Who Was the First Muslim?
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Quran 6:14 and 6:163 command Muhammad to be “the first of the Muslims.” Quran 7:143 has Moses declare “I am the first of the believers.” Quran 2:131–132 presents Abraham as submitting (aslamtu) and bequeathing islam to his sons, and 3:67 calls him a muslim. Egyptian magicians (7:120–126) and the disciples of Jesus (5:111) are likewise called muslims long before Muhammad.
Common Muslim Responses
The standard answer: “first” is relative to each prophet’s own community and era — Muhammad is the first Muslim of his umma, Moses of his.
Counter-Rebuttal
This is a workable harmonization, critics concede, but it concedes that the Quran’s superlatives cannot be read at face value — a hermeneutical solvent which, once licensed, can dissolve any inconvenient statement in the book, undermining the claim of clear, decisive revelation (cf. Quran 11:1: a book “whose verses are perfected”).