they immediately believed because they recognized him as the person the Jews were discussing. In fact, when they went back to Madinah after meeting the Prophet ﷺ in Makkah, they said to their people, “This is the man the Jews have been threatening us with. Let's follow him first. Let's be the first to follow him.” However, the irony is that the bulk of the Jews in Madinah refused to follow the Prophet ﷺ.

Good Tidings about the Prophet ﷺ in the Bible

The Bible, as we have it today, has gone through a series of developments and changes. Still, the present-day Bible has retained several proofs of the good tidings about Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. One such example is the following verse.

“I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” (Deuteronomy 18:18)

This prophecy fits Muhammad ﷺ exactly. Addressing the Israelites, it says that God will raise a Prophet among their brethren who will be like Moses ﵇ . It needs to be probed which Prophet resembles Prophet Moses ﵇ . Christians claim that this prophecy is about Jesus ﵇ .

The following are the aspects of resemblance between Prophet Muhammad ﷺ and Moses ﵇ , which establish that this prophecy is not about Jesus ﵇ .

  1. Muhammad ﷺ had parents like Moses ﵇ .
  2. Muhammad ﷺ had children like Moses ﵇ .
  3. Jesus was born miraculously without a father, while Muhammad ﷺ and Moses ﵇ were born naturally to both father and mother.
  4. Muhammad ﷺ and Moses ﵇ both were accepted by their nations. On the other hand, Jesus ﵇ was sent to the Jews, whose bulk did not accept him as a Prophet.
  5. Muhammad ﷺ ruled his nation; likewise did Moses ﵇ . They both had the authority to function as rulers, while Jesus did not rule his nation.
  6. It is worth noting that what makes a ruler different from others is the authority he wields over other human beings, including the power to inflict capital punishments. In this sense, Muhammad ﷺ and Moses ﵇ bore similarities that were not found in the case of Jesus ﵇ . The bible records the case of the punishment of stoning commanded by Moses ﵇ to a man who had cursed. “And Moses spoke to the children of Israel, that they should bring forth him that had cursed out of the camp, and stone him with stones. And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses.” (Leviticus 24:23). Similarly, Muhammad ﷺ commanded the punishment of stoning to death for a woman who had committed adultery. However, when a case of a woman caught in adultery was brought to Jesus ﵇ , he refused to pronounce any punishment. Obviously, he had no authority under the law of the land to do so. The Bible says that the case was brought before him as a test so that he might be accused of trespassing on the law of the land. This incident is described in John 8:5-11. He clarified that his kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36). Jesus ﵇ did not disown the law of Moses ﵇ ; rather, he said that he came to follow it. He said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Mathew 5:17-19)
  7. Both Muhammad ﷺ and Moses ﵇ led their respective people to migration from one place to another; the former from Makkah to Madinah and the latter from Egypt to the Holy Land in a mass exodus. No such migration occurred in the life span of Jesus ﵇ on earth.
  8. Muhammad ﷺ and Moses ﵇ defeated their archenemies, the Makkan elite in the case of the former and Pharaoh in the case of the latter. Jesus ﵇ did not fight any battle with any enemy and won in this worldly sense.
  9. Muhammad ﷺ and Moses ﵇ died natural deaths and were buried in the ground. In the case of Jesus ﵇ , Christians believe in his crucifixion, while Muslims believe in his elevation to the heavens. However, in both these descriptions, the demise of Jesus ﵇ was not a natural phenomenon, while his burial and resurrection, even in accordance with the Christian traditions, are entirely different stories.
  10. Resurrection of Jesus ﵇ , according to Christian sources, or his elevation to heaven, as Muslims believe, is unique to him and is not shared in the case of Muhammad ﷺ and Moses ﵇ .
  11. The majority of Christians consider Jesus to be God, while no such idea of divinity exists regarding Muhammad ﷺ and Moses ﵇ , in Muslim or Jewish traditions, as both are considered human beings assigned the prophethood by God.

After establishing that Muhammad ﷺ and Moses ﵇ resemble each other, but not Jesus ﵇ , with respect to the prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:18, the question remains: who else resembles Moses? This prophecy does not apply to any Israelite, any Jew, because the prophecy is emphatic on this issue that the prophet will be from among their brethren.

It is a historical fact that the only nation that is the brethren of Ben Israel is that of Ben Ism’ail, the Arabs. Jews are the offspring of Ishaq ﵇ , and Arabs are the offspring of Ismail. Accordingly, the Prophet mentioned in this prophecy should be from the offspring of Ismail ﵇ . Muhammad ﷺ is in the ancestry of Ismael.

Further, Deuteronomy 18:18 states that God will put His “words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that He will command him.” In other words that Prophet will speak as he will be commanded. He will not speak out of his own accord, but rather as God willed.

This is the exact position of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. He did not speak from his own desire. He spoke the words of God revealed to him that were compiled in the form of the Qur’an. All the verses of the Qur’an are in direct narration from God. Muhammad ﷺ repeated the verses verbatim as revealed to him, without any addition or subtraction.

The position of the Bible, as we have it today, is different. Christians believe that its verses are inspired by God. It has many authors. These were written by different ‘inspired’ persons and so, as such, are not verbatim the Words of God. There is obviously a difference between the ‘inspired words’ and the ‘revealed words.’ The expression the verse, “I will put my words in his mouth” (Deuteronomy 18:18) implies what Muhammadﷺ did by reciting the words revealed to him. It is unlikely to mean inspired words rather than the revealed words.

Another Prophecy

A very interesting Prophecy that can be studied in the light of the advent of Muhammad ﷺ as Prophet is found in Isiah 29:11-12.

“And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, ‘Read this,’ he says, ‘I cannot, for it is sealed.’ And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, ‘Read this,’ he says, ‘I cannot read.”

Interestingly, the original Hebrew word that has been translated as ‘Read’ is ‘krau’ [‘iqra’ in Arabic]. Iqra is the first word revealed to Muhammad ﷺ through the Angel Gabriel. The initial verses, revealed to the Prophet, were, “Read (iqra) in the name of your Lord Who created, created man from a clot of congealed blood. Read: and your Lord is Most Generous, Who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know.” (The Qur’an 96:1-5). Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was unlettered. When the angel asked him to read, he replied that he could not read. The angel and the Prophet ﷺ repeated the conversation. Afterwards, the angel started reciting the verses, and the Prophet repeated the words.

Coming back to the Prophecy Isiah 29:11-12, one notices the same sequence. An unlettered man is asked to read, and he replies that he cannot read. The prophecy is simple to understand. The book was earlier sealed and so could not be read even by the literate people. Now that its seal is opened, it is presented to a person who cannot read, in the literal sense. The conversation in the prophecy and in the real-life conversations is identical. God kept his book sealed, to be opened for Muhammad ﷺ.

The Prophecy further describes the hollow worship of the people and God’s resolve to bring in the correct form of beliefs and practices. It says: “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. Therefore, once more, I will astound these people with wonder upon wonder; the wisdom of the wise will perish, the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.” (Isiah 29:13-14)

Apart from the lip service in the name of worshipping without a soul to it, the prophecy talks about their worship ‘based on merely human rules they have been taught.’ Here lies the problem of forsaking God’s commandments and ushering in human rules of worshipping God. Here lies the question of the Laws of Moses ﵇ , which Jesus ﵇ was committed to fulfilling, and which Christians have forsaken. They chose to follow the man-made laws of worship in place of the law that the Lord had provided to Moses ﵇ . Allah corrected the deviation, and Muhammad brought in and established the divine laws, as the prophecy, as above, had described.

Jesus ﵇ and the Laws of Moses

Jesus ﵇ came to fulfil the law of Moses ﵇ . The way forward for the believers in him should have been to follow his footsteps and abide by the laws he practiced and express his commitment to do so, letter by letter. Instead, these followers forsake the ‘Master’ and accepted the version of practice propagated by Saint Paul of abandoning the ‘Laws’ as such for good.

Jesus ﵇ was circumcised, which Saint Paul preached they need not do. This amounts to leaving the laws of God and accepting that of man, as the Prophecy above described. What Mathew 5-17-18 quotes Jesus ﵇ is worth noting, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Muhammad ﷺ revived the forsaken law, establishing the primacy of divine laws over man-made laws.

We may discuss the vision of a watchman described in Isaiah 21:7-9 and ponder over what event this referred.

“And he saw a chariot with a couple of horsemen, a chariot of asses, and a chariot of camels; and he hearkened diligently with much heed.  And he cried-A lion: My lord, I stand continually upon the watchtower in the daytime, and I am set in my ward whole nights. And, behold, here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he hath broken unto the ground.”

First of all, who rode asses and camels. If Jesus ﵇ rode asses, who other than Muhammad ﷺ, among the prophets, rode camels. Interestingly Muhammad ﷺ rode donkeys too. It is known that he owned a donkey named 'Ufayr.’ It is obvious that the vision described in Isaiah 21:7-9 is that of an army of the followers of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ because it reports the fall of Babylon and destruction of ‘the graven images of her gods.’ Babylon, in Iraq, was conquered by the army of the followers of Muhammad ﷺ sent by Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, the second Caliph.

The prophecy of the coming of Muhammad ﷺ is explicitly described in John 16:7-14, as noted hereunder.

“But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment: about sin, because people do not believe in me; about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer; and about judgment, because the prince of this world now stands condemned. I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But, when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you.”

The expression in John 16:7 translated as ‘Advocate’ above is the English translation of the Latin word is Paracletus as appearing. It is translated from the Greek word Paraklētos, which means “one called alongside to help.” It has been translated in English in different version of the bible as under:

“The Comforter” in King James Version, American Standard Version and the Darby Translation.

“The Councelor” in Holman Christian Standard Bible and The Revised Standard Version.

“The Helper” in English Standard Version, New American Standard Bible 1995, New King James version and the Bible in Basic English.

“The Advocate” in New International Version, New Living Translation, New Revised Standard, Common English Bible and Lexham English Bible.

“The Friend” in The Message Bible and The New International Reader’s Version.

It is obvious that verses of the Bible in John 16:7-14 are in the nature of parting message from Jesus ﵇ to his disciples, where he is comforting them that his departure from this world will not be the end of the task he was assigned by God to perform here. Rather, God will send another person who will complete the task. The verses describe the ‘Comforter’, ‘Councelor’, ‘Helper’, ‘Advocate’, ‘Friend’ i.e., Paracletus/ Paraklētos in following words:

“He will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment.

“(He is) the Spirit of truth.

“He will guide you into all the truth

“He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

“He will glorify me.”

It is now food for thought of all persons who believe in the righteousness and glorification of Jesus ﵇ to ponder over the person whose advent he prophesied. The answer will be Muhammad ﷺ. And no one else.