Moses (pbuh) Prophesies About the Coming of a Prophet and Messenger Like Him

moses (pbuh) descended from al-tor mountain after god had spoken to him, and he said addressing the children of israel: "and the lord said to me “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. but the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that i have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods that same prophet shall die. and if you say in your heart, how many we know the word that the lord has not spoken? when a prophet speaks in the name of the lord, if the word does not come true; that, is a word the lord has not spoken, the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. you need not be afraid of him." (deuteronomy: 18/17-22).

the text as it clearly shows, talks about a great prophet that will come after moses (pbuh), and it mentions the characteristics of this prophet, from which we can deduce who he is.

the christians claim that this prophet had already come, and that he is jesus (pbuh), as peter said in his speech about jesus (pbuh) " moses said, “ the lord will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers, you shall listen to him in whatever he tells you. and it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.  and all the prophets  who have spoken, from samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.” (acts: 3/22-26) peter’s opinion is that the prophecy of moses was fulfilled in the person of jesus (pbuh).

however, the passage when analyzed shows a lot of evidence that it indicates only our prophet muhammad (pbuh), and the christians have no evidence that it was exclusive to jesus (pbuh). the torah mentions the description of this person whom it prophesized:

1)     he is a prophet. “a prophet from among their brethren ", the christians claim divinity for jesus, and the orthodox claim that he is god himself, so how could he tell them: i will raise a prophet, and not say: i will raise myself, or i will raise a god?

2)     that he is not from the children of israel, but he is among their brothers meaning their cousins "among their brothers", the cousins of the children of israel are the children of esau the son of isaac, and the children of ishmael, the son of abraham.

it is common in the torah to use the word “brother" to call the cousin; an example is what moses said to the children of israel:

“and command the people, “you are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of esau, who live in se'ir” (deuteronomy: 2/4), and the children of esau son of isaac - as mentioned before - are cousins to the children of israel.

it also came in the description of edom, who is from esau's offspring "moses sent messengers from kadesh to the king of edom, thus says your brother israel: you know all the hardship that we have met:" (numbers: 20/14), and in another passage "you shall not abhor an edomite; for he is your brother. you shall not abhor an egyptian; because you were a sojourner in his land." (deuteronomy: 23/7). he called him a brother, and what he meant was that he was one of the cousins of israel.

similarly, the book of chronicles called king zedekiah a brother of the king jehoiachin, it said, "in the spring of the year king nebuchadnezzar sent and brought him to babylon, with the precious vessels of the house of the lord, and made his brother zedekiah king over judah and jerusalem." (chronicles 2: 36/10) in reality, he is his uncle according to the book of kings. it says: "and the king of babylon made mattaniah, jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to zedekiah.” (kings 2: 24/17-18), it used the word brother, but it meant the uncle, which confirms the validity of this use when saying: "their brothers", when he meant their cousins.

based on that, it is possible that this prophet is from the arabs as a validation to the blessing promised to the offspring of ishmael, and it is possible that he is from the children of esau the elder son of isaac.  none of the children of esau ever claimed to be the expected prophet.

3)     one of this prophet's characteristics is that he is like moses, whom the children of israel had not had a prophet like him.  "and there has not arisen a prophet since in israel like moses, whom the lord knew face to face," (deuteronomy: 34/10), in the samaritan originals of the torah it says, "and there will never arose a prophet in israel like unto moses, whom the lord had spoken to" (deuteronomy: 34/10).

this description, of being like moses, is a fact can fit only our prophet muhammad, and not jesus (peace and blessings be upon all of them). there are many similarities between moses and muhammad (pbut), which we cannot find in jesus. moses’ and muhammad’s (pbut) natural birth, their marriage, both came with a statute, both were sent with swords over their enemy, each of them lead his nation, and became a king, and both were human, while the christians claim that jesus is divine, and that refutes every similarity.

jesus described the expected prophet to be similar to moses, driving it away from himself, he said; “do not think that i will accuse you to the father. there is one that accuses you, moses, on whom you have set your hope.  if you believed moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.  but if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? (john: 5/45-47) jesus called the expected prophet “the awaited for or the expected moses” due to his similarity with moses.

regarding the ones who complain about the children of israel, jesus (pbuh) says, "jesus answered, i do not have a demon; but i honor my father, and you dishonor me. yet i do not seek my own glory, there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge." (john: 8/49-50).

4)     he is illiterate, cannot read nor write, and the revelation that comes to him, is a verbal revelation, unlike the written books that came to the prophets before him “and i will put my words in his mouth;” and jesus (pbuh) was able to read (see luke: 4/16-18).

5   he will be able to deliver his message completely, “and he shall speak unto them all that i shall command him.". which is a description that matches muhammad (pbuh), as in what was revealed to him in the later parts of the quran when god said: {this day, i have perfected your religion for you, completed my favor upon you, and have chosen for you islam as your religion} (al-maeda: 3).

in the parakletos prophecy (which will be explained later ) jesus (pbuh) described him, he said: "but the helper, the holy spirit, whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that i have said to you." (john: 14/26).

it is impossible that jesus (pbuh) is that prophet who delivers all what god commands him; as jesus (pbuh) was lifted to god when he still had a lot to complete.  however, he gave them prophecies of the next prophet who will tell them the whole truth, because he is the prophet whose message will be completed and nothing will prevent him delivering his message. jesus said (pbuh):

“i still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. when the spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak of his own authority; but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. “(john: 16/12-13).

6)      whoever does not listen to this prophet's words, god will  

punish, “whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, i will require it of him.” peter interpreted this passage as: "and it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.”, for he is a prophet, adherence and obedience to him is a duty to everyone.

those who will not adhere to him will be subject to god's punishment, and that is exactly what happened to all of muhammad's (pbuh) enemies. god took revenge on all the polytheists who denied him, arabs or persians.  jesus (pbuh) said about him in the prophecy of the husbandmen (to be explained later): "and the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” (matthew: 21/44), so he is the solid rock that will erase his disobedient enemies, the one whom the prophet daniel gave prophecies of his arrival " and in the days of these kings shall the god of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. it shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever. just as you saw that the stone was cut from a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold; a great god has made known to the king that shall be after this.  the dream is certain, and the interpretation sure." (daniel: 2/21-45).  

as for jesus (pbuh), he did not have this strength. he did not even threaten his murderers, so what about those who did not adhere to his words.  luke said in the course of the crucifixion story "and jesus said, father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” (luke: 23/34), where is jesus from that prophet “whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, i will require it of him.”?

7)     one of the descriptions of this prophet is that he will not be killed; instead, god will spare his soul from being taken by the hands of the foolish. the false prophet will be punished “even that prophet shall die ", meaning to be killed, as killing is part of death, and because everyone will die. the christians claim that jesus was killed, so it is not possible that he is the promised prophet. referring to the old translations of this passage we will find that some alterations took place during the translation, as in what came in the 1844 edition "for this prophet to be killed", and it is not a secret why  this alteration took place.

8)     he talks about the unknown, and the reality matches his words. that type of miracles is described in the quran and the tradition of muhammad (pbuh) in uncountable volume. however, i will mention here only one of the prophecies muhammad (pbuh) made, and it took place exactly as he mentioned.

in 617 c.e., the persians almost erased the roman empire from the world map, as the troops of “caesar eiberweez the second” arrived in the nile valley, and captured great parts of the roman empire.  in a few years, the persian army was able to control syria and parts of egypt, and their troops took over antioch in the north, which was a clear picture showing the end of the roman empire. even hercules wanted to flee from constantinople, but the highest roman priest convinced him to be tolerant and to request a humiliated truce with the persians.

in the middle of all these events and against the entire expectations, prophet muhammad (pbuh) announced that the romans would be victorious over the persians in few years, not more than nine years, as in what was revealed to him by god: {the romans have been defeated.  in the nearer land (syria, iraq, jordan, and palestine), and they, after their defeat, will be victorious; within three to nine years. the decision of the matter, before and after (these events) is only with allâh, (before the defeat of romans by the persians, and after, i.e. the defeat of the persians by the romans). and on that day, the believers (i.e. muslims) will rejoice (at the victory given by allâh to the romans against the persians), with the help of allâh, he helps whom he wills, and he is the almighty, the most merciful.} (al-room: 2-5).

what had happened is exactly what he predicted. in 623, 624, 625 c.e., hercules was able to get rid of his own foolishness, and he waged three successful war campaigns that threw the persians out of syria. in 627 c.e., the romans continued advancing, until they arrived at the tigris shores inside the border of the persian state, which forced the persians to request a truce with the romans, and they returned the holy cross back to them after it fell into their hands. 

who told muhammad (pbuh) about this great prophecy? he, muhammad (pbuh) is the prophet that moses (pbuh) prophesized.

the historian edward gibbon says: "at that time, when the quran came with this prophecy, no other prophecy went that far, because the first twelve years of hercules’ ruling was indicating the end of the roman empire". 1 

al-termethy narrated that ibn abbas said about god's words: {the romans have been defeated.  in the nearer land (syria, iraq, jordan, and palestine), and they, after their defeat, will be victorious, within three to nine years. the decision of the matter, before and after (these events) is only with allâh, (before the defeat of romans by the persians, and after, i.e. the defeat of the persians by the romans)}

the polytheists wanted the persians to defeat the romans, because both of them worshiped idols. the muslims wanted the romans to defeat the persians because they were believers of the holy books. they mentioned that to abu bakr, and he mentioned it to muhammad (pbuh). then muhammad (pbuh) replied, “indeed they will defeat them”. abu bakr told the muslims what muhammad (pbuh) said to him, and then they said, ‘let us set a date between us and you, so if we win we get this and that, and if you win you get this and that’. he set a time of five years, and they did not win, so they mentioned this to the prophet muhammad (pbuh) and he said, ‘couldn't you make it less than ten years’? “few are less than ten”.

then the romans became victorious, afterwards, he said, that is found in god's words: {the romans have been defeated.  in the nearer land (syria, iraq, jordan, and palestine), and they, after their defeat, will be victorious; within three to nine years. the decision of the matter, before and after (these events) is only with allâh, (before the defeat of romans by the persians, and after, i.e. the defeat of the persians by the romans)}. 1  

it is clear to every just observer that the description of the prophet that prophet moses prophesized, were not matched in the person of the great jesus (pbuh), but matched in the person of muhammad (pbuh).

to confirm that not all these characteristics do match any of the other prophets before muhammad (pbuh) is that the jews do not claim that this messiah came in the past, but they are still expecting him.

when john (pbuh) was sent, the jews thought he was the promised prophet, and they asked him "and they asked him, what then? are you elijah? he said, “i am not.” are you the prophet? and he answered, no." (john: 1/21), meaning that i am not the prophet whom you are expecting.

the disciples wanted the prophecy to match jesus (pbuh), as one time when they saw his miracles “when the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “this is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world. perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself." (john: 6/14-15), the disciples of jesus (pbuh) wanted to appoint him as a king in order to fulfill the prophecy they had about the expected prophet, the one who rules and brings victory to his people, and since jesus (pbuh) knew that he was not the expected prophet, he escaped.

the christians declare that there is a problem in the torah's text (deuteronomy: 18/17-22) that will refute the muslims’ claim. at the beginning of the passage, god spoke to moses and said:

“the lord your god will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers. it is to him you shall listen; just as you desired of the lord your god at horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, let me not hear again the voice of the lord my god, or see this great fire any more, lest i die. and the lord said to me, they are right in what they have spoken. i will raise up for them a prophet from among their brothers. and i will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that i command him.”  (deuteronomy: 18/15-18) it describes the prophet as “a prophet from among you” meaning from the children of israel. therefore, the second sentence should be connected to the first sentence, so the prophet “a prophet from among you” or as in what came in some of the translations “among you” that he is an israeli.

however, researchers see this passage as an alteration, an addition, and the proof is that moses (pbuh) never mentioned it when he repeated the news about the prophet to the children of israel, he said, “and the lord said to me “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...” (deuteronomy: 18/17-18), if it was from the words of god, moses (pbuh) would not drop it.

in addition, this passage is not found in peter and stevenson’s quote of the text, as in the book of acts, peter said: “moses said, the lord god will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. you shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.” (acts: 3/22).

stevenson said: “this is the moses, who said to the israelites, god will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.” (acts: 7/37) he also did not mention this passage; if it was genuine it would have been mentioned in all quotations.