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5.2. Is there a beginning of Islam?
The Arabic word for beginning is "al-bad'u" or "al-bidaayatu" or "al-badaa'atu". None of these words appear in the Koran. This is why the Koran never directly teaches that Islam had a beginning, simply because the word for beginning was omitted by the Koran. However, there are a number of verses, which seem to indirectly teach a beginning of Islam. Here they are:
5.2a) Was Muhammad the first Muslim? In the Koran we find the following verse about Muhammad: "Say: 'Should I take anybody else than Allah as a protector, (him being) the (splitting) creator of the heavens and of the earth, and he feeds (with food) and is (himself) not fed (with food)?' Say: '(Truly) I was commanded to be the first of those, who have submitted (i.e. who have become Muslims)!' And never (ever) be among the associators (worshipping other gods besides Allah)!' " (Sura al-An'am 6:14). Also, the following passage gives us insight into how Muhammad saw himself and understood his mission: "161 Say: '(Truly) my Lord has guided me to a straight path, (to) an upright religion, the denomination (millat) of Abraham, (as) a Hanif. And he was not one of the associators (worshipping other gods besides Allah).' 162 Say: '(Truly) my (ritual) prayer and my (ascetic) devotion and my living and my dying are unto Allah, the Lord of the worlds (of humans and Jinn). 163 No partner (is there) for him, and with this was I commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims (Submitters).' " (Sura al-An'am 6:161-163). And finally, we read in the Koran this about Muhammad: "11 Say: '(Truly) I was commanded that I worship Allah, sincerely (performing) unto him the religion (of Islam). 12 And I was commanded that I be the first of the Muslims (the Submitters).' " (Sura al-Zumar 39:11-12). These three passages of the Koran seem to suggest that Muhammad was the first of Muslims, because he was commanded to be the first of those who have submitted, Allah being the creator of the heavens and the earth and having no partners. Should this "first" of Muhammad be meant in view of all people, who ever lived since Adam, or only in view of those Arabs, who later followed Muhammad's example and like him submitted to this Allah of his Koran? The wording of these verses does not exclude the option that Muhammad was the very first man to ever become a Muslim. If this is true, then Islam would have started with the Arab man Muhammad. Here, however, we have to ask ourselves another question concerning the beginning of Islam:
5.2b) Historically, who, according to the Koran, was the first person to submit to Allah as a Muslim? If you study the verses of the Koran about personalities and people, who were described as having submitted as Muslims you get the following list of Muslims prior to Muhammad, who submitted as Muslims: the People of the Book, i.e. Christians and Jews (Sura al-Qasas 28:53) -- the Prophets (prior to Muhammad) (Sura al-Ma'ida 5:44) -- the disciples of Jesus (Suras Al 'Imran 3:52 and al-Ma'ida 5:111) -- Solomon and the Queen of Sheba (Suras al-Naml 27:38.42.44 and al-Naml 27:31) -- the Pharaoh (Sura Yunus 10:90) -- Joseph (Sura Yusuf 12:101) -- possibly Lot (Sura al-Dhariyat 51:36) -- Abraham and Ishmael (Suras al-Baqara 2:67.128.131.133 and al-Saffat 37:103) -- Noah (Sura Yunus 10:72) -- and finally, everyone in the heavens and the earth has submitted, voluntarily or by coercion (Sura Al 'Imran 3:83). It is curious that two prominent personalities are left out in this list: Moses and Christ. The Koran never explicitly states that these two were Muslims as Submitters to Allah. From what we do find in the Koran we discover that Muhammad was definitely not the first Muslim to have ever lived, otherwise the Koran would not have taught the Islam of these personalities and people, who all lived before Muhammad. And Abraham according to these findings was also not the first Muslim, because Noah lived as a Muslims before Abraham. In fact, the Koran teaches that all inhabitants of the earth and even of the heavens have submitted to Allah and were or are thus Muslims (accroding to Sura al-Jinn 72:14, some Jinn are Muslims). This means that the act of submission to the creator of the heavens and the earth is and was a universally recurring event. Noah did not start it, Abraham did not start it, Joseph did not start it, the Pharaoh did not start it, the Prophets prior to Muhammad did not start it, the Jews and Christians did not start it, and Muhammad himself did not start it. Rather all these persons throughout history just repeated what others did before them, namely submit to Allah alone. This leads us to the final Koran passages, which we would like to mention here, to come to the bottom of this question as to whether there was a beginning to Islam or not.
5.2c) What is the only religion admissible by Allah? There are two universal and thus totalitarian passages in the Koran, which we must quote at this point. Both can be found in the same Sura, in which Abraham was retroactively "converted" by the Koran to become Muslim: "18 Allah has testified that (truly) he is (such that) there is no god except He. And the angels and those with knowledge (say the same?). (He is such that he?) allots portions equitably (qaa'iman bi-l-quisti). There is no god except He, the powerful (one) the wise (one). 19 (Truly) religion with Allah is ISLAM (i.e. submission), and those to whom the Book (of the Bible) was brought, did not (come to) disagree among themselves in jealousy except after knowledge had come unto them. And whoever disbelieves the miraculous (verses) of Allah (constituting the Koran), then Allah will be quick to settle the accounts (in his judgment)." (Sura Al 'Imran 3:18-19). And the second passage is: "84 Say: 'We have believed in Allah, and (in) what was made to descend upon us (the Koran), and what was made to descend upon Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Tribes (of Israel), and what was brought to Moses (the Torah) and to 'Isa (the Gospel) and to the Prophets (the Old Testament) from their Lord. We do not make a difference between anyone among them and we are Submitters (Muslims) unto him. 85 And whoever seeks a religion other than ISLAM (i.e. submission), then it will not be accepted from him, and he in the Last Days will be among the losers.' " (Sura Al 'Imran 3:84-85). So according to the foundational book of the Arabs, who started Arab Islam after around 610 AD, all religions and faiths other than Islam, i.e. submission to Allah, do not count, because they are useless before Allah. And the existing religions at the time of Muhammad, like Judaism and Christianity, also -- like Abraham -- were "converted" to actually have been Islam, only that their Islam had become occulted or shrouded through jealous differences between their adherents. This unverifiable and retroactive "conversion" of all monotheistic faiths prior to Arab Islam to become the same as Arab Islam shows that there cannot be any beginning to Islam, because Islam has always been around, according of this dictatorial teaching of the Koran. There is however, one last possibility, as to how Islam could nevertheless have had a beginning. This possibility is addressed in the following question: