Home > Surah 45 - The Crouching
This verse belongs to the Mecaan period when the Quran was attempting to establish Muhammad’s continuity with the biblical tradition by highlighting the supreme status of the Israelite prophetic office.
Introduction: This verse contains the "Triple Crown of Israel Clause." It lists the three specific gifts—Scripture, Wisdom, and Prophethood—that God officially deposited within the lineage of the Children of Israel.
This is a vital verse to argue against the legitimacy of an Arabian prophet who claims a "new" line of authority outside of the one God officially favored above all others.
Surah 45:16
And verily We gave the Children of Israel the Scripture and the Command and the Prophethood, and provided them with good things and favoured them above peoples.
The verse states that God gave "The Prophethood" (An-Nubuwwah) to the Children of Israel.
In Arabic, the definite article Al- (in An-Nubuwwah) implies the entirety or the office of prophethood.
If God gave "The Prophethood" to the Israelites and favored them "above all peoples," then anyone claiming to be a prophet must be judged by the Israelite standard and emerge from that favored line.
Muhammad is not a child of Israel. If the "Prophethood" is an Israelite inheritance, Muhammad is an intruder. By the Quran’s own admission, the "office" belongs to the line of Isaac and Jacob (as explicitly seen in Surah 29:27).
The verse says God favored them "above all peoples" (‘alā-l-’ālamīn).
Islamic apologists claim the Jews lost their favor because of their sins.
However, the verse is written in the past tense (ātaynā / faḍḍalnā) as a foundational fact of history. If God "favored them" because of the Scripture and Prophethood He gave them, that favor is tied to the existence of the Book.
If the Jews were "favored" because of their Scripture, and that Scripture (the Bible) refutes Muhammad, then God "favored" a people and a book that proves Islam wrong. You cannot call them the "favored heirs of Prophethood" and then claim their entire prophetic library is a "corrupted lie."
God gave Israel Al-Hukm—the authority to judge.
This means the Children of Israel were given the judicial "Criterion."
If they were the ones given the "Command," then their judicial decision regarding Muhammad’s claim is the one that carries weight. When the rabbis of Medina used their Hukm to reject Muhammad because he contradicted their Kitab, they were using the very tools God says He gave them in 45:16.
Surah 45:16 says that God gave the 'Prophethood' and the 'Scripture' to the Children of Israel and favored them above all nations.
If 'The Prophethood' is an Israelite gift, why is Muhammad—who is not an Israelite—claiming to hold it?
Islam says the Jews were 'replaced,' but your Book says they were favored 'above all peoples' because of the Book they held.
That 'favored' Book says the Messiah is the Son of God. If God gave them the 'Command' and the 'Prophethood,' He gave them the authority to know who a true prophet is.
Either the 'Prophethood' is an Israelite office (making Muhammad an outsider), or God's favor and gift to Israel were a failure.
If the Prophethood belongs to the Children of Israel, then I must follow the Israelite Prophets—who all lead to Christ, not to an Arabian message that denies Him.