Was Muhammad Truly a Prophet? A Theological Examination

 Was Muhammad Truly a Prophet? A Theological Examination

By Dr. Maxwell Shimba | Shimba Theological Institute

Throughout the Bible — from Genesis to Revelation — God spoke directly to His prophets. To Adam in the Garden (Genesis 3:9), to Noah about the flood (Genesis 6:13), to Abraham about the covenant (Genesis 17:1-4), to Moses face-to-face (Exodus 33:11), to Samuel (1 Samuel 3:10), to Isaiah in a vision (Isaiah 6:8), and to all prophets who boldly declared: “Thus says the LORD.” These men were marked by direct divine communication and prophetic utterance under God’s authority.

But when we turn to Muhammad and the Qur'an — a glaring contradiction emerges.
Nowhere in the Qur'an do we find a single instance of Allah speaking directly to Muhammad as the God of the Bible did to His prophets. The Qur'an claims that Jibreel (Gabriel) brought messages to Muhammad, yet — critically — there is no recorded dialogue between Allah and Jibreel within the Qur'an itself. The chain of transmission is ambiguous, undocumented, and theologically unstable.

Ask yourself: If Muhammad was the greatest prophet as Muslims claim, why did Allah never speak to him directly — not even once?
Even the Qur'an admits in Surah 42:51:
“It is not fitting for a man that Allah should speak to him except by inspiration, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger to reveal, with His permission, what He wills.”

Yet this contradicts the biblical record. The God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and Jesus did not hide behind veils or intermediaries — He spoke directly to His chosen ones.

Furthermore — no Qur'anic verse documents Jibreel receiving messages from Allah. Who witnessed these communications? Where’s the verification? In biblical tradition, prophetic messages were public, confirmed, and accountable. Muhammad’s claimed revelations, on the other hand, were private and unverifiable, often changing according to convenience (Surah 2:106).

Moreover, if Allah is the same God of the prophets, why does the Qur'an deny key prophetic doctrines?

• It denies the Sonship of Christ (Surah 4:171), while biblical prophecy centers on the coming Messiah, the Son of God (Isaiah 9:6, Psalm 2:7).

• It rejects the atoning death of Jesus, the cornerstone of prophetic fulfillment (Isaiah 53, Daniel 9:26).

• It reduces prophets like Jesus and Moses to mere messengers stripped of their biblical majesty.

Therefore, theological and scholarly evidence leads to a firm conclusion: Muhammad was not a prophet of the God of the Bible. He operated under a different theological framework, promoting a god alien to the prophetic line that culminated in Jesus Christ — the Judge of the living and the dead (Acts 10:42).

The God of the Bible speaks. Allah of the Qur'an hides. The God of Scripture verifies. The Qur'an speculates. The prophets of the Bible prophesy in public. Muhammad claimed secret revelations.

The true test of a prophet is his message's consistency with the eternal Word of God and the prophetic witness before him (Deuteronomy 18:20-22). On this test, Muhammad falls short.

Reject deception. Embrace the living God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Dr. Maxwell Shimba
Founder, Shimba Theological Institute