Dear Muslims, Dear Dar al-Islam,
Muhammad never met or spoke for the true God.
You see, the only legitimacy Muhammad and Islam have to claim that Islam is the true religion is that the God of the Bible sent him.
Otherwise, anyone could arise today and claim to be a prophet.
But Muhammad never claimed to be a new messenger with a new deity.
Rather, he claimed to be the final messenger in a line of prophets sent by the God who had previously revealed Himself through Abraham, Moses, David, and Jesus.
That is what grants Islam its claim to legitimacy - that the God of the Bible sent Muhammad.
If the God of the Bible truly sent him, then He must, at the very least, not contradict His own standards for recognizing a prophet.
This is where the problem arises.
According to the Bible, a true prophet is known by one fundamental mark: he testifies to Christ.
In Revelation, Scripture says:
"...You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God.
' For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." (Revelation 19:10)
Likewise, Peter teaches that the prophets of old spoke by the Spirit of Christ:
"Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully;
inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories." (1 Peter 1:10–11, ESV)
The testimony of Scripture is clear: the Spirit of God bears witness to Christ.
The prophets spoke by the Spirit of Christ and testified concerning Him.
John therefore, instructs believers to test every prophetic claim:
"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already." (1 John 4:1–3, ESV)
The biblical standard is straightforward: God's Spirit testifies to Christ.
Yet Islam rejects central truths about Christ taught by the prophets and apostles.
It denies that Jesus is God incarnate. It denies His Sonship. It denies His crucifixion and resurrection.
Yet the apostolic proclamation was:
"But we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles." (1 Corinthians 1:23, ESV)
This raises an unavoidable question:
if the God of the Bible sent Muhammad, why does Muhammad contradict the very testimony that God's prophets consistently proclaimed?
Which spirit, then, appeared to Muhammad?
According to the earliest Islamic sources, the angel never explicitly identified himself to Muhammad as Gabriel during the first encounter.
Muhammad himself was deeply troubled by the experience and uncertain about its nature.
In fact, one of the tests used to determine whether the apparition was from God involved Khadijah asking Muhammad to sit first on one thigh and then the other.
While Muhammad sat on the first thigh, she asked if he saw the spirit; he said he did.
Then he sat on her other lap and asked the same question. He also said he did see the spirit.
She then uncovered herself, and when the figure disappeared, she concluded that it was an angel rather than an evil spirit (Sahih al-Bukhari, Book of Revelation, Hadith 3).
That was it. Dear Ummah, that was it. Is that test enough?
We mention this simply to make a point:
if it was truly the God of the Bible who sent Muhammad, then Muhammad must necessarily satisfy the biblical criteria for a prophet of God.
But he did not.
Muhammad's message does not testify to Christ in the way God's prophets did.
Instead, it contradicts the prophetic and apostolic witness concerning Christ's identity and work.
Muhammad, therefore, did not come from the God revealed in Scripture.
The true Lord and Savior is Jesus Christ.
Remarkably, even the Quran gives Him titles that are unique among men. Jesus is called the Word from God:
"...His Word which He directed to Mary..." (Quran 4:171)
He is called a Spirit from God:
"...and a Spirit from Him..." (Quran 4:171)
And He is described as pure and without sin:
"I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you a pure boy." (Quran 19:19)
The Jesus whom the prophets foretold, whom the apostles proclaimed, who was crucified, buried, and raised on the third day, is the true Lord and Savior of the world.
Come to Him today.
To Him belongs all worship, honor, and glory forever.