No — though Christians can say so without contempt. The four most-cited dawah passages — Deuteronomy 18:18, Song of Songs 5:16, Isaiah 42, and the Paraclete in John 14-16 — were applied to Jesus and the Holy Spirit by the New Testament writers and the earliest church, in the church's own scriptures, and they read most naturally that way in their own contexts. The Muslim readings require ignoring the surrounding text, the New Testament's own quotation patterns, and in some cases the grammar of the original Hebrew or Greek.
The four classic dawah passages
1. Deuteronomy 18:18 — A prophet like Moses
'I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.'
Dawah reading: 'their brothers' = the Ishmaelites (Arab cousins of the Israelites); 'a prophet like Moses' = Muhammad, who like Moses was a lawgiver, military leader, and married. The full case is laid out on its own page: see the biblical tests for a prophet for the detailed walk.
2. Song of Songs 5:16 — machamaddim
'His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable.' The Hebrew word translated 'altogether desirable' is machamaddim. Dawah popularizers (Ahmed Deedat, Zakir Naik) argue this is a name: 'Muhammadim' — Muhammad with a Hebrew plural of majesty.
3. Isaiah 42:1-4 — The servant song
'Behold my servant, whom I uphold... He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice... a bruised reed he will not break.' Dawah readings sometimes apply this to Muhammad as the servant who brings law to the nations.
4. The Paraclete — John 14-16
Four times in John 14-16, Jesus promises to send a Paraclete (Greek paraklētos: comforter, advocate, helper). Dawah popularizers (notably Ahmed Deedat, but going back to medieval polemics) argue this is Muhammad. The detailed engagement with John 14 is on the is-the-paraclete-muhammad page; this page handles all four passages briefly.
Why the readings do not hold up
Each case has clear textual problems.
Deuteronomy 18:18
'Their brothers' is exactly the language Deuteronomy uses elsewhere for fellow Israelites. Deuteronomy 17:15: 'You may indeed set a king over you whom the LORD your God will choose. One from among your brothers you shall set as king over you. You may not put a foreigner over you.' If 'brothers' meant Ishmaelites in 18:18, it would mean Ishmaelites in 17:15 — a reading no Jewish or Muslim scholar accepts.
Acts 3:22-23 and Acts 7:37 explicitly apply Deut 18:18 to Jesus, in the church's own scripture, within decades of Jesus's life.
Song of Songs 5:16
Machamaddim is a regular Hebrew adjective with a plural ending of intensity (sometimes called the plural of majesty), built from the root ḥmd meaning 'desire' or 'delight.' The same root is used in Genesis 2:9 for trees that are 'desirable in appearance.' It is not a proper name. To translate it 'Muhammadim' is to take a Hebrew adjective in a love poem about a bridegroom and convert it into a proper name for a seventh-century Arabian man — by sound, not by grammar.
Isaiah 42:1-4
Matthew 12:17-21 explicitly applies Isaiah 42 to Jesus during his ministry. The servant of Isaiah does not break the bruised reed and does not raise his voice in the streets — a portrait that fits Jesus's miracles and gentleness more naturally than Muhammad's military leadership. Isaiah 42:1 also says 'I have put my Spirit upon him' — a Trinitarian register that the New Testament reads in light of Jesus's baptism.
The Paraclete
Jesus says the Paraclete will be 'with you forever' (John 14:16) and 'in you' (John 14:17) — language Muslims do not apply to Muhammad. Jesus identifies the Paraclete as 'the Holy Spirit' (John 14:26). The Greek word is paraklētos, not periklutos (the praised one); they are different words.
How to engage this fairly
Three principles.
1. Acknowledge sincerity. Muslims who read these passages this way are not lying. They are working with English translations, often without Hebrew or Greek, and they have inherited a strong interpretive tradition. Treat the reading with respect, then walk through the actual texts together.
2. Read in context. The most powerful Christian response is to open the Bible with your friend and read what comes immediately before and after each verse. The dawah readings depend on isolating verses from their surrounding text. Reading together breaks the frame.
3. Use the New Testament's own use. Acts 3, Acts 7, and Matthew 12 are not Christian inventions to counter dawah. They are the New Testament writers themselves applying these Old Testament texts to Jesus. That is decisive for the Christian. It is also a witness Muslims should at least know about.
A note for the Christian reader
Do not gloat. Walk through these passages with your Muslim friend and let the texts speak. Many Muslims who actually read these passages in context, slowly, with a Christian who loves them, find their certainty about the dawah readings dissolving. Often that is the doorway to the harder, deeper question: who do you say Jesus is?
What about the Old Testament prophets?
Christians have read Deuteronomy 18:18 as fulfilled in Jesus and Isaiah 42 as fulfilled in Jesus since the New Testament itself. Christians have read the Holy Spirit into the Paraclete passages since the second century. Christians have read Song of Songs as a love poem about Solomon and his bride, with allegorical applications to Christ and the church, since the early church.
These are not new readings invented to refute Islam. They are the church's reading of its own scriptures, with the New Testament's own quotation patterns guiding it. A Muslim friend deserves to hear that — fairly, calmly, and from a Bible read together.
Sources to read
Click a source title to read it on an authoritative site (quran.com for the Qurʼān and tafsīr; sunnah.com for ḥadīth).
| Source | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Deuteronomy 18:18 | A prophet like Moses, applied to Jesus in Acts 3:22-23. |
| Deuteronomy 18:15-22 | The full prophet test passage. |
How to think about it
- Read in context. Each dawah passage breaks down once read with the surrounding verses.
- Use the New Testament's own quotations. Acts 3, Acts 7, Matthew 12, John 14:26.
- Distinguish grammar from sound. Machamaddim is an adjective, not a proper name; paraklētos is not periklutos.
- Engage with respect. Muslims who hold these readings are usually sincere; mockery teaches nothing.
Common objections
- Deuteronomy 18:18 says 'from among their brothers' — that means Ishmaelites.
Read Deuteronomy 17:15 in the same chapter cluster: 'one from among your brothers you shall set as king... you may not put a foreigner over you.' The 'brothers' there are fellow Israelites. The same phrase three verses later does not suddenly mean Ishmaelites. Acts 3:22-23 applies the prophecy to Jesus.
- Christians changed *periklutos* (praised) to *paraklētos* (helper).
There is no Greek manuscript of John that reads periklutos. We have over 5,000 Greek manuscripts; every one reads paraklētos. The substitution is a hypothesis, not a textual fact. Jesus also identifies the Paraclete as 'the Holy Spirit' (John 14:26) — naming who he means.
Related questions
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