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Question: The following verse is often used by us Muslims to claim that the Bible predicts the coming of Muhammad (sws): I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. (Deuteronomy 18:18) Muslims claim that since God is speaking to the Israelites who are the seed of Isaac (sws), He must be talking about the descendants of Ishmael (sws) who is Isaac’s brother. Therefore, they reason that the prophet like Moses (sws) must be Muhammad (sws) since he is the only prophet who comes from the lineage of Ismael (sws). However, a careful study of the usage of the phrase ‘from among their brothers’ in the Bible shows that this inference made by the Muslims may not be true. Consider the following verse where God instructs the Israelites about choosing their king: When you say: ‘Let us set a king over us like the nations around us’, be sure to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your own brothers. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not a brother Israelite. (Deuteronomy 17:14-15)
It is evident from these verses that the
word brother can be used in a different sense. My confusion is: Why can’t
it be used in this same sense in Deuteronomy 18:18? Also, according to
Deuteronomy 34:10-12, Moses (sws) cannot be compared to Muhammad (sws).
These verses say that Moses (sws) cannot be compared to any of the Prophets.
Please comment.
The nation you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.’ (Deuteronomy 18:14-16)
Now if the progeny of Isaac (sws) is addressed
and told: ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your
own brothers’, then obviously here the word ‘brother’ cannot be used in
its literal meaning. A little deliberation shows that here the word is
clearly used in its second connotation. The brothers of the family of Isaac
(sws) can only be the family of Ishmael (sws). This would mean that the
prediction is about someone who must be among the progeny of Ishmael (sws).
Since then no Prophet has risen in Israel like Moses whom the Lord knew face to face who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt…
Here the qualification of the word ‘Israel’
clearly suggests that here the comparison is between Moses (sws) and other
Prophets of the Israelites. In other words, the verses say that Moses (sws)
cannot be compared to any of the subsequent Prophets who came to the Israelites.
Consequently, the comparison is not between Moses (sws) and Muhammad (sws),
who we all know was not a Prophet of the Israelites. He was sent to the
Ishmaelites.
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