A Critical Theological and Historical Analysis

By Dr. Maxwell Shimba, Shimba Theological Institute

Introduction

The claim that Islam predates Muhammad and has been the original faith since Adam is central to Islamic theology. Islamic orthodoxy posits a universalist view: all prophets were Muslims, all past revelations are part of the continuum of Islam, and thus, Islam is as old as humanity itself.¹ Yet, this claim merits rigorous examination against the backdrop of ancient textual evidence, religious self-identification, and historical consciousness.

This paper critically examines whether Islam, as a religious identity and doctrinal system, existed before Muhammad. Special emphasis is placed on primary sources, historical method, and direct engagement with major Islamic apologetic arguments.

The Islamic Universalist Claim

The Core Assertion

Muslim theologians assert that "Islam" is not limited to the system established by Muhammad, but is instead the primordial faith of all genuine prophets and their followers.² The Quran itself declares:

"Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam."
(Quran 3:19)

And regarding Abraham:

"He was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but a true Muslim (hanifan musliman), and was not of the polytheists."
(Quran 3:67)

Based on such verses, Muslims believe that Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus all preached "Islam" and were "Muslims."³

Apologetic Argument

Islamic apologetics often claims:

The message of submission (Islam) is universal and found in earlier revelations.
Practices such as ritual purity, prostration, and fasting are evidence of continuity between Islam and previous faiths.
The Torah and Gospel were originally Islamic, though later corrupted.

Methodological Framework

Criteria for Analysis

Primary Sources: Only documents demonstrably written before Muhammad (i.e., before the 7th century CE) will be considered.
Terminological Evidence: Explicit use of "Islam" (الإسلام) or "Muslim" (مسلم) as religious identity.
Doctrinal Substance: Beyond practices, doctrinal and theological content must reflect Islam as later defined.

1. Textual Silence on "Islam" and "Muslim" Prior to Muhammad

A. Hebrew Bible / Old Testament

Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible do we find the term "Islam" or "Muslim." Abraham is called the "friend of God" (Isaiah 41:8), a recipient of the covenant (Genesis 17), and the progenitor of Israel—not a "Muslim." The central theme is covenant, not submission.⁴ Even in post-exilic literature (e.g., Daniel, Ezra), the concept of "Islam" as later articulated is absent.

B. New Testament

Jesus and his followers never identify as "Muslims" or claim to follow a religion called "Islam." Early Christians referred to themselves as members of "the Way" (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23), and later as "Christians" (Acts 11:26). Paul explicitly refers to himself as a "servant of Christ Jesus" (Romans 1:1), not as a "Muslim."⁵

C. Second Temple and Greco-Roman Literature

No usage of "Islam" or "Muslim" is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls, Philo of Alexandria, Josephus, or any pre-Islamic Arabian inscriptions.⁶ Jewish and Christian sects of the period—Essenes, Pharisees, Sadducees, Nazarenes, Ebionites—had well-defined self-identities, none of which included the terms or concepts later associated with Islam.

2. The Argument from Shared Practices

Islamic apologetics often points to shared ritual practices—ablution, prostration, fasting—as evidence of pre-Islamic Islam. However, this argument is fundamentally flawed:

Ablution: Ritual washing is central to Levitical law (see Leviticus 15), as well as to ancient Egyptian and Zoroastrian practice.⁷ It does not define a religious identity.
Prostration: Prostration is an ancient gesture of worship seen in Daniel 6:10 (Jewish), Matthew 26:39 (Christian), and in Hindu and Buddhist traditions.
Fasting: Fasting predates Islam by centuries and is prominent in Judaism (Leviticus 16:29-31; Esther 4:16) and Christianity (Matthew 6:16-18).

These practices are not unique to Islam, nor do they imply Islamic self-identity. Religious universals cannot serve as evidence for a specific faith.

3. Doctrinal and Theological Distinctions

A. Judaism

The center of Jewish theology is covenant (ברית, berit) and Torah obedience, not universal submission.⁸ God is known as Yahweh, not Allah; the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) is the core confession, not the Shahada.

B. Christianity

Christian faith revolves around the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and the new covenant (Luke 22:20). Early Christians confessed "Jesus is Lord" (Romans 10:9), not "there is no god but Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah."

C. Islam

Islam, as established by Muhammad, is defined by the Five Pillars, the Quran, and the Sunnah. The doctrine of tawhid (absolute monotheism) and the prophethood of Muhammad are non-negotiable tenets unknown to previous revelations.⁹

4. Historical and Archaeological Evidence

No archaeological inscription, manuscript, or papyrus prior to the 7th century contains reference to "Islam" as a religious system or to its followers as "Muslims."¹⁰

Pre-Islamic Arabia: Inscriptions reference gods like Hubal, Al-Lat, Al-Uzza, and Manat—not Allah in a monotheistic Islamic sense.¹¹
Christian and Jewish Writings: Non-Islamic sources do not recognize Islam or Muslims prior to Muhammad.

5. Islamic Apologetics: Critical Engagement

A. Retrojection and Reinterpretation

Islamic polemics often retroject later concepts into ancient texts. For instance, calling Abraham a "Muslim" or claiming "Islam" means generic submission. However, historical-critical scholarship rejects such anachronisms, as self-identity in ancient texts is contextually bound.¹²

B. Alleged Corruption of Previous Scriptures

Muslim apologists assert that Jews and Christians corrupted their scriptures, hence the absence of explicit references to Islam.¹³ However, textual criticism and manuscript evidence (Dead Sea Scrolls, Codex Sinaiticus, etc.) demonstrate remarkable fidelity in the transmission of biblical texts long before the advent of Islam.¹⁴ There is no textual gap where "Islam" was erased or altered.

C. "Hanif" and Primordial Monotheism

The term hanif in the Quran refers to pre-Islamic monotheists, often linked to Abraham. Yet, outside the Quran, there is no evidence that such a community called itself "Muslim" or that their faith matched Islam doctrinally or ritually.¹⁵

6. Summary Table: Key Figures and Self-Identity

Figure	Self-Designation	Faith/Practice	Pre-Islamic Source
Adam	Man, created being	Covenant, not "Islam"	Genesis 1–5
Abraham	Hebrew, Friend of God	Covenant, circumcision	Genesis 12–25
Moses	Prophet of Yahweh	Torah obedience	Exodus–Deuteronomy
David	King, Psalmist	Covenant, worship of Yahweh	Samuel, Psalms
Jesus	Messiah, Son of God	Gospel, love, new covenant	Gospels, Paul

None referred to their faith as "Islam" or themselves as "Muslim" by any credible pre-Islamic text.

Conclusion

The proposition that Islam, as a religious identity, existed prior to Muhammad is not supported by historical, textual, or archaeological evidence. All available sources point to Islam as a distinct, post-7th-century religious phenomenon.

No use of the term "Islam" or "Muslim" in any pre-Islamic scripture.
Shared rituals are universal, not uniquely Islamic.
Doctrinal substance of pre-Muhammad faiths is distinct from later Islamic teaching.

It is, therefore, both academically and theologically sound to affirm that Islam is a man-made religion that began with Muhammad, not a timeless faith existing since Adam.
To argue otherwise is to engage in retrospective reinterpretation, unsupported by the historical record.

References and Footnotes

For Max Shimba Ministries Org
September 02, 2016
Dr. Maxwell Shimba, Shimba Theological Institute

If you wish to include an annotated bibliography or interact further with Islamic polemical responses (for example, in dialogue form or debate context), let me know!

See: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization (HarperOne, 2003), pp. 17–19. ↩
W. Montgomery Watt, Muhammad: Prophet and Statesman (Oxford University Press, 1961), p. 23. ↩
The Quran, 3:19; 3:67; 5:44–48. ↩
Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS Translation Commentary (JPS, 1989), pp. 86–88. ↩
Bart D. Ehrman, The New Testament: A Historical Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2008), pp. 256–258. ↩
Philip R. Davies, Scribes and Schools: The Canonization of the Hebrew Scriptures (Westminster John Knox, 1998), pp. 77–80. ↩
Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger (Routledge, 1966), pp. 41–45. ↩
Michael Fishbane, Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel (Oxford University Press, 1985), pp. 220–224. ↩
John L. Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path (Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 21–23. ↩
Patricia Crone, Meccan Trade and the Rise of Islam (Princeton University Press, 1987), pp. 202–206. ↩
F.E. Peters, The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam (Princeton University Press, 2004), p. 173. ↩
Richard E. Rubenstein, Aristotle's Children (Harvest Books, 2004), pp. 109–110. ↩
Yusuf al-Qaradawi, An Introduction to Islam (Islamic Inc., 1997), pp. 78–80. ↩
Bruce M. Metzger, The Text of the New Testament: Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration (Oxford University Press, 2005), pp. 41–44. ↩
Angelika Neuwirth, The Qur'an and Late Antiquity (Oxford University Press, 2019), p. 45. ↩

Friday, June 13, 2025

ISLAM IS A MAN-MADE RELIGION AND DID NOT EXIST BEFORE MUHAMMAD