Was Muhammad a Muslim or an Islamist?

What exactly separates Islam from Islamism? Are Islam and Islamism distinct sects, akin to the divisions between Catholicism and Protestantism in Christianity?

Or do they represent interpretive borders, where one reading of sacred texts emphasizes peace while another promotes militancy?

Perhaps they are merely modern developments, constructs of the 20th century designed to differentiate between a benign faith and its politicized offshoots?

To begin, it is essential to clarify what these borders are not.

Islam and Islamism are not separate sects.

Sunni Islamists adhere to Sunni Islam, drawing from the same books and venerating the same historical figures. Similarly, Shia Islamists remain firmly within Shia traditions, honoring the Imams and following established Shia scholarship.

There is no standalone “Islamist sect” with its own distinct theology or institutions; both groups operate within the same mosques, reference the same canonical texts, and trace their lineages back to Muhammad.

Nor can these borders be chalked up to differing interpretations of Islam’s foundational sources.

The notion that Islamism represents a “twisted” or radical reading of an otherwise peaceful religion ignores the continuity of Islamic practice and doctrine.

Both self-described moderate Muslims and Islamists uphold and sanctify the identical interpretations that have defined the faith for centuries. The Islam of the Salaf, the “pious predecessors” from the time of Muhammad and his immediate successors, remains the Islam practiced today by believers across the ideological spectrum.