CIRA International delve into Bible prophecies; who is the prophet like Moses?

In answer to the video "Deuteronomy 18:18 - Scripture Twisting 101"

We Muslims believe, Muhammad was destined to be the seal of the line of prophethood and that no warner would be sent to mankind till the Day of Resurrection. Such an assertion predicates that past prophets and scriptures made clear his imminent arrival in such a way that people would have no difficulty in recognizing him.

The Quran and the prophetic traditions allude in many places to the predictions of the Ishmaelite prophet in previous scriptures. Not all prophets were foretold by their predecessors. For example, no prophecy in the HB applies to Jesus just like most Israelite prophets have no prophecies about them.

But in the case of the last prophet and the importance of his final message, the matter was different. The Quran reinforces the notion that the predictions about Muhammad are so clear that

6:20,2:146"those to whom We have given the scripture recognize him as they recognize their own sons".

This verse echoes what the prominent Jewish Rabbi of Medina, Abdullah ibn Salam used to say as regards the prophet Muhammad "

Certainly, I have greater knowledge of this Muḥammad than my knowledge of my son".

The Quran would mention the reaction of such early converts among the Jews and Christians

5:83"hear what has been revealed to the messenger you will see their eyes overflowing with tears on account of the truth that they recognize; they say: Our Lord! we believe, so write us down with the witnesses (of truth)".

The Quran speaks in sura Baqara of the predictions of the HB regarding Muhammad in the context of the covenant established with the Israelites at Mt Sinai, emphasizing that the context of the prophecy is the promulgation of a new law and the birth of a nation under God.

Muslims throughout the ages have used the Bible to prove Muhammad was foretold by previous prophets. This was and still is a proselytizing strategy aimed at Jews and Christians. The idea is to have a common ground for discussion with those religious groups, after which Islamic teachings are introduced. There are however other proselytizing approaches Muslims have taken, namely pointing to the inconsistent, incomplete theologies of other systems in comparison to Islam, or naturalistic arguments, or simply presenting Islamic teachings by themselves for the audience to appreciate. Going back to the argument from the viewpoint of prophecy, Muslims didnt alter any text nor invent reports so as to create the striking parallelisms that can be seen between the Bible, the Quran and the authentic Islamic traditions. We thus see the prophet himself addressing those Jews that did not believe in him, telling them to honestly look into the writings in their hands and draw the relevant conclusions, as some of the most learned in their community did

 "I adjure you to tell me if you find in that revelation which Allah sent down to You, that you should believe in Muhammad. If you cannot find that in your scripture, no displeasure will fall on you. Guidance will be distinguishable from error, and I invite you to Allah and to His prophet".

Christians on the other hand are notorious for their distortions of the meaning and of the text itself so as to retrofit their christologies into the HB. The text of the Septuagint, the Greek rendering of the HB is known for its numerous mistranslations. But the NT text is by far the most corrupt. The anonymous writers create impossible scenarios, are anachronistic, fabricate genealogies, misquote the Hebrew writings, allude to non existent HB prophecies so as to allign their Jesus character with the previous writings.

Now of course Christians contend this Deut18 prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus, while to the Jews Deuteronomy 18:18 comes solely in the context of the Israelites wanting an intermediary with God, instead of hearing and seeing the dreadful divine manifestation. YHWH answers them positively and tells them that instead of this, revelation will now be a personal experience through a chosen individual from their midst, whom they are bound to follow. Deut18:18 is thus speaking of a prophet generically, just as Deut13:2 is speaking of a false prophet generically, not a specific prophet. Such prophet will be like Moses, ie an Israelite, but inferior in terms of prophetic eminence. To derive that conclusion, they use

Deut34"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".

This passage comes after Joshua's appointment as a prophet to succeed Moses. If one argues that the dissimilarity between them is in prophetic rank, why would the text immediately negate Joshua's likeness to Moses without any standard of comparison? Joshua didnt even start his role as a prophet so as to demonstrate his worth in relation to Moses. If the dissimilarity is solely in terms of prophetic rank, then it should have been made towards the end of Joshua's prophethood, after he received revelation and after he performed his miracles, including some nearly identical ones to Moses, like parting the waters Josh3:6-17. Joshua being unlike Moses in that context of Deut34, cannot therefore be solely related to prophetic status and performance of miracles.

Moses' major particularity is that he reformed an intensely rebellious, idolatrous community, shackled under a ruthless ruler, into a nation under God's Law. But because Moses had just selected his successor before passing away, it was necessary to emphasize that this successor will continue his work. Joshua will not change Moses' national agenda and neither bring about a different Law to the community. He was thus unlike Moses in this major aspect; he simply continued reinforcing the nation already founded under Moses, under a previous Law. The efforts and obstacles Joshua would have to face in that task would be much less than what Moses had to face, hence him being inferior in terms of prophetic experience and miracles as stated in the verse.

The passage now makes complete sense in that context

"Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses (ie establishing a new nation and a new law, then needing the following intense revelational experience and miracles to bring about that new nation), 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".