Jews, the Messiah, and the Prophet of Islam

Analyzing Another Muslim Dilemma

Sam Shamoun


This article will develop the following thesis.

The Jews expected the Messiah to come. As long as the Messiah had not come, there was the possibility of further prophets, but the Messiah would be the culmination of God’s history and the end of prophecy.

Muhammad appeals to the messianic or prophetic expectation among the Jews, and says that he is coming according to this expectation of such a scripture-announced prophet.

However, Muhammad destroyed his own credibility as a prophet from God by teaching that Jesus who had come 600 years earlier was in fact the Messiah, and thus the age of prophecy had ended with him according to Jewish expectation and the biblical testimony.


The Quran, in addressing the Jews, argues that Muhammad is predicted in the Hebrew Scriptures, claiming that his coming was already announced and well known to the Israelites because of these alleged prophecies:

Those whom We have given the Book recognize him as they recognize their sons, and a party of them most surely conceal the truth while they know (it). S. 2:146 Shakir


Apart from the fact that there are no real prophecies of Muhammad in the Holy Bible, there are some major problems with the Quran’s appeal to the Jews and their sacred texts. The historical Jewish position is, for the most part, that the Messiah will arrive to usher in God’s peace and sovereign rule universally. Jewish tradition basically believes that the Messiah’s coming terminates all prophecy since he will usher in the Messianic era, the age of eternity, the world to come. As one Jewish source states:



Most Jews didn’t (don’t) believe that Jesus was the Messiah since they felt (feel) that Jesus didn’t meet the requirements to be the Messiah. The same Jewish source above says:

What About Jesus?


Hence, as long as the Messiah hadn’t come they were open to the possibility that God may send a prophet to them.

Muslim sources confirm that the Jewish expectation for the Messiah’s appearance was very much alive and well during Muhammad’s time. In his classic English biography on Muhammad’s life, the late Muslim author Martin Lings wrote:

‘Abd al-Muttalib knew four of the Hunafa, and one of the more respected of them, Waraqah by name, was the son of his second cousin Nawfal, of the clan of Asad. Waraqah had become a Christian; and there was a belief among Christians of those parts that the coming of a Prophet was imminent. This belief may not have been widespread, but it was supported by one or two venerable dignitaries of eastern churches and also by the astrologers and soothsayers. As to the Jews, for whom such a belief was easier, since for them the line of Prophets ended with the Messiah, they were almost unanimous in their expectancy of a Prophet. Their rabbis and other wise men assured them that one was at hand; many of the predicted signs of his coming had already been fulfilled; and he would, of course, be a Jew, for they were the chosen people. The Christians, Waraqah amongst them, had their doubts about this; they saw no reason why he should not be an Arab. The Arabs stood in need of a Prophet even more than the Jews, who at least still followed the religion of Abraham inasmuch as they worshipped the One God and did not have idols; and who but a Prophet would be capable of ridding the Arabs of their worship of false gods? … (Lings, Muhammad: His Life based on the earliest Sources [Inner Traditions International, Ltd., Rochester, Vermont 1983], p. 16; underline and italic emphasis ours)

Lings then says:

The Jews accepted this covenant for political reasons. The Prophet was already by far the most powerful man in Medina, and his power seemed likely to increase. They had no choice but to accept; yet very few of them were capable of believing that God would send a Prophet who was not a Jew… (Ibid., p. 126)

Ibn Ishaq, one of Islam’s first biographers, reported something similar:




Guillaume makes quite an interesting observation:

2. This and similar passages seem to indicate that the MESSIANIC hope was strong among the Jews. (Ibid., capital emphasis ours)

The above sources establish that the Jews were anticipating the coming of the Messiah and, as long as he hadn’t arrived, were also prepared to accept a prophet from God until he did. But the Jews also knew that a prophet would have to be a fellow Israelite, accounting for their rejection of Muhammad on the grounds that he was an Arab.

It is precisely here that the Quran has placed itself in a very precarious position. The Quran says the Messiah has come and his name is Jesus:


Since the Quran believes the Messiah has arrived then this means Muhammad could not be a prophet.

As long as the Jews believed that the Messiah hadn’t arrived then there was a chance for them to accept that God would send prophets. It may have also been possible for them to accept Muhammad as a prophet, despite the fact that he was an Arab, since they may have reasoned to themselves that prophets may not necessarily have to be Israelites (though this is highly unlikely since they saw that the pattern put forth from their scriptures was that prophets were raised up from the nation itself). But they could not accept Muhammad if they believed that the Messiah had come since to them his arrival would have signaled the completion of prophecy and the dawn of a new age.

To put it in another manner, the only way for the Jews to have accepted Muhammad as a prophet is if they remained convinced that their Messiah hadn’t arrived. But since Muhammad claims that the Messiah did appear then the Jews, if they were to accept this view, would have had to reject Muhammad as a prophet. The Jews believed that the Messiah was the culmination of all prophecy, as well as God’s supreme ruler and agent whom everyone had to believe in and obey. They could not imagine their Messiah being subject, subordinate to, an Arab prophet since their very own Scriptures, which the Quran itself appeals to, plainly state that the Messiah is an eternal king ruling forever and who completes prophecy and vision, along with a host of other things:






The Lord Jesus himself and his followers confirm this view of the Messiah. The NT expressly teaches that the Lord Jesus is the culmination of all prophecy and reigns forever as King:


"You are those who have continued with me in my trials; and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me, a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in MY kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." Luke 22:28-30

"The next day a great crowd who had come to the feast heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, crying, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel!And Jesus found a young ass and sat upon it; as it is written, ‘Fear not, daughter of Zion; behold, your king is coming, sitting on an ass’s colt!’ His disciples did not understand this at first; but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that this had been written of him and had been done to him." John 12:12-16

"Pilate entered the praetorium again and called Jesus, and said to him, ‘Are you the King of the Jews?’ Jesus answered, ‘Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?’ Pilate answered, ‘Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me; what have you done?’ Jesus answered, ‘My kingship is not of this world; if my kingship were of this world, my servants would fight, that I might not be handed over to the Jews; but my kingship is not from the world.’ Pilate said to him, ‘So you are a king?’ Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.’" John 18:33-37

"But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled." Acts 3:18






"He who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on MY THRONE, as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne." Revelation 3:21


"she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, … And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God." Revelation 12:5, 10



The dilemma should be clear. If Muslims want to appeal to the Jewish expectation of a prophet during the time of Muhammad as an argument supporting Muhammad’s prophetic aspirations then they must also agree with them that Jesus is not the Messiah. After all, if Jesus were the Messiah then the Jews would not be expecting any other prophet to come after him. But if they do agree with the Jews on this point then this means the Quran is wrong for asserting that the Messiah has come.

Furthermore, according to the Hebrew Bible, the popular Jewish view, and the NT Scriptures the Messiah’s coming results in the fulfillment of prophecy and the start of a new age where he rules over creation forever. Both the NT and the Quran agree that Jesus is the Messiah. Therefore, this leaves absolutely no room for an Arab prophet named Muhammad.

A possible objection considered

A Muslim may interject that Christians are convinced that Jesus is the Messiah, despite the fact that he did not fulfill all the expectations of the Jews of what the Messiah would be, which implies that some of their expectations around the notion of the Messiah were wrong. The Muslim may then reason: It is the same with us. We acknowledge that Jesus was the Messiah, but the expectation that this would mean the end of prophecy was simply one of those wrong notions the Jews had/have.

There are several problems with this position. First, arguing that the Jewish view of the Messiah is not completely accurate in order to prove that the Islamic position regarding the Messiah is correct only backfires against the Muslim claims. It severely undermines the Muslim appeal to the Jews of the Hijaz and their alleged belief that a so-called prophet was to arise from that area. If the Jews were incorrect regarding the exact description of Messiah then this opens up the possibility that they were also mistaken regarding God sending a prophet allegedly from Arabia.

Second, in order to determine which specific Jewish belief is sound, and which is not, one has to check them against the Scriptures. However, appealing to the Holy Bible presents even more challenges for the Muslim position. The Hebrew Bible, as we saw, shows that the Jews were correct regarding the Messiah being a Son of David who rules forever, a point which the Quran and Islam denies. Therefore, if the Jews were to accept Jesus as the Messiah, as the Quran bids them to do, then they would need to accept the Christian position that Jesus is the King of all creation and that all nations must serve him forever.

The Jews were also correct that the Messiah’s advent would usher in the culmination of all biblical prophecy. The NT, in agreement with this view, plainly teaches that Jesus is God’s last Word to mankind since all revelation centers on the person and work of God’s beloved Son. The Lord Jesus completed God’s revelation by raising up his servants, the Apostles and NT Prophets, to record and inscripturate everything that God wanted mankind to have till the return of Christ. Again, if the Jews were to accept Jesus as their Messiah then they would have to reject Muhammad who claimed to have received additional revelation centuries after the Messiah had already culminated God’s message to mankind.

Therefore, it isn’t simply a matter of what Jewish tradition said about the Messiah, but what the Hebrew Bible has to say about this subject. As the foregoing shows, the Hebrew Bible agrees with the NT that the Messiah is the Son of God who rules forever and whom all must worship and adore. Thus, both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament are in agreement regarding these points.

In light of the foregoing, the Jews could only consider accepting Muhammad as a prophet if they believed that the Messiah had not arrived. But if the Messiah hasn’t shown up yet then Muhammad was wrong for believing that he has. And yet if Muhammad is correct that the Messiah has arrived then he is wrong for proclaiming himself to be a prophet of God. Either way, Muhammad ends up looking like a false prophet.

One way around this is to convince the Jews, as well as the Christians, to doubt what their own Hebrew Bible says about the Messiah. But even this would end up disproving Muhammad since he claims in his book that the Hebrew Bible and the NT scriptures are genuine revelations which have been preserved by God! In fact, earlier we looked at some Quranic references where Muhammad appealed to specific predictions in these scriptures in order to verify his prophetic ambitions. For more on the Quranic view of the Holy Bible please refer to the articles in this section.

Basically, no matter from what angle a Muslim tries to look at s/he is left with an inescapable dilemma.

The Incoherence of the Qur'an
Who is the Messiah?
Articles by Sam Shamoun
Answering Islam Home Page