The question sounds like a loyalty test — Jesus or Muhammad, peace be upon them both? For centuries this framing has been used to divide faiths and provoke conflict. But Islam answers it with a clarity that stops many in their tracks: in Islam, it is never one or the other. Islam, which means complete submission to the will of the One God, requires belief in every prophet and messenger Allah has ever sent. To reject Jesus, peace be upon him, is to disqualify oneself from the fold of Islam entirely. To pit him against Muhammad, peace be upon him, is to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of divine prophethood. In a deeply illuminating episode of The Deen Show, Harvard-educated Dr. Gerald Dirks — a former Christian deacon and divinity graduate who later embraced Islam — explores how these two mighty messengers are not rivals but brothers in faith, purpose, and spiritual guidance, carrying forward one timeless message from the same God.
What Islam Truly Believes About ‘Eesa (Jesus), Peace Be Upon Him
- The miraculous virgin birth: Islam affirms the virgin birth of Jesus fully — not as evidence of divine sonship, but as a supreme act of creation. Allah created Adam from dust with no father and no mother; He created Jesus from a mother with no father. Both are signs of His unlimited creative power over all things.
- Extraordinary miracles by Allah’s permission: Muslims believe in the miracles of Jesus — shaping a bird from clay and breathing life into it, healing those born blind, curing lepers, and raising the dead — all performed bi idhnillah, by the leave of Allah, not through any independent divine authority.
- A messenger sent to the Children of Israel: Jesus was sent with the Injeel (Gospel) as light and guidance, confirming the Torah before him and calling the people back to the pure worship of One God alone.
- Raised alive to the heavens — not crucified: The Quran is explicit: Jesus was not killed nor crucified. Allah cast a likeness upon another, and raised Jesus bodily to the heavens, where he remains until his appointed return.
- His return before the Last Day: Authentic narrations of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, describe Jesus descending in the end times as a just ruler, following the Shari’ah of Muhammad — disproving the Jews who claimed they killed him, and disproving those who elevated him to deity.
- He foretold the coming of Muhammad: The Quran records Jesus explicitly giving glad tidings of a messenger to come after him, whose name would be Ahmad — the praised one, Muhammad, peace be upon him.
“He [‘Eesa (Jesus)] said: ‘Verily, I am a slave of Allaah, He has given me the Scripture and made me a Prophet; and He has made me blessed wheresoever I be, and has enjoined on me Salaah (prayer), and Zakaah, as long as I live. And dutiful to my mother, and made me not arrogant, unblest. And Salaam (peace) be upon me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!'”
— Surah Maryam, 19:30–33 (Jesus speaking from the cradle)
One Unbroken Message — From Adam to Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Them All
Dr. Dirks introduces the Islamic concept of progressive revelation — Allah tailoring each messenger’s guidance to the spiritual development of his people, while the core truth remained constant across every age. From Adam to Noah, from Abraham to Moses, from Jesus to Muhammad (peace be upon them all), two foundations never shifted: there is only One God worthy of worship, and every soul will face a Day of Accountability. This is not God changing His mind — it is divine mercy meeting humanity where it stood and guiding it forward. The parallels between the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament and the message of the Quran are remarkable. On charity, Matthew 6:1–4 warns against performing acts of generosity to be seen by others — and Surah Al-Baqarah 2:264 carries the identical spiritual warning. On the golden rule, Jesus taught his followers to do unto others as they would have done to them; the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, said: “None of you truly believes until he wants for his brother what he wants for himself.” These are not coincidences. These are the fingerprints of a single Source. On the most central question of all — the Shema of Moses, “Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One” — Jesus was asked which commandment was greatest, and he answered with those same words. The word “Trinity” never once appears in the Bible. The verse in 1 John most often cited for it was, as Dr. Dirks notes, a later addition traced to a Latin manuscript in Spain around 380 CE — acknowledged by serious Bible scholars as inauthentic. And in John 17:3–4, just before his reported arrest, Jesus prays to God: “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on earth by finishing the work that You gave me to do.” The work was finished before any arrest, before any cross — and it was the work of a messenger, not a deity.
- The life of Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the most documented of any prophet in history — Dr. Dirks, having written biographical works on Abraham using Judeo-Christian and Islamic sources, confirms: no prophet before Muhammad has their life recorded in the level of authenticated, meticulous detail that the Sunnah and Seerah provide. To follow Jesus to the letter today is impossible; the originals are lost. The way of Muhammad remains preserved.
- Islam acknowledges prophets beyond the named ones: The Quran tells Muslims that Allah sent messengers to every nation, and that we do not know all their names. This humility opens the heart rather than closing it.
- The Quran forbids ranking the prophets against one another: Muslims are explicitly instructed not to create hierarchical divisions among the messengers of God — all are to be honoured and accepted equally.
- Belief in Jesus is an Islamic obligation: A person who denies Jesus, peace be upon him — his prophethood, his miracles, his virgin birth — cannot claim to be Muslim. This love for Jesus is not borrowed from Christianity; it is built into the very architecture of Islamic faith.
All of the Above — The Answer Islam Has Always Given
“And (remember) when ‘Eesa (Jesus), son of Maryam (Mary), said: ‘O Children of Israel! I am the Messenger of Allaah unto you, confirming the Tawraat (Torah) which came before me, and giving glad tidings of a Messenger to come after me, whose name shall be Ahmad.’ But when he (Ahmad, i.e. Muhammad) came to them with clear proofs, they said: ‘This is plain magic.'”
— Surah As-Saff, 61:6
To be a Muslim is to love Jesus, peace be upon him — deeply, completely, and correctly. It means honouring him as one of the mightiest messengers ever sent by Allah, born of a virgin, endowed with extraordinary miracles, raised alive to the heavens, and destined to return before the Last Day as a sign and a mercy. It also means following Muhammad, peace be upon him, whose life stands as the most thoroughly documented model of human conduct and spiritual guidance in all of recorded history, and whose message — worship the One God, live with integrity, prepare for the Hereafter — is the very same message Jesus himself delivered to the Children of Israel. Islam does not ask you to choose between two lights. It invites you to receive them both as gifts from the same Source, to see them as links in one unbroken chain of divine guidance stretching from the first human being to the last prophet. The path has always been one: submit your will to the One who created you, live on His terms rather than your own desires, hold yourself accountable knowing a Day of Reckoning awaits, and strive sincerely to be the finest human being you can be in the time you are given. Every prophet walked this path, every prophet called to it, and every sincere heart that searches for truth will, by the mercy of Allah, find its way to it.
