Most frequently quoted Biblical passage that Muslim  Polemicists like Ahmed Deedat (South Africa), Dr. Jamal Badawi (Canada) and their disciple, Apologist Dr. Shabir Ally (Canada) use to show the prophecy of Muhammad from the Torah of Moses, is found in Deut 18.

This is based on two verses from the Quran, viz;

Surahs 7:157 & 61:6 respectively that alleges Muhammad is foretold in the Torah of Moses and the Injeel (Gospel of Jesus) In this article we will look at the Torah of Moses.

Further, the Bible says:

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen”. ( Deut 18: 15).

“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. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”  (Deut 18: 18)

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.”  (Deut 18:15)

According to Deuteronomy 18:10-22

Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,  who did all those signs and wonders the LORD sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land.  For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. (Deut 18:10-22)

The phrases “prophet like you” (v.18) and “from your brethren” indicate that the Moses-like prophet to come would

1) be like Moses and
2) would be Jewish.

Who is this Prophet like Moses?

Phillip the Apostle told his brother Nathaniel…….

“We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, son of Joseph.” John 1:45
Some Jewish men
Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world. John 6:14
Peter the Apostle
Peter affirms Jesus was that Prophet when he quotes from Deut in Acts 3: 22,23
Stephan the Disciple
This is that Moses, which said unto the children of Israel, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear. Acts 7:37

Jesus said Moses wrote about him.

“If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me” (John 5:46).

But where did Moses write about Christ?

When Jesus claims that Moses wrote of Him, He is referring to the prophecy in Deuteronomy and that He is, therefore, a Prophet like Moses?
Moses and Jesus
1. Performed Miracles

Both Moses and Christ authenticated their missions with miracles (Ex. 4:1ff; John. 20:30-31). Muhammad did not perform miracles.

Yet when the truth came to them from Ourselves, they said, ‘Why has he not been given the like of that Moses was given?’ But they, did they not disbelieve also in what Moses was given aforetime? They said, ‘A pair of sorceries mutually supporting each other.’ They said, ‘We disbelieve both.’ Surah 28:48

2. Brothers

The Edomites (descendants of Esau) were  “brothers” to Israel (Obad. 10,12)

3. God spoke face to face

Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord. — Numbers 12: 6-8

BOTH KNEW GOD  FACE TO FACE. GOD SPOKE DIRECTLY TO BOTH MOSES AND JESUS (EXOD. 3:1-10; DEUT. 34:10; LUKE 9:34-36). ALL OTHER PROPHETS RECEIVED THEIR REVELATION BY VISIONS OR DREAMS (DEUT. 34:10; JOHN 1:18). BOTH WERE AUTHORITATIVE SPOKESMEN FOR GOD (MATT. 17:5; JOHN 3:34).
Prophethood
The Qur’an, states that the “Prophethood and Revelation” was to come through the “progeny” of Isaac and Jacob — not Ishmael (Sura 29:27).

In his translation of this passage, A. Yusuf Ali has added the name “Abraham” in parentheses, so as to embrace Ishmael, though the patriarch’s name is not in the Arabic version of the text (Norman Geisler & Abdul Saleeb, Answering Islam, Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1993, pp. 148-149).

For the sake of argument that Muhammad is the Prophet like Moses for this prophecy, you’ll find that he fails to fulfill the other two criteria…..

The Quran affirms that Muhammad did not perform miracles and did not speak to God face to face.

1. Muhammad did not perform Miracles
     (Surah 2:118; 3:183).

2.  Muhammad did not speak to God face to face. Muhammad never claimed to speak to God directly.  Instead, he received revelations through angel Gabriel according to the Quran (Surah 25:32; 17:105) and the traditions.
Jewish Expectations
When Jesus began his ministry, the people recognized him as a great prophet –sent from God (Lk. 7:16; Jn. 1:21; 6:14; Acts 7:37).

The Jews had always understood that this prophecy would one day be fulfilled in a literal way by the coming of a “the Prophet” who would either:

A) come just before Messiah or;

B) would, in fact, be the Messiah.

That expectation helps explain the dialogue between the Jews and John the Baptist in John 1:19-21. When they ask who he was, he said, “I am not the Christ.” “Who are you, then? Are you Elijah?” “No. “Well, then, are you the Prophet.” “No.” When they said, “the Prophet,” both the Jews and John the Baptist understood the reference to be the prophecy of Deuteronomy 18.

The same thing happened to Jesus himself. When he performed the miracle of feeding the 5000 in John 6, the crowd responded by saying, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14). Again, the reference is to Deuteronomy 18. Later when he spoke to the multitudes at the Feast of Tabernacles, some of the people exclaimed, “Surely this man is the Prophet” (John 7:40).

And if you say in your heart, ‘How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not happen or come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:21-22)

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Muslim Sources
1. What the Bible says about Muhammad: Ahmed Deedat May 1976 & Nov 2015: Islamic Propagation Center International (IPCI)

2. Muhammad the Natural Successor to Christ: Ahmed Deedat Aug 1990, Jan 2009, April 2016: IPCI

3. Muhammad in the Bible By Dr. Jamal Badawi

3.1 www.whyislam.org/common-ground/muhammad-a-prophet-like-unto-moses/

3.2 IDM Publication’s Durban South Africa 3rd edition Feb 2013
Christian Sources
1. Understanding Islam & Christianity: Josh McDowell &, Jim Walker: Harvest House 2013 Pages 163-181

2. The Christian Witness to the Muslim: John Gilchrist: Pages 357-368 1988 Jesus to the Muslims

3. Facing the Muslim Challenge: John Gilchrist Pages 117-125 Life Challenge Africa 1997 – 1999

4. Islam Re-Examined: MEF Mahomet Pages 83-89  First edition June 2002.