The word “Muslim” in the Bible: A Linguistic and Theological Inquiry into Isaiah 42:19

The word “Muslim” in the Bible: A Linguistic and Theological Inquiry into Isaiah 42:19

Mushafiq Sultan

One of the Qur’an’s central theological assertions is that all prophets across human history were sent with the same essential religion—islam—which denotes submission to the will of God. The Qur’an explicitly names this religion as the only one acceptable to God:

اِنَّ الدِّیۡنَ عِنۡدَ اللّٰهِ الۡاِسۡلَامُ. (19:3)

Islam is the only religion in God’s sight. (3:19)

 وَ مَنۡ یَّبۡتَغِ غَیۡرَ الۡاِسۡلَامِ دِیۡنًا فَلَنۡ یُّقۡبَلَ مِنۡهُ وَ هُوَ فِی الۡاٰخِرَةِ مِنَ الۡخٰسِرِیۡنَ. (85:3)

And He who would like to choose a religion other than Islam, it shall never be accepted from him whatsoever and in the world to come he will be from among the losers. (3:85)

This idea is further reinforced in Qur’an 42:13, where the religion of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad (peace be upon them all) is identified as a unified, continuous path of divine guidance.1

According to this framework, all those who surrendered themselves to God’s will in earlier dispensations—be they Israelites under Moses or disciples of Jesus—may properly be termed Muslims in the Qur’anic sense. This is consistent with the Qur’an’s broader conception of religion as primordial and universal:

اَفَغَیۡرَ دِیۡنِ اللّٰهِ یَبۡغُوۡنَ وَ لَهُ اَسۡلَمَ مَنۡ فِی السَّمٰوٰتِ وَ الۡاَرۡضِ طَوۡعًا وَّ کَرۡهًا وَّ اِلَیۡهِ یُرۡجَعُوۡنَ. (83:3)

So, do these people now seek a religion other than God’s even though all things in the heavens and the earth are obedient to Him, willingly or unwillingly and to Him shall they be returned. (3:83)

It is thus difficult to negate the existence of Islam (in the sense of submission) in earlier times. The Bible, which is the most substantial and authentic pre-Qur’anic religious source, also emphasizes submission as the essence of true religion.

In the Gospel of John, Jesus (pbuh) says:

For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him that sent me. (John 6:38)

David (pbuh) similarly affirms in the Psalms,

I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart. (Psalm 40:8)

Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. Let your good spirit lead me on a level path. (Psalms 143:10)

These and many other examples highlight that submission to God’s will is the essential trait of the truly faithful, mirroring the Qurʾanic notion of islam. Yet, one might inquire whether words like “Islam” or “Muslim” explicitly appear in sources predating the Qur’an.

Qur’anic Reference to the Antiquity of the Term Muslim

The Qur’an also supports the antiquity of the designation Muslim. Qur’an 22:78 recalls the “way (millat) of Abraham (pbuh)” and adds:

هُوَ سَمَّىٰكُمُ ٱلْمُسْلِمِينَ مِن قَبْلُ وَفِي هَـٰذَا …

It was he who had earlier named you Muslim and in this [Qur’an] also [your name is Muslim] …

Classical exegetes differ as to whether the pronominal subject is God or Abraham (pbuh), yet in either case the verse unambiguously suggests that the identity of being a Muslim predates the time of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).  The question then arises: do pre-Qur’anic sources outside the Qur’an bear witness to this term’s existence?

Isaiah 42:19 and the Hebrew Mešullam

One of the more striking textual resonances with this Qurʿanic idea of Muslim is found in Isaiah 42:19. The verse reads in Hebrew:

מי עור כי אם־עבדי וחרש כמלאכי אשלח מי עור כמשלם ועור כעבד יהוה׃

mî ʿiwwēr kî ʾim‑ʿabdî
we‑hērēš k‑malʾakî ʾeshlah
mî ʿiwwēr k‑mešullam
we‑ʿiwwēr k‑ʿebed YHWH

This is variously translated in English versions:

KJV: “Who is blind, but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the LORD’S servant?”

NRSV: “Who is blind but my servant, or deaf like my messenger whom I send? Who is blind like my dedicated one, or blind like the servant of the LORD?”

NIV: “Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one in covenant with me, blind like the servant of the LORD?”

Isaiah describes the collective Israel metaphorically as a blind and deaf servant entrusted with divine guidance yet failing to uphold its covenant responsibilities. Among the descriptive terms is the Hebrew משלם (mešullam), closely resembling the Arabic مسلم (muslim). The Hebrew term מְשּׁוּלַם (mešullam) is traditionally understood to mean “dedicated,” “perfected,” or “one at peace,” derived from the root ש‐ל‐ם (š-l-m), which bears meanings related to completeness, reconciliation, and peace. The same root is shared by the Hebrew word šalōm and the Arabic words salam (peace) and muslim (one who submits), reflecting a broader Semitic semantic field. The phonetic shift between Hebrew š and Arabic s is regular in comparative Semitic linguistics, as seen in other examples such as Hebrew šēm / Arabic ism (name).

This linguistic correspondence has not gone unnoticed by biblical commentators:

Mešullam and Exegetical Works

Several Bible commentaries discuss “mešullam” in Isaiah 42:19:

Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers notes:

As he that is perfect. — Strictly speaking, the devoted, or surrendered one. The Hebrew meshullam is interesting, as connected with the modern Moslem and Islam, the man resigned to the will of God. The frequent use of this, or a cognate form, as a proper name after the exile (1 Chron. ix. 21; Ezra viii. 6, x. 15; Neh. iii. 4) may (on either assumption as to the date of 2 Isaiah) be connected with it by some link of causation. Other meanings given to it have been “perfect” as in the Authorised Version, “confident,” “recompensed,” “meritorious.”2

The Pulpit Commentary observes:

As he that is perfect; rather, as he that receives reward from me (see Prov. xi. 31; xiii. 13). The word used is connected etymologically with the Arabic muslim (our “Moslem”); but it does not appear to have had the sense of “surrender” or “submission” in Hebrew.3

George A. F. Knight offers a particularly illuminating discussion that explores multiple interpretive possibilities:

The shocking reality, however, is that “he with whom the all-embracing covenant has been made” cannot grasp the majesty of his calling. These ten words seek to translate just the one word dedicated in Hebrew. My translation is but one of several possible ways of rendering it. If the root is m-sh-l, then the word has to do with “reporting in story form.” If it is sh-l-m, then it might be vowelled to mean “he who has been granted shalom, peace.” But in DI’s4 day, the root sh-l-m conveyed the idea of wholeness, completeness, fullness, comprehensiveness, and the like. Yet “peace” implies all these things. Solomon (from this root) was meant to be the man with the whole heart (1 Kings 11:4). A generation before DI’s day, Ezekiel had declared that God said to Israel “I will make with them a complete, total, comprehensive covenant” (34:25; 37:26). Today we have to learn to distinguish between what our newspaper means by peace and what DI meant by the word. On the other hand, others have translated this four-consonant word by “devoted” or “dedicated” in that it may be vowelled in a manner similar to the Arabic word muslim, “he who is devoted to God.” Others suggest that the word might be rendered by “rewarded”, or “paid”, and so “hired”, all of these being adjectives added to the noun servant. Whatever way we decide to translate it, we should note that it has become an epithet for Israel, in the same way as has Jeshurun at 44:2.5

In his commentary on Isaiah, Cheyne renders mešullam as “the surrendered one.” Further explaining this word, he writes:

[the surrendered one] One might almost say, “as the Moslem,” for the prophet’s word (mĕshullam) is closely akin to the Arabic muslim (Moslem), i.e., “he that devoteth or submitteth himself (to God).” Comp. Emerson: “A more surrendered soul, more informed and led by God.” Apparently this word became a favourite among the pious Jews in later times. It appears as a proper name in Ezra viii. 16, x. 15, 29, and the fem. Meshullemeth (before the Exile), 2 Kings xxi. 19. Comp. also the frequent expression lēbh shalēm, “a perfect (= devoted) heart.”6

Cheyne further points out that Mĕshullam and Meshullemeth were often adopted as a personal names among Jewish men and women, akin to “Muslim” and “Muslimah” in Arabic-speaking contexts.

These scholarly resources confirm that mešullam connotes “devoted” or “one in covenantal loyalty,” and is likely used in Isaiah 42:19 in a deeply ironic way: the “devoted one” has become spiritually blind.

Historical Reception in South Asian Bible Translations

The first complete Urdu (Hindustani) translation of the Bible was published in Calcutta (now Kolkata) in 1843. The second volume, covering Job through Malachi, contains the following translation of Isaiah 42:19 directly from the Hebrew text:

اندھا کون ہے مگر میرا بندہ۔ اور کون ایسا بہرا ہے جیسا میرا رسول جسے میں نے بھیجا، کون مسلم کا سا اندھا اور عبداللہ کا سا اندھا ہے۔7

Who is blind but My servant? And who is as deaf as My messenger whom I have sent? Who is as blind as “Muslim,” and as blind as “Abdullah”?

This rendering demonstrates the interpretive transparency with which South Asian translators of the nineteenth century viewed the semantic link between mešullam and muslim. Whether deliberate or incidental, the translation reflects a theological insight that aligns with Qurʾanic affirmation of the term’s antiquity.

Conclusion

Isaiah 42:19 offers compelling linguistic and theological evidence for the pre-Qur’anic usage of a term closely resembling muslim—mešullam—to describe one wholly devoted or surrendered to God. Mešullam in Isaiah 42:19 is a rare but profoundly theological epithet, commonly rendered as “the wholly-devoted one.” Its lexical and phonetic features, when viewed through the lens of historical Semitic linguistics, reveal a striking resemblance to the Arabic word muslim— “one who submits”—once the standard phonological shifts between cognate Semitic languages are taken into account. This observation, though philologically subtle, has not gone unnoticed: Biblical commentators have drawn attention to this parallel, in some cases explicitly identifying the Hebrew mešullam with the Arabic muslim. Within the context of Isaiah 42:19, this association gains theological weight, as the verse appears to confront Israel with the very title that encapsulates its divinely ordained vocation—complete submission to God. The rhetorical force of the verse thus lies in its implicit critique: Israel, as the supposed mešullam, is indicted not for ignorance but for failing to embody the ideal of submission inherent in its own calling.

When viewed in light of Qur’anic affirmations that islam—understood as total surrender to the divine will—has been the consistent and perennial message of all true prophets, the resonance between mešullam and muslim acquires intertextual significance. Isaiah 42:19, in this view, becomes a potent scriptural witness to the continuity of God’s call to submission from the Abrahamic legacy, through the biblical prophetic tradition, and culminating in the mission of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Far from being a linguistic coincidence, the convergence of these terms across Hebrew and Arabic may reflect a deeper theological unity that transcends the historical divisions between the scriptural communities.

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2. Charles J. Ellicott, ed., An Old Testament Commentary for English Readers, Exposition (on ‘Isaiah’) by Rev. E. H. Plumptre, vol. 4 (London: Cassell & Company, 1884), 529.

3. George Rawlinson, Isaiah, ed. H. D. M. Spence and Joseph S. Exell, vol. 2 of The Pulpit Commentary (New York and Toronto: Funk & Wagnalls Company), 120.

4. DI: Deutero-Isaiah (Sultan)

5. George A. F. Knight, Servant Theology: A Commentary on the Book of Isaiah 40–55, International Theological Commentary (Edinburgh: The Handsel Press; Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1984), 53–54 (emphasis added).

6. T. K. Cheyne, The Prophecies of Isaiah: A New Translation with Commentary and Appendices, 5th ed., rev., vol. 1 (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, & Co., 1889), 271.

7. The Holy Bible in the Hindustani Language, vol. 2 (Calcutta: Printed at the Asiatic Press for the Auxiliary Bible Society, 1843), 351.