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Did every prophet announce the mission of the next prophets?

Did every prophet confirm the prior prophets?

If the mission of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was announced by prior prophets, what are the references of this claim in the Qur'an, Bible, Torah and other holy books?

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Coming from a Christian perspective, I can tell you that the general principle of prophetic succession is such that once a prophet arrives, his claim is made to rest on the authority of previous prophets.

Since Mohammed was, by all accounts, the last of the prophets, it would have been remarkable if he had been named in prior books. To give some idea of the time frames involved -

  • The Torah was written ~1000BC to ~450BC
  • The New Testament (the Injil) was written between 52 AD and ~ 95 AD
  • Mohammed lived from ~572AD to 632AD

It is difficult to imagine a nonsensical datum existing for over 1600 years in any book, let alone a holy one.

In Christian and Jewish traditions, there is no example of a prophet being named prior to his appointment. Even Jesus, whom Christians view as both a prophet and as "the Messiah," the concept of Messiah is traced historically, but the name of Jesus does not appear until the angel Gabriel announces to Mariam. As another example, John the Baptist is often conflated with Elijah - a prophet who preceeded John the Baptist by 600 years - but again John the Baptist is later associated, not named.

The most famous example of the Prophet Muhammad being "named" in "Scripture" comes from "The Gospel of Barnabas," a work not recognized by Christians or Jews as sacred. The earliest mention of text is contemporaneous with the Prophet, and is thus both well after Christians believe the canon to be closed and in any event not inspired at all.

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i also asked this Q there? judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/22913/… –  saber tabatabaee yazdi Dec 20 '12 at 7:44
Personally, I wouldn't have done that. Your concern is about Mohammed, which makes this on topic for Islam.SE, but not really on MiYoda, and Christianity.SE has already dealt with it. –  Affable Geek Dec 20 '12 at 7:47
i changed that topic there –  saber tabatabaee yazdi Dec 20 '12 at 7:52
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Between Christ and the last Old Testament Prophet, Malachi, about 600 years. Between Muhammad and Christ, about 600 years.

YeHoshua' does appear in the bible nearly a dozen times, as early as the Torah's climax. The Ho sound was dropped by first century Jews because it was taboo to name children anything sounding similar to Yahweh. Yeshua' is nearly identical to this name(minus Ho for obvious reasons). The first YeHoushua' was a commander of the Lord that led Israel into Palestine after Moses' death. The second was the commander that led them back to Israel after the Babylonian exile. The last was a high priest. This could be used as 'prophecies' throughout the entire Bible. The Elijah thing is very sketchy though.

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