ALLAH NEVER SAID TO ADAM “I AM GOD, WORSHIP ME”

A Debate Challenge to Islamic Apologetics
By Dr. Maxwell Shimba, Shimba Theological Institute

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Introduction

For centuries, Islamic polemicists have sought to undermine the divinity of Jesus Christ by demanding Christians produce an explicit verse from the Bible in which Jesus declares in verbatim: “I am God, worship me.” This rhetorical strategy attempts to place the Christian faith under a burden of proof that is not applied consistently to Islam itself. While this approach may appear persuasive at a superficial level, it collapses under the weight of its own logic when mirrored back onto the Qur’an and its theology of Allah’s self-revelation.

The central challenge, therefore, is this: If Muslims insist that Jesus must utter in verbatim “I am God, worship me” for His divinity to be valid, then where does Allah ever tell Adam—the first man and prophet in Islam—“I am God, worship me”?

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The Qur’anic Silence

According to Islamic tradition, Adam is not only the first human but also the first prophet. If Allah truly is the God of Adam, the foundational prophet of Islam, then one would reasonably expect the Qur’an to contain a direct, unequivocal declaration where Allah introduces Himself in clear divine self-identification to Adam. Yet upon examining the Qur’an, there exists no single ayah where Allah says to Adam explicitly: “I am God, worship me.”

Instead, the Qur’an provides vague references to Allah creating Adam (Qur’an 2:30–34; 7:11–18), breathing into him (Qur’an 15:29), and commanding angels to bow before Adam. But strikingly absent is the explicit divine command of self-revelation to Adam in the form of “I am God, worship me.”

This silence raises an academic problem: if Muslims demand verbatim divine self-identification from Jesus as proof of divinity, consistency demands they also produce verbatim divine self-identification from Allah to Adam. Their inability to do so, using their own standard, disqualifies Allah as Adam’s God.

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The Double Standard of Islamic Polemics

The Muslim objection to Christ’s divinity often functions on a false standard of linguistic exactness. By demanding that Christians locate exact wording absent from Scripture, they ignore the overwhelming theological witness of the New Testament in which Jesus claims divine prerogatives:

• He forgives sins (Mark 2:5–7), a prerogative belonging to God alone.

• He identifies Himself with Yahweh’s “I AM” (John 8:58).

• He accepts worship (Matthew 14:33; John 9:38).

• He declares unity with the Father (John 10:30).

The Qur’an, however, offers no parallel clarity for Allah’s self-revelation to Adam. If Jesus’ divinity is denied because the Bible does not contain the precise sentence Muslims demand, then Allah’s claim to deity over Adam must likewise be denied, since the Qur’an never records such a statement.

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Theological Consequences

1. For Islam:
   By its own argumentative logic, Islam cannot affirm that Allah is Adam’s God, since Allah never utters to Adam, “I am God, worship me.”

2. For Christianity:
   The Christian faith rests not on contrived verbatim formulas but on the totality of Christ’s words, deeds, and identity as God Incarnate. The New Testament provides abundant testimony that Jesus is God, without the need for artificial proof-texting.

3. For Debate Consistency:
   Muslim apologists must abandon their double standard. Either they admit that divine identity can be communicated without a rigid verbatim formula (thus validating Christ’s divinity), or they must accept that Allah fails to qualify as Adam’s God.

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Conclusion

The polemic that demands Christians show Jesus saying verbatim “I am God, worship me” ultimately backfires on Islam. The Qur’an contains no record of Allah saying to Adam, “I am God, worship me.” By the very standard Muslims apply to deny Christ’s divinity, Allah is disqualified from being the God of Adam.

Therefore, the debate challenge stands: If Muslims reject Jesus’ divinity for lack of verbatim phrasing, then where in the Qur’an does Allah introduce Himself to Adam in the same explicit manner? Until such an ayah is produced—which does not exist—Muslim polemics remain inconsistent and self-defeating.

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References

• The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV).

• The Qur’an (translations by Pickthall, Yusuf Ali, and Sahih International).

• Ali, A. Yusuf. The Meaning of the Holy Qur’an. Amana Publications, 2006.

• Brown, Raymond E. An Introduction to New Testament Christology. Paulist Press, 1994.

• Stott, John. Basic Christianity. IVP Books, 2008.

• Walker, Andrew. “Jesus’ Divine Self-Understanding in the Gospels.” Journal of Theological Studies 64.3 (2013): 450–472.