Muhammad and the Bible

The apocryphal Gospel of Barnabas, which explicitly mentions Muhammad, is widely recognized by scholars as a fabrication from the Early Modern Age.

Some Muslim theologians also claimed the Paraclete (Greek New Testament) as Muhammad, although scholars identify it with the Holy Spirit.

The first Islamic author that argued for the presence of biblical prophecies of Muhammad was a letter by Ibn al-Layth at the turn of the 9th century.

[2] With the advent of Ibn al-Layth's letter, Muslim scholars employed fairly consistent lists of prophecies about Muhammad.

According to a disputation report written by Patriarch Timothy I, the caliph Al-Mahdi first argued that the absence of biblical prophecies of Muhammad was caused by the Christian corruption of the Bible.

Though the interaction (or at least the details of it reported by Timothy I) are unlikely to be historical, the line of reasoning it portrays is thought to reflect argumentation used by Muslim scholars and dignitaries of the time.

[4] The first Islamic text that is entirely dedicated to adducing evidences for Muhammad as a prophet, and the one most popular in contemporary apologetics is Ibn Rabbān ‘Alī al-Ṭabarī's (9th century) The Book of Religion and Empire (Kitāb al-Dīn wa’l-dawla).

[5] The ninth and tenth chapters of this book use biblical proof-texts and occupy half the space of the entire work.

Although Ibn Rabban made more sparing use of the New Testament,[3] he produced predictions "from [the] Psalms, Isaiah, Hosea, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel."

[6] Ibn Qutaybah (9th century) was a Hanbalite judge and produced what was in his time popular arguments for predictions of Muhammad in the Bible.

[7] The version of the Bible he had access to was an Arabic translation of the Syriac Peshitta, although he only produced exact quotes from Genesis and sourced the rest paraphrastically.

[7] Syrian scholar Ibn Abi Talib al-Dimashqi (13th-14th century) supported this view, stating that the Paraclete verses had referred to Muhammad, but had been altered by church leaders to influence Constantine the Great.

Muslim historians and hagiographers (such as Ibn Ishaq) maintained that the people of Medina accepted Islam because of their awareness of these prophecies, and because they saw Muhammad as fulfilling them.

And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.The first Islamic text to cite this passage as a proof-text of Muhammad's prophecy in the Bible was Ibn al-Layth[clarification needed] around the turn of the 9th century.

[8] He said, "The Lord came from Sinai, And dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them.

These three places are connected by Ibn al-Layth with the giving of the Tawrāt to Moses, the Injīl to Jesus, and the Qur’an to Muhammad.Since then, many Muslim scholars have looked to Deuteronomy 33 as containing a prophetic prediction of Muhammad.

[12][better source needed] In addition, it has been common for Islamic commentary to understand "Paran" as a reference to the Arabian Peninsula.

Scholars consider that the poem serves as a Yahwistic declaration for the blessing of the future of Israel as a socially unified whole that will benefit and prosper through YHWH's beneficence.

The poem relates YHWH's movement from the south from Mount Sinai, the mountain where He resides, to His entrance on the scene as a "formidable invading force.

"Muslim tradition holds that Isaiah 42 predicted the coming of a servant associated with Qedar, the second son of Ishmael, who went on to live his life in Arabia, and so interpret this passage as a prophecy of Muhammad.

"And in this place I will give peace," says the Lord of hosts.The word rendered "the Desire" is singular and is pronounced as Hemdāh (from the root HMD).

Rahmatullah argued that the Muslim Ummah resembled the growing mustard seed in that it started from a single person in Mecca, yet it grew up rapidly and became larger than the other kingdoms of earth.

[1] Muqatil ibn Sulayman (d. 767) directly connected the Arabic word for paraclete (fāraqlīṭā) to the appearance of the name Aḥmad as a prophesed messenger in Q 61.

[13] Later Muslim commentators more directly familiar with the Greek text such as David Benjamin Keldani (d. 1940), have argued that the use of paraklētos in John was a textual corruption of periklutos ("celebrated") which is similar to the Arabic meaning of Aḥmad (another name of Muhammad).

[36] Furthermore, prophet figures claiming to be the Paraclete of John was already a well-established tradition, having already been done by Marcion, Mani and Montanus prior to the advent of Islam.

[38] In Łewond's version of the correspondence between the Byzantine emperor Leo III the Isaurian and the Umayyad caliph Umar II,[39] the following is attributed to Leo: We recognize Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John as the authors of the Gospel, and yet I know that this truth, recognized by us Christians wounds you, so that you seek to find accomplices for your lie.

... [God] has chosen the way of sending [the human race] Prophets, and it is for this reason that the Lord, having finished all those things that He had decided on beforehand, and having fore-announced His incarnation by way of His prophets, yet knowing that men still had need of assistance from God, promised to send the Holy Spirit, under the name of Paraclete or "Consoler", to console them in the distress and sorrow they felt at the departure of their Lord and Master.

Then the crowd lifted up their voices, saying: "O God, send us thy messenger: O Admirable One, come quickly for the salvation of the world!

According to historian Albert Hourani, initial interactions between Christian and Muslim peoples were characterized by hostility on the part of the Byzantines because they interpreted Muhammad in a biblical context as being the Antichrist.

According to historian John Tolan: In Daniel's description of this beast, Alvarus sees the career of the Antichrist Muhammad and his disciples.