Moses Was in Mecca?
Muslim polemicists think that the following verses actually predict the revelation of the Quran:
“Now this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. And he said, ‘Yahweh came from Sinai, And He dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, And He came from the midst of ten thousand holy ones; At His right hand there was flashing lightning for them.’” Deuteronomy 33:1-2
They claim that Sinai refers to the revelation of the Law (Taurat), Seir is about the giving of the Gospel (Injil) since it is supposedly adjacent to Israel where Christ ministered, and that Paran is supposedly Mecca and therefore is a prophecy of the giving of the Quran. These Muslims even go as far as to claim that the ten thousand holy ones is a prediction of Muhammad entering Mecca with ten thousand of his jihadis.
To show how utterly ludicrous this interpretation is, all one has to do is simply read the Pentateuch to see that these are the places where Israel traversed throughout their 40-year wandering in the desert:
“Now it happened in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth of the month, that the cloud was lifted from over the tabernacle of the testimony; and the sons of Israel set out on their journeys from the wilderness of Sinai. Then the cloud settled down in the wilderness of Paran. So they moved out for the first time according to the command of Yahweh by the hand of Moses.” Numbers 10:11-13
“Afterward, however, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.” Numbers 12:16
“Then Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, ‘Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.’ So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of Yahweh, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel... Then they returned from spying out the land, at the end of forty days, and went and came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh; and they brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.” Numbers 13:1-3
“These are the words which Moses spoke to all Israel across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab. It is eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. Now it happened, in the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the children of Israel, according to all that Yahweh had commanded him to give to them, after he had struck down Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon, and Og the king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth and Edrei. Across the Jordan in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to expound this law, saying, ‘Yahweh our God spoke to us at Horeb, saying, ‘You have stayed long enough at this mountain...Then you said to me, “We have sinned against Yahweh; we will indeed go up and fight, just as Yahweh our God commanded us.” And every man of you girded on his weapons of war and regarded it as easy to go up into the hill country. And Yahweh said to me, “Say to them, ‘Do not go up and do not fight—for I am not among you—so that you are not defeated before your enemies.’” So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. Instead you rebelled against the command of Yahweh and acted presumptuously and went up into the hill country. And the Amorites who lived in that hill country came out to meet you and pursued you as bees do and crushed you from Seir to Hormah. Then you returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh did not listen to your voice nor give ear to you. So you remained in Kadesh many days, according to the days that you remained there.’” Deuteronomy 1:1-6, 41-46
“Then we turned and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea, as Yahweh spoke to me, and circled Mount Seir for many days. And Yahweh spoke to me, saying, ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, and command the people, saying, “You are going to pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also bargain with them for water with money so that you may drink. For Yahweh your God has blessed you in all the work of your hand; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years Yahweh your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.”’
“So we passed beyond our brothers the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road, away from Elath and from Ezion-geber. And we turned and passed through by the way of the wilderness of Moab. Then Yahweh said to me, ‘Do not harass Moab, nor provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession because I have given Ar to the sons of Lot as a possession.’ (The Emim lived there formerly, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim. Like the Anakim, they are also regarded as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. Now the Horites formerly lived in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel would do to the land of their possession which Yahweh gave to them.) ‘Now arise and cross over the brook Zered yourselves.’ So we crossed over the brook Zered. Now the time that it took for us to come from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the brook Zered was thirty-eight years, until all the generation of the men of war came to an end from within the camp, as Yahweh had sworn to them. Moreover the hand of Yahweh was against them, to bring them into confusion from within the camp until they all came to an end.
“So it happened when all the men of war had come to an end in death from among the people, that Yahweh spoke to me, saying, ‘Today you are about to cross over Ar, the border of Moab. And you will come opposite the sons of Ammon. Do not harass them nor provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the sons of Ammon as a possession because I have given it to the sons of Lot as a possession.’ (It is also regarded as the land of the Rephaim, for Rephaim formerly lived in it, but the Ammonites call them Zamzummin, a people as great, numerous, and tall as the Anakim, but Yahweh destroyed them before them. And they dispossessed them and settled in their place, just as He did for the sons of Esau, who live in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites from before them; they dispossessed them and settled in their place even to this day. And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorim who came from Caphtor, destroyed them and lived in their place.) ‘Arise, set out, and pass through the valley of Arnon. Look! I have given Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land into your hand; begin to take possession and provoke him to battle. This day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon the peoples everywhere under the heavens, who, when they hear the report of you, will tremble and be in anguish because of you.’
“So I sent messengers from the wilderness of Kedemoth to Sihon king of Heshbon with words of peace, saying, ‘Let me pass through your land, I will go only on the highway; I will not turn aside to the right or to the left. You will sell me food for money so that I may eat, and give me water for money so that I may drink; only let me pass through on foot, just as the sons of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for me, until I cross over the Jordan into the land which Yahweh our God is giving to us.’ But Sihon king of Heshbon was not willing for us to pass through his land, for Yahweh your God stiffened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, in order to give him over into your hand, as he is today. And Yahweh said to me, ‘See, I have begun to give Sihon and his land over to you. Begin to possess, so that you may fully possess his land.’” Deuteronomy 2:1-31
Now unless Muslims want us to believe that Moses and the Israelites repeatedly traveled to and fro Mecca during those forty years, the readers can see how utterly ridiculous this view is.
In fact, any Bible dictionary or encyclopedia will easily disprove the assertion that Paran is Mecca:
PARAN pâr’ ən (פָּארָ֑ן). A broad central area of desert in the Sinai Peninsula. It is to be distinguished from three smaller peripheral districts: the wilderness of Shur in the NW, bordering Egypt; the wilderness of Sinai, in the southern tip of the peninsula; and the wilderness of Zin, in the NE between Kadesh-barnea and the Arabah trough.
Consequently, there is some overlap in the rather vaguely defined boundaries of Paran. The whole area is some 23,000 square m., divisible into three main topographical sections. In the wilderness of Shur, to the N, lie wide open sandy plains and the dune-fringed coast. Paran is bordered to the S by ranges of hills or isolated groups such as the Moghara, Jelleg, and Hellal. The central area consists of elevated sedimentary tablelands, collectively called the “Jebel at Tih.” This is the great “desert of the wanderings,” rising from 3,900 to 5,290 ft. above sea level, terminating in the S in the high plateau of Egma. All this area, over half of the total drainage area of the Sinai Peninsula, is drained by the Wadi al’Arish and its seasonal tributaries into the Mediterranean. To the S of these tablelands are the crystalline mountains of southern Sinai (see Mount Sinai), a deeply dissected landscape of gorges and mountain blocks. The eastern edge of the Sinai peninsula is intensely broken up into dissected hills, trough faults, and wadi floors—a wild assortment of landforms impossible to describe in detail.
Paran thus has been associated with wild desert conditions of both relief and climate, astride the trade routes and also as an inhospitable refuge to those seeking isolation. It was the district settled by Ishmael (Gen 21:21) and crossed by the Israelites at the Exodus (Num 10:12; 12:16; 13:3-26). From it the Israelites sent their spies into Pal. (Num 13:26). David fled into Paran after the death of Samuel (1 Sam 25:1), possibly to the northern sector of the area, though the Gr. rendering in the LXX reads “wilderness of Maon.” El-paran, referred to as on the border of the wilderness (Gen 14:6), has been identified by some scholars with Elath, just N of Aqaba. Mt. Paran (Deut 33:2 and Hab 3:3) has been identified with Jebel M’aqrah, some twenty-nine m. S of ’Ain Qedeis. This is a guess for Mt. Paran could refer to any one of a number of prominent peaks in the mountains in the southern Sinai Peninsula.
Bibliography N. Glueck, Rivers in the Desert (1959); Y. Aharoni and M. Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas (1968), Map No. 48.
Moreover, the phrase “ten thousand holy ones” is not a reference to humans, but to the angelic host who had come down with God to deliver Israel out of Egypt. The Holy Bible says that these spirit creatures number in the tens of thousands:
“The chariots of God are myriads, thousands upon thousands; The Lord is among them as at Sinai, in holiness. You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among men, Even among the rebellious also, that Yah—God—may dwell there.” Psalm 68:17-18
“I kept looking Until thrones were set up, And the Ancient of Days was seated; His clothing was like white snow And the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with fire, Its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing And coming out from before Him; Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, And myriads upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat, And the books were opened.” Daniel 7:9-10
“you who received the Law as ordained by angels, and yet did not observe it.” Acts 7:53
“Why the Law then? It was added because of trespasses, having been ordained through angels by the hand of a mediator, until the seed would come to whom the promise had been made.” Galatians 3:19
“For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every trespass and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? That salvation, first spoken by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.” Hebrews 2:1-4
“But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.” Hebrews 12:22-24
“Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.’” Revelation 5:11-12
As such, Deuteronomy 33:1-2 has nothing to do with Muhammad and Islam.
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