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The Religion of Prophets

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Abstract

This paper seeks to explore the concept of the oneness of God as expressed through the common teachings of the prophets across Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, focusing on the core message that has been consistently conveyed throughout history. The aim is to demonstrate that all the prophets—Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Isho (Jesus), and Muhammad (peace be upon them)—submitted to the will of the same God. While the details and laws revealed to each prophet may have differed according to the needs of their time and place, their fundamental message remained the same: the worship of the one true God. The evolution of religious labels like Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are examined, demonstrating that these terms are human constructs, while the message of submission (Islam) has been consistent throughout history.

Chapter 1: The Unifying Theme of Prophethood

The Torah, Bible, and Quran all speak of the same prophets and share a similar narrative, albeit in slightly different forms. The central theme that links the messages of these prophets is the oneness of God (Tawhid). Whether in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, or the Quran, the prophets consistently preached the worship of one God, submission to His will, and living in accordance with His commandments.

  • The Torah (Hebrew Bible), specifically the books of the Prophets, repeatedly emphasizes God’s singularity. The Shema, a central prayer in Judaism, states, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4). This declaration underscores the foundational belief of Judaism—that God is one, and no other deity is worthy of worship.
  • The Bible (New Testament) also aligns with the principle of monotheism. Jesus, in his teachings, emphasized the importance of worshiping the one true God. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37), affirming the Jewish teaching of God’s oneness.
  • The Quran emphasizes the same message of monotheism throughout its chapters. The opening verse of Surah Al-Ikhlas, “Say, ‘He is Allah, [Who is] One’” (Quran 112:1), encapsulates the Islamic view of God’s absolute oneness.

Chapter 2: The Prophetic Lineage and the Message of Submission

The central claim of this paper is that the core teaching of all prophets was the same: submission to the will of the one true God. This concept, in Arabic, is known as Islam, which means ‘surrender’ or ‘submission’. The Quran confirms that Islam was the faith of all the prophets, stating:

  • The Quran: “Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam” (Quran 3:19). Islam is thus not a new faith brought by the Prophet Muhammad but the same submission to God that all the prophets practiced.

Adam: The First Prophet

The first prophet, Adam, was the first human to submit to God’s will. According to the Quran, Adam was taught by God, and his story mirrors the beginning of humanity’s relationship with God: obedience, submission, and repentance (Quran 2:37).

Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David

Throughout the Torah and Quran, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David exemplify the concept of submission to God. Each prophet delivered a message that was suited to their time but consistently directed their followers to worship the one true God.

  • Noah: In the Torah and Quran, Noah is presented as the one who called his people to worship God alone, warning them against idolatry. His mission was one of salvation through submission to God’s will (Genesis 6:9, Quran 11:27).
  • Abraham: Both the Torah and the Quran describe Abraham (Ibrahim) as the ultimate example of submission. The Quran states: “When his Lord said to him, ‘Submit,’ he said, ‘I have submitted to the Lord of the worlds’” (Quran 2:131). Abraham is also considered the father of the faith in both Judaism and Islam, and the father of the monotheistic tradition.
  • Moses: Moses (Musa) is one of the most significant prophets in both the Torah and the Quran. In the Quran, Moses is repeatedly described as one who submitted to God’s will, carrying His commandments to the Israelites (Quran 7:105).

Isho (Jesus) and the Coming of the Comforter

Isho (Jesus), in his teachings, emphasized submission to the one God, just as the prophets before him had done. In the Gospel of John, Jesus mentions the coming of a future guide: “I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:12-13). Here, Jesus speaks of a future figure who will continue his mission of guiding humanity toward the truth.

In the correct context, the “Spirit of truth” refers not to a supernatural entity but to a person—someone who will speak and guide with authority. The use of “he” in the passage confirms that Jesus is referring to a human individual, not an abstract force. This “Spirit of truth” is widely understood by scholars to refer to the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), who would complete the divine message and lead people to the truth.

The Quran supports this view, as it acknowledges Jesus’ prophecy of a final prophet who would come after him. In Surah As-Saff (61:6), the Quran references this very prophecy, with Jesus saying: “O Children of Israel, indeed I am the messenger of Allah to you, confirming what came before me of the Torah and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad.”

This prophecy is significant in understanding that Jesus himself foretold the coming of Muhammad (pbuh), the last of the prophets, who would complete the divine message of submission to the one true God.

Chapter 3: The Final Prophet and the Completion of the Religion

In the Quran, the finality of the prophetic message is clearly stated:

  • The Quran: “This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion” (Quran 5:3). This verse explicitly states that Islam is the completed, perfected religion, and there is no need for further prophets or revelations after Muhammad (pbuh).

The teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) represent the culmination of the prophetic tradition. The Quran, the final revealed scripture, contains the complete guidance for humankind, and its message remains unchanged.

Islam as the Universal Religion of Submission

It is important to recognize that the Quran asserts that all the prophets preached the same message of submission to the one true God. Islam, as defined in the Quran, is not a new religion initiated by Muhammad but is the continuation and completion of the message given to all prophets. This concept is encapsulated in the Quranic declaration:

  • The Quran: “Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam” (Quran 3:19), which shows that all prophets, from Adam to Muhammad, practiced Islam because they submitted to God’s will.

Chapter 4: The Evolution of Religious Names

While the message of all the prophets was the same, the religious labels we use today, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, are human constructs.

  • Judaism is a term that refers to the religion of the Jewish people, and it came into being after the time of Moses. However, the faith that Moses practiced and preached was not called “Judaism”; it was simply the worship of the one true God.
  • Christianity arose after the death of Jesus, with the term ‘Christianity’ emerging as followers of Jesus developed a theological framework around his teachings. However, Jesus himself did not preach “Christianity”; he called for submission to God, as did all the prophets before him.
  • Islam, as we understand it today, is the name given to the final message revealed to Muhammad (pbuh), but it represents the same faith and submission that all the prophets practiced.

Chapter 5: The True Message of the Prophets

It is important to understand that the core message of the prophets, regardless of the time or place, was one of monotheism and submission to the will of God. The true message of the prophets is not found in the doctrines created later by their followers, but in the direct teachings of the prophets themselves.

For instance, the Pauline theology in Christianity, which includes the doctrine of the Trinity, was not a teaching of Jesus or any prophet before him. Similarly, the concept of divine incarnation and veneration of saints was never part of the original message delivered by Jesus or any prophet.

Therefore, regardless of what religious labels are applied to their followers, those who adhere to the true messages of the prophets—whether they call their faith Judaism, Christianity, or Islam—are on the right path, as long as they uphold the fundamental principles of monotheism, righteousness, and submission to the one true God.

References and Scholarly Perspectives

  1. Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon (Maimonides)
    The renowned Jewish philosopher and scholar, Rabbi Maimonides, in his work The Guide for the Perplexed, wrote extensively on the unchanging nature of the message of the prophets, affirming the oneness of God as central to Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Maimonides was a firm believer that the ultimate aim of all religions was to recognize and submit to the one true God.
  • “The entire aim of the Torah is to bring us to a knowledge of the One God. The prophets… who were sent by Him to the world, were all charged with the same mission: to announce the existence and unity of God” (Maimonides, The Guide for the Perplexed).
  1. Professor Muhammad Asad
    A prominent Islamic scholar and thinker, Muhammad Asad, in his commentary on the Quran, emphasized the continuity of the prophetic tradition across Abrahamic faiths, confirming that Islam is the religion of all the prophets.
  • “The teaching of the Quran is not an innovation, but the fulfillment of the same message which had been revealed before.” (Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Quran).
  1. Professor Rabbi Moshe Halbertal
    Rabbi Moshe Halbertal, a contemporary scholar of Jewish thought, during an interfaith dialogue, emphasized the deep roots of Islam as an Abrahamic faith, stating that “Islam is a continuation of the monotheistic tradition of Abraham, as is Judaism and Christianity”. His work underscores the unity of the three Abrahamic faiths in their foundational submission to one God.
  • “The concept of submission to the one God unites all the Abrahamic religions and their followers, despite the different theological frameworks.” (Rabbi Moshe Halbertal, interfaith discussion video, ByIh7TcrZRA).
  1. Islamic Scholar Sayyid Qutb
    Sayyid Qutb, an influential Islamic scholar, writes in his In the Shade of the Quran that all of the prophets brought the same message of submission (Islam) to God. The concept of Islam transcends the temporal bounds of Muhammad’s era and encompasses the divine message revealed to all the prophets.
  • “The essence of Islam is the same as that of all other religions. It is submission to the will of Allah, which was the teaching of all the prophets.” (Sayyid Qutb, In the Shade of the Quran).

Conclusion

The teachings of all the prophets were consistent in their core message: the worship of the one true God and submission to His will. The religious labels of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are human constructs that developed after the time of the prophets, but the message of submission to God remains unchanged. The Quran explicitly states that Islam is the completed and perfected religion, and the messages of all the prophets—from Adam to Muhammad (pbuh)—are united by the principle of monotheism and submission to God.

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