According
to the Bible, God said to Moses, on whom be peace: I will raise up for
them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words
in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. (The Holy
Bible, New International Version, Deuteronomy chapter 18, verse 18). The
prophet described in the above verse must have the following three
characteristics: 1. He will be like Moses. 2. He will come from the
brothers of the Israelites, i.e. the Ishmaelites. 3. God will put His
words in the mouth of the prophet and he will declare what God commanded
him. Let us see which prophet God was speaking of. 1. The prophet like
Moses Some people feel that this prophecy refers to the prophet Jesus,
on whom be peace. But, although Jesus (peace be upon him and all of
God’s prophets and messengers) was truly a prophet of God, he is not the
prophet spoken of here. He was born miraculously, and finally God
raised him up miraculously. On the other hand, Muhammad is more like
Moses; both were born in a natural way and both died natural deaths.



2. From among the Ishmaelites Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Isaac
(Genesis, chapter 21). Ishmael became the grandfather of the Arab
nation. And Isaac became the grandfather of Jewish nation. The prophet
spoken of was to come not from among the Jews themselves, but from among
their brothers, the Ishmaelites. Muhammad a descendant of Ishmael, is
indeed that prophet. 3. God will put his words in his mouth ‘Neither the
content of the revelation, nor its form, were of Muhammad’s devising.
Both were given by the angel, and Muhammad’s task was only to repeat
what he heard.’ (Word Religions from Ancient history to the Present, by
Geoffrey Parrinder, p. 472). God sent the angel Gabriel to teach
Muhammad the exact words that he should repeat to the people. The words
are therefore not his own; they did not come from his own thoughts, but
were put into his mouth by the angel. These are written down in the
Qur’an word for word, exactly as they came from God. Now that we know
that prophet we must listen to him, for, according to the Bible, God
says: ‘I will punish anyone who refuses to obey him’ (Good News Bible,
Deut. 18:19). Jesus (on whom be peace) In the Glorious Qur'an The Qur’an
tells us many wonderful things about Jesus. As a result, believers in
the Qur’an love Jesus, honor him and believe in him. In fact, no Muslim
can be a Muslim unless he or she believes in Jesus, on whom be peace.
The Qur’an says that Jesus was born of a virgin, that he spoke while he
was still only a baby, that he healed the blind and the leper by God's
leave and that he raised the dead by God's leave. What then is the
significance of these miracles? First, the virgin birth. God
demonstrates His power to create in every way. God created everyone we
know from a man and a woman. But how about Adam, on whom be peace? God
created him from neither a man nor a woman. And Eve from only a man,
without a woman. And finally, to complete the picture, God created Jesus
from a woman, without a man. What about the other miracles? These were
to show that Jesus was not acting on his own behalf, but that he was
backed by God. The Qur’an specifies that these miracles were performed
by God's leave. This may be compared to the Book of Acts in the Bible,
chapter 2, verse 22, where it says that the miracles were done by God to
show that he approved of Jesus. Also, note that Jesus himself is
recorded in the Gospel of John to have said: ‘I can do nothing of my own
authority' (5:30). The miracles, therefore, were done not by his own
authority, but by God's authority. What did Jesus teach? The Qur'an
tells us that Jesus came to teach the same basic message which was
taught by previous prophets from God – that we must shun every false god
and worship only the One True God. Jesus taught that he is the servant
and messenger of the One True God, the God of Abraham. These Qur'anic
teachings can be compared with the Bible (Mark 10:18; Matthew 26:39;
John 14:28, 17:3, and 20:17) where Jesus teaches that the one he
worshipped is the only true God. See also Matthew 12:18; Acts 3:13, and
4:27 where we find that his disciples knew him as ‘Servant of God’. The
Qur’an tells us that some of the Israelites rejected Jesus, and
conspired to kill him, but God rescued Jesus and raised him to Himself.
God will cause Jesus to descend again, at which time Jesus will confirm
his true teachings and everyone will believe in him as he is and as the
Qur'an teaches about him. Jesus is the Messiah. He is a word from God,
and a spirit from Him. He is honored in this world and in the hereafter,
and he is one of those brought nearest to God. Jesus was a man who
spoke the truth which he heard from God. This can be compared with the
Gospel According John where Jesus says to the Israelites: ‘You are
determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard
from God’ (John 8:40).