By Shakeel Mohammed P A
There is a prevalent view that Islam considers all other religions as fake, their scriptures as fabricated, and their holy men as charlatans. Is there any truth to this?
It will only be prudent to start with the faith of Islam itself. The simplest definition of Islam is “submission to the will of God.” This is what the Qur’an says,
“Say: Surely the guidance of Allah, that is the (true) guidance, and we are commanded that we should submit to the Lord of the worlds.” – Holy Quran 6:71
The first question that comes to one’s mind on hearing this will be “to which God?”. Is Allah a unique God exclusive to Muslims? The word “Allah” is a combination of Arabic words “Al” and “Illah,” which translate into “the” and “God.” In other words, Allah simply means “the God.” The Arabic Bible uses the word Allah to denote God. Allah is not a God exclusive to a community but the one true God, the Lord of the worlds, Who is mentioned in all monoesthic belief systems.
“Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “He is Allah—One ˹and Indivisible˺;
Allah—the Sustainer ˹needed by all˺.
He has never had offspring, nor was He born.
And there is none comparable to Him.” “- Holy Qur’an Chapter 12
“God is the Creator and Guardian of all things” – Holy Qur’an 39:62
In the 12th chapter holy Qur’an describes Allah as one and only God who has no partners. Everyone and everything is dependent on Him, but He is dependent on none. The Holy Book also states that God was not born to anyone, nor did He father anyone. The chapter ends by declaring that God is not comparable to anyone or anything; He is unique. He is unique because He created everything; the universe and everything in it are His creations. Obviously, the Creator cannot be compared to any of His creations. This in a nutshell is the concept of God in Islam.
The next question obviously will be, How do people know what God’s will is? Islam’s answer to that question is Prophets of God. Prophets are the chosen people of God who receive divine revelations that they communicate to ordinary humans. These revelations are guidance from the Almighty that enable people to submit themselves to God.
“To every nation We sent a Messenger who told its people, “Worship God and stay away from satan.” Some of them were guided by God and others were doomed to go astray. Travel through the land and see how terrible was the end for those who rejected the truth! “- Holy Qur’an 16:36
This verse makes it clear that prophets have been sent to every nation of this world. That is, men of God have come to every country on this earth. All those teachers, revered religious figures invariably found in every nation’s history , may have been prophets of God.
“The messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and (so do) the believers; they all believe in Allah and His angels and His books and His messengers; We make no difference between any of His messengers; and they say: We hear and obey, our Lord! Thy forgiveness (do we crave), and to Thee is the eventual course.”- Holy Qur’an 2:285
In this verse, God explains that believers don’t get to pick and choose which prophet to believe in and which prophet not to believe in. A Muslim has to believe that every prophet sent to every country of this world carried God’s message and hence has to be accepted without any reservation.
“All the Messengers that We sent spoke the language of their people so that they could explain (their message to them). God guides or causes to go astray whomever He wants. He is Majestic and All-wise. “- Holy Qur’an 14:4
Prophets are not sent to just deliver the message. They have the responsibility to explain the message to the masses and also represent the message by living as per the revealed message. The Holy Quran says,
“The Messenger of God is certainly a good example for those of you who have hope in God and in the Day of Judgment and who remember God very often.” – Holy Qur’an 33:21
Prophets have to deliver the divine message, explain the same to the people by rightly interpreting it, and live according to the message received. Here God says that for people to understand His message, He has sent it down in the languages of the people addressed. Each prophet was given the divine guidance in his and his people’s mother tongue. In other words, divine revelations have come to this world in the languages of every nation.
The belief that Islam started with Mohammed (PBUH) is a misconception. In fact, he is the last prophet; the long line of prophets starting with Adam ended with Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). The Holy Qur’an describes him as the seal of the prophets, meaning there is not going to be another prophet after him.
“Muhammad is not the father of any one of your men, but the Messenger of God, and the Seal of the Prophets; God has knowledge of everything.” – Holy Quran 33:40
What this implies is that all the tens of thousands of prophets who received divine guidance over the years in different parts of the world were prophets of Islam, and what they preached was submission to the will of Almighty God.
The Holy Qur’an is the revelation Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) received from God. But the Qur’an is not the only divine guidance that mankind has received. In the beginning of the second chapter of the Qur’an, God specifies who benefits from the Holy Qur’an. One of the qualities that God specifies as belonging to people who benefit from the Holy Qur’an and thus are successful is their firm belief in all His revelations.
“And who believe in that which has been revealed to you and that which was revealed before you and they are sure of the hereafter.” – Holy Qur’an 2:4
From this verse, it’s amply clear that it’s incumbent on every Muslim to believe in every revelation of God, not just the Qur’an. In short, Islam calls on it’s followers to accept all the prophets assigned to different nations of the world and believe in every scripture that God has sent down in the various languages of the world.
In fact some of the prophets mentioned in the holy books of Jews and Christians are mentioned by name in Qur’an.
“(Muslims), say, “We believe in God and what He has revealed to us and to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, and their descendants, and what was revealed to Moses, Jesus, and the Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction among them and to God we have submitted ourselves.”” – Holy Qur’an 2:136
Another popularly held view is that Islam encourages its followers to convert non-Muslims by any means possible. How true is this?
“If it had been thy Lord’s will, they would all have believed,- all who are on earth! wilt thou then compel mankind, against their will, to believe!”- Holy Quran 10:99
This verse is enough to dispel this misconception. Here God is asking the prophet, Why would he compel people to accept faith when God could have made them believers if He so desired? The point is that acceptance of Islam should be by choice.
Surely God does ask Muslims to spread his word, but they shouldn’t compel anyone to accept His message.
“Messenger, preach what is revealed to you from your Lord. If you will not preach, it would be as though you have not conveyed My message. God protects you from men. He does not guide the unbelieving people.”- Holy Qur’an 5:67
“Invite (all) to the Way of thy Lord with wisdom and beautiful preaching; and argue with them in ways that are best and most gracious: for thy Lord knoweth best, who have strayed from His Path, and who receive guidance.”- Holy Qur’an 16:125
“There is no compulsion in religion. Certainly, right has become clearly distinct from wrong. Whoever rejects the devil and believes in God has firmly taken hold of a strong handle that never breaks. God is All-hearing and knowing.”- Holy Qur’an 2:256
These verses irrefutably state that spreading God’s word is the responsibility of believers, but they cannot force anyone to accept their faith; if ever someone accepts Islam, it has to be a voluntary decision. The responsibility of Muslims is to convey the message intelligently and graciously and not to force anyone to convert to their faith.
“Surely you cannot guide whom you love, but Allah guides whom He pleases, and He knows best the followers of the right way.”- Holy Qur’an 28:56
God here reveals another fact: nobody will accept God’s guidance unless God wills so. Even though the acceptance of faith is a choice, even that choice is subject to Almighty’s consent. As far as believers are concerned, their duty is to convey the message and leave the rest to God Almighty.
Another point to be noted is that it is the duty of every Muslim to proclaim his faith by properly representing the same, that’s by living like a true Muslim. They are also expected to use public platforms to convey their message, but a believer is personally bound to convey God’s message only to people who are receptive to the message or are at least interested in such matters.
“Therefore give admonition in case the admonition profits (the hearer).”- Holy Qur’an 87:9
One is not expected to go from door to door and pester people with provocative proselytisation activities.
This article cannot be complete without mentioning the verse of the Holy Quran that asks Muslims to not insult the dieties others consider as God or Gods.
“And do not insult those they invoke other than Allah , lest they insult Allah in enmity without knowledge. Thus We have made pleasing to every community their deeds. Then to their Lord is their return, and He will inform them about what they used to do. “- Holy Qur’an 6:108
To sum up, Islam is not a religion that began with the prophethood of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). While the Qur’an is the last revelation of God, Muslims are told to respect all the revelations of God and accept all prophets of God. Islam accepts the fact that men of God have come to every nation and God’s message has been revealed to these nations in that particular nation’s mother tongue. Further believers are not to compel anyone to accept Islam, as acceptance of faith should be of free will. God also tells His followers in no uncertain terms that they are not to insult or abuse the dieties others pray to.
Shakeel Mohammed P A is a social activist based in Kochi. Email : shakeelmpa@gmail.com
18 November 2024
Source: countercurrents.org