The Quran claims to be a "Clear Book" (Kitabun Mubin) that restores the primordial religion (Fitra) of all prophets. However, it suffers from a Priority Paradox: it assigns the absolute title of awwal ("First") to multiple, chronologically disparate individuals.
If the Quran is the eternal, non-contradictory word of God, it cannot logically or historically name Muhammad as the "First" if it has already assigned that status to Moses, or if the religion began with Adam at the dawn of human history.
P1: The Quran asserts that Islam is the original religion of all prophets, including Adam, Noah, and Abraham (Surah 3:19, 3:67).
P2: The Quran commands Muhammad to declare: "I am the awwalul-muslimin" (the first of the Muslims) in Surah 6:163 and Surah, 39:12.
P3: The Quran records Moses declaring: "I am the awwalul-mu'minin" (the first of the believers) in Surah 7:143.
P4: The Quran records the Egyptian Magicians—contemporaries of Moses—declaring: "We are the awwalul-mu'minin" (the first of the believers) in Surah 26:51.
P5: If a religion is primordial (starting with Adam), then no one born thousands of years later (Moses or Muhammad) can truthfully claim to be its "First."
C: Therefore, the Quranic text contains a terminal chronological contradiction. It is either historically inaccurate or linguistically inconsistent, proving it is a 7th-century human product attempting to "Islamicize" the past without maintaining coherence.
If awwal is taken in its literal, chronological sense, then Muhammad is indeed the first Muslim.
If you argue awwal only means "first of his specific nation" or "the most devoted."
The Consequence: This admits the Quran is not "Clear" (Mubin). Why use an absolute chronological term for multiple people?
The "Magician" Conflict: This defense fails at Surah 26:51. The Magicians claim to be awwalul-mu'minin while Moses is standing right there. Since Moses was already a believer, the Magicians' claim is factually false. If the Quran records a false claim as divine truth, it is not inerrant.
To cement the argument, highlight the contradiction between Surah 22:78 and Surah, 10:72:
How can Noah be a "Muslim" if the name wasn't given until the time of Abraham? And how can Muhammad be the "First" if the Disciples of Jesus (Surah 5:111) already testified to being "Muslims" 600 years earlier?
This is a terminal failure of the Quranic narrative. It reveals a preoccupation with giving Muhammad titles of priority that result in historical and logical dissonance. Muslims will seek to correct by adding to the Quran to save it from a contradiction but they why is the Quran not as clear as it says it is? Checkmate.