Steed of Truth

Updated At: Nov 10, 2022

Is Muhammad in the bible? Part 2

Muslims claim that Muhammad is mentioned in Song of Solomon 5:16 where the word "altogether desirable" in Hebrew contains the word "mahamaddim" which sounds like Muhammad in Arabic. Just because a word in Hebrew sounds similar to a word in arabic, does not mean that they mean the same thing. Also, If one simply reads the passage in context it is clear that this is not a reference to Muhammad.

In the Song of Solomon 5:16, the word "desirable" in Hebrew is "mahamaddim," and this Hebrew word is a third person masculine plural noun that comes from the root word "mahmad," and the word is not a proper name like John or Muhammad. Instead, the word functions in this verse as an adjective even though it is a noun, because the word appears in an adjectival(describes a noun) clause that describes the love that women feels toward her husband.

This passage is a poem that describes the lover as being "altogether desirable," and has nothing to do with Muhammad. To make this verse about Muhammad is to commit eisegesis, which is reading a foreign concept into the text, due to preconceived ideas, that was never part of the original context.

There are 12 other places in the Old Testament where the Hebrew word "mahmad" (the root word for mahamaddim) also appears (1 Kings 20:6; 2 Chronicles 36:19; Isaiah 64:11; Lamentations 1:10, 11, 2:4; Ezekiel 24:16, 21, 25; Hosea 9:6, 16, and Joel 3:5), so to be consistent if "mahamad" in Song of Solomon 5:16 is a reference to Muhammad, then "mahamad" in the other 12 verses should also be a reference to Muhammad. However, if you insert Muhammad in those verses they will make no sense.

Another problem with the claim that Song of Solomon 5:16 is referring to Muhammad is that in Song of Solomon 5:1, the husband of the lover says "I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love!" The problem here is that drinking wine is forbidden in Islam because Muhammad said that wine is of Satan (Surah 5:90). So the idea that Muhammad consumed wine when he said it is of the devil is ridiculous.

In Song of Solomon 5:10-16 the women is describing her husband's body. Why should she suddenly speak of another man in verse 16 while she is enamoring and desring her husband?

The reason why muslims claim that Muhammad is in the bible is because the Quran claims that Muhammad is mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel (Surah 7:157, 61:6), but the Song of Solomon is not part of the Torah nor the Gospel. So not only does the context and the original Hebrew make it clear that Song of Solomon 5:16 is not talking about Muhammad, but even if it was this verse still would not validate the claim found in the quran that Muhammad is mentioned in the Torah and the Gospel.

The claim that Muhammad is mentioned in Song of Solomon 5:16 is as desperate and as bad as it gets.