This is a major prophecy in the Bible foretelling about a prophet like Moses who shall come from the brothers of Israel. God says in the Bible to Moses:
Deuteronomy 18:18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto you ;and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.
In this verse, God was talking to Moses (Peace be upon him), the word them refers to the Israelites. Now let’s see the words bolded above.
Ishmaelites are the brothers of Israel
“From among their brothers”: This means that the prophet foretold above shall not be from Israel, but from their brothers. This was also proved by what was mentioned in Deuteronomy 34:10
Deuteronomy 34:10 And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face,:11 in all the signs and the wonders, which Jehovah sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land,
The word “brethren” is not solely related to the Israelites as some may think, but it can sometimes mean the brothers of Israelites. For example it was mentioned concerning children of Esau, so there is no problem at all if it was mentioned for the Ishmaelites, especially that it’s very clear in the verse below:
Deuteronomy 2:4 And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the border of your brethren the children of Esau, that dwell in Seir; and they will be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore;
So was there any prophet sent from Esau descendants? No. Was there any prophecy concerning blessing of the descendants of Esau? No, and not only that, but also the blessing was taken away from him as mentioned in Genesis 27. Was there a prophet who came from the Ishmaelites? Yes, there was Prophet Muhammad. Was there any blessing concerning Ishmael in the Bible? Yes, Ishmael was blessed in the Bible.
A Comparison between Jesus and Muhammad ﷺ, who is the prophet like Moses?
Then we move to the next part in the verse talking about putting the words of God in his mouth, this is the way of revelation, since Muhammad ﷺ was illiterate, archangel Gabriel (Peace be upon him ) taught him the verses of Quran in this way, by mouth.
Now we let’s examine the words (like unto you), and let’s compare between Muhammad and Jesus (Peace be upon them) in this point, resemblance to Moses (Peace be upon him). This shall be shown as follows:
| Point of Comparison | Moses | Jesus | Muhammad ﷺ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birth | Born Naturally | Born from no father | Born Naturally |
| Political Leaders | Yes | No | Yes |
| Some considered him as God? | No | Yes | No |
| Came with a new law? | Yes | No | Yes |
| Died Naturally? | Yes | No | Yes |
| Married? | Yes | No | Yes |
| Fought His Enemies? | Yes | No | Yes |
The Christ is not the Prophet
In John 1, an interesting conversation between the Jews and John the Baptist related to this subject was carried out. Let’s see what the Jews said to John the Baptist:
John 1:19 And this is the witness of John, when the Jews sent unto him from Jerusalem priests and Levites to ask him, Who art thou? 20 And he confessed, and denied not; and he confessed, I am not the Christ. 21 And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elijah? And he said, I am not. Art thou the prophet? And he answered, No.
John 1:25 And they asked him, and said unto him, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, neither Elijah, neither the prophet?
This conversation shows that the Jews knew that the Christ is a person different from the prophet, which seems to be talking about the prophet like Moses as none of the previous prophets were considered to be that prophet. Some might say that since the Jews asked John, this will mean that the Prophet is Israelite, this is not necessary as it may happen that the Jews misinterpret the prophecies, but on the other hand, John the Baptist didn’t deny that the prophet is someone other than the Christ, and since he is not the prophet, he only said no, I am not the prophet, but he didn’t correct their misunderstanding and say that the Christ is the Prophet.
A Christian Objection:
Some might say that the verse in Deuteronomy 18:15 says that the Prophet will be from Israel:
Deuteronomy 18:15 Jehovah your God will raise up unto you a prophet from the midst of you , of your brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;
Actually Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was raised to the Jews among them in Medina after his migration from Mecca, and that’s why this verse and verse 18 reasserts it by saying: “from among their brothers”, and since the word “their” was referred in this situation to the whole Israel, then it is not talking about another Israelite tribe, but it means the brothers of the Israelites who can be none but the Ishmaelites from where Muhammad ﷺ was raised.
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