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The texts cited by Muslims: the announcement of Ahmad (Quran 61:6), the prophet like Moses (Deuteronomy 18:18), the Paraclete of John, and the Christian readings of these same texts.
Islam teaches yes: the Quran reports that Jesus announced "a messenger after me whose name will be Ahmad" (Quran 61:6), and affirms that Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) is "written" in the Torah and the Gospel (Quran 7:157). Muslims thus read Deuteronomy 18:18 (the prophet "like Moses" arising from the brothers of the Israelites) and the Paraclete of John 14-16 as announcements of Muhammad; Christians apply them to Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
The page presents both readings, texts in hand.
Contents:
Updated on 17 October 2026 at 9:55 PM
📖 5 min readThe Muslim starting point is Quranic, not exegetical: Issa (peace be upon him) himself announced the one who would come after him.
"And [remember] when Jesus, son of Mary, said, “O Children of Israel, I am truly a messenger of Allah to you, confirming the Torah which came before me, and giving glad tidings of a messenger after me whose name will be Ahmad.” But when he came to them with clear proofs, they said, “This is clear magic.”" (Quran 61:6). The Quran also affirms that Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) is described in the earlier books: "the unlettered Prophet... whose description they find in their Torah and the Gospel" (Quran 7:157).
It remains for Muslims to find these announcements in the texts, and two candidates dominate: Deuteronomy 18:18 and the Paraclete of John's Gospel.
God there promises Moses (peace be upon him): "I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put My words in his mouth" (Deuteronomy 18:18).
The Muslim argument: "their brothers" designates the peoples related to the Israelites, that is, the Ishmaelites, and "like you" does not apply to Jesus, profoundly different from Moses (miraculous birth, without civil law, without power), whereas Muhammad resembles Moses on the major points: father and mother, marriage, flight before a tyrant, new law, political authority, natural death.
Remarkable element: in John 1:19-21, the priests question John the Baptist: "Are you the Christ?... Are you Elijah?... Are you the Prophet?": the questioning distinguishes three figures, including "the Prophet" awaited, distinct from the Messiah, which the Christian reading resolves by identifying the figures, and the Muslim reading by seeing the expectation of a third prophet.
The verse of Deuteronomy 33:2 is one of Ibn al-Qayyim's favourite arguments in Hidayat al-Hayara: "The LORD came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us, and shone forth from Mount Paran" (Deuteronomy 33:2).
Taking up Ibn Qutayba, he reads there three revelations in the order of time: Sinai is the Torah given to Moses; Seir, the region of Bethlehem where Jesus was born, is the Gospel; and Paran, which no one disputes being the mountains of Mecca where Abraham (peace be upon him) settled Hagar and Ishmael (peace be upon him) (Genesis 21:21), is the Quran given to Muhammad.
The text itself gives the chronological order, notes Ibn al-Qayyim: the Torah "came and appeared" like the rising dawn, the Gospel "dawned" like the sun that lights, and the Quran "shone forth" like the sun at its zenith, that light of which the Quran says of the Prophet that he is "a lamp spreading light" (Quran 33:46).
And the surah of the Fig unites the same three sacred places: the fig and the olive (Jerusalem, Issa), Mount Sinai (Moses, peace be upon him), and "this secure city" (Mecca, Muhammad) (Quran 95:1-3). The argument is powerful because it starts from a text Jews and Christians recognize, to read in it the announcement of the third revelation.
Jesus promises: "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (parakletos), that He may be with you forever" (John 14:16), and: "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak" (John 16:13). The Christian reading: it is the Holy Spirit come at Pentecost.
The Muslim reading: "another Comforter" is a being like Jesus, therefore a man.
he "will not speak on his own" but transmits what he hears, exactly the Quranic definition of the prophet receiving revelation; and he "will guide into all the truth", that is, bring a complete revelation. Ancient Muslim authors, like Ibn Ishaq in his sira, identified this Paraclete with Muhammad. The complementary lexical argument (parakletos close to periklytos, "the praised one", equivalent of Ahmad) exists in the apologetic tradition but remains secondary and debated: the decisive announcement for the Muslim remains Quran 61:6.
The Torah side of this dossier has its dedicated page, with the verses developed: Muhammad in the Torah.
Each tradition reads the texts with its own grid: the Christian reads the Bible through his councils, the Muslim reads it through the Quran, which affirms the announcement and names the promised one. The disagreement over interpretation prevents neither respectful discussion (Quran 29:46) nor the Quran's common proposal: "Say, “O people of the Book, come to a common term between us and you, that we worship none but Allah and associate no partners with Him, and that we do not take one another as lords besides Allah.” But if they turn away, say, “Bear witness that we are Muslims [submitting to Allah].”" (Quran 3:64).
Because their reading is christological: every promise of the Old Testament is fulfilled, according to their Churches, in Jesus. The Muslim starts from the Quran, which affirms Muhammad's announcement in the earlier books (Quran 7:157). Two reading grids apply to the same texts.
It is an ancient apologetic argument among Muslims (the Greek parakletos, comforter, would be close to periklytos, the praised one, translating Ahmad). It is linguistically debated and not part of the central proofs: the Quran does not ground the announcement in Greek lexicography, but in the direct affirmation of Quran 61:6.
That is the classic Muslim argument: both born with a father, married, fleeing a tyrant, bearers of a new law, political and military chiefs, dying naturally, obeyed by their people. Jesus, according to the Gospels, differs from Moses (peace be upon him) on almost all these points: miraculous birth, no civil law, no legitimate kingship established.