Short answer
A prophet cannot change the Torah by himself. But God (﷾) can change His law, and He speaks through prophets. Deuteronomy 13:1 tells Israel, "thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it". That forbids people to change God's (﷾) law. It does not bind God (﷾). The Torah itself shows His law changing. Adam was given plants for food, and Noah was given meat. Jacob married two sisters, which the Torah later forbids. Maimonides, the 12th-century codifier of Jewish law, lists commandments added from Adam to Moses. At Sinai, God (﷾) also promised a prophet like Moses: "unto him ye shall hearken". Maimonides ruled that a prophet who says a commandment was only for a time is false. Islam says plainly that some laws of Moses were for Israel for a time. God (﷾) lifted them through Jesus and Muhammad (ﷺ). So the real question is whether Sinai was God's (﷾) last word.
People, by adding to it or taking from it
A prophet, by his own word
God (﷾), speaking through a prophet
Full explanation
The objection: no prophet may add or take away
Twice the Torah tells Israel not to add to God's (﷾) word or take from it. Maimonides, the 12th-century codifier of Jewish law, made this binding. In his code, the Mishneh Torah, the Torah stands for ever, with no change, addition or subtraction. He draws this from Deuteronomy 13:1 and 29:28, and from the phrase chukat olam, a lasting statute. He adds "It is not in heaven" (30:12). So a prophet, Jew or gentile, who says a commandment was only for a time is a false prophet. Maimonides ends with Numbers 23:19: God (﷾) is not a man, that He should lie. The same teaching is the ninth of his Thirteen Principles of faith. It is older than Maimonides. The Sifra is a 3rd-century commentary on Leviticus. In a paragraph opened by Rabbi Judah the Prince, it reads "These are the commandments" this way: no prophet may bring anything new. The Talmud uses that rule in several places. This is the main Jewish objection to every later prophet, so the rest of this page tests it.
“All this word which I command you, that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.”
“Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you.”
Halakha. 9:1: the Torah is a commandment standing for ever, with no change, subtraction or addition. Maimonides cites Deuteronomy 13:1 ("thou shalt not add thereto"), Deuteronomy 29:28 ("unto us and to our children for ever"), the phrase chukat olam le-dorotechem ("a statute for ever throughout your generations"), and Deuteronomy 30:12 ("It is not in heaven"), from which he learns that no prophet may now introduce anything new. So a man, whether from the nations or from Israel, who gives a sign and says God sent him to add or remove a commandment, to explain one in a way not heard from Moses, or to say the commandments given to Israel were only for a time, is a false prophet who denies Moses' prophecy. He ends with Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that He should lie". 9:2: the prophet of Deuteronomy 18:18 does not come to make a new religion (dat), but to command the Torah's words and warn the people not to break them, as "the last of them" said: "Remember ye the law of Moses" (Malachi 3:22). A prophet's commands in matters the Torah leaves open must be obeyed (Deuteronomy 18:19). 9:3: if a proven prophet orders one or many commandments set aside for the hour (lefi sha'ah), he is obeyed, except in idolatry, as Elijah offered a sacrifice on Mount Carmel outside the Temple; but if he says a commandment is uprooted for ever, he is a false prophet and is put to death, "for the Torah said: unto us and to our children for ever".
The ninth of Maimonides' Thirteen Principles of faith. In the Vilna printing it is headed "abrogation" (ha-bittul): this Torah of Moses will not be abrogated, and no other Torah will come from God besides it. Nothing is to be added to it or taken from it, in the Written or the Oral Torah, as it says, "thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it" (Deuteronomy 13:1). A parallel reading printed beside it heads the principle "transmission" (ha-ha'atakah): that this Torah came from the Creator and from no one else.
Halakhic midrash on the last verse of Leviticus, in the paragraph that opens with a teaching of Rabbi (Rabbi Judah the Prince, compiler of the Mishnah, about 200 CE): "These are the commandments" teaches that no prophet may introduce anything new from now on.
“These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.”
The Gemara asks whether the prophets introduced the final forms of five Hebrew letters, and objects at once from Leviticus 27:34: "These are the commandments", so that a prophet may not introduce anything new from now on. It concludes that the forms existed earlier and the prophets only restored what had been forgotten. The Talmud uses the same rule at Megillah 2b and at Temurah 16a. There, when laws were forgotten in the mourning for Moses, the people asked Joshua, and later Samuel, to seek them from Heaven; Joshua answered, "It is not in heaven", and Samuel, "These are the commandments". A second version gives the same answers to Pinehas and Elazar.
Maimonides on the prophet of Deuteronomy 18
Maimonides knew that the Torah promises a prophet "like unto thee". He answers in the next paragraph of his code. That prophet, he says, does not come to found a new religion. He comes to command the Torah's own words and to warn the people not to break them. His proof is Malachi, whom he calls the last of the prophets: "Remember ye the law of Moses". These words are among the closing lines of the Prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Maimonides then allows one more case. A proven prophet may order a commandment set aside for the hour, as Elijah did on Mount Carmel. If he says it is ended for ever, Maimonides rules him false. So everything turns on one question: may God (﷾) end a law He gave?
Halakha. 9:1: the Torah is a commandment standing for ever, with no change, subtraction or addition. Maimonides cites Deuteronomy 13:1 ("thou shalt not add thereto"), Deuteronomy 29:28 ("unto us and to our children for ever"), the phrase chukat olam le-dorotechem ("a statute for ever throughout your generations"), and Deuteronomy 30:12 ("It is not in heaven"), from which he learns that no prophet may now introduce anything new. So a man, whether from the nations or from Israel, who gives a sign and says God sent him to add or remove a commandment, to explain one in a way not heard from Moses, or to say the commandments given to Israel were only for a time, is a false prophet who denies Moses' prophecy. He ends with Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that He should lie". 9:2: the prophet of Deuteronomy 18:18 does not come to make a new religion (dat), but to command the Torah's words and warn the people not to break them, as "the last of them" said: "Remember ye the law of Moses" (Malachi 3:22). A prophet's commands in matters the Torah leaves open must be obeyed (Deuteronomy 18:19). 9:3: if a proven prophet orders one or many commandments set aside for the hour (lefi sha'ah), he is obeyed, except in idolatry, as Elijah offered a sacrifice on Mount Carmel outside the Temple; but if he says a commandment is uprooted for ever, he is a false prophet and is put to death, "for the Torah said: unto us and to our children for ever".
“I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.”
“Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and ordinances.”
Halakhic discussion. A baraita on "unto him ye shall hearken" (Deuteronomy 18:15): even if the prophet tells you to transgress one of the commandments of the Torah, as Elijah did on Mount Carmel, everything according to the hour (ha-kol lefi sha'ah), listen to him. Elijah offered a sacrifice on Carmel when sacrifice outside the Temple was forbidden. The Gemara explains that obeying a prophet is itself a positive commandment, and that Elijah's case was a safeguard (migdar milta); Rashi explains that it brought the people back from idolatry. The same teaching, with "for the time being" (lefi sha'ah), is in Sifre Deuteronomy 175.
What the verses say in their plain sense
Read in their plain sense, these verses bind people, not God. Deuteronomy 13:1 speaks to Israel: "thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it". The next verses test a prophet who says, "Let us go after other gods". Deuteronomy 29:28 sets the secret things, which are God's (﷾), beside the revealed things, which Israel must keep. It says nothing about God (﷾) revealing no more. Deuteronomy 30:11-14 says the commandment is not too hard, not far off and not in heaven. It is "very nigh unto thee". Its point is that the law can be kept. Numbers 23:19 is from the oracle of Balaam, a seer hired to curse Israel. It says God (﷾) does not lie or go back on His promise to bless Israel. Leviticus 27:34 closes the book by naming what was commanded at Sinai. None of these verses says that God (﷾) will never send a prophet with a new law. This matters because the whole objection rests on these verses.
“All this word which I command you, that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.”
“If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams—and he give thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee—saying: ‘Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them’; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God putteth you to proof, to know whether ye do love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. After the LORD your God shall ye walk, and Him shall ye fear, and His commandments shall ye keep, and unto His voice shall ye hearken, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken perversion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.”
“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
“For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say: ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say: ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.”
“God is not a man, that He should lie; Neither the son of man, that He should repent: When He hath said, will He not do it? Or when He hath spoken, will He not make it good?”
“These are the commandments, which the LORD commanded Moses for the children of Israel in mount Sinai.”
| Verse | What it says |
|---|---|
| Deuteronomy 13:1 | Israel must not add to the law or take from it |
| Deuteronomy 29:28 | Israel must keep what God (﷾) has revealed |
| Deuteronomy 30:11-14 | The law is near and can be kept |
| Numbers 23:19 | God (﷾) does not lie or go back on His promise |
| Leviticus 27:34 | These commandments were given at Sinai |
The rabbis: a true prophet may order a law set aside
The rabbis themselves did not read 13:1 as a bar on every command beyond the text. A baraita is an early teaching quoted in the Talmud. One baraita reads "unto him ye shall hearken" (18:15) to include a command against the Torah's letter. Even if he says to break a commandment, as Elijah did on Mount Carmel, listen to him. The limit is in the same sentence: everything according to the hour. The Gemara, the Talmud's discussion, calls Elijah's act a safeguard. Rashi, the 11th-century commentator, explains that it brought the people back from idolatry. So the rabbinic reading is narrow, and this page uses it narrowly. It shows one thing. The words "thou shalt not add thereto" were never read as a bar on God (﷾) speaking through a prophet. Whether God (﷾) may end a law for good is a different question, answered below.
Halakhic discussion. A baraita on "unto him ye shall hearken" (Deuteronomy 18:15): even if the prophet tells you to transgress one of the commandments of the Torah, as Elijah did on Mount Carmel, everything according to the hour (ha-kol lefi sha'ah), listen to him. Elijah offered a sacrifice on Carmel when sacrifice outside the Temple was forbidden. The Gemara explains that obeying a prophet is itself a positive commandment, and that Elijah's case was a safeguard (migdar milta); Rashi explains that it brought the people back from idolatry. The same teaching, with "for the time being" (lefi sha'ah), is in Sifre Deuteronomy 175.
“A prophet will the LORD thy God raise up unto thee, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;”
Halakha. 9:1: the Torah is a commandment standing for ever, with no change, subtraction or addition. Maimonides cites Deuteronomy 13:1 ("thou shalt not add thereto"), Deuteronomy 29:28 ("unto us and to our children for ever"), the phrase chukat olam le-dorotechem ("a statute for ever throughout your generations"), and Deuteronomy 30:12 ("It is not in heaven"), from which he learns that no prophet may now introduce anything new. So a man, whether from the nations or from Israel, who gives a sign and says God sent him to add or remove a commandment, to explain one in a way not heard from Moses, or to say the commandments given to Israel were only for a time, is a false prophet who denies Moses' prophecy. He ends with Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that He should lie". 9:2: the prophet of Deuteronomy 18:18 does not come to make a new religion (dat), but to command the Torah's words and warn the people not to break them, as "the last of them" said: "Remember ye the law of Moses" (Malachi 3:22). A prophet's commands in matters the Torah leaves open must be obeyed (Deuteronomy 18:19). 9:3: if a proven prophet orders one or many commandments set aside for the hour (lefi sha'ah), he is obeyed, except in idolatry, as Elijah offered a sacrifice on Mount Carmel outside the Temple; but if he says a commandment is uprooted for ever, he is a false prophet and is put to death, "for the Torah said: unto us and to our children for ever".
God (﷾) has changed His law before, as Judaism holds
Judaism does not hold that God's (﷾) law was the same in every age. Adam was given plants for food. Noah was told, "Every moving thing that liveth shall be for food for you". Rav was a Babylonian sage of the 3rd century. He says in the Talmud that meat was not permitted to Adam and was permitted to Noah's sons. Maimonides' code lists the commandments as they grew: six to Adam, one more to Noah, and circumcision to Abraham. Isaac added tithes, Jacob the sinew of the thigh, and Amram more, until Moses came. Maimonides also writes that Jews circumcise because Moses commanded it, not because Abraham did. Jacob married two sisters, which Leviticus 18:18 forbids. Amram married his father's sister, which Leviticus 18:12 forbids. Jacob set up a pillar, which Deuteronomy 16:22 says God (﷾) hates. The Sifre, an early commentary on Deuteronomy, says the pillar was loved in the fathers' days and hated in their children's. Rav taught that Abraham kept the whole Torah before it was given. Nachmanides, the 13th-century commentator, asks how Jacob and Amram could then marry as they did. He answers that Abraham kept it by choice, and only in the Land of Israel. Jacob and Amram married outside the Land. Even on that answer, the fathers were not commanded what Sinai commanded. So the law God (﷾) gave was not the same before Sinai as after it. This matters because it moves the question. It is no longer whether God's (﷾) law can change. It is whether Sinai was the last change.
“And God said: ‘Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed—to you it shall be for food;”
“Every moving thing that liveth shall be for food for you; as the green herb have I given you all. Only flesh with the life thereof, which is the blood thereof, shall ye not eat.”
Halakhic discussion of the laws given to Noah's sons. Rav Yehuda says in the name of Rav (Babylonian sages, 3rd century): meat was not permitted to Adam, since Genesis 1:29 gives him plants for food. When the sons of Noah came, God permitted it to them: "as the green herb have I given you all" (Genesis 9:3). The same discussion cites a teaching that the sinew of the thigh is the one law given before Sinai and not repeated there, "and that according to Rabbi Judah".
Maimonides lists six commandments given to Adam: against idolatry, cursing God, murder, forbidden unions and theft, and to set up courts. To Noah was added the ban on flesh from a living animal (Genesis 9:4), making seven, and so it stood for the whole world until Abraham. Abraham was commanded circumcision; Isaac set aside tithes; "Jacob added the sinew of the thigh" (gid ha-nasheh); in Egypt Amram received further commandments; until Moses came and the Torah was completed through him. The seven Noahide commandments are what Jewish law asks of non-Jews; kashrut is not among them.
Maimonides rules that the halakha is not as Rabbi Judah. He calls the Sages' answer, "it was forbidden from Sinai", a great principle. Whatever Jews keep or avoid today, they keep only by God's command through Moses, not because God said it to the prophets before him. Jews avoid flesh from a living animal because of Moses' command, not Noah's, and circumcise because of Moses' command, not because Abraham did. "So too the sinew of the thigh: we do not follow the prohibition of Jacob our father, but the commandment of Moses our teacher."
“And Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week; and he gave him Rachel his daughter to wife.”
“And thou shalt not take a woman to her sister, to be a rival to her, to uncover her nakedness, beside the other in her lifetime.”
“And Amram took him Jochebed his father’s sister to wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses. And the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty and seven years.”
“Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father’s sister: she is thy father’s near kinswoman.”
“And Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil upon the top of it.”
“Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar, which the LORD thy God hateth.”
Halakhic midrash on "Neither shalt thou set thee up a pillar" (Deuteronomy 16:22). It reasons from the lesser to the greater: if the pillar, which was loved in the days of the fathers, is hateful in the days of their children, then idol worship, which was hateful to the fathers, is surely hateful to the children.
Aggadah. Rav says that Abraham our father kept the whole Torah, citing Genesis 26:5 ("kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws"). Rav Shimi bar Hiyya asks whether the verse means only the seven commandments given to Noah's sons, with circumcision; Rav answers from the plural "My laws". A second saying, given in the name of Rav or of Rav Ashi, adds that Abraham kept even a later rabbinic ordinance.
Nachmanides asks: if the fathers kept the Torah before Sinai, how did Jacob set up a pillar and marry two sisters, Amram marry his aunt, and Moses set up twelve pillars? He answers that Abraham learned the whole Torah by the holy spirit and kept it "as one who is not commanded and does it", and only in the Land of Israel. Jacob married the sisters outside the Land, and so did Amram his aunt. The pillar, he says, was a commandment that began at a set time: the Sifre teaches that God hated the pillar after it had been loved in the days of the fathers.
- Adam
Plants for food, and six commandments
- Noah
Meat allowed, but no flesh from a living animal
- Abraham
Circumcision
- Isaac, Jacob, Amram
Tithes, the sinew of the thigh, and more
- Moses
The Torah completed at Sinai
| Who | What he did | Forbidden later by |
|---|---|---|
| Jacob | Married two sisters | Leviticus 18:18 |
| Amram | Married his father's sister | Leviticus 18:12 |
| Jacob | Set up a pillar | Deuteronomy 16:22 |
"For ever" in the Torah
Many laws are called chukat olam, a lasting statute. The JPS translation of Leviticus 3:17 has "a perpetual statute throughout your generations". The Hebrew word olam does not by itself mean without end. A servant who chooses to stay with his master "shall serve him for ever". Rashi follows the Talmud here: it means until the Jubilee, the fiftieth year. A Jewish reader replies that olam is limited only where another verse limits it. Here Leviticus 25:10 does so. Then the word alone does not settle the question. Whether God (﷾) has set an end is known only from His own word. The rabbis also record a view that ends a lasting law. Leviticus Rabbah, an early collection of sermons, says all offerings will cease in the time to come, except the thanks offering. That is aggadah, the rabbis' teaching by story and sermon, and not law. Maimonides rules the opposite as law: in the Messiah's days the offerings return. So the word olam cannot close the question by itself.
“It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that ye shall eat neither fat nor blood.”
“then his master shall bring him unto God, and shall bring him to the door, or unto the door-post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall serve him for ever.”
On "he shall serve him for ever" (le-olam), Rashi writes: until the Jubilee. He asks whether le-olam might mean for ever in its usual sense, and answers from Leviticus 25:10, "ye shall return every man unto his family" in the fiftieth year. This teaches, he says, that fifty years are called olam. His source is the Talmud (Kiddushin 15a); the Mekhilta teaches the same.
Aggadah. Rabbi Pinchas, Rabbi Levi and Rabbi Yochanan, in the name of Rabbi Menachem of Galya (sages of the Land of Israel, 3rd-4th centuries): in the time to come all the offerings will cease, but the thanks offering will not; all prayers will cease, but thanksgiving will not. They cite Jeremiah 33:11.
Halakha. The King Messiah will arise, restore the kingdom of David, build the Temple and gather the scattered of Israel. In his days all the laws return as they were before: the offerings are brought, and the seventh and Jubilee years are kept as the Torah commands. Whoever does not believe in him, or does not await him, denies the Torah and Moses.
For the Reform or secular reader
The founding platform of American Reform Judaism dates from 1885. It did not hold the whole law of Moses binding. It said the law trained Israel for its mission during its national life in its ancient land. Only its moral laws still bind, it said, with the ceremonies that uplift. A reader who holds this already grants that laws given at Sinai can end. The question then is who may end them. If people decide, the law becomes human. The Qur'an's answer is that only God may lift a law He gave, and He does it through a prophet. It condemns any religion laid down "without the permission of Allah".
The founding platform of American Reform Judaism. Article 3 sees in the law of Moses a system for training the Jewish people for its mission during its national life in its ancient land. Today, it says, only its moral laws bind, with such ceremonies as uplift and sanctify life; ceremonies not adapted to modern life are rejected. Article 4 says the laws of diet, priestly purity and dress came from ideas foreign to the modern mind.
“What! have they partners (in godhead), who have established for them some religion without the permission of Allah? Had it not been for the Decree of Judgment, the matter would have been decided between them (at once). But verily the Wrong-doers will have a grievous Penalty.”
What Islam holds about the law of Moses
The Qur'an says God (﷾) revealed the Torah: "therein was guidance and light". Islam keeps its core. That is the worship of one God (﷾), without partner or image, and its moral law. Islam also holds plainly that some laws of Moses were for Israel for a time, and that God (﷾) lifted them. The Qur'an says Jesus came "to attest the Law which was before me". It says he also came to make lawful part of what had been forbidden. It says the unlettered Prophet (ﷺ) releases those who follow him "from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them". It says God (﷾) gives each community "a law and an open way". This is the very case Maimonides rules false, and Islam does not blur it. Islam's argument is that God, who gave the law, may lift what He laid on one people. No prophet does so by his own word. People once asked Muhammad (ﷺ) to change the Qur'an. He was told to say: "It is not for me, of my own accord, to change it". This matters to a Jewish reader because Islam does not ask him to think less of Moses or of the Torah. It asks whether God (﷾) has spoken again.
“It was We who revealed the law (to Moses): therein was guidance and light. By its standard have been judged the Jews, by the prophets who bowed (as in Islam) to Allah's will, by the rabbis and the doctors of law: for to them was entrusted the protection of Allah's book, and they were witnesses thereto: therefore fear not men, but fear me, and sell not my signs for a miserable price. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) Unbelievers.”
“"'(I have come to you), to attest the Law which was before me. And to make lawful to you part of what was (Before) forbidden to you; I have come to you with a Sign from your Lord. So fear Allah, and obey me.”
“"Those who follow the messenger, the unlettered Prophet, whom they find mentioned in their own (scriptures),- in the law and the Gospel;- for he commands them what is just and forbids them what is evil; he allows them as lawful what is good (and pure) and prohibits them from what is bad (and impure); He releases them from their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them. So it is those who believe in him, honour him, help him, and follow the light which is sent down with him,- it is they who will prosper."”
“To thee We sent the Scripture in truth, confirming the scripture that came before it, and guarding it in safety: so judge between them by what Allah hath revealed, and follow not their vain desires, diverging from the Truth that hath come to thee. To each among you have we prescribed a law and an open way. If Allah had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to Allah; it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which ye dispute;”
“But when Our Clear Signs are rehearsed unto them, those who rest not their hope on their meeting with Us, Say: "Bring us a reading other than this, or change this," Say: "It is not for me, of my own accord, to change it: I follow naught but what is revealed unto me: if I were to disobey my Lord, I should myself fear the penalty of a Great Day (to come)."”
“What! have they partners (in godhead), who have established for them some religion without the permission of Allah? Had it not been for the Decree of Judgment, the matter would have been decided between them (at once). But verily the Wrong-doers will have a grievous Penalty.”
The prophet the Torah promised
At Sinai, God (﷾) promised Moses a prophet "like unto thee", raised up "from among their brethren". God (﷾) said, "I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." Israel must hearken to him, and God (﷾) will hold to account whoever does not. The verse sets no limit on what God (﷾) will command. Near its end, the Torah says no prophet like Moses had arisen in Israel since. Moses brought a law. A prophet like him would bring one too. Islam holds that this prophet is Muhammad (ﷺ), from the line of Ishmael. The page "Who is the prophet like Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18?" gives that case in full. Deuteronomy 13 tests a prophet by whether he calls to other gods. The Qur'an calls Jews and Christians to worship none but God (﷾). That is the God (﷾) of the Shema, Israel's daily declaration that the LORD is one.
“A prophet will the LORD thy God raise up unto thee, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;”
“I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.”
“And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face;”
“If there arise in the midst of thee a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams—and he give thee a sign or a wonder, and the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spoke unto thee—saying: ‘Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them’; thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or unto that dreamer of dreams; for the LORD your God putteth you to proof, to know whether ye do love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. After the LORD your God shall ye walk, and Him shall ye fear, and His commandments shall ye keep, and unto His voice shall ye hearken, and Him shall ye serve, and unto Him shall ye cleave. And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken perversion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, to draw thee aside out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put away the evil from the midst of thee.”
“Say: "O People of the Book! come to common terms as between us and you: That we worship none but Allah; that we associate no partners with him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than Allah." If then they turn back, say ye: "Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to Allah's Will).”
Doesn't Islam close the door too?
A learned Jew will turn the question round. Islam also says no prophet comes after Muhammad (ﷺ), and that its law will not change. The difference is in what each book says of itself. The Qur'an says plainly that he is "the Seal of the Prophets". The Torah does not say that of Moses. It promises a prophet to whom Israel must listen, and says none like Moses had arisen since. Islam also never denies God's (﷾) right to change a law. The Qur'an speaks of God (﷾) replacing one ruling with another in the Prophet's (ﷺ) own lifetime. So each book is judged by its own words. Islam holds that the change came from God (﷾), and that God (﷾) has said this message is the last.
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things.”
“A prophet will the LORD thy God raise up unto thee, from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;”
“And there hath not arisen a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face;”
“None of Our revelations do We abrogate or cause to be forgotten, but We substitute something better or similar: Knowest thou not that Allah Hath power over all things?”
| Book | What it says |
|---|---|
| The Torah | A prophet like Moses will come, and Israel must listen to him |
| The Qur'an | Muhammad (ﷺ) is the Seal of the Prophets |
Islam's answer
So the answer has two parts. No prophet may change God's (﷾) law by himself, and on that the Torah and the Qur'an agree. God (﷾) may change it, and the Torah shows that He has. What remains is a question of fact: did God (﷾) send the prophet He promised? The Qur'an asks to be tested on exactly that. It challenges anyone who doubts it to produce a chapter like it. It says that a book from anyone but God (﷾) would hold much contradiction. Read the Qur'an in a translation you trust, and weigh it for yourself.
“I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which he shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.”
“What! have they partners (in godhead), who have established for them some religion without the permission of Allah? Had it not been for the Decree of Judgment, the matter would have been decided between them (at once). But verily the Wrong-doers will have a grievous Penalty.”
“And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Sura like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (If there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.”
“Do they not consider the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other Than Allah, they would surely have found therein Much discrepancy.”
Replies a learned Jew makes, answered
Deuteronomy 13:1 — Torah, Devarim, chapter 13, verse 1
“All this word which I command you, that shall ye observe to do; thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.”
Cited for
The Torah says, "thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it". Any prophet who changes a commandment breaks the Torah itself, so he cannot be from God.
The response
The verse speaks to Israel. It forbids people to change God's (﷾) law. The rabbis themselves read "unto him ye shall hearken" to cover a prophet's command against the Torah's letter. And the next verses test a prophet who calls to "other gods". Islam calls to the God (﷾) of the Shema alone.
Where it lands — Deuteronomy 13:1 bars human change to God's (﷾) law. It does not bar God (﷾) from speaking through a prophet.
Mishneh Torah, Foundations of the Torah 9:1-3 — Book of Knowledge, Laws of the Foundations of the Torah, chapter 9, halakhot 1-3
Halakha. 9:1: the Torah is a commandment standing for ever, with no change, subtraction or addition. Maimonides cites Deuteronomy 13:1 ("thou shalt not add thereto"), Deuteronomy 29:28 ("unto us and to our children for ever"), the phrase chukat olam le-dorotechem ("a statute for ever throughout your generations"), and Deuteronomy 30:12 ("It is not in heaven"), from which he learns that no prophet may now introduce anything new. So a man, whether from the nations or from Israel, who gives a sign and says God sent him to add or remove a commandment, to explain one in a way not heard from Moses, or to say the commandments given to Israel were only for a time, is a false prophet who denies Moses' prophecy. He ends with Numbers 23:19, "God is not a man, that He should lie". 9:2: the prophet of Deuteronomy 18:18 does not come to make a new religion (dat), but to command the Torah's words and warn the people not to break them, as "the last of them" said: "Remember ye the law of Moses" (Malachi 3:22). A prophet's commands in matters the Torah leaves open must be obeyed (Deuteronomy 18:19). 9:3: if a proven prophet orders one or many commandments set aside for the hour (lefi sha'ah), he is obeyed, except in idolatry, as Elijah offered a sacrifice on Mount Carmel outside the Temple; but if he says a commandment is uprooted for ever, he is a false prophet and is put to death, "for the Torah said: unto us and to our children for ever".
Cited for
Maimonides explains Deuteronomy 18:18. The promised prophet does not found a new religion. He only commands the Torah's words, as Malachi said: "Remember ye the law of Moses".
The response
The Torah's own words say more. God (﷾) puts His words in that prophet's mouth, and "he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him". No limit is set on what God (﷾) will command. The prophet is "like unto" Moses, who brought a law. Malachi told Israel to remember Moses' law, and Islam honours it as guidance and light. Malachi did not say God (﷾) would never give another.
Where it lands — Deuteronomy 18:18 sets no limit on what God (﷾) will command the promised prophet. The limit is Maimonides' reading.
Deuteronomy 29:28 — Torah, Devarim, chapter 29, verse 28
“The secret things belong unto the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Cited for
The Torah says "the things that are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever". Every word of the Torah binds Israel for ever.
The response
The verse sets two things side by side. The secret things belong to God (﷾), and the revealed things Israel must keep. It binds Israel to do what God (﷾) has revealed. It does not say God (﷾) will reveal nothing more. What God (﷾) does next belongs to the secret things.
Where it lands — Deuteronomy 29:28 binds Israel to what God (﷾) revealed. It does not close God's (﷾) revelation.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14 — Torah, Devarim, chapter 30, verses 11-14
“For this commandment which I command thee this day, it is not too hard for thee, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that thou shouldest say: ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that thou shouldest say: ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?’ But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.”
Cited for
"It is not in heaven." The Torah is no longer in heaven, so no prophet may bring a new law. The Talmud says this was the answer when the people asked to recover forgotten laws by prophecy.
The response
In its plain sense the passage says the commandment is near. It is not too hard, not in heaven and not beyond the sea. It is "very nigh unto thee". Its point is that Israel can keep the law. It says nothing about whether God (﷾) will send another prophet. The rabbis' use of the verse is a reading of it.
Where it lands — "It is not in heaven" says the law is within reach. It does not forbid God (﷾) to speak again.
Numbers 23:19 — Torah, Bamidbar, chapter 23, verse 19
“God is not a man, that He should lie; Neither the son of man, that He should repent: When He hath said, will He not do it? Or when He hath spoken, will He not make it good?”
Cited for
"God is not a man, that He should lie; Neither the son of man, that He should repent". A God who said "for ever" does not change His mind.
The response
Balaam says this to promise that God (﷾) will keep His word to bless Israel. Giving a new law for a new time is not a lie or regret. Judaism itself holds that God (﷾) gave Noah, Abraham and Moses different commandments. Maimonides writes that Jews circumcise by Moses' command, not Abraham's. Sinai did not make God false to Abraham.
Where it lands — Changing a law for a new time is not God changing His mind, as Judaism's own account of the law before Sinai shows.
Sifra, Bechukotai 13:7 — on Leviticus 27:34
Halakhic midrash on the last verse of Leviticus, in the paragraph that opens with a teaching of Rabbi (Rabbi Judah the Prince, compiler of the Mishnah, about 200 CE): "These are the commandments" teaches that no prophet may introduce anything new from now on.
Cited for
The Sifra, in a paragraph opened by Rabbi Judah the Prince, teaches that "These are the commandments" means no prophet may bring anything new. The Talmud applies this rule in several places.
The response
The verse closes Leviticus by naming what God (﷾) commanded Moses at Sinai. It names what was given. It does not say God (﷾) will give nothing later. The Qur'an condemns religion laid down "without the permission of Allah". So the question is never whether a prophet may invent law. It is whether God (﷾) sent him, and the Torah says God (﷾) would send one.
Where it lands — Leviticus 27:34 names the Sinai law. It does not say God (﷾) will never send a prophet with His words.
Babylonian Talmud, Yevamot 90b — tractate Yevamot, folio 90b
Halakhic discussion. A baraita on "unto him ye shall hearken" (Deuteronomy 18:15): even if the prophet tells you to transgress one of the commandments of the Torah, as Elijah did on Mount Carmel, everything according to the hour (ha-kol lefi sha'ah), listen to him. Elijah offered a sacrifice on Carmel when sacrifice outside the Temple was forbidden. The Gemara explains that obeying a prophet is itself a positive commandment, and that Elijah's case was a safeguard (migdar milta); Rashi explains that it brought the people back from idolatry. The same teaching, with "for the time being" (lefi sha'ah), is in Sifre Deuteronomy 175.
Cited for
Elijah's case was for the hour only. The same teaching says everything is according to the hour, and Maimonides rules that a prophet who ends a law for good is false.
The response
Yes, the limit is in the same teaching, and Maimonides rules so. This page uses the passage for one narrow point. The rabbis read "unto him ye shall hearken" to cover a command against the Torah's letter. So they did not read "thou shalt not add thereto" as a bar on God (﷾) speaking through a prophet. Whether God (﷾) may end a law for good is not settled here. It turns on whether He sent the prophet the Torah promised.
Where it lands — Even the rabbis read the duty to hearken as covering a command beyond the Torah's letter. The rest turns on the promised prophet.
Ramban on Genesis 26:5 — commentary on the Torah, Bereshit, chapter 26, verse 5
Nachmanides asks: if the fathers kept the Torah before Sinai, how did Jacob set up a pillar and marry two sisters, Amram marry his aunt, and Moses set up twelve pillars? He answers that Abraham learned the whole Torah by the holy spirit and kept it "as one who is not commanded and does it", and only in the Land of Israel. Jacob married the sisters outside the Land, and so did Amram his aunt. The pillar, he says, was a commandment that began at a set time: the Sifre teaches that God hated the pillar after it had been loved in the days of the fathers.
Cited for
The fathers kept the whole Torah before Sinai. Abraham kept it by choice and only in the Land, and Jacob married two sisters outside it. So the law never changed.
The response
Even on Nachmanides' answer, the fathers were not commanded what Sinai commanded. Noah's sons were given meat that Adam was not. Maimonides lists commandments added from Adam to Moses. The Sifre says God (﷾) hated the pillar that He loved in the fathers' days. So Judaism holds that God (﷾) has changed His law before.
Where it lands — God's (﷾) law before Sinai was not the law of Sinai, by Judaism's own sources. The question is only whether Sinai was the last change.
Leviticus 3:17 — Torah, Vayikra, chapter 3, verse 17
“It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that ye shall eat neither fat nor blood.”
Cited for
Olam is limited only where another verse limits it, as Leviticus 25:10 limits the servant's "for ever". No verse limits chukat olam le-dorotechem, a lasting statute for your generations.
The response
Then the word alone does not decide. A verse from God (﷾) can limit olam, as the Jubilee verse does. Whether God (﷾) has limited a law is known from His word. The Torah tells of a prophet with God's (﷾) words in his mouth. If God (﷾) speaks through him, that is a limit from God (﷾). Leviticus Rabbah even records a view that the offerings will one day cease, though Maimonides rules they return.
Where it lands — Olam does not by itself mean without end. Whether God (﷾) has set an end turns on whether He spoke again.
Qur'an 33:40 — Surat al-Ahzab (The Clans), verse 40
“Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but (he is) the Messenger of Allah, and the Seal of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all things.”
Cited for
Islam does the same. It says Muhammad (ﷺ) is the last prophet and its law cannot change. It closes the door it says Judaism has no right to close.
The response
Each book is judged by its own words. The Qur'an says plainly that Muhammad (ﷺ) is "the Seal of the Prophets". The Torah does not say that of Moses. It promises a prophet to whom Israel must listen, and says none like Moses had arisen since. Islam never denies God's (﷾) right to change a law. It holds that God (﷾) changed it, and that God (﷾) said this message is the last.
Where it lands — Islam's closing rests on the Qur'an's own words. The Torah's own words look forward to a prophet.
Perspectives
Maimonides and the rabbinic tradition
The Torah of Moses is God's law for ever. No prophet may add to it or take from it. A prophet who says a commandment was only for a time is a false prophet, whatever signs he gives.
Deuteronomy 13:1 forbids adding to the commandments or taking from them, so no later prophet may change them.
Rebuttal
The verse tells Israel, "thou shalt not add thereto": it bars people from changing God's (﷾) law. It does not bind God (﷾). Five chapters later God (﷾) promised a prophet with His words, and said, "unto him ye shall hearken".
Maimonides rules that a prophet who says the commandments were only for a time is a false prophet.
Rebuttal
Maimonides draws the ruling from verses that do not say it. Those verses bind Israel to keep what God (﷾) revealed, and say the law is near. His own code lists laws God (﷾) added from Adam to Moses.
"These are the commandments" (Leviticus 27:34) teaches that no prophet may bring anything new from now on.
Rebuttal
The verse names what God (﷾) commanded Moses at Sinai. It forbids nothing to God (﷾). The Qur'an too condemns religion laid down "without the permission of Allah", so the question is whether God (﷾) gave it.
The Torah calls its statutes olam, lasting for ever, so they can never end.
Rebuttal
Olam does not by itself mean without end. Rashi reads a servant's "for ever" as until the Jubilee. Whether God (﷾) has set an end is known only from His own word.
Numbers 23:19 says God is not a man, that He should lie or repent. So He does not take back His law.
Rebuttal
Giving a new law for a new time is neither a lie nor regret. Maimonides writes that Jews circumcise by Moses' command, not Abraham's. Sinai did not make God false to Abraham.
Reform Judaism (1885)
The law of Moses trained Israel for its mission during its national life in its ancient land. Today only its moral laws bind, with the ceremonies that uplift.
Many laws of Moses belonged to their age, and Jews today choose which ceremonies to keep.
Rebuttal
This grants that laws given at Sinai can end. The question is who may end them. The Qur'an says only God (﷾) may, and that He did so through a prophet.
The Islamic perspective
God (﷾) gave Moses the Torah, with guidance and light, for Israel. God (﷾) may lift laws He laid on one people, and the Qur'an says He did, through Jesus and Muhammad (ﷺ). No prophet and no scholar may change God's (﷾) law by his own word.
The Qur'an says Jesus came to confirm the Torah and to make lawful part of what had been forbidden to Israel.
The Qur'an says the unlettered Prophet (ﷺ) releases those who follow him from "their heavy burdens and from the yokes that are upon them". It says this of people who find him in the Torah and the Gospel.
No prophet changes God's (﷾) law by himself. Muhammad (ﷺ) was told to say that it is not for him to change the Qur'an of his own accord.
God (﷾) gives each community a law and a way, and only He may lift a law He gave.
The Torah promised a prophet like Moses, with God's (﷾) words in his mouth, to whom Israel must hearken.
Deuteronomy 13 tests a prophet by whether he calls to other gods, and the Qur'an calls to the one God (﷾) alone.