The Exodus in the Qur'an, the Bible, and History (Part 4): Moses and Muhammad

In Judaism, the Exodus story forms the basis of the Israelites’ obligation to adhere to the Torah:

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. (Exod. 20:2-3)

In the Qur’an, the Exodus story functions as a model for the emerging Muslim community.  Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) is cast in the role of Moses.  The persecution of the Israelites in Egypt is related to the persecution of the early Muslim community in Mecca.  The Exodus is the model of the Hijra.  The establishment of a new community under the Law given to Moses is the model for the establishment of a new community under the Shari’a given to Muhammad.

Muslims have traditionally seen Deuteronomy 18:15-19 as a prophecy of Muhammad:

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me[1] from among your own people; you shall heed such a prophet…Then the Lord replied to me: ‘They are right in what they have said. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from the midst of your brethren;[2] I will put my words in the mouth of the prophet, who shall speak to them everything that I command. Anyone who does not heed the words that the prophet shall speak in my name, I myself will hold accountable.

While the notion that this text specifically refers to Muhammad is debatable, it should at least be granted that if likeness to Moses is a biblical sign of authentic prophecy, then no one fits this profile like the Prophet Muhammad.[3]

Like Moses, Muhammad was the original and preeminent religious and political leader of his community.  Like Moses, he was a prophet, the founder of a monotheistic religion in the Abrahamic tradition, a lawgiver, a statesman, an arbiter, a diplomat, and a military leader.  Like Moses, a defining event in his prophetic ministry was a forced immigration experienced by he and his community.  Like Moses, he received an authoritative scripture purporting to be from God, which he spoke “in God’s name” (cf. Deut. 18:18), and which was dictated and written down during his prophetic career.  And like Moses, he also had a natural birth and death, and married and had children.  In most of these respects, Moses and Muhammad differ, for example, from Jesus or other Israelite prophets.

In fact, the similar careers of Moses and Muhammad lack any other analogue in history or legend.  I once read an interview with biblical scholar Carol Meyers entitled “Moses and the Exodus.”  When asked about the historicity of the character of Moses in the Bible, she replied,

The Moses of the Bible is larger than life.  The Moses of the Bible is a diplomat negotiating with the pharaoh; he is a lawgiver bringing the Ten Commandments, the Covenant, down from Sinai.  The Moses of the Bible is a military man leading the Israelites in battles.  He’s the one who organizes Israel’s judiciary.  He’s also the prophet par excellence and a quasi-priestly figure involved in offering sacrifices and setting up the priestly complex, the tabernacle.  There’s virtually nothing in terms of national leadership that Moses doesn’t do.  And, of course, he’s also a person, a family man.  Now, no one individual could possibly have done all that.  So the tales are a kind of aggrandizement... (emphasis added)

Her argument is that no man could have such an impressive résumé, fulfilling such a staggering variety of roles.  But one exception came to my mind when I read this—Muhammad.

This unique similarity between the two figures was recognized by the eminent Jewish biblical scholar, Moshe Greenberg:

No single figure in later Israel plays the many roles ascribed to Moses...The best analogue to Moses in the history of religions, Muhammad, exhibits the very same multiplicity of roles: oracle, political-military leader, cult founder and lawgiver.[4] 

In a sense, then, Muhammad is a confirmation of Moses just as the Qur’an portrays Moses as a confirmation of Muhammad.

---

[1] The Book of Deuteronomy concludes,

Never since has there arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. He was unequalled for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to perform in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his servants and his entire land, and for all the mighty deeds and all the terrifying displays of power that Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. (Deut. 34:10-12)

[2] The New Revised Standard Version says “from among your own people,” but Hebrew literally says “from the midst of your brethren (aḥeḵā).”

[3] The Qur’an implicitly compares Muhammad to Moses in order to legitimize his prophetic authority to audiences familiar with the biblical narrative.  See Bobzin, Hartmut. “The ‘Seal of the Prophets’: Towards an Understanding of Muhammad’s Prophethood.” The Qur’ān in Context: Historical and Literary Investigations into the Qur’ānic Milieu. Ed. Angelika Neuwirth, Nicolai Sinai, and Michael Marx. Leiden: Brill, 2011. 579-81.

[4] Greenberg, Moshe. “Moses.” Encyclopaedia Judaica. New York: Macmillan & Co., 1971. Qtd. in Crook, Jay R., The Old Testament: An Islamic Perspective, Volume 2: From Moses to Alexander.  Chicago: ABC International Group, 2005. 507.