CIRA International unveil why Jews rejected Muhammad; He was a false prophet?

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

Although the Quran, the traditions and the history books relate the rejection of the Jews, and gives their reasons, they never based that rejection on the criteria of a false prophet laid down in their books.

The Jews had the misconception that prophecy ended wwith the last minor prophets. There was no true prophecy in the 1st century CE when Jesus was alive, and there hasnt been any since it was removed from the world. The removal of prophecy occured, in their belief, when the first Temple was destroyed in 586 BCE (1Kings25:8,Jer52:12), except that it still continued for those true prophets who were alive at that time, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, until they passed away.

These last prophets saw the decline of holiness amidst their people due to their helenization, scattering and assimilation into the cultures they were supposed to guide. They realized prophecy would decline and ultimately disappear for it is traditionally believed that prophecy is contingent upon the people's unity and high level of holiness. Therefore the prophet Ezra called a Sanhedrin which came to be known as the Men of the Great Assembly. It was started a short while after the destruction of the 1st Temple and continued until the 2nd Temple's reconstruction began under the Persian king Cyrus. He had defeated the Babylonians and freed the Jews from captivity. He allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and begin the 2nd temple works, which were finished 70 years later under Darius/Daryavesh Ezra6.

These "Men of the Great Assembly" gathered under Ezra, were 120 members, the last of whom to pass away is believed to be Shimon Hatzaddik. It is to be noted that some confusion exists as to that person's identity, with 4 being potential candidates and none coming earlier than 300BCE, thus leaving a 2centuries gap between Shimon and the traditional dating of the assembly. Besides canonizing certain books and rejecting others, and "finalizing" the Hebrew bible under Ezra's guidance who was divinely inspired, they requested the end of prophethood, and prepared the Jews for the move from the era of Prophecy or the Biblical Period where prophecy was a general phenomenon experienced by all Jews, where miracles were open and obvious to all, to the Talmudic Period ca. 200BCE also called the "era of knowledge" where prophecy shall temporarily cease. This is the era we are still in today, until messianic times.

What all this entails is that the prophets spoken of in the NT such as Zechariah/Zacharias, John the Baptist, or even Jesus and ultimately Muhammad were false prophets. In fact this is one of the reason why even Daniel, who came after the aforementioned last prophets, isnt considered a prophet and his Book included in ketuvim/writings rather than neviim/prophets in the Hebrew Bible based on the Masoretic text. His story is described briefly in order not to lay too much stress on his obvious textual depiction as a prophet. The Septuagint on the other hand, which was partly redacted by Christians, describes him with much more length and includes his Book with those of the neviim/prophets since evidently Christians do not consider prophecy to have ended with Malachi.

Psalms 74:9 is cited as proof by Jews that prophecy ended long ago and for an indefinite time

"We have not seen our signs; there is no longer a prophet, and no one with us knows how long".

This cessation shall remain in force and only reappear in the future messianic era

Joel3:1"And it shall come to pass afterwards that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy; your elders shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions".

That prophecy was "long gone" prior to Jesus or Muhammad is undeniable. But it says more of the Israelites state of spiritual degradation and consequent divine disapproval, than about prophecy having ended altogether. Nothing in Psalms 74:9 hints to a complete cessation of prophecy until the end of times and in fact not only Malachi3:23 states that Elijah the prophet will return prior to the messianic era but the Talmud as well as eminent Rabbinical comentaries say that the prophet Mordechai Bilshan came after Malachi. This completely undermines the mainstream Jewish position.

 The Quran recognizes that prophethood had been suspended for long, that is to the ISraelites, and so urges them to hearken the ultimate reminder of the truth

5:19"O followers of the Book! indeed Our Messenger has come to you explaining to you after a cessation of the (mission of the) messengers, lest you say: There came not to us a giver of good news or a warner, so indeed there has come to you a giver of good news and a warner; and Allah has power over all things". 

Prophecy therefore certainly did not end altogether as the rabbis thought, until the institution was explicitly sealed and emphatically stated so by Allah through the last prophet sent for all of mankind.

A false prophet, in the Hebrew Bible is one:

- whose prophecies do not come true Deut18:22

- who speaks in the name of other gods Deut13

- who proclaims any precept of the Torah to be abrogated or adds to it Deut13:4-5. It is to be noted that a case is mentionned where a prophet -Elijah- was commanded to conduct the famous challenge of the two bullocks on Mount Carmel, even though that temporarily violated the Torah prohibition against offering sacrifices outside the Temple or places designated fit for the ritual by God. And this is an "accepted" innovation. The book of Ezekiel for example is so full of cases where the prophet overturns, adds to Torah commandements and revises historical incidents that the famous Talmudic "sage" Hananiah ben Hezekiah needed 300 oil barrels to keep him busy overcoming the contradictions. His successors praised him for not having to hide the book of Ezekiel that simply exposes the fact that its writer either had no Torah in his time or had a different one because he obviously knew for example the First Temple, its order of service, the laws of the priesthood and of the land and yet treats those issues differently.