You may have heard the claim from a Muslim that “Jesus was a Muslim” and this is a very important argument to be able to refute as a Christian.

The main idea of the argument (from the Christian perspective) is that Islam doesn’t know anything about Jesus because the Quran doesn’t go into detail about the life or teachings of Jesus. To know anything about Jesus’s teachings, they must refer to the Bible, the primary source. Any time they do, however, you can use the exact verses they quote to refute them.

The reason they can’t use the Quran (or rather why you shouldn’t accept them doing so) is because they can’t use the same source to prove a claim that made the claim. We call that circular reasoning.

A Muslim submits to God:

This is one angle the Muslim could take to prove Jesus is a Muslim:

Premise 1: A Muslim is someone who submits to God.

Premise 2: Jesus submitted to God.

Conclusion: Jesus is a Muslim.

When we enter into this line of argumentation, the main thing we want to achieve is that the god of Islam and the God of Christianity are not the same beings. We could do this by replying with something like: “I have a statue in my cupboard who I call God. This statue is the creator of the heavens and the universe and is the one true God and I submit to this statue. Does that make me a Muslim?”

The Muslim will undoubtedly reply with “No” because if they did they would be going against their religion.

So if the statue that I worship, submit to, and believe is God, isn’t the Islamic god, then that shows that we need to submit to a certain idea of who God is to be a Muslim and by their logic it matters who we submit to.

Jesus prostrated when He prayed

Once we’ve established that who God is is important, the Muslim will probably move on from the first topic and bring up something along the lines of Jesus’s style of praying in the Bible.

Premise 1: Muslims prostrate when they pray.

Premise 2: Jesus prostrated when he prayed.

Conclusion: Jesus is a Muslim.

For some reason, some Muslims think that prostrating is exclusively a Muslim thing but Christians prostrate when they pray as well (sometimes). Prostrating is not something we are required to do, but rather something we may choose to do.

It is important to get the Muslim to show evidence for why he knows that Jesus prostrated when he prayed. There is nothing in the Quran or Hadith on this so they will have to go to the Bible to prove it. Let them pull up the verse and quote it. The logic here is if they bring a reference to support their claim, then the reference must be true (otherwise why are they mentioning it). They need to demonstrate proof for their beliefs (and the Quran doesn’t help them on this topic).

Here are two verses that Muslims will bring to show that Jesus prayed by prostrating.

“And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

Matthew 26:39 (ESV)

In the first part of this post, we found that who we submit to is important and determines whether we’re Muslim or not. If you look at Matthew 26:39 you’ll see that Jesus prostrates to God the Father.

“And going a little farther, he fell on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him.”

Mark 14:35 (ESV)

In Mark, the verse they may bring doesn’t specifically say that He prostrated to the Father. What we need to do is get them to read the very next verse…

“And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

Mark 14:36 (ESV)

Now we need to ask the question “Is Allah the Father?”. You may get several answers to that question, but most Muslims should (if they know their religion) say “No”.

Here’s why.

“He has never had offspring, nor was He born.”

Quran 112:3

“They say, “The Most Compassionate has offspring.” You have certainly made an outrageous claim, by which the heavens are about to burst, the earth to split apart, and the mountains to crumble to pieces in protest of attributing children to the Most Compassionate. It does not befit ˹the majesty of˺ the Most Compassionate to have children.”

Quran 19:88-92

So the heavens are about to burst and the earth split apart at the idea that Allah has children. This means in any sense of the word, whether it be spiritual or physical parenthood because no one can go to Allah except as a slave.

“There is none in the heavens and the earth but cometh unto the Beneficent as a slave.”

Quran 19:93

Here is a good debate between GodLogic and CentralDawah on this topic.