Muhammad in The Bible 4: The Desirable groom in Song of Solomon

Enthusiastic debates are fired up by the claim that the prophet of Islam is clearly pictured within The Song of Solomon. Some apologists become even more enthusiastic when discovering that one of the Hebrew words in The Song of Solomon is phonetically similar to the name of the prophet of Islam. The following are the verses in question:

[Sng 5:10-16 HCSB] 10 My love is fit and strong, notable among ten thousand.  11 His head is purest gold. His hair is wavy and black as a raven.  12 His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, washed in milk and set like jewels.  13 His cheeks are like beds of spice, towers of perfume. His lips are lilies, dripping with flowing myrrh.  14 His arms are rods of gold set with topaz. His body is an ivory panel covered with sapphires.  15 His legs are alabaster pillars set on pedestals of pure gold. His presence is like Lebanon, as majestic as the cedars.  16 His mouth is sweetness. He is absolutely desirable. This is my love, and this is my friend, young women of Jerusalem. 

Grammatical study of this claim

Some Muslim apologists claim that the description here fits exactly to the physical description to prophet Muhammad. The argument claims to be strengthened by the phrase "He is absolutely desirable". This phrase in verse 16 reads in hebrew וְכֻלּ֖וֹ  מַחֲמַדִּ֑ים   - wə-ḵul-lōw ma-ḥă-mad-dîm; - my translation would be “and all of him is object of desire”, or ” the whole of him are objects of desire”. I'm not a Doctor in Hebrew grammar, but I've coursed for 1 year biblical Hebrew with the University of Jerusalem.  This provides me with sufficient grammatical tools to analyze and translate verses using the right tools, as shown below.

  

The Hebrew word wə-ḵul-lōw is composed of 3 parts. The prefix, wə is the conjunction "and"; this conjunction is often used in the Bible to denote a new sentence within a paragraph. The root kul (kaph-lamed) means “all, the whole”, very similar to the Arabic word. And finally the suffix vav, which is the pronominal suffix for the third person, singular, masculine (i.e. of him)

The Hebrew word ma-ḥă-mad-dîm (note in the transliteration there is a little dot under the h, this means it should be read with stronger accent than just a regular h, because is the letter chet and not the letter hey) is composed of 3 parts too. The root chet-mem-dalet, the prefix mem, and the suffix yod-mem. The root (which gives us the filed of meaning of a word) chet-mem-dalet is defined in the Strong's interlinear H2530 as "to desire, to take pleasure in, to covet". The prefix mem in this case indicate that the word is structured as a noun. Finally, the suffix yod-mem is the particle added to build the plural form of a plural noun.

The above detailed Hebrew grammar analysis serves two purposes:

1. The fact that a part (not the whole word) sounds similar (not equal) to the name of the prophet Muhammad, demonstrates this is a phonetical coincidence only. It does not bear grammatical sense translating this as “his name is Machamad” or "he is Machamad". 
2. Translators try to render the best possible translation to keep the word in context. Quite a challenge when translating a poetical verse. A word by word translation, less poetical is what I have rendered as "the whole of his, are objects of desire"

For the sake of argument (and not because I consider it so) if in this verse really meant to carry the name of a person, the fair translation would be "the whole of his is Machamadim" which is indeed far from being Muhammad. Besides the phrase does not make sense using a person's name (proper noun).

Other gaps in the argument

If anyone was to accept that the character described in Songs of Solomon 5:10-16 was indeed prophet Muhammad, then by consequence it would be fair to say that any other description to this male character in this book must also be met by prophet Muhammad.

a) Is there any reference to the name of Muhammad being "poured anointing oil"? Isn't this a reference of a Messiah or a King? 

[Sng 1:3 HCSB] 3 The fragrance of your perfume is intoxicating; your name is perfume poured out (shemen toraq shemeach). No wonder young women adore you. 

The word Shemen is defined in the Strong's lexicon H8081 as Oil for anointing, fat;

The word Toraq is the yiqtol verb in the hophal binyanim (passive) of the root ruq רִיק  which means "poured out",

Is the name of Mohammad "poured out anointing oil" or "poured fat"? The description here would seem to be more relation to an anointed person such as the Meshiach or to a King, King Solomon who is also anointed.

b) Has Muhammad ever been referred as a "King" or as a "Sacrifice"?

[Sng 2:9 HCSB] 9 My love is like a gazelle (tsĕbiy) or a young stag (`opher ha’ayalim). Look, he is standing behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattice.

The word tsĕbiy (Strong's H6643) means beauty glory, honor, roebuck, gazelle;  it comes from the root tsabah (Strong's H1868) which means to swell up, hence tebyi indicates prominence like a King.

The words rendered in the translation as Young Stag come from the words  עֹפֶר `opher ( Strong's H6082 meaning young hart, young wild goat) and אַיָּל 'ayal (H354 Which according to the Gesenius lexicon means Great Ram).

The same person as Mohammed is allegorically related to a Great Ram, a Prominent Ram in its youth. Ram is symbol of great power. However also a symbol of one of the sacrifices for God. 

The ram was presented as a holocaust or a thank-offering by the people or by their chiefs, the high priest or ordinary priests, and by the Nazarite, never by an individual layman. It was the ordinary trespass-offering for violation of property rights. - http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12984-sacrifice

A ram was provided for Abraham instead of his son, as described in Genesis 22:13. The word in Genesis 22:13 is 'ayil (H352, Ram). 'ayal (H354) is the intensive form of 'ayil, hence why 'ayil is rendered as a Great Ram.

Was prophet Muhammad seen as a King or as a Sacrifice? Neither the Qur'an nor the Hadith gave Muhammad the tittle King, nor Sacrifice, nor Holocaust.

c) Was Muhammad conceived and born under an apple tree or in a Town in Judah? 

[Sng 8:5 HCSB] 5 Who is this coming up from the wilderness, leaning on the one she loves? I awakened you under the apple tree. There your mother conceived you; there she conceived and gave you birth.

The word translated as apple tree is H8598 תַּפּוּחַ tappuwach. According to the Gesenius Lexicon, the word tappuwach is also the name of a town in the tribe of Judah (strong's H8599, etymologically the same as H8598, apple tree), which was in the confines of the tribes of the Tribe of Ephraim and Manasseh (Joshua 12:17 - 15:34).

There is no reference for prophet Muhammad being conceived under an applet tree nor coming from the tribe of Judah. 

Conclusion 

The purpose of this article is not to determine who is the main male character described in the Song of Solomon. The purpose is to test if indeed prophet Muhammad fits the description. Though at a glance the verses from Song Solomon 5:10-16 may apparently fit Muhammad, a deeper grammatical analysis present major gaps on the claim that his name is clearly spelled in verse 16.

In addition to that, whoever is the character described in this book, that person should fit all of the descriptions provided, not just some.

_________________________________________

Strong's and Gesenius lexicon sources obtained online from http://www.blueletterbible.org/