An Academic Examination of Biblical Messengers and the Historical Non-Existence of Islam Prior to Muhammad
By Dr. Maxwell Shimba, Shimba Theological Institute
Abstract
This article examines the claim—commonly advanced within Islamic polemics—that all biblical prophets were “Muslim.” Through historical linguistics, scriptural analysis, and examination of ancient Near Eastern religious history, this study demonstrates that no biblical figure identified as Muslim, practiced Islam as defined in Islamic scripture, or used the terminology Muslim or Islam. These terms did not exist in any historical, linguistic, or religious context prior to the rise of Muhammad in the 7th century CE. Furthermore, there is no extra-Qur’anic or extra-hadith evidence indicating the presence of such terminology or religious identity before Muhammad’s lifetime.
1. Introduction
Islamic tradition asserts that all prophets—from Adam to Jesus—were Muslims and taught Islam. While this theological claim is internal to Islamic belief, it does not reflect historical or biblical evidence. The question addressed here is not theological interpretation, but historical accuracy. When examined within historical, linguistic, and scriptural frameworks, the assertion that biblical messengers were Muslim is unsupported.
This study investigates the origins of the terms Muslim and Islam, their absence in pre-Islamic literature, and the religious identities of biblical figures within their own historical contexts.
2. Linguistic and Historical Origins of “Islam” and “Muslim”
The terms Islam (submission) and Muslim (one who submits) derive from the Arabic trilateral root S-L-M. The earliest recorded usage of these terms appears within the Qur’an itself, which emerged in the early 7th century CE under Muhammad.
2.1 Absence of Islamic Terminology in Ancient Sources
Exhaustive examinations of the following literatures reveal no occurrence of the words Islam, Muslim, or any semantic equivalents referring to an organized religion prior to the Qur’an:
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Hebrew Bible / Old Testament (ca. 1400–400 BCE)
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New Testament (1st century CE)
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Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd century BCE–1st century CE)
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Greek, Roman, and Jewish historical works (Herodotus, Josephus, Philo, Tacitus, etc.)
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Ancient Near Eastern inscriptions from Mesopotamia, Egypt, Canaan, Arabia, and Persia
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Pre-Islamic Arab poetry (Jāhiliyyah poetry)
There is no linguistic evidence that the term Muslim existed as a religious identifier before Islam’s emergence.
3. Religious Identity of Biblical Messengers
Every messenger in the Bible existed within well-documented historical religious traditions that predate Islam.
3.1 Patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob)
The patriarchs belonged to the ancient Near Eastern Semitic culture and the early Yahwistic tradition. The Bible repeatedly identifies them as worshipers of YHWH, the God of Israel (Genesis 12:1; Genesis 26:24; Genesis 28:13).
Nowhere in the Hebrew Bible is any patriarch described using Arabic religious terminology.
3.2 Mosaic Prophets (Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.)
Moses and the prophets operated within the Israelite covenantal framework established in Exodus, defined by:
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Torah law
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Levitical priesthood
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Temple worship
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Covenant identity of Israel
This system is historically and theologically distant from Islam, which appears 2,000 years later.
3.3 Jesus and the Apostles
Jesus of Nazareth was a Jew, born under Jewish law (Galatians 4:4).
The New Testament depicts Him teaching in synagogues, attending Jewish festivals, and affirming the Hebrew Scriptures (Matthew 5:17; John 5:39).
The apostles, likewise, were Jewish followers of Jesus who proclaimed the gospel within a Jewish and Greco-Roman environment—not an Islamic one.
There is no textual or historical evidence that Jesus or His disciples used Arabic religious terms or self-identified as Muslims.
4. Pre-Islamic Arabia and the Non-Existence of Islam
Historical studies of Arabia prior to Muhammad reveal a mixture of:
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Arabian polytheism
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Jewish communities
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Christian groups (Nestorian, Monophysite)
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Hanifs (monotheistic seekers with no organized system)
None of these groups used the term Islam or Muslim as a formal religious identifier.
The oldest inscriptions in Arabic—such as the 6th-century Namara inscription—contain no references to Islam or Muhammad, confirming the religion’s non-existence at the time.
5. The Qur’an as the First Appearance of Islamic Terms
The earliest attested use of Islam and Muslim appears within the Qur’an, including passages such as:
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Qur’an 3:19: “Indeed, the religion with Allah is Islam.”
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Qur’an 33:35: “The Muslims, men and women…”
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Qur’an 22:78: “He named you Muslims…”
However, these references do not reflect pre-Islamic usage. Rather, they establish Islam’s theological retrojection—Islam asserts the earlier prophets were Muslims as a doctrinal claim, not as a historical fact.
6. Absence of Extra-Qur’anic Evidence
Even within Islamic historiography, early Muslim historians such as al-Tabari, Ibn Ishaq, and Ibn Hisham admit that:
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Islam began with Muhammad
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The Qur’an is the source of the identity “Muslim”
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Pre-Islamic Arabs did not use Islamic terminology
There are no inscriptions, manuscripts, or historical citations outside Islamic scripture and tradition that mention Islam or Muslim before Muhammad’s prophetic career.
7. Conclusion
Historical, linguistic, and scriptural evidence leads to a definitive conclusion:
1. No messenger in the Bible was a Muslim.
Their identities were rooted in ancient Israelite and early Christian traditions.
2. The terms Islam and Muslim did not exist before Muhammad.
They appear first in the Qur’an in the 7th century CE.
3. There is no historical evidence—biblical, archaeological, linguistic, or extra-Qur’anic—to support the idea that Islam existed before Muhammad.
Thus, the claim that biblical prophets were “Muslim” is a theological assertion internal to Islamic doctrine, not a historical fact.
