Answering Objections to Islam · Theology & Doctrine

Is Muhammad ﷺ Named in the Qur'an?

In short

• 1.Four explicit namings, plus Ahmad in 61:6.
• 2.The Birmingham and Sana'a manuscripts contain his name in the earliest layers.
• 3.The Dome of the Rock inscription (691 CE) names Muhammad, dated epigraphic evidence.

The claim being examined

A polemical claim circulates that the Prophet is barely present in the Qur'an, or that his name is a later insertion.

The Islamic position

He is named four times — Q 3:144, 33:40, 47:2, 48:29 — and as Ahmad in Q 61:6. Beyond naming, the Qur'an addresses him continuously in the second person and legislates around his household and conduct.

Analysis

The claim collapses against dated physical evidence: the Dome of the Rock's interior inscriptions from 691 CE include Muhammad rasul Allah, and early Arab-Sasanian coinage carries the name earlier still. The rarity of the name is itself explicable — the Qur'an's rhetorical mode is direct address to its recipient (qul, "say"), which makes third-person naming unnecessary. Comparably, Moses is named far more often than Jesus is in the Gospel of John, and no one infers anything from that.

From the Qur'an

Sources

Robert Hoyland · Fred Donner

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• Did Islam Borrow from Judaism and Christianity?
• Q 4:157 and the Crucifixion
• The "Islamic Dilemma" (Q 5:47, 5:68, 10:94)
• The Verse of the Sword (Q 9:5)