Question:

And the Lord said unto me. They have well spoken that which they have spoken, 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. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." [Deuteronomy 18:17-19] The foretold prophet in this prophecy was not Jesus(pbuh). It was Muhammad(pbuh) because if you read Muhammad’s (pbuh) history and Moses(pbuh) they were given the prophethood at the age of 40. Both were married. Qur’an was not written in the beginning. People used to memorise it and still there are millions of Muslims who have memorised the Qur’an. "which he shall speak in my name" In the Holy Quran, all the chapters begin with the words: "In the name of God, the Gracious, the Merciful".  "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak; and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me." (John 16:12-14). I have too many evidence to prove that Muhammad(pbuh)was the final messenger of God, but I think this is enough for now. Did you watch a debate about "Qur’an and the Bible in the light of Science" dr.Zakir Naik vs William Campbell? Dr. Zakir Naik proved 38 scientific errors and what William Campbell said about Qur’an dr. Zakir Naik proved that whatever William Campbell said was wrong, and in the end of the debate William Campbell said "What Zakir Naik has said I don’t deny them, and I don’t have good answers for them". What evidence do you have in Christianity? Is the world flat? Even the famous scientist Dr. Keith Moore said that "I have no difficulty by accepting that Muhammad(pbuh) must be a messenger and  Qur’an must be from God.

Response:

I will have to say that there is at least a shallow parallel between the career of Moses and that of Muhammad.  However, the parallels between Moses and Jesus are far greater.  Besides, the "qualifications" for the prophet like Moses eliminates Muhammad from consideration.  Let us break this passage down:

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. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." [Deuteronomy 18:17-19]

First of all, the one who fulfills this prophecy must be a Jew.  The brothers of Moses are clearly the Jews.  Muhammad is not a Jew and therefore cannot fulfill this prophecy.

Second, although I will have to say that some of your parallels between Jesus and Muhammad are interesting, the parallels between Jesus and Moses are far more impressive.  Here they are:

1. For both, a jealous king, fearing a king from among the Jews, killed all the Jewish children in the hopes of killing the leader of the Jews.  Both Jesus and Moses were under sentence of death and both were saved by God from that death.

2.  Hosea 11:1  Out of Egypt I called my son.  Both Jesus and Moses were "called out of Egypt."

3.  Moses left the right hand of Pharaoh in order to become a slave in Egypt so as to save God’s people.  Jesus left the place at the right hand of God to become a "slave" amongst us humans to save us.

4. Moses offered a Passover Lamb and saved the Jews from slavery.  Jesus was a Passover Lamb to save us from spiritual slavery.

5. Moses went into the desert for 40 years to prepare to save Israel.  Jesus went into the desert for 40 days to prepare to save spiritual Israel (the church) from spiritual slavery to sin.

6. Moses gave them bread in the desert.  Jesus gives us the bread of life.

7. Moses gave them water from a rock.  Jesus gives us water "that springs up for eternal life" (ie. the Holy Spirit).

8. Moses had Aaron to go in front of him to prepare the way.  Jesus had John the Baptist to prepare the way for him.

9. Israel was baptized into Moses in the Red Sea (1 Cor 10:1).  Christians are baptized into Jesus Christ.

10. Moses was the Law Giver.  Jesus gives us the Law of Christ.

11. Moses gave the first covenant to Israel.  Jesus gave the New Covenant to Israel (and to everyone, including Muslims)

12. Moses met with God on Mt. Sinai.  Jesus met God on the Mount of Transfiguration (where, by the way, he met Moses).

Other comments.  Moses was not given the position of prophet at forty years, although Muhammad claimed this role at that age.  This is a false parallel.  Nowhere in the Old Testament is there evidence that Moses became a prophet at 40.  There is evidence that he went out into the desert at 40, but not that he was made a prophet at that time.  Perhaps we could mention when, at the age of 80 he began to prophecy to Israel.

I agree that both Moses and Muhammad were married, but then again the vast majority of all men get married, so this is not a very convincing parallel.  About 90% of all men meet this qualification.

You quote from the book of John when Jesus prophesied that he would send a Comforter.  I am aware that Muslims have claimed this Comforter is Muhammad.  To me it is far more likely that this prophecy of Jesus applies to the Holy Spirit that Jesus gave to his followers at Pentecost, 50 days after his resurrection.  Jesus promised his Holy Spirit.  In fact if you read John, Jesus clearly says that he who will be sent is "the Spirit of Truth."  This is a rather obvious reference to the Holy Spirit which God sent at Pentecost.  You can see this fulfilled in wonderful precision in Acts chapter 2 when God sent his Holy Spirit, which guided the apostles into all truth.  Also, you should read the parallel passage in John 14:15-18.  Muslims never quote this passage because it makes it dead obvious that Jesus is not talking about Muhammad.  Here Jesus says about the Counselor, "He remains with you and will be in you."  Muhammad neither remains with us (he is now dead), nor does he lives in us.  Both of these are obviously true of the Holy Spirit who remains with us and lives in us (Acts 2:38-39).

I would say that anyone who reads the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Koran carefully will agree that it is really rather ridiculous to claim that Muhammad fulfilled this prophecy.  No one can believe this unless they hear it from a Muslim and do not read the New Testament carefully.  This plays well to Muslim readers, but does not work at all to thinking people who understand the New Testament.

About this debate, I wish I was there.  I have read the Bible from cover to cover and have failed to discover a single science error in the entire Old or New Testament.  I have spoken on this extensively on dozens of campuses.  If you are interested in this evidence, please get a copy of my book "Is There a God?"  (John Oakes, www.ipibooks.com)  I am sorry that this William Campbell did such a poor job of defending the scientific truth of the scriptures.  Certainly the Bible does not say that the world if flat.  I have no idea where Mr. Naik came up with that one, but I can assure you that the Bible does not say that the earth is flat.  If you like, I will be happy to
debate your friend Mr. Zair Naik. I guarantee that the debate would go in a profoundly different direction.  As for Dr. Moore, he is obviously a Muslim, so I am not surprised that he accepts the Qur’an.  What is lacking here is any reason I should believe in the Qur’an.  Your "evidences" fall completely flat, I am afraid.

So, if this is your only evidence for which I must accept Muhammad or the Koran, the best I can tell, you have provided me with literally no reason and no evidence in support of the Koran or Islam.  I eagerly await actual evidence in support of this book.  If you are interested in evidence supporting the inspiration of the Bible, I invite you to spend some time at my web site, or better yet, please consider getting a copy of my book, "Reasons for Belief" at www.ipibooks.com.  Here you will see fulfilled prophecy, evidence for the miracles of Jesus, evidence for the resurrection of Jesus after his crucifixion, historical and scientific accuracy and much, much more.  The evidence for the inspiration of the Old and New Testament is overwhelming. I invite you to consider this evidence.  If you are interested, I can give you many specifics.  I await your follow-up question.

John Oakes, PhD