Muhammad is the one “like Moses” from the prophecy in Deuteronomy 18:14-16 and I have evidence!
[Editor’s note: This comes from a Muslim believer who claimed that Muhammad fulfilled the prophecy that one like Moses would come to save God’s people. I responded by giving him several ways that Jesus fits the description quite well, but asked him to provide “evidence” for the parallels between Moses and Muhammad. I also explained to the gentleman that Jesus worked miracles, which prove the validity of his message, and asked him for examples of Muhammad working miracles, which I said he did not. The following is his response to this request and my response to his response. Also, the original Q & A is below this one.]
Response:
Thanks for the response, but I read from a Muslim source that:
Muhammad miraculously fed fourteen hundred persons from just a small supply and increased water from a bucket for fourteen hundred persons to perform ablution.
Further, the Koran accurately predicted about the Romans (Sura 30:2-4) and Badr’s battle (54:44-45).
Parallels can be made between Moses and Muhammad also. Both were given law. They fought wars against idolaters. They were never called “God’s Son” by their followers, unlike Jesus. Moses migrated from Egypt. Muhammad also migrated from Mecca.
Response to the Response;
Few people have the courage to respond to such a challenge from a Christian. I really appreciate you doing so. It is a sign that you are an honest seeker of God, which I respect.
As for the story of the water for 1400 persons, this is a proper answer to my challenge. However, there is a problem with this example, which is that the author of Sunnah died in AD 875, which means that he wrote well over two hundred years after Muhammad died. There are no miracles mentioned by Muhammad (for example in the Qur’an) or by any of the people who knew him. Not a single one, so I stand by my claim. The testimony of a person who was born two hundred years after Muhammad died in AD 640 is extremely weak testimony. By comparison, the gospel writers who wrote of Jesus’ miracles were writing within 30 years (Matthew) or 50 years (John) of his death, and they were eye-witnesses of the miracles of Jesus. Besides, when they wrote, there were thousands still alive who had witnessed Jesus’ ministry who could have refuted such claims. I cannot absolutely prove that Muhammad did not miraculously create water for 1400, but as a careful observer, I am extremely skeptical of a miracle which was not even claimed for more than 200 years after the supposed event occurred. This is a very suspicious claim, to say the least.
As for the battle of Badr, this was not a prophecy but a prediction. In other words, the prediction was made a few days or at most a few weeks before the battle. It would be like me predicting who will win the presidential election in the US in 2024. There are two major candidates, and predicting the winner correctly does not amount to a prophecy which would validate anything I say. Thanks for the example. I had heard of it before, but when I compare it to the prediction of the price paid to Judas (30 pieces of silver), which was made 550 years before, and which was extremely specific and inherently essentially impossible to predict (except by inspiration of God), then I feel the example of predicting the outcome of a single battle a few days before the battle does not amount to convincing proof of the inspiration of the Qur’an. However, thank you for at least making the attempt.
These parallels are extremely weak. Moses never fought a war. He was not a soldier and he did not carry a sword. It is true that both were givers of law. That parallel I will agree with. The parallel of never being called God’s son applies to virtually every human who ever lived, so that is not a particularly convincing parallel to prove that Muhammad is one like Moses. Both you and I could be described as not claiming to be God’s son. So… the only parallel you offered for Muhammad is that both he and Moses were law-givers. This is simply not sufficient to overcome the problem that Muhammad was not a Jew (as required by the text of the prophecy) or the fact that there are literally dozens of parallels between Jesus and Moses of a very unique and specific nature. To be completely honest, your extremely short list of “parallels” is really more convincing that Moses is NOT the one like Moses than it is that he IS the one. That is my opinion.
By the way, like Moses, Jesus as a child migrated from Egypt. Perhaps you did not know this, but it is recounted in Matthew 2:19-23. Muhammad certainly did not migrate from Egypt. In fact, he never even entered Egypt. The parallel there favors Jesus, not Muhammad!
But.. I really appreciate you taking the time to defend your view. It shows you are willing to engage in honest discussion on these topics.
John Oakes
Original Question:
According to the Koran:
1) There were some Jews and Christians at the time of Muhammad who recognized him as a promised prophet mentioned in the books of former prophets and said “The promise of our Lord has been fulfilled” (Sura 17:107-108)
2) The qualities of the companions of Muhammad were prophesied in the Torah and Gospel (Sura 48:29)
Further, I read that Negus or Najashi (Christian King of Aksum) who reigned from 614-630 CE testified about the Koran, that the “Koran and what Jesus brought has come from the same source of light.” Similarly, Safiyah, who later became the wife of Muhammad, said that her father and uncle, who were Jewish scholars, Huyayy b. Akhtab and Abu Yasir went to meet Muhammad. When they returned, they testified that “he is the same Prophet whose advent has been prophesied in our Scriptures.” It means the Messiah and Promised Prophet were separate persons, not the same individual, who were awaited by Jews (Jn. 1:21).
What’s your opinion?
Answer:
It is not a secret that a small number of Jews and Christians were converted to Islam during the lifetime of Muhammad. Of course they say these kind of things, as they were believers in Islam. But the statements of converts is not evidence that Muhammad was a prophet..
The only problem with this is that these are false witnesses. Anyone can say anything they want, but when Negus said that the Qur’an and was Jesus taught come from the same source of light, he was speaking falsely. It is NOT true. Jesus said that he is God. Jesus was crucified for our sins. Muhammad denied this. This makes Muhammad a false prophet. I understand that you agree with Negus, but that does not make what he said true.
So, what you are saying here happened is probably true. But it does not make any of the things said about Muhammad true. There is NO prophecy of Muhammad in the Bible. This is a falsehood, plain and simple. Simply quoting believers in Muhammad is not evidence of the truth of the claims. What we need is evidence, which, of course, is lacking. Unlike with Jesus, who walked on water, raised Lazarus from the dead, fed 5000, healed thousands of blindness, deafness and many other conditions, and, after being crucified, was raised from the dead. This validates Jesus’ sayings. Jesus fulfilled multiple prophecies, such as being crucified (Psalm 22:15-16, being betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, and riding into Jerusalem on a donkey (Zechariah 11:13, 9:9). Even the date of his death was prophesied (Daniel 9:24-25. None of this kind of evidence applies to Muhammad. Therefore, simply quoting Nagus or Huyay is not evidence that what they said is true. Quoting the Qur’an to prove that Muhammad is the Prophet is circular reasoning, unless you can show me about spectacular miracles he worked, or clear and obvious prophecies which he fulfilled. But, of course, there is none of this, as Muhammad was a great man—a great leader, general and poet—but he was a false prophet. This is my conclusion.
So, thank-you for supplying this interesting piece of history. It is interesting to know that some Christians and some Jews were converted to Islam. I love history and this is interesting history. However, it is not evidence that Muhammad was a prophet. He must have worked miracles, fulfilled earlier prophecies or made accurate prophecies of his own, but he did not.
Jesus is the Prophet like Moses of Deuteronomy 18:14-16. Obviously, Muhammad is not, as the prophecy says that the Prophet will be a Jew like Moses. The parallels between Moses and Jesus are many, but between Muhammad and Moses are few if any. Like Moses as a child, a king wanted to kill Jesus as a baby. Moses gave them bread, Jesus gave the people bread. Moses met God on a mountain, Jesus met God on a mountain. Moses was called out of Egypt, Jesus was called out of Egypt. Jesus is the Prophet of Deuteronomy 18. This is completely obvious. To claim that this is Muhammad is not supported by any evidence, and it is controverted by the statement that the Prophet would be a Jew. Muhammad was not a friend of the Jews. In fact, he had more than 500 Jewish men executed in Medina. This claim that Muhammad is the prophesied Jew of Deuteronomy only holds up if one is talking to Muslims, but no Jew or Christian could possibly believe this, as it is so obviously proved wrong by Deuteronomy 18:14-17. My suggestion is that you no longer believe that Muhammad is the Prophet who was predicted by Moses.
John Oakes
