Islam - John 1:20-21

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John 1:20-21: "And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No."
Problem:: Moslems argue that there are three referents in this passage, Christ, Elijah and The Prophet. Thus, they argue, the prophet is not Christ or Elijah. They go on to claim that the prophet here is the prophet like Moses from Deuteronomy 18:18,19, and that this is a major prophet following Christ, who can only be Muhammad.
Solution:: The two verses cited by Moslems represent the beliefs of Jews about the various prophecies of the Old Testament. These beliefs need not be correct. In fact there were several misunderstandings of the Old Testament prophecies of Messiah. The Jews had not understood that Messiah the king and the suffering servant of God were the same person. Similarly they had not understood that the Messiah and the prophet like Moses were the same person. One cannot take the opinions of the Scribes and Pharisees as a good guide to an understanding of Jesus Christ.