Arguments that prophecies of Muhammad exist in the Bible have formed part of Islamic tradition since at least the mid-8th century, when the first extant arguments for the presence of predictions of Muhammad in the Bible were made by Ibn Ishaq in his Book of Military Expeditions (Kitāb al-maghāzī). A number of Christians throughout history, such as John of Damascus (8th century) and John Calvin (16th century), have interpreted Muhammad as being the Antichrist of the New Testament.

Muslim theologians have argued that a number of specific passages within the biblical text can be specifically identified as references to Muhammad, both in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament and in the Christian New Testament. Several verses in the Quran, as well as several Hadiths, state that Muhammad is described in the Bible.

On the other hand, scholars have generally interpreted these verses as referring to the community of Israel or Yahweh's personal soteriological actions regarding the Israelites or members of the faithful community, such as in the cases of Isaiah 42. The apocryphal Gospel of Barnabas, which explicitly mentions Muhammad, is widely recognized by scholars as a fabrication from the Early Modern Age. Some Muslim theologians also claimed the Paraclete (Greek New Testament) as Muhammad, although scholars identify it with the Holy Spirit.

History The question of the presence of Muhammad in the Bible has been a long-standing topic in Christian-Muslim dialogue, present already in the fictitious Correspondence between Leo III and Umar II, penned as early as the first half of the eighth century.

The first Islamic author that gave a detailed argument for the presence of biblical prophecies of Muhammad was Amr ibn al-Layth, ruler of the Saffarid dynasty, in a letter at the turn of the 9th century. He largely focused on the Old Testament, although he also drew from some texts in the New Testament, primarily the Gospel of John when doing so. Many of Ibn al-Layth's proof-texts would be commonly cited in later apologetic works, including Deuteronomy 18:18, Deuteronomy 33:2, Isaiah 42, and the Paraclete from the Gospel of John. Ibn al-Layth also cited other proof-texts such as Psalm 149 and Isaiah 21:6–7. The latter contains a brief reference to two riders, on a camel and on a donkey. One of the riders was commonly viewed as Jesus. Ibn al-Layth reasoned that as Muhammad was the only prophet since Moses to ride on a camel, he must have been the second rider. With the advent of Ibn al-Layth's letter, Muslim scholars employed fairly consistent lists of prophecies about Muhammad.

Insights from this period into Islamic apologetics about biblical prophecies of Muhammad also come from Christian responses. According to a disputation report written by Patriarch Timothy I, the caliph Al-Mahdi first argued that the absence of biblical prophecies of Muhammad was caused by the Christian corruption of the Bible. When Timothy rebuts this by claiming that there is no textual evidence for such corruptions, Al-Mahdi modifies his strategy and claims that such prophecies do exist. Examples cited are Deuteronomy 18:18 and Isaiah 21:6–9. Though the interaction (or at least the details of it reported by Timothy I) are unlikely to be historical, the line of reasoning it portrays is thought to reflect argumentation used by Muslim scholars and dignitaries of the time.

The first Islamic text that is entirely dedicated to adducing evidences for Muhammad as a prophet, and the one most popular in contemporary apologetics is Ibn Rabbān ‘Alī al-Ṭabarī's (9th century) The Book of Religion and Empire (Kitāb al-Dīn wa’l-dawla). The ninth and tenth chapters of this book use biblical proof-texts and occupy half the space of the entire work. Although Ibn Rabban made more sparing use of the New Testament, he produced predictions "from [the] Psalms, Isaiah, Hosea, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Zechariah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel." Ibn Rabbān takes a variety of references in Isaiah to praise to be direct uses of Muhammad's name, whose root means "the praised one". Ibn Rabbān reads "the ends of the Earth" from Isaiah 24, Ezekiels' temple in Ezekiel 40–47, and "the house of God" in 1 Peter 4:17 all to be references to Mecca. In many cases, Ibn Rabban's prophetic proof-texts were taken from earlier Christian lists of prophecies of Jesus in the Old Testament, which he reoriented as prophecies of Muhammad. At the time, Ibn Rabban's work was not received among other Muslim scholars. The first evidence of reception of his work in Muslim circles is from the 11th century.

Ibn Qutaybah (9th century) was a Hanbalite judge and produced what was in his time popular arguments for predictions of Muhammad in the Bible. He did this in several of his writings, one example being in his Proofs of Prophethood (Dalā’il al-nubuwwa). The version of the Bible he had access to was an Arabic translation of the Syriac Peshitta, although he only produced exact quotes from Genesis and sourced the rest paraphrastically. Isaiah and Psalms figure most prominently in his proof-texts, but Genesis, Deuteronomy (e.g. ch. 18), and Habakkuk also appear. Ibn Qutayba also asserted that the reference to the coming of Elijah in Matthew 11:14 must have originally actually referred to Muhammad on the basis of his belief that it was believed Muhammad, not Elijah, was to come. This claim was complemented by an accusation of corruption (taḥrīf) against the New Testament. For similar reasons, he believed that John's Paraclete must have also been a reference to Muhammad by name. Syrian scholar Ibn Abi Talib al-Dimashqi (13th-14th century) supported this view, stating that the Paraclete verses had referred to Muhammad, but had been altered by church leaders to influence Constantine the Great.

Muslim interpretation

According to the Quran Verses in the Quran that say that there are prophecies of Muhammad in earlier scriptures include Quran 3:81, 7:157, 48:29, and 61:6. Quran 61:6 says that Jesus brought good news about the close advent of Muhammad. Muslim historians and hagiographers (such as Ibn Ishaq) maintained that the people of Medina accepted Islam because of their awareness of these prophecies, and because they saw Muhammad as fulfilling them.

Deuteronomy 18

The first Islamic text to cite this passage as a proof-text of Muhammad's prophecy in the Bible was Ibn al-Layth around the turn of the 9th century. Within the text of Deuteronomy, references to "your brother" or "your brethren" are made to other Israelites or members of the Israelite community (e.g. Deut. 1:16, 28; 3:18, 20; 23:20; 24:14), paralleling the prior reference in Deut. 17:15, 20 where a king must be chosen from the Israelite "brethren" again, a fellow Israelite. The same terminology is also applied to brother nations, such as the descendants of Esau (e.g. Deut. 23:7).

Deuteronomy 33:2

As with Deut. 18:18, Deut. 33:2 was first cited by Ibn al-Layth as a proof-text for Muhammad's prophecy in the Bible. In this passage, it is stated that

Since then, many Muslim scholars have looked to Deuteronomy 33 as containing a prophetic prediction of Muhammad. In addition, it has been common for Islamic commentary to understand "Paran" as a reference to the Arabian Peninsula. By extension, "Mount Paran" was connected to Mount Hira, the traditional location in Islamic religion of where Muhammad received his first revelation.

Deuteronomy 33:2 is part of the poem known as the Blessing of Moses spanning Deuteronomy 33:1–29. Scholars consider that the poem serves as a Yahwistic declaration for the blessing of the future of Israel as a socially unified whole that will benefit and prosper through YHWH's beneficence. The poem relates YHWH's movement from the south from Mount Sinai, the mountain where He resides, to His entrance on the scene as a "formidable invading force."

Isaiah 42

Muslim tradition holds that Isaiah 42 predicted the coming of a servant associated with Qedar, the second son of Ishmael, who went on to live his life in Arabia, and so interpret this passage as a prophecy of Muhammad.

In 1892, Isaiah 42:1-4 was first identified by Lutheran theologian Bernhard Duhm as one of the Servant songs in the Book of Isaiah, along with Is. 49:1–6; Is. 50:4–7; and Is. 52:13–53:12. The Old Testament identifies the servant of the Servant songs as the Israelite's in Is. 41:8–9; Is. 44:1; Is. 44:21; Is. 45:4; Is. 48:20 and Is. 49:3. John Barton and John Muddiman write that "The idea of a 'servant' played a small part in the earlier chapters, being used as a designation of the unworthy Eliakim in 22:20 and of the figure of David in 37:35, but it now comes to the fore as a description of major significance, the noun being used more than 20 times in chs. 40–55. Its first usage is obviously important in establishing the sense in which we are to understand it, and here it is clear that the community of Israel/Jacob is so described."

Song of Songs 5:16

The Hebrew word (, desirable, lovely) in Song of Songs 5:16 has been argued to mean Muhammad.

Daniel 7

This text has been interpreted by Muslims as a messianic prophecy about Muhammad and his ascension to the Throne of God. According to Muslims, the first beast represents Babylon. The second beast represents Persia-Media. The third beast represents Greece. The fourth beast represents Rome. The horns of the fourth beast represent the emperors of the Roman Empire. The ten horns refer to the ten Roman emperors who ran the 10 major persecutions. The 11th horn refers to Constantine I. Constantine I plucked out three Roman emperors before him, maintained authority for 3 times and half a time (34 lunar years), and persecuted those who rejected the Nicene Creed. He broke the first commandment of the law "the Lord our God is one lord", and switched the Sabbath to Sunday.

Haggai 2:7

The word rendered "the Desire" is singular and is pronounced as Hemdāh (from the root HMD). Christians have maintained from their early history that this word was a reference to the Messiah.Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi, Irving L. Jensen, 1976, Moody Puplishers, USA, Muslim scholars argue that it actually refers to Muhammad whose name is also from the same root (HMD). Some of them interpret the new temple in the prophecy as a reference to the Great Mosque of Mecca.

Synoptic Gospels

Parable of the Wicked Husbandmen

Muslim scholars like Rahmatullah Kairanawi have discussed this parable in detail. Rahmatullah Kairanawi interpreted the landowner as a metaphor for God, the vineyard as a metaphor for God's Law, the wall around it refers to that which God prohibited in the Law, the wine-press is a metaphor for the pleasures that are permitted in the Law. The husbandmen who rented the vineyard refers to the Jews. The servants who were sent repeatedly to the tenants to collect the fruits are God's prophets. The son of the landowner is a metaphor for Jesus, who is considered by Muslims to be one of the highly esteemed prophets. The stone the builders rejected is seen as a metaphor for Muhammad. Rahmatullah quoted this phrase from the parable: "Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed" and argued that this description fits Muhammad who triumphed during his life-time over all his enemies and against all odds. Muslims have also quoted the following Hadith of Muhammad in this context:

Parable of the Mustard Seed

Rahmatullah Kairanawi, among other Muslim writers, argued that this parable is referred to in Qur'an 48:29. Rahmatullah argued that the Muslim Ummah resembled the growing mustard seed in that it started from a single person in Mecca, yet it grew up rapidly and became larger than the other kingdoms of earth. It put forth its branches in the East and West and many nations lived within it.

The kingdom of heaven has come near