If Muhammad is God’s final prophet, then he MUST be predicted in the Bible (surah 7:157). In this post I will deal with Song of Solomon 5:16:

His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether DESIRABLE [מַחֲּמַדִּים]. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem.

First, the book Song of Solomon is a love story between king Solomon and a certain lady in Jerusalem (not Mecca) in the 10th century BCE, and has nothing to do with a guy living in Saudi Arabia c. 1 500 years later.

Second, Muslim apologists like Zakir Naik claim that the Hebrew word מַחֲּמַדִּים should be pronounced ‘muhammadim’, i.e. Muhammad with a plural (-im) of majesty. But I’ve studied biblical Hebrew at the university, and can say with 100% certainty that they are wrong. The Hebrew word מַחֲּמַדִּים begins with ‘ma-‘ and not ‘mu-‘ and can therefore not be pronounced ‘MUhammadim’. It’s impossible! The correct pronunciation is ‘machamadim’ (one ‘m’). Further, it’s a noun and not a name, referring to THINGS that are lovely, pleasant and precious. We find the same word in Isaiah 64:11:

Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised You, has been burned by fire; and all our PRECIOUS THINGS [machamadim] have become a ruin.

If machamadim is Muhammad then he has become a ruin. Does any Muslim agree with this? I don’t think so. In sum: machamadim is a NOUN and has nothing to do with a human being. So next time Zakir Naik says that Song of Solomon 5:16 is talking about Muhammad, you know he’s lying to you.