Well Muslims claim that in Song of Songs 5:16 it mentions Muhammad by name. Well there are two problems with this.

1. is it a persons name? or is it just a Hebrew word?

2. What is the context of this verse, is it in a book of prophecy?

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1. Let us look at problem one.

is this word a name, or a common Hebrew word.

חכו ממתקים וכלו מחמדים זה דודי וזה רעי בנות ירושׁלם׃

מחמדים the Hebrew letters are Mem - Chet - Mem - Dalet - Mem or mchmdm, so is this word used anywhere else?

Yes, 11 times in the Hebrew scriptures.

First let us look for the triliteral root of the word, as this generally sets the meanings of derived words.

From Gesenius' Hebrew Grammar (1909) we can see:

"ETYMOLOGY, OR THE PARTS OF SPEECH

§30. Stems and Roots[1]: Biliteral, Triliteral, and Quadriliteral.

30a 1. Stems in Hebrew, as in the other Semitic languages, have this peculiarity, that by far the majority of them consist of three consonants. On these the meaning essentially depends, while the various modifications of the idea are expressed rather by changes in the vowels

So what if any, are the roots of the word supposed to be Muhammad?

It is given as CHAMAD - the root consonants are:

Chet - Mem - Dalet,

Here is Strong's Analytical Concordance

חמד

châmad

khaw-mad'

A primitive root; to delight in: - beauty, greatly beloved, covet, delectable thing, ( X great) delight, desire, goodly, lust, (be) pleasant (thing), precious (thing).

And this is a verb:

This is where this word chamad appears.

Total KJV Occurrences: 29

desired, 5

Gen3:6, Job20:20, Psa19:10, Pro21:20, Isa1:29

desire, 4

Exo34:24, Deu5:21, Deu7:25, Isa53:2

beloved, 3

Dan9:23, Dan10:11, Dan10:19

covet, 3

Exo20:17 (2), Mic2:2

pleasant, 3

Gen2:9, Dan10:3, Dan11:38

precious, 3

2Ch20:25, Ezr8:27, Dan11:43

desireth, 2

Psa68:16, Pro12:12

beauty, 1

Psa39:11

coveted, 1

Jos7:21

delectable, 1

Isa44:9

delight, 1

Son2:3

goodly, 1

Gen27:15

lust, 1

Pro6:25

So this root word is commonly used, it appears twice in the ten commandments, and it even appears in the Song of Solomon chapter 2 verse 3 as the word DELIGHT

So what are the derivatives of chamad and do they all follow the same meaning?

Well here are some adjectival nouns made from chamad

מחמד

machmâd

Total KJV Occurrences: 11

pleasant, 5

1Ki20:6, Isa64:11, Lam1:10, Hos9:6, Joe3:5

desire, 3

Eze24:16, Eze24:21, Eze24:25

beloved, 1

Hos9:16

goodly, 1

2Ch36:19

lovely, 1

Son_5:16

So the word machmad is found eleven times with similar meanings to it's root chamad.

So now we know that machmad is a common Hebrew word, we know where it appears and we know what it means.

But is it possible that this Hebrew word is coincidently the same as a person's name?

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2. Now for problem two.

What is the context of this verse, is it in a book of prophecy?

There is no prophecy contained in the Songs, and as for 5:16, let's look at the context.

Who is speaking, who is listening, what is the subject.

Son 5:5 I rose up to open to my beloved; and my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh, upon the handles of the lock.

So this is the Shulamite woman, going to open the door to let her beloved in

Son 5:6 I opened to my beloved; but my beloved had withdrawn himself, and was gone ... I sought him, but I could not find him

So her beloved has gone, so she enlists the help of the other ladies.

Son 5:8 I charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him, that I am sick of love.

So she asks the daughters of Jerusalem to look out for him.

Next the person speaking changes, it is the women

Son 5:9 What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? what is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?

So why is he more beloved than others? they want to know why. The next verses are the Shulamite woman describing her Dodi - her beloved

Here it is in the Easy Reading Version

Woman: I tell you, women of Jerusalem, if you find my lover, tell him I am weak with love.

Women: Beautiful woman, how is your lover different from other lovers? Is your lover better than other lovers? Is that why you ask us to make this promise?

Now the woman gives the description of her lover.

My lover is tanned and radiant. He would stand out among 10,000 men.

His head is like the purest gold.

His hair is curly and as black as a raven.

His eyes are like doves by a stream, like doves in a pool of milk, like a jewel in its setting.

His cheeks are like a garden of spices, like flowers used for perfume.

His lips are like lilies, dripping with liquid myrrh.

His arms are like gold rods, filled with jewels.

His body is like smooth ivory with sapphires set in it.

His legs are like marble pillars on bases of fine gold.

He stands tall like the finest cedar tree in Lebanon!

Yes, women of Jerusalem,

My lover is everything I desire.

His mouth is the sweetest of all.

This is my lover; this is my darling.

So, the context is, the Shulamite woman is giving a poetic description of her lover - they are to look for him THEN, this is not a prophecy at all, it is a decription of one of the lovers in the Songs of Solomon.

So for point 1. Machmad is a normal Hebrew word derived from chamad

And for point 2. This word is used in the context of describing the Shulamite woman's lover.

(and as for the IM ending, it is just one of many endings that can be used - all of him (plural) is followed by the adjectival noun desirable (im)

There is no plural of respect in the Hebrew, there is a numerical plural (quantative) and a superlative plural (qualative) - an example from the same verse

Sweet = MAMTAQ: MOST sweet = MAMTAQIM

Desired = Machmad: MOST desired = MACHMADIM

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Conclusion

MACHMAD is not a persons name, it is a normal Hebrew word

MACHMAD is not even coincidently a name as the context does not fit.

So the name Muhammad does not appear in the Hebrew scriptures.

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For the Hebrew / English interlinear

http://www.scripture4all.org/OnlineInterlinear/OTpdf/can5.pdf