Earlier articles showed that GOD is One in every scripture. This one asks whether the scriptures know about each other. Moses spoke of a prophet to come; John the Baptist was asked whether he was that prophet; Jesus spoke of one who would come after him. The Quran says Jesus came "confirming the previous scripture, the Torah." (5:46) and that it came itself "confirming previous scriptures, and superseding them." (5:48). If so, the books form a chain, and a reader of any one can test the next link by the criteria of their own book.
But a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, and this subject has been damaged by enthusiasm: popular presentations pile up forty "prophecies of Muhammad", of which perhaps a dozen are sound. One over-claimed prophecy costs more than ten sound ones earn. So this article grades, under the Quran's own rule: "You shall not accept any information, unless you verify it for yourself. I have given you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brain, and you are responsible for using them." (17:36) We begin with the Quran's own predictions, the only prophecies here whose fulfilment is a matter of record rather than of reading.
First, what the Quran itself foretold
In the early seventh century Persia crushed the Eastern Roman empire; Jerusalem fell in 614. In the middle of that collapse a sura revealed in Mecca said: "Certainly, the Romans will be defeated. In the nearest land. After their defeat, they will rise again and win. Within several years. Such is GOD's decision, both in the first prophecy, and the second. On that day, the believers shall rejoice" (30:2–4). Between 622 and 627 Heraclius reversed every loss. Contemporary, dated, counter-intuitive. Grade: strong.
A second concerned the city that had expelled him: "GOD has fulfilled His messenger's truthful vision: 'You will enter the Sacred Masjid, GOD willing, perfectly secure, and you will cut your hair or shorten it (as you fulfill the pilgrimage rituals) there. You will not have any fear. Since He knew what you did not know, He has coupled this with an immediate victory.'" (48:27). Fulfilled within his lifetime. Grade: strong.
A third is testable in every generation: "Absolutely, we have revealed the reminder, and, absolutely, we will preserve it." (15:9). The text has stood still for fourteen centuries; the Authorized English Version holds that the mechanism is the mathematical code. Grade: strong as the Quran's claim.
A fourth concerns Pharaoh at the sea: "Today, we will preserve your body, to set you up as a lesson for future generations." (10:92). The promise is plain; Khalifa's footnote to 10:92 adds that "Pharaoh's mummified body is on display at the Cairo Museum." Grade: moderate, because matching the verse to a particular mummy is speculation.
The fifth the Quran places above all others: a proof to come. "Over it is nineteen." (74:30), a number assigned, the next verse says, "to convince the Christians and Jews (that this is a divine scripture)" (74:31); and "We will show them our proofs in the horizons, and within themselves, until they realize that this is the truth." (41:53). This is the one prophecy the project can demonstrate rather than argue; it belongs at the end of every conversation.
Moses: "a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee"
The Torah's central text is Deuteronomy 18:18, King James Version: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and I will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." The next verse adds: "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." (Deuteronomy 18:19)
The Quran claims this text directly: "the gentile prophet (Muhammad), whom they find written in their Torah and Gospel" (7:157) — the parenthesis is the AEV's own; a presenter should know it is there. Khalifa's footnote to 7:157 reads: "Muhammad is prophesied in Deuteronomy 18:15-19 and John 14:16-17 & 16:13." And the Quran frames the mission in Moses' terms: "We have sent to you a messenger, just as we sent to Pharaoh a messenger." (73:15). Three phrases carry the fit.
"Like unto thee." Moses was a lawgiver and ruler of his people, born of a father and mother, married, who died naturally and was buried. Muhammad was all of these; on the Christian account of Jesus — virgin-born, unmarried, no new law, no earthly rule, crucified — Jesus is unlike Moses on every count. But much of that leans on Christian doctrine rather than on Deuteronomy, and the New Testament applies this very verse to Jesus: "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear" (Acts 3:22). We say so first. On the text alone it is a reasonable reading. Grade: moderate.
"From among their brethren." Genesis makes Ishmael Abraham's first-born, of whom it is said "he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren" (Genesis 16:12); Arabs and Israelites are cousins. But in Deuteronomy "of thy brethren" is also the ordinary idiom for a fellow Israelite. Offer the Ishmaelite reading as a reading, never as settled. Grade: moderate to weak.
"I will put my words in his mouth." The fit is with how the Quran describes itself: "Nor was he speaking out of a personal desire. It was divine inspiration. Dictated by the Most Powerful." (53:3–5). A book that claims to be dictated is, in the plainest sense, words put in a mouth. And "in my name": every chapter but one opens "In the name of GOD, Most Gracious, Most Merciful." (1:1). The fact is plain; the fit is reasonable, not exclusive. Grade for both: moderate.
Three questions for John the Baptist
John's Gospel records what that generation expected. Priests and Levites questioned the Baptist: "And he confessed and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No." (John 1:20–21). They press him: "Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?" (John 1:25).
Three figures, three denials: the Christ, Elijah, and "that prophet" — Deuteronomy's prophet like Moses, as any reference Bible notes at John 1:25 — distinct from the Messiah in the minds of the men asking. Whether "that prophet" is Muhammad depends wholly on the Deuteronomy case. Grade: moderate.
Jesus: "if I go not away, he will not come"
In the farewell discourse Jesus promises one who will come after him: the KJV's "Comforter", the Greek paraklētos, an advocate. Three sayings matter.
The first is a condition: "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." (John 16:7). Christians read the Comforter as the Holy Spirit. But Luke has the Holy Ghost filling John the Baptist, Elizabeth, Zacharias and Simeon, and descending on Jesus at his baptism, all before Jesus departed; a Comforter who cannot come until Jesus goes sits awkwardly with a Spirit already at work. Christians answer that the Spirit's indwelling is a new mode (John 7:39). We state both. Grade: moderate, the strongest leg of the case.
The second describes how the coming one will speak: "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come." (John 16:13). Beside "Nor was he speaking out of a personal desire. It was divine inspiration." (53:3–4), the two books describe revelation in the same terms. Grade: moderate.
The third: "he shall testify of me" (John 15:26) and "He shall glorify me" (John 16:14). It is a plain fact that the Quran defends Mary and Jesus against the slanders of rabbinic literature — the Jews are condemned "for disbelieving and uttering about Mary a gross lie." (4:156) — and Dummelow's Christian commentary notes that "Mahomet indignantly repudiated these Jewish calumnies." That the Quran glorifies Jesus is fact; that this is what John 15:26 means is interpretation. Grade: moderate.
The Quran's own statement of the chain: "Recall that Jesus, son of Mary, said, 'O Children of Israel, I am GOD's messenger to you, confirming the Torah and bringing good news of a messenger to come after me whose name will be even more praised (Ahmad).'" (61:6). Note how the AEV handles "Ahmad": as a description, "even more praised", the name in parentheses. That framing needs no claim that the Greek New Testament once contained the name.
Two more texts are usable with their reading stated. "The Kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." (Matthew 21:43): Christians read the Church. Isaiah's Servant "will bring forth justice to the nations… and the coastlands wait for his law… Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits." (Isaiah 42:1, 4, 11, RSV): Kedar is Ishmael's son, but Matthew 12 applies Isaiah 42 to Jesus. Grade: moderate.
The chain has an earlier link too, and the Quran insists on it: Jesus came confirming the Torah, and the prophets' expectation of a Messiah is common ground, not dispute. Zechariah's king riding into Jerusalem on a donkey is fulfilled at the triumphal entry (Matthew 21:5), a genuine link the project keeps. On Isaiah 7:14 — KJV "virgin", RSV "young woman" — the dispute is real and the project does not need it: our belief in the virgin birth rests on the Quran, "we made her and her son a portent for the whole world." (21:91).
The Hindu prophecies, graded
The popular material opens with the Bhavishya Purana, which as the booklets quote it says: "A malechha (belonging to a foreign country and speaking foreign language) spiritual teacher will appear with his companions. His name will be Mohammad." The name is there. But the Pratisarga Parva containing it is a notoriously late and open text: it also "foretells" Akbar, the British and Queen Victoria; the surrounding verses describe circumcision, beards, the call to prayer and the word "Musalman" so precisely that the passage reads as a medieval description, not a prediction; and it has the figure appear "in the guise of a Pischacha". Most Hindu scholars do not treat it as scripture. Grade: weak — interesting, late, not load-bearing.
The Kuntap Sukta (Atharvaveda 20:127) is a real, obscure hymn. The popular reading takes Narāśaṁsa, "the praised one", as the name Muhammad, and a list of gifts — a hundred gold coins, ten necklaces, three hundred steeds, ten thousand cows — as the Companions, the Ten, Badr and the conquest of Mecca. Indologists read it as praise of a king's gift; Narāśaṁsa is an epithet of Agni elsewhere in the Veda; and every matching number comes from Hadith, which this project does not use as authority. One mantra is worth noting, with its source stated: its subject "is asked to wake up and warn the world" (mantra 11, Naik's summary), and the Quran's early command was "Come out and warn." (74:2). Grade: weak to moderate; a proposed reading, never proof, and not used as evidence here.
The Samaveda "Ahmad" (2:6:8) rests on hearing the Sanskrit aham id dhi, "I indeed", as a name; the Atharvaveda "ten thousand opponents" (20:21:6–7) is an Indra hymn. Both weak. The Kalki argument the project has not yet graded and will not use until it has.
The common ground with a Hindu reader is not a hidden name but a function stated openly in the Gita: "Whenever and wherever there is a decline in religious practice, O descendant of Bharata, and a predominant rise of irreligion — at that time I descend Myself… to reestablish the principles of religion, I Myself appear, millennium after millennium." (Bhagavad Gita 4:7–8, Prabhupada). The Quran assigns that same function — restoring religion age after age — not to GOD descending but to GOD sending: "We have sent a messenger to every community, saying, 'You shall worship GOD, and avoid idolatry.'" (16:36); "Every community must receive a warner." (35:24). The function is shared; the mode is the dividing line.
What to show first
With a Jewish listener, read Deuteronomy 18:18–19 together, then 53:3–5 and 1:1 beside them; offer "brethren" as a reading with Genesis 16 open; be the first to mention Acts 3:22. With a Christian, begin with John 1:19–25 — three questions, three denials, from their own Gospel — then John 16:7 and 16:13 beside 53:3–5, then 61:6, saying openly that Christians read the Paraclete as the Spirit. With a Hindu, open with the Quran's fulfilled predictions (30:2–4, 48:27) and Gita 4:7–8 beside 16:36; leave the Puranas for the question period. With everyone, end on 74:30–31 and 41:53, the one prophecy that can be demonstrated.
Where the evidence is strong, and where it is not
Strong: the Quran's own predictions — the Romans (30:2–4), the entry into Mecca (48:27), the preservation of the text (15:9), the proof announced (74:30–31).
Moderate, with the reading stated: Deuteronomy 18:18–19; John 1:19–25; John 16:7 and 16:13; John 15:26 and 16:14; Matthew 21:43; Isaiah 42; Acts 3:22 as the counter-text we name ourselves; Zechariah 9:9; Pharaoh's body (10:92).
Weak, and deliberately not relied on:
Periclytos. That the Greek paraklētos was originally periklytos, "renowned", a near-translation of Ahmad. No Greek manuscript reads it; Yusuf Ali's note says only that "our doctors contend" it; the AEV's framing of 61:6 does not need it.
Song of Solomon 5:16, "altogether lovely". The Hebrew maḥămaddîm shares a root with the name Muhammad but is a common noun, "desirable things", here of a bridegroom's body. A root-level curiosity, not a name.
Deuteronomy 33:2, "he shined forth from mount Paran… with ten thousands of saints". The subject is "the LORD"; Sinai, Seir and Paran are a poetic triad of the south; the ten thousand at Mecca comes from biography, not scripture. Popular versions insert "(Muhammad)" into the Bible's text; this project never does.
Isaiah 29:12, "the book is delivered to him that is not learned". In context a simile for Israel's incomprehension of a sealed book; the match depends on a cave narrative from Hadith; and the AEV reads ummi as "gentile", not "illiterate", holding that Muhammad wrote the revelation himself.
Smaller items: the "seven masculine pronouns" of John 16:13 (paraklētos is masculine whatever it refers to); "which is the Holy Ghost" in John 14:26 as an interpolation (no manuscript supports it); John 14:16's "abide with you for ever" pressed as "the last prophet" (John 14:17 and 14:26 name the Spirit); Psalm 84's "valley of Baca" as Bakkah (a homophone).
Why name them? Because a listener will raise them, and a project that cannot say "that one is weak" will not be believed when it says "this one is strong."
The chain holds on its strong and moderate links, and its final link is one you can count for yourself, in the thirteenth article, The Bible's own testimony — and the Quran's answer. Before that, the next article, One story, shows that the books joined by this chain tell of the same people in the same story.
Sources
- The Final Testament: Quran, Authorized English Version, translated by Rashad Khalifa (all Quran quotations; footnotes cited as Khalifa's footnotes to 7:157 and 10:92).
- The Holy Bible, King James Version (Deuteronomy 18:18–19; Genesis 16:12; John 1:20–21, 25; 15:26; 16:7, 13, 14; Matthew 21:43; Acts 3:22; Isaiah 7:14); Revised Standard Version (Isaiah 42:1, 4, 11; 7:14).
- Bhagavad Gita As It Is, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (4:7–8).
- Bhavishya Purana, Pratisarga Parva III, and Atharvaveda 20:127 (Kuntap Sukta), as quoted and summarised in popular presentations; Samaveda 2:6:8 with the standard Sanskrit reading.
- J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (note on the Talmudic calumnies).
- The project's master document, "One Message, Many Witnesses" (Strand 4; ledger rows 4.1–4.6, 4.8–4.13, 4.15–4.16, 4.18 used as evidence; 4.7, 4.14, 4.19–4.24, 4.26–4.29 named as weak; §12 corrections C4, C11; §13 gaps).
- Popular presentations consulted: Ahmed Deedat, What the Bible Says About Muhammad and Muhummed the Natural Successor to Christ; Zakir Naik / IRF, Similarities between Islam and Hinduism; Bilal Philips, The True Message of Jesus Christ; Harun Yahya on 30:2–4 and 10:92.