PROPHECIES ABOUT MUHAMMAD

PROPHECIES ABOUT MUHAMMAD
IN THE BIBLE?

By: Azali

Encouraged by two passages in the Koran, Muslims search in the Bible for prophecies about the coming of Muhammad:

Sura 7:156-157, 156 ... but My mercy knows no limits. And I will accord it to those who are pious, and to those who give alms regularly, and to those who believe in Our signs; - 157 (to those) who follow the messenger, the unlearned Prophet (an-nabi al-ummi), whom they find mentioned in the Torah and in the Gospel, who commands them what is right and forbids them what is evil; ...

Sura 61:6, And (back then) when 'Isa, the son of Mary, said: "O Children of Israel! I am sent by Allah to you, to confirm that of the Torah, which was there before me, and to announce a messenger with a highly acclaimed name (ismuhu ahmad), who will come after me." ...

A Jew who converted to Islam (Ali bin Rabban al-Tabari) in 855 AD published a book (Kitab al-Din wa al-Dawla = The Book on Religion and the State), in which he, based on his knowledge of the Bible, tried to prove that Muhammad really was announced in the Bible. Here is the List of biblical references that he used:

PROPHET	Announcements of Muhammad	Announcements of Christ (not considered by al-Tabari)
Moses	Deuteronomy 18:15; 18:18-19; 33:2-3 (In connection with Genesis 21:20f)	Genesis 3:15; Genesis 22:13; Numbers 21:8 (= John 3:14); Deuteronomy 18:15,18
David	Psalm 45:2-5; 48:1-2; 50:2-3; 72:8-12; 110:5-7; 149:4-9;	Psalm 2:7 (= Acts 13:13); 16;8-11 (= Acts 2:25-28; 16;10 (= Acts 13:35); 22:1-18; 110:1 (= Luke 20:42f and 22:69); 118:22 (= Luke 20:17); 118:26 (= Luke 13:35)
Isaiah	Isaiah 2:12-19; 5:26-30; 9:2-4; 9:6; 21:1-10; 21:13-14; 24:16-18; 35:1-2; 40:35; 40:10-11; 41:2-4; 41:8-16; 41:17-20; 42:11-13 43:20-21; 44:7-13; 45:23-24; 46:9-4; 49:1-5; 49:16-21; 49:22-23; 54:1-4; 54:11-15; 55:1; 55:4-7; 59:15-19; 60:1-7; 60:9-19; 62:10-12; 63:1-6; 63:14-16	Isaiah 7:14; 9:5; 9:6b; 11:1-3; 42:1-3; 49:6-7; 53:12 (= Luke 22:37); 55:3 (= Acts 13:34); 61:1-2 (= Luke 4:18f)
Hosea	Hosea 13:5
Micah	Micah 4:1-2
Habakkuk	Habakkuk 3:,3-13	Habakkuk 1:5 (= Acts 13:41)
Zephaniah	Zephaniah 3:8-10
Zechariah	Zechariah 14:9; 14:20	Zechariah 9:1 (= Matthew 21:5)
Jeremiah	Jeremiah 1:5-10; 5:15-16; 31:33-34; 43:35-38; 51:20-24
Ezekiel	Ezekiel 19:10-14
Daniel	Daniel 2:31-35; 7:2-8; 7:19-24; 12:12	Daniel 7:13
Christ	John 14:7,13; 14:16; 14:26; 1. John 4:1-3; 1. Peter 4:17; Luke 22:35-36
Paul	Galatians 4:22-26

MOSES, MUHAMMAD and CHRIST

The Koran has the following statement concerning the announcement of Muhammad's coming in the Bible:

One example of this statement of the Koran is seen by Muslims in the following prophecies of the Torah:

Deuteronomy 18:15+18, 15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among you and your brethren; him you shall obey. ... 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from their brethren, and will put my words in his mouth; and he will speak to them all that I shall command him.

Muslims interpret these verses from Deuteronomy as referring to Muhammad and not to Christ. In order to justify this opinion they point out similarities between Moses and Muhammad that do not apply to Christ:

MOSES	MUHAMMAD	CHRIST
Had a father and a mother	Had a father and a mother	Had only a mother (Maryam)
Was begotten the natural way	Was begotten the natural way	Was begotten in a supernatural way (miracle of virgin birth)
Married and had children	Married and had children	Did not marry and did not beget children
Died a natural death	Died a natural death	Did not die a natural death
Was buried in the earth	Was buried in the earth	Is not buried in the earth
Died aged more than 60 years	Died aged more than 60 years	Ended his life on earth aged less than 60 years

The triviality of this argument is revealed by comparing Moses with my own grandfather:

MOSES	MY GRANDFATHER
Had a father and a mother	Had a father and a mother
Was begotten the natural way	Was begotten the natural way
Married and had children	Married and had children
Died a natural death	Died a natural death
Was buried in the earth	Was buried in the earth
Died aged more than 60 years	Died aged more than 60 years

If in all these points my grandfather was similar to Moses, does this make him a prophet like Moses? Of course not! In the same way Muhammad was NOT a prophet like Moses in spite of all these similarities.

In order to find a true answer to our problem we must take into consideration completely different Qualities, not simply human but superhuman attributes, when comparing someone with Moses:

MOSES	CHRIST
Was in danger at his birth (slaying of male babies by Pharao)	Was in danger at his birth (slaying of male babies by Herod)
God himself ordered his rescue through the daughter of Pharao	God himself ordered his rescue through Joseph, the fiancé of Mary. God sent an angel, to tell Joseph what to do.
Spent his childhood in Egypt, far from his true home, until God led him away from there by His might.	Spent a good portion of his childhood in Egypt until God, by revelation, led him away from there
God performed many miracles through him (transformed a rod into a snake, split the sea, water out of a rock etc.)	Performed many miracles (healed the blind and the lepers, made the lame walk again, raised the dead etc.)
Liberated his people from their slavery to the Egyptians and led them out to the promised land.	Liberated and still liberates anyone who believes in him from the slavery to evil and to sin
Many Israelites quarreled and conspired against him	Many Israelites refused his message and conspired against him
Died according to God's plan and is now in heaven	Died according to God's plan on the cross and is now in heaven

At the same time it must be pointed out, how Muhammad is different from Moses:

MOSES	MUHAMMAD
Was a Jew from the tribe of Levi, a descendant of Isaac	Was an Arab from the house of Hashim of the tribe of Quraish
Spent his childhood in Egypt	Spent his childhood in the Hedjaz (Arabia)
Lived in the palace of Pharao, because the daughter of Pharao protected him, until he became 40 years old	Lived as a Bedouin and moved between his wet nurse and his grandfather resp. his uncle, worked as a shepherd and later as a caravan guard for a rich woman
Lived 40 years in the Sinai desert where he was trained to lead his people by having direct talks with God and with his father in law Jethro	Traveled on business trips by caravan between Damascus the Hedjaz and the Yemen and later he handed on the knowledge that he gathered in those countries
God performed many miracles through him (transformed a rod into a snake, split the sea, water out of a rock etc.)	Did not perform one single miracle
Lead his people 40 years in the Sinai desert, in this he did not found a state and did not settle down	Founded a state first in Yathrib (Medina) and ten years later he conquered Mecca and became the Lord of the Land.
God ordered his death and God himself buried him at an unknown place on Mount Nebo	Died under the influence of poison and his grave in known in a mosque in Medina
Died at the age of 120 years	Died at the age of 63 years

These indications suffice to show that the Torah nowhere has hints much less prophecies about the coming of Muhammad. Rather, one can find there unmistakable evidences about the coming of Christ, who was announced by God many centuries before his birth. < email: azali5059457@msn.com >

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