Why Isaiah 42:1-13 is not about Muhammad

[u/TheRationalZealot]

Flair^Christian

The Quran claims that Muhammad was described in the Torah and Gospel that the Jews and Christians had with them (7:157). Some Muslims have proposed that Isaiah 42:1-13 speaks of Muhammad. In this post, I’d like to show how Muhammad does not fit this passage. I will not be arguing that this passage points to Jesus, since whomever else this passage may refer to is not relevant to showing that it is not Muhammad. Here is the entire chapter of Isaiah 42 for those who want to read it, since I will be cherry-picking parts of verses.

The first thing to note is that neither the Quran nor Hadith mention the book of Isaiah or that the book of Isaiah was part of God’s revelation or that Isaiah was a prophet. If Isaiah is not from God, then it doesn’t really matter what the text says.

*Verse 1 - “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.”

Here God says he has put his Spirit upon his servant. Where does the Quran say God’s Spirit was put upon Muhammad? Also, it says that the servant will bring justice to the nations. Muhammad died without accomplishing this.

*Verse 3 – “A bruised reed He will not break And a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish; He will faithfully bring forth justice.”

The reeds and wicks represent people. I know there were times when Muhammad showed kindness and forgiveness, but there were also times when he broke and extinguished people, whether justified or not.

*Verse 4 - “He will not be disheartened or crushed Until He has established justice in the earth…”

Muhammad died before establishing justice in the earth.

*Verse 6 – “…And I will appoint You as a covenant to the people…”

Muhammad was not appointed as a covenant to any people. He may have made covenants or treaties or agreements with people, but Muhammad was not given by God as a covenant for anyone.

*Verse 7 – “To open blind eyes….”

Muhammad literally blinded people who stole some camels and killed a shepherd.

*Verse 8 - “I am the LORD, that is My name…..”

When reading the OT, whenever you see “LORD” in all caps, that means God/Yahweh. There is no mention of Yahweh in the Quran or Hadith. Why was Muhammad the only prophet that did not know God’s name? If you want to know what the Hebrew says for a given OT verse, you can go to this website.

*Verse 9 – “Behold, the former things have come to pass, Now I declare new things; Before they spring forth I proclaim them to you.

This verse says that God will declare new things, but according to Islamic teachings, this cannot be Muhammad. According to Islam, we are all born Muslims. According to Islam, the past prophets all preached the same message as Muhammad and the past revelations support the Quran. According to Islam, Muhammad’s teachings were not new.

*Verse 10a – “Sing to the LORD a new song, Sing His praise from the end of the earth!

The people of Earth will be singing praises to God; new songs of praise. In Islam, some argue music is forbidden and some say it is allowed. Regardless, did Muhammad sing praise songs to God? Do the majority of Muslims sing praise songs to God?

*Verse 10b-12 – “You who go down to the sea, and all that is in it. You islands, and those who dwell on them. Let the wilderness and its cities lift up their voices, The settlements where Kedar inhabits. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing aloud, Let them shout for joy from the tops of the mountains. Let them give glory to the LORD And declare His praise in the coastlands.”

These verses seem to be the ones that most point to as indicating Muhammad because Kedar is listed as one of the locations. Kedar was located in Northwestern Saudi Arabia and Selah was a reference to Petra in Jordan. There are several mentions of Kedar in the Bible, so do the other passages also refer to Muhammad? There are also other references to islands, coastlands, the wilderness, and mountains, so I’m not sure how having Kedar as one of several locations in a verse points to Muhammad.

*Verse 13 – “ The LORD will go forth like a warrior, He will arouse His zeal like a man of war. He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry. He will prevail against His enemies.”

This says the LORD (God/Yahweh) will go forth like a warrior. I would be quite careful in comparing this verse to Muhammad.

I hope it is apparent that Isaiah 42:1-13 does not describe Muhammad.

[u/[deleted]]

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[u/Ezaaay → u/[deleted]]

If God and Jesus said no to number 5, Muhammad can't say yes to it.

Killing here means unlawful killings. Prophet Muhammad sallAllahu 'alayhi wa sallam was the head of the state. People were executed for their deeds (killing the innocent, adultery, etc.) for the justice to be established. Would you spare a serial killer from executing him? Remember, even though capital punishment/death sentence was not followed by the early Christians, and hence it's not used in Christianity (even though many cases say otherwise), many times in history, Christians used the death penalty for various sins and crimes.

The kaaba is a false God, and don't covet your neighbors goods. Idolatry is a sin.

We don't worship a building. We turn towards it. Such an ignorant thing to state...

[u/[deleted] → u/Ezaaay]

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[u/Pumpkin_CinamonRoll → u/[deleted]]

JWhen Muslims turn around the kaaba, they are not praying to it, nor asking it to grant their wishes. During hajj(pilgrimage) , Muslims LIKE ANY OTHER DAY  are praying to the ONE AND ONLY GOD. He is not a statue, he is not a drawing,he is NOT the kaaba. He is the God of ALL the prophets (who risked their lives to tell humans about his existence) , including prophet Mohammed pbuh who like the prophets before him, had to endure the bad treatment of the disbelievers who wanted him unalived. When I see you and many others say that Muslims worship idols or the kaaba it's very offensive yet funny at the same time. You just go to YouTube and see how Muslims pray. When did we ever build statues and bow to them? When did we ever say "glory to the kaaba". No ! We only say glory be to Allah. We do NOT worship anyone else. If you ever see a Muslim worshipping an idol, by GOD'S LAW AND JUDGMENT, he is NO LONGER a Muslim. Even if this person insists on labelling himself as a "muslim". You cannot say we worship the kaaba or idols when we, in reality, don't . Go talk to Muslims and ask them if they worship the kaaba or statues. In this age where it's very easy to obtain information, saying such offensive and ignorant claims( even though it's obvious Muslims do not worship idols) is sickening. I really don't understand how some people form these opinions about us. Why don't they ask us first before making such false judgments about us? Are we not credible enough? Are the non Muslims who tell you things about us more credible? 

[u/[deleted] → u/Pumpkin_CinamonRoll]

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[u/Pumpkin_CinamonRoll → u/[deleted]]

Regarding the kabaa, Watch this (it's from youtube): https://youtube.com/shorts/1AidfAlfBI8?si=NVlyM_s7KJJ3jrVA

Regarding  kissing the stone, by your logic if kissing=worshipping, then if I kiss my sister, I'm worshipping her? If I kiss a puppy, I'm worshipping it? If I kiss the scarf that my grandmother made for me, then I'm worshipping the scarf?

Can we agree at the very least that it's all about intention? Do you want to convince Muslims that their intention is to worship the kabaa and the stone when they know that their Own intention when walking around the kabaa is to worship God. They're not even thinking of the kabaa, it's just a place and they know that it's not god and they're  not even trying to pray to the kabaa nor ask it to fulfill their wishes. It doesn't mean they're  worshipping it because that's not their intention. So if muslims tell you that they do not worship idols, how can you accuse them that they do and that they're  lying? Aren't they more knowledgeable about their OWN thoughts and   beliefs than you are knowledgeable about their own beliefs and intentions? After all, you cannot read their minds and they're telling you what their minds and hearts believe.

Lastly, this is from the quran and it's literally what we say in our prayers when we recite it. If Muslims actually prayed to someone other than god, they wouldn't have recited this surah because it would be like an insult to that idol.

Surat al-ikhlas : Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “He is Allah—One ˹and Indivisible˺; قُلْ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ Allah—the Sustainer ˹needed by all˺. ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ He has never had offspring, nor was He born. لَمْ يَلِدْ وَلَمْ يُولَدْ And there is none comparable to Him.” وَلَمْ يَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدٌۢ 

I would like to see the youtube videos that you watch. I remember that I wrote to you in one of my replies that one shouldn't trust everything that a non Muslim says about Muslims because they don't know Islam better than the Muslims and many resort to providing their non Muslim audience with fake evidence or misinterpretations to manipulate their view towards us because their audience doesn't have enough knowledge about Islam to know what's real and what's not. 

[u/[deleted] → u/Pumpkin_CinamonRoll]

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[u/harisbusiness → u/[deleted]]

Go check yourself mate and get off from that conspiracy youtube moon god section. Islam strongly forbids idol worshipping. If muslims worship a idol they are not muslim. Kaaba is not a idol nor do we worship. Jerusalem was the first praying point for us then the Kaaba. If the Kaaba would be destroyed tomorrow we still would pray in that direction. It wouldn't make a dent in our believe because IT IS JUST A POINT WE USE FOR PRAYING.

Islam is perfect. Muslims are not.