Series: Debunking untruths about words related to MHMD/Muhammad before Islam

MHMD, the written form of the name Muhammad, is recorded in three different traditions as a name for ordinary people in Arabia. This ordinary name found in both Arabic and the Old South Arabian language family before the birth of Islam’s Muhammad. Additionally, neither Muhammad nor MHMD has never been documented as a title in any language at any point from ancient times through the end of medieval period. To emphasize: “MHMD” as it is found in early writings cannot be a title grammatically, and it is also never used as a title in context.

This article will explore the use of MHMD/Muhammad specifically in Arabic and Old South Arabian contexts, explaining its documented use as a name, its meaning, its grammar, and its use in early Islamic writings. Another article will explore HMD/MHMD in other Semitic languages.

This article will explain why Semitic languages other than Arabic have the same letters as in Muhammad, “MHMD,” representing a word in their languages. It will lay out the relation between these languages and Arabic. It will also demonstrate that “MHMD”/Muhammad has never been used as a title or even as a name in two of the Northwest Semitic languages (Proto-Canaanite and Ugaritic) and that MHMD in those languages means “desire,” not “chosen one.”

Despite many corrections, Jay Smith continues to teach indefensibly false things about the word MHMD in all its variants in different Semitic languages. We have debunked his false claim that Muhammad was never a name before Islam here. We debunk his claim that it “comes from” the Ugaritic language and means “annointed” or “chosen” as well as other claims here. In this third article, we will deal with the false claims he makes about the uses of MHMD in Hebrew and Aramaic. In Hebrew, the root HMD and all words derived from it never means anything except “desirable,” and it is never used as a title or as a name. In Aramaic (and Syriac), it has the same meaning, and again, it is never used as a title and it is not used as a name until Muhammad, the founder of Islam, appears in the sources. Finally, we will debunk the most flagrantly false claim, that MHMD or Muhammad or Mahmed or Makmad or some other variant of this name was used as a title of Jewish exiliarchs.

One of the most outrageous claims about the pre-Islamic use of Muhammad or the written form MHMD is that this was an existing way in which Christians, Jews, or both referred to a messiah or to Jesus Christ specifically. There is no support for this. Not in any language. Not in any context. It has already been shown that in the Northwest Semitic languages, including Ugaritic and Canaanite as well as the specific Hebrew dialect and Aramaic/Syriac, the root HMD meant only “desire” and has no other meaning. The claim that any exilarch was called a “Muhammad” has been shown to be a fabrication by an anti-Christian proselytizer whom Jay Smith platforms. And furthermore, that it was an existing ordinary human name in Arabic and Old South Arabian has also been established, with the meaning of “praise” and no other. There are only a few false claims that remain to be debunked surrounding the assertion that “MHMD” in some form was used in some other context to refer to a/the Messiah.