Islam, Judaism and Christianity are the primary three Abrahamic Religions known in this present age. From prophetic figures to holy books, there is much in common between Islamic and Judeo-Christian traditions. It was from the lineage of Abraham that these three religions were formed. Moses and Jesus were the descendants of Isaac, the son of Abraham, whereas Muhammad was the only prophet in his genealogy up to Ishmael. Arabs at the time of Muhammad are often referred to as Ishmaelites and sometimes also the cousins of Israelites. It is because Jacob (Israel) was the son of Isaac, who was the half-brother of Ishmael. Ishmael was the father of Arabs, which makes Arabs distant cousins of the Israelites. Read further in this article as we discuss the described prophet of the Book of Deuteronomy.
Starting with a verse of great significance in the Holy Quran (7:157):
Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered prophet, whom they find written in what they have of the Torah and the Gospel.
God in the Holy Quran, makes it explicitly clear that there are prophecies of Muhammad even in the corrupted versions of the Torah and the Gospel. For that matter, if we look at the Bible, more prominently at the Gospel of John (1:19-27), we find an interesting incident that took place when some Jewish priests curious about John's identity and his act of baptizing people, asked him whether he was the Prophet. John denied. They asked him if he was Elijah. John denied. They asked him if he was the promised Messiah to which John again denied but hinted at Jesus being the Messiah by saying (John 1:27):
I baptize in water, but among you stands one whom you do not know. It is he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.
For sure Jesus was and is the promised Messiah, to whom Jews have turned a blind eye. When Jewish priests asked John a series of questions, they asked him whether he was the prophet. Many famous commentaries on John 1:19-27 mention that Jews were expecting a prophet likewise to Moses who had been already prophesied in Deuteronomy 18:18. The other two holy figures, Elijah and the promised Messiah, whom the Jews were seeking, had already been revealed. When the disciples asked Jesus about Elijah's return in Matthew 17:10-13, Jesus declares John as Elijah:
Jesus replied, 'To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way, the son of man is going to suffer at their hands.' Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.
If Jesus is the Messiah and John is Elijah, then who is that prophet that Jews were asking John for? This is the prophet who Moses foretold his followers in Deuteronomy 18:18:
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers, and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
God told Moses about a prophet, He will raise from among their (Israelites) brothers. Now, some of the English translations of this verse use the words 'among them' but most translations use the words 'among their brethren', whereas there are some translations that mention both sets of words such as the one in Aleppo Codex:
The prophet from among your midst, from your brethren like me, the Lord your God will raise up for you; to him, you shall hearken.
Now the point of concern is; if we suppose here that the only people God is referring to, are Israelites, then the prophet wasn't revealed until Jesus Christ as confirmed by the Jewish priests themselves when they interrogated John. John denied being the prophet and Jesus was the Messiah, even though Christians claim Jesus to be the prophet prophesied by Moses but in no way Jesus is more similar to Moses than Muhammad. Both Moses and Muhammad were leaders of their respective nations. They both suffered significant hardships during their lifetime of prophethood. They both led a huge following during their lifetime. Moses and Muhammad both were lawgivers whereas Jesus continued the previous Jewish law. Muhammad was more similar to Moses than Jesus to Moses. The other thing mentioned in those verses of Deuteronomy is that the prophet won't speak anything of his own but only what God orders him to. Similar words are found in the Holy Quran (53:3-4) about Prophet Muhammad:
Nor does he speak of his own whims. It is only a revelation sent down to him.
If the prophet was to be raised from Israelites, then only words of 'among you' would have justified the prophecy, but the words of 'among your brethren' open a possibility of the prophet being from the Ishmaelites. God also promises Abraham in Genesis 17:20, that his son, Ishmael, will be the father of a great nation and twelve rulers. There isn't much clarity about the twelve rulers mentioned in Genesis but the great nation was for sure, Arabs. The greatness of Arabs only started under the leadership of Muhammad, and the Arab kingdom succeeded and flourished only in Muhammad's name. Before Muhammad, Arabs were a failed and ignorant nation. This is in itself a prophecy for Prophet Muhammad that it was because of Muhammad that the descendants of Ishmael stood up to be a great nation.