If Muhammad is God’s final prophet, then he MUST be predicted in the Bible (surah 7:157). One of the most common texts Muslims use in order to prove this is Deuteronomy 18:18:

Yahweh said to me (Moses), ”They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.” (18:17-19)

Below I will present five reasons why this prophet can’t refer to Muhammad:

1) The text doesn’t say this prophet should be God’s FINAL prophet. It only says he should be a prophet like Moses. Nothing more! God could raise up thousands of prophets after he had fulfilled this promise. So when Muslims are using this text as a proof for Muhammad as God’s final prophet, they read more into it than what it says.

2) Was Jesus or Muhammad a prophet like Moses? Some Muslim arguments in favor of Muhammad are:

– Moses and Muhammad had an earthy father and mother. Jesus had only a mother.

– Moses and Muhammad got married and had children. Jesus did not.

But are these arguments valid? How many men from the time of Moses (c. 1400 BCE) until the time of Muhammad (c. 600 CE) had a father and a mother? How many got married and had children? MILLIONS!!! In other words, millions of men during that 2 000 years time period could fulfill the criteria to become a prophet like Moses. So these could not be the signs of a prophet like Moses. It’s impossible! So then what are the signs? We find the answer in the last chapter of Deuteronomy:

There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that Yahweh sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. (34:10-12)

Here we find two criteria for being a prophet like Moses:

– To know Yahweh face to face.

– To do signs and wonders as Moses did.

Jesus fulfilled these criteria, while Muhammad didn’t. He didn’t know Yahweh at all, and he didn’t know him face to face. He always received words through an angel. And he didn’t do signs and wonders, a fact confirmed by the Quran (13:7; 20:133).

3) Muslims argue that the phrase ”from among their brothers” refers to Ishmael and not Isaac. But it’s actually the opposite. This phrase occurs five times in the Old Testament and is used only for the twelve tribes of Israel. The first time is in the previous chapter, Deuteronomy 17:15:

You may indeed set a king over you whom Yahweh your God will choose. One FROM AMONG YOUR BROTHERS you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you, who is not your brother.

The children of Israel were commanded to choose a king ”from among your brothers”. If this refers to the descendants of Ishmael, then why did God only choose kings from the Jewish people? The reason is that ”from among your brothers” refers to the Jewish people themselves and not to Ishmael or any other nation.

4) The text says the promised prophet ”shall speak in my name” (Deuteronomy 18:19). But what name is the verse referring to? It’s the name Yahweh. But Muhammad never spoke in that name. He always spoke in the name of Allah, the supreme deity of the Quraysh tribe he and his father Abdullah (’slave of Allah’) belonged to. But that deity had nothing to do with the God of the Bible. 

5) Muslims are too late in claiming that it refers to Muhammad. About 600 years before the birth of Islam, Peter, the disciple of Jesus, told the people in Jerusalem that Jesus was the promised prophet:

Moses said, ”The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him (Jesus) in whatever he tells you.” (Acts 3:22)

If Peter said that Jesus was the prophet like Moses, how can Muhammad be the one? Was Peter wrong, he who had been taught by Jesus for three and a half years? No, he knew very well that Jesus and not Muhammad was the long awaited prophet.