Answering Objections to Islam · Predictions in the Bible

Isaiah 42: the servant God upholds

Handle with care. Handle with care. Christians read the servant songs as messianic prophecy of Jesus. Present your reading as a serious alternative, not as the obvious meaning.

In short

• 1.'My servant' — the Prophet's own preferred title was abd Allah, servant of God
• 2.He explicitly forbade being praised as the Christians praised the son of Mary
• 3.'I will put my Spirit on him' — the Hebrew ruwach is used of angels elsewhere, as in Zechariah 6:5
• 4.'He will bring justice to the nations' — a universal, not tribal, mission

The claim being examined

Isaiah 42 opens with a chosen servant on whom God places His spirit, who will bring justice to the nations.

The Islamic position

Each descriptor matches the Prophet Muhammad closely: abd Allah, supported by the angel Gabriel, and sent with justice for the nations.

Analysis

The ruwach argument is worth stating carefully. The word does mean spirit or wind and is applied to angelic beings in Zechariah 6:5, where several standard commentaries read the four spirits as four angels — so the Islamic reading of angelic support is defensible. It is not, however, the only reading, and mainstream Christian commentary applies the whole servant song to Jesus. The honest position is that the descriptors fit Muhammad remarkably well and that the passage is contested, not that the Christian reading is impossible.

From the Qur'an

From the Bible

From the Sunnah

Sources

Abu Zakariya, Forbidden Prophecies, Ch. 3 · Scofield Reference Notes on Zechariah 6:5 · Sahih al-Bukhari 3445 · Forbidden Prophecies, Ch. 3, pp. 121-124

More in Predictions in the Bible

• A new law for the islands, and a light for the Gentiles
• Deuteronomy 33:2 — Sinai, Seir and Paran
• Isaiah 42:11 — Kedar and Sela name the place
• Ishmael in the Bible: the blessed son written out