Is Muhammad predicted in the Bible?
The Qur'an says Muhammad is described in the Torah and the Gospel (Qur'an 7:157), and that Jesus announced a messenger to come after him named Ahmad (Qur'an 61:6). Moses foretold a prophet like him from among the Israelites' 'brothers', the Ishmaelites (Deuteronomy 18:18), and Jesus promised the 'Paraclete' would come after he left (John 14-16). Both point to Muhammad.
Read in context, both passages point elsewhere. Deuteronomy uses 'your brothers' for fellow Israelites, and the prophet like Moses must speak with God face to face and do mighty signs, which the New Testament sees fulfilled in Jesus. In John, Jesus explicitly names the Paraclete as the Holy Spirit, an invisible Helper who would live inside the disciples and arrive within weeks. No manuscript of John reads anything else.
What Scripture says
15The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him. 16This 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 or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!” 17Then the LORD said to me, “They have spoken well. 18I 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. 19And I will hold accountable anyone who does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name.
Moses promises a prophet like himself 'from among you, from your brothers'.
1The Levitical priests—indeed the whole tribe of Levi—shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel. They are to eat the food offerings to the LORD; that is their inheritance. 2Although they have no inheritance among their brothers, the LORD is their inheritance, as He promised them.
In the same chapter, the Levites have no inheritance 'among their brothers', meaning the other tribes of Israel.
15you are to appoint over yourselves the king whom the LORD your God shall choose. Appoint a king from among your brothers; you are not to set over yourselves a foreigner who is not one of your brothers.
Israel's king must be chosen 'from among your brothers', not a foreigner; the phrase means fellow Israelites.
10Since that time, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face— 11no prophet who did all the signs and wonders that the LORD sent Moses to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his officials and all his land, 12and no prophet who performed all the mighty acts of power and awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
The defining marks of the prophet like Moses: knowing the LORD face to face, and great signs and wonders.
22For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to Him in everything He tells you. 23Everyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from among his people. ’ 24Indeed, all the prophets from Samuel on, as many as have spoken, have proclaimed these days. 25And you are sons of the prophets and of the covenant God made with your fathers when He said to Abraham, ‘Through your offspring all the families of the earth will be blessed.’ 26When God raised up His Servant, He sent Him first to you to bless you by turning each of you from your wicked ways.”
Peter identifies Jesus as the prophet Moses foretold.
16And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you do know Him, for He abides with you and will be in you.
The Paraclete is 'the Spirit of truth', whom the world cannot see, who already dwells with the disciples and will be in them.
26But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you.
Jesus names the Paraclete outright: the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in Jesus' name.
4And while they were gathered together, He commanded them: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift the Father promised, which you have heard Me discuss. 5For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. ”
The risen Jesus tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the promised Holy Spirit 'not many days from now'.
The case
Why Muslims look for Muhammad in the Bible
The Qur'an describes Muhammad as the unlettered prophet whom Jews and Christians find written in their Torah and Gospel (Qur'an 7:157), and it reports Jesus giving good news of a messenger after him whose name is Ahmad (Qur'an 61:6). Since Muslims believe both statements, they naturally look for Muhammad in the Bible. From the earliest biography of the Prophet, Ibn Ishaq's Sira (8th century), Muslim writers have pointed to two passages above all: Deuteronomy 18 and Jesus' promise of the Paraclete in John 14-16.
Christians should take these arguments seriously and read the passages carefully together with Muslim friends.
Deuteronomy 18: a prophet like Moses
Moses tells Israel that God will raise up a prophet like him "from among you, from your brothers" (Deuteronomy 18:15), and God says he will put his words in that prophet's mouth (18:18). The Muslim argument runs: Israel's "brothers" are the descendants of Ishmael, and Muhammad, like Moses, was a lawgiver and leader.
1. "Brothers" in Deuteronomy means fellow Israelites
Deuteronomy uses the phrase consistently. The king must be one "from among your brothers," not a foreigner (17:15). The Levites have no land "among their brothers," meaning the other tribes (18:2). Verse 15 also says the prophet comes "from among you," that is, from Israel's own midst.
2. The marks of the prophet like Moses
Deuteronomy closes by explaining how Moses was unique: the LORD knew him face to face, and he performed great signs and wonders (34:10-12). The Gospels portray Jesus as the one who has seen and made known the Father (John 1:18), who does mighty works, and who mediates a new covenant. The Qur'an describes Muhammad's revelation as coming through the angel Gabriel, not face to face, and many Muslims hold that the Qur'an itself was his great sign.
3. The New Testament reading
The Jewish crowds of Jesus' day already expected "the Prophet" (John 1:21; 6:14). Peter and Stephen identify him with Jesus (Acts 3:22-26; 7:37). This is the earliest interpretation we have, centuries before Islam.
John 14-16: the Paraclete
Jesus promises his disciples "another Paraclete" (John 14:16), usually translated Helper, Advocate or Comforter. Muslim writers such as Ahmed Deedat argued this refers to Muhammad. But the text itself describes the Paraclete in detail:
| What John says about the Paraclete | Fits the Holy Spirit? | Fits Muhammad? |
|---|---|---|
| Named as "the Holy Spirit" (14:26) | Yes | No |
| The world cannot see him (14:17) | Yes | No |
| Already "dwells with you" and will be "in you" (14:17) | Yes | No |
| Will be with the disciples forever (14:16) | Yes | No |
| Sent to the disciples themselves, soon (16:7; Acts 1:5) | Yes, at Pentecost | Came six centuries later |
| Will glorify Jesus and take what is his (16:14) | Yes | Teaches Jesus was not crucified |
Some Muslims suggest the original Greek was periklytos ("famous" or "praised"), which would correspond to Ahmad. But every one of the thousands of Greek manuscripts of John reads paraklētos, including copies centuries older than Islam. Notably, the earliest Muslim use of this passage, in Ibn Ishaq's biography, did not rely on periklytos at all. It used an Aramaic term meaning "comforter" (munaḥḥemana) and equated it with the Greek paraklētos (see Sean Anthony's 2016 study).
Why it matters
These passages are not puzzles to be won but promises to be enjoyed. The prophet like Moses is Jesus, who brings us to God face to face. The Paraclete is the Holy Spirit, who still comes today to everyone who trusts Christ, so that God is not distant but present within. Christians can honor a Muslim friend's desire to find God's promises fulfilled, and invite them to see how fully they are fulfilled in Jesus and the Spirit he sends.
Word study
hebrew · “brother, relative, fellow countryman” · Deuteronomy 18:15
ʾĀḥ can mean a blood brother or, more broadly, a kinsman. In Deuteronomy it regularly means a fellow Israelite (Deuteronomy 15:12; 17:15; 18:2). Verse 15 adds 'from among you' (miqqirbᵉkā, from your midst), which rules out a prophet from another nation.
greek · “advocate, helper, one called alongside” · John 14:16
Paraklētos means one who stands beside to help or plead a case. John also uses it of Jesus himself as our advocate with the Father (1 John 2:1), which is why Jesus calls the Spirit 'another' Paraclete. Some Muslim writers propose an original periklytos ('praised one', close in meaning to Ahmad), but no Greek manuscript of John has that reading.
“But what about…?”
Couldn't the 'brothers' of Israel be the Ishmaelites, since Ishmael was Isaac's brother?
Deuteronomy's own usage settles it. The same phrase describes the king (17:15) and the Levites' fellow tribes (18:2), both Israelites. Elsewhere Deuteronomy calls Edom (Esau's descendants), not Ishmael, Israel's 'brother' (Deuteronomy 2:4; 23:7). And verse 15 says the prophet will come 'from among you'.
Isn't Muhammad more like Moses than Jesus was: a lawgiver, a leader, married with children?
Those parallels could fit many leaders. Deuteronomy itself names what made Moses unique: he knew the LORD face to face and performed great signs (Deuteronomy 34:10-12). The Gospels present Jesus as the one who knows the Father intimately (John 1:18) and does mighty works, and they show him mediating a new covenant (Luke 22:20) as Moses mediated the old.
What about Song of Songs 5:16, where the Hebrew word sounds like 'Muhammad'?
The Hebrew word maḥămaddîm is a common plural meaning 'desirable things' or 'altogether lovely', used of a beloved in a love poem. The same root appears elsewhere for precious objects (e.g. 1 Kings 20:6). A similar sound across languages is not a prophecy.
Didn't Jesus say he had many more things to tell, which Muhammad later brought?
Jesus said the Spirit would guide the disciples into all truth and remind them of what he had taught (John 14:26; 16:12-14). The Spirit glorifies Jesus. A later message that denies Jesus' death and sonship would contradict the very teaching the Spirit was sent to confirm.
Where Christians differ
Go deeper
- article · 2016Muhammad, Menahem, and the Paraclete: New Light on Ibn Ishaq's (d. 150/767) Arabic Version of John 15:23-16:1Sean W. Anthony
- book · 2018The Qur'an and the Bible: Text and CommentaryGabriel Said Reynolds
- book · 2016No God but One: Allah or Jesus?Nabeel Qureshi
- book · 1991The Gospel According to John (Pillar New Testament Commentary)D. A. Carson
Sources (5)
- Qur'an 7:157: the unlettered prophet whom they find written in the Torah and the Gospel
- Qur'an 61:6: Jesus gives good news of a messenger after him named Ahmad
- Ibn Ishaq, Sirat Rasul Allah (trans. A. Guillaume, The Life of Muhammad, 1955): an early Arabic rendering of John 15:23-16:1 applied to Muhammad
- Sean W. Anthony, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 79.2 (2016): 255-278
- Ahmed Deedat, Muslim popular apologist (1918-2005), among those who argued that the Paraclete is Muhammad
Related questions
Hasn't the Bible been corrupted?
The Qur'an itself speaks of the Torah and Gospel as guidance and light, tells Christians in Muhammad's day to judge by what God revealed in the Gospel, and invites anyone in doubt to ask those who read the earlier scripture. That assumes the Bible available in the seventh century was trustworthy. We possess thousands of biblical manuscripts from before Muhammad, and they teach the same message we read today: Jesus' death, resurrection and divine sonship.
Wasn't Jesus just a prophet, not the Son of God?
Christians agree that Jesus was a prophet and a servant of God; the question is whether he was only that. The earliest records of his life show him forgiving sins, accepting worship, claiming to share God's glory and identifying himself with the divine 'Son of Man' of Daniel 7. 'Son of God' never meant that God took a wife; it means Jesus shares the Father's very nature. A prophet points to God. Jesus pointed to himself as the way to God.
Isn't the Trinity polytheism?
Christians are monotheists. We confess with Jesus that 'the Lord our God, the Lord is one' and reject three gods, a God who takes a wife, and the worship of any creature. The Trinity means that the one God eternally exists as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, not that a man was promoted to divinity. Shirk adds a partner to God; the Son and Spirit are not partners alongside God but are God's own Word and Spirit, sharing his one nature.
This entry is a draft and has not yet been theologically reviewed.