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The question supposes a choice between two rivals. Islam answers: there is no choice, there is continuity. Issa and Muhammad (peace upon them) are two brothers of the same prophetic chain, bearers of one message: worshipping Allah alone.
Neither one nor the other: both, in one same continuity.
The Quran commands believing in all the messengers "We make no distinction between any of them" (Quran 2:136), and the religion they carry is one and the same: worshipping Allah alone (Quran 42:13).
Issa (peace be upon him) announced Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) (Quran 61:6), Muhammad honours Issa, believing in him is part of the Muslim faith (al-Bukhari 3435), and the Prophet (peace be upon him) said of the prophets that they are "brothers whose mothers differ, but whose religion is one" (reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim).
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Updated on 17 October 2026 at 9:55 PM
📖 4 min readThe question "Jesus or Muhammad?" poses itself like choosing a team: take the right one and leave the other. Islam refuses the question itself. The Quran commands believing in Allah and all the messengers, "We make no distinction between any of them" (Quran 2:136): Noah, Abraham (peace be upon him), Moses (peace be upon him), Issa (peace be upon him), Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him), one same chain, one same call.
And the Quran specifies that the religion is one from one end of history to the other: "He has prescribed for you [believers] the same religion which He enjoined upon Noah, and that which We have revealed to you [O Prophet] and that which We enjoined upon Abraham, Moses, and Jesus: “You should uphold the religion and make no divisions therein.” What you are calling the polytheists to is very hard for them. Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills and guides to Himself who turns to Him." (Quran 42:13).
Issa and Muhammad are not two camps: they are two links of a single transmission, two brothers of the same house. The Prophet (peace be upon him) said it in a formula become famous: "The prophets are brothers whose mothers differ, but whose religion is one" (reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim).
The continuity is not a pious idea: it is written in the texts on both sides. Issa, according to the Quran, announced the one who would come after him: "giving glad tidings of a messenger after me whose name will be Ahmad" (Quran 61:6). Muhammad, for his part, received the order to love and believe in Issa: no one is a Muslim without testifying that Issa is "the servant of Allah and His messenger" (al-Bukhari 3435), and during the night journey the two men met, brothers face to face (reported by al-Bukhari).
The Muslim who pronounces the shahada honours Issa every day, since he explicitly accepts his prophethood; and he awaits his return, since his living raising (Quran 4:158) announces his descent of the end times.
Following Muhammad is literally following the path where Issa returns.
Differences exist, and they are complementarities, not rivalries. The mission: Issa was sent to the children of Israel (Quran 3:49), Muhammad to all humanity (Quran 34:28).
The law: Issa confirmed the Torah and received the Gospel (Quran 5:46);
Muhammad received the definitive law covering all aspects of life.
The final role: Issa returns, and his very return happens in continuity, since he will descend to follow Muhammad's law, pray behind a Muslim community and live as a servant of Allah (reported by al-Bukhari and Muslim): even at history's last act, the younger brother honours the seal, and the seal honours the brother. Nothing of all this makes one a rival of the other: it is a single narrative, written by one divine hand, whose two men carry different chapters.
For the Muslim, the question is already resolved: he loves both, believes in both, follows both, in the order of continuity: he follows Muhammad who confirmed Issa, and he follows Issa in what he really taught, the worship of Allah alone (Quran 3:51). Deifying Issa is not loving him too much: it is misknowing him, he who will say on the Day of Judgment that he never ordered the worship of other than Allah (Quran 5:116-117). To honour him truly is to follow him where he wants to lead: toward Allah alone.
And for the Christian reader wondering whether he must choose: the Quran proposes a common word rather than a duel, "that we worship none but Allah and associate no partners with Him" (Quran 3:64).
The continuity begins exactly there. To dig deeper: the page Jesus in Islam, the page Muhammad announced in the Bible, and the becoming a Muslim silo to take the step.
Islam establishes no ranking to honour and dispute over: each prophet is great by his mission, and the Muslim loves them all without making distinction (Quran 2:136). Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) is the last and the seal, Issa (peace be upon him) is honoured above all and returns at the end of time: the two titles coexist without rivalry.
Yes: following Issa (peace be upon him), for a Muslim, is following him in what he really taught, the worship of Allah alone (Quran 3:51). Deifying him would betray him; loving him as servant and messenger of Allah is honouring him.
Because each earlier message was destined for a people and a time, and texts were altered (Quran 2:79). The final message, for its part, is universal and preserved: it confirms the earlier ones and judges them (Quran 5:48), like a final testament protecting all inheritances.