The Timeline of Islam

The first human being, created by Allah with His Hand in a manner befitting His majesty and honoured when the angels were commanded to prostrate before him (2:34). Adam was also the first prophet — and the first Muslim: he knew his Lord, submitted to Him, and taught his children to do the same.

With his wife Hawwa (Eve) he lived in the Garden, slipped by eating from the tree, and then did what every believer after him would learn to do: he turned back. "Adam received words from his Lord, and He accepted his repentance" (2:37) — no inherited sin and no fallen race, but a forgiven father whose descendants were placed upon the earth generation after generation (2:30).

From the children of Adam a testimony was taken: "Am I not your Lord? They said: Yes, we testify" (7:172). The Sunnah also teaches that every child is born upon the fitrah. Humanity did not need to invent its way upward from idols to one God; its beginning was recognition of its Creator and submission to Him.

"And mention in the Book Idris. Indeed, he was a man of truth and a prophet, and We raised him to a high station" (19:56–57). The familiar classical chronology places him among the earliest generations, calling to the same worship of Allah alone.

Sent to ʿAad, a nation of towering strength and architecture (89:6–8), who said "Who is mightier than us in power?" Hud called them to worship Allah alone and abandon their idols (46:21). They refused, and a barren wind removed them from history.

The intimate friend of Allah (4:125), who demonstrated to his people that the star, moon and sun — all of which rise, set and obey their appointed courses — could never be lords beside the One who created them (6:75–79). He smashed his people's idols with his own hands and was thrown into a fire that Allah commanded to be "coolness and safety" (21:69).

Three world religions claim him — the Qur'an settles the claim: "Ibrahim was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a hanif, a Muslim — and he was not of the polytheists" (3:67). Judaism and Christianity did not yet exist; what Ibrahim practised was submission to Allah alone — Islam.

With his son Ismail he raised the foundations of the Kaʿbah at Makkah, praying: "Our Lord, make us Muslims in submission to You, and from our descendants a Muslim nation" (2:127–128). Through his sons the line of prophethood runs to its seal.

Ibrahim's firstborn, left while still nursing with his mother Hajar in the barren valley of Makkah, where Allah brought forth the well of Zamzam for them. He is identified by the stronger and widely received Sunni position as the son who answered the dream-command of sacrifice with "Father, do as you are commanded; you will find me, if Allah wills, among the patient" (37:102) — and whom Allah ransomed.

He helped his father raise the Kaʿbah, was "true to his promise, a messenger and a prophet" (19:54) — and from his descendants, centuries later, came the final messenger, Muhammad ﷺ.

Yaqub — himself named Israel — gathered his sons at his deathbed and asked one question: "What will you worship after me?" They said: "We will worship your God and the God of your fathers — Ibrahim, Ismail and Ishaq — one God; and to Him we are Muslims" (2:133).

That verse is the timeline in miniature. The children of Israel began as a Muslim family. Whatever came later came later.

Severely tested in his family, well-being and worldly provision, Ayyub never turned his complaint away from Allah: "Adversity has touched me, and You are the most merciful of the merciful" (21:83). Allah removed his affliction, restored his family and the like of them with them, and made him a lesson: "Indeed, We found him patient — an excellent servant" (38:44). Submission is not only creed; it is how a believer suffers.

Spoken to directly by Allah (4:164), sent with nine clear signs to the greatest tyrant of his age, and then led the Children of Israel through a parted sea. At Sinai he received at-Tawrah — "in which was guidance and light; by it the prophets who submitted judged for the Jews" (5:44). Notice the Qur'an's wording: the prophets who ruled by the Torah are called those who submitted — Muslims.

The law of Musa was true, revealed, and binding — for the Children of Israel, for its appointed time. It was never sent as the final, universal law for all nations to the end of time. That is the pattern of this whole line: one religion, many successive laws (5:48).

"And Ismail and Idris and Dhul-Kifl — all were of the patient. And We admitted them into Our mercy; indeed, they were of the righteous" (21:85–86). Counted among the prophets by many mufassirun and in the familiar enumeration of twenty-five, little is established about his earthly life. What Allah chose to preserve is his patience, righteousness and admission into divine mercy.

Dawud's heir, granted a kingdom without equal — the wind at his command, the jinn as his workforce, the speech of birds and ants within his understanding (27:16–19). And with all of it, his response was the believer's response: "This is from the favour of my Lord, to test me whether I will be grateful" (27:40).

The Qur'an also clears his name of the sorcery later generations pinned on him: "It was not Sulayman who disbelieved" (2:102). Where later tellings smear the prophets, the final revelation restores them.

"And Ismail and al-Yasaʿ and Yunus and Lut — all We preferred over the worlds" (6:86). Classical histories commonly place him after Ilyas, continuing the call among the Children of Israel — one more link in the chain that never taught anything but the worship of Allah alone.

Guardian of Maryam, who found provision in her chamber and asked her about it; she answered: "It is from Allah" (3:37). Moved by that scene, the old man prayed for an heir — and was given Yahya, against every worldly expectation (19:2–9). The last generation of Israel's prophets begins in a house of pure worship.

Born of the virgin Maryam by Allah's creative command — "the likeness of Isa with Allah is as the likeness of Adam: He created him from dust, then said to him 'Be,' and he was" (3:59). A miraculous birth proves a miraculous Creator, not a divine son.

His first words, from the cradle, define him forever: "I am the servant of Allah. He has given me the Book and made me a prophet" (19:30). He healed the blind and the leper and raised the dead — each time, as the Qur'an insists, by Allah's permission (3:49). He was sent to the Children of Israel, given al-Injil, and his message was the message of every prophet on this line: "Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. This is the straight path" (3:51).

His true disciples answered as Muslims answer: "We believe in Allah, and bear witness that we are Muslims" (3:52). He was neither killed nor crucified — "rather, Allah raised him to Himself" (4:157–158) — and he gave his people glad tidings of a messenger to come after him whose name is Ahmad (61:6).