THE RELIGION WITH ALLAH IS ONLY ONE.
In the name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord and the Cherisher of the Universe.
May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon the holy prophet, Muhammad
(PBUH), his household, companions and the followers of the right guidance
till the Day of Judgement. Allah, the Exalted, says in the Qur'an:
"The same religion has He (Allah) established for you (Muhammad) as that
which He enjoined on Noah, that which We have sent by inspiration to thee
(Muhammad) and that which We enjoined on Abraham, Moses and Jesus: Namely
that you should remain steadfast in Religion and make no divisions
therein: to those who worship other things than Allah hard is the (way) to
which you call them. Allah chooses to Himself those whom He pleases and
guides to Himself those who turn (to Him in repentance). And they became
divided only after knowledge reached them through selfish envy as between
themselves. Had it not been for a Word that went forth before from thy
Lord for an appointed time, the matter would have been settled between
them: but truly those who have inherited the Book after them are in
suspicious doubt concerning it (Allah's true religion)." Q42:13-4.
And the Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), on the unity of divinely revealed
religion, said: "My similitude in comparison with the other prophets
before me, is that of a man who has built a house nicely and beautifully,
except for a place of one brick in a corner. The people go about it and
wonder at its beauty, but say: 'Would that this brick be put in its
place!' So I am that brick, and I am the last of the Prophets." (Bukhari
4.735 related by Abu Huraira).
"Muhammad is not the father of any of your men but (he is) the Apostle of
Allah and the last of the Prophets: and Allah has full knowledge of all
things." Q33:40
Just as man's intellectual and technological advancement is gradual, so
also is the religion of Allah, the Almighty God. Allah started the
revelation of His religion with Adam (PBUH) in form of a simple rule, "eat
of everything in the Garden but not from that tree". This continued with
Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (PBUT). The problem has been that
people deviate from the original message preached and practiced by these
men of God after they left the world.
It should be noted that the people of Noah (PBUH) had a religion they were
practicing before he started preaching words of Allah to them. " Noah
said: "O my Lord! They have disobeyed me but they follow (men) whose
wealth and children give them no increase but only Loss. And they have
devised a tremendous Plot. And they have said (to each other) abandon not
your gods; abandon neither Wadd nor Suwa neither Yaguth nor Yauq nor Nasr.
They have already misled many; and grant Thou no increase to the
wrongdoers save error."" Q71:21-4. This is a clear evidence that not all
religions of the world are from Allah. Some people have been making
religions for themselves from their ancestors and heroes. Allah destroyed
Noah's (PBUH) people because they refused to change Prophet Noah (PBUH)
and the few that believed with him were however saved.
Now, how do we know the religion from Allah? The only true religion from
Allah is the monotheistic religion in the real sense of the word that has
link with Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) because Allah made convenant with him
that all prophets after him will be from his progeny.
" And remember that Abraham was tried by his Lord with certain commands,
which he fulfilled; He (Allah) said: "I will make thee an Imam to the
nations." He (Abraham) pleaded: "And also (Imams) from my offspring!" He
(Allah) answered: "But my promise is not within the reach of
evil-doers."Q2:124. And Ibrahim (PBUH) prayed: "Our Lord! Make of us
SUBMISSIVE to Thy (Will) and of our progeny a people SUBMISSIVE to Thy
(Will) and show us our places for the celebration of (due) rites; and turn
unto us (in mercy); for Thou art the Oft-Returning Most-Merciful." Q2:128.
The Qur'an further states that: "And who turns away from the religion of
Abraham but such as debase their souls with folly? Truly, We chose and
rendered him pure in this world: and he will be in the Hereafter in the
ranks of the righteous. Behold! His Lord said to him: "SUBMIT (thy will to
me)". He said: "I SUBMIT (my will) to the Lord and Cherisher of the
universe." And this was the legacy that Abraham left to his sons and so
did Jacob; "O my sons! Allah has chosen the faith for you; then die not
except in the faith of Islam (submission to the will of Allah)." Q2:130-2.
All prophets of Allah submitted to Allah's Will and preached His words.
Submission to Allah's Will in Arabic is Islam.
Allah, the Exalted, says: " Those Messengers We endowed with gifts some
above others: to one of them Allah spoke (directly); others He raised to
degrees (of honor); to Jesus the son of Mary We gave clear (Signs) and
strengthened him with the Holy Spirit (Arc angel Gabriel). If Allah had
so willed succeeding generations would not have fought among each other
after clear (Signs) had come to them but they differed- some believing and
others rejecting. If Allah had so willed they would not have fought each
other; but Allah fulfills His plan." Q2:253
In an hadith narrated by Abu Hurairah(RA): the Prophet(PBUH) said, " There
was no Prophet among the Prophets but was given miracles because of which
people had security or had belief, but what I have been given (as miracle)
is the Divine Inspiration which Allah has revealed to me(Qur'an). So I
hope that my followers will be more than those of any other Prophet on the
Day of Resurrection." (Bukhari 9.379).
If we study the trend of monotheistic religion from the time of Moses
(PBUH) to today, we would see that all prophets after him followed Allah's
laws established by him with few changes in mode of worship but the belief
in oneness of Allah remained unchanged till the advent of Jesus (PBUH).
Although Jesus (PBUH) preached oneness and supremacy of Allah
(Mark12:29-30) and said he came not to destroy the laws (Matthew5:17-19),
people laid more emphasis on his miracles and personality and we all know
the results. The oneness of Allah is however re-established by Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH).
Despite the fact that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) performed physical miracles,
he referred to the Qur'an as the miracle of his prophethood. Why?
Inquiring minds may want to know. The reason is that Allah in His
Knowledge knows that capabilities of human intelligence. During the time
of Moses and Jesus (PBUT), Allah gave them miracles that people could see
physically to fit their mental development. But nowadays, everybody is
following science, human intellectual development is at its peak. The Holy
Qur'an meets the present state of human mental development. The Qura'n
states many scientific facts that scientists are just discovering, the
linguistic excellence of the Qur'an dazzles the native speakers of the
language and the language of the Qur'an has remained unchanged up till
now and till the end of the world. The languages of the other scriptures
have undergone tremendous changes, some are no more spoken by people.
Interested persons can visit www.it-is-truth.org and
www.geocities.com/~itmr/verses/sci.htm for more information on this.
Unfortunately, the same single religion that Allah revealed to all
prophets has been divided into different religions each with many sects.
(Q42:13). This is not Allah's intention, human beings are misusing the
freewill Allah has given them, they misinterpret and extrapolate Allah's
words and make new religion out this. The similitude of Allah's revealed
religion is like the government of a nation. The nation had different
leaders with different missions and capabilities at different time. Each
leader builds on the achievements and tries to correct the mistakes of
his/her predecessor, changing the constitutions to reflect the new
realities at hand. Does the change in leadership of a nation change the
sovereign status of the nation? Can a group of people refuse to recognize
and follow the new leadership and constitutions because they were
supporters of the previous government?
The truth is that Allah revealed His religion to different prophets in
different time and places with little changes in the laws to reflect the
realities of the dispensation of prophets but the fundamental beliefs in
oneness of Allah and doing righteous deeds and avoiding evil deeds remain
the same. Study all the monotheistic religions, you will find these
fundamental beliefs and other similarities.
Allah says, "One day We shall raise from all peoples a witness against
them from amongst themselves: and We shall bring thee (Muhammad) as a
witness against these (Muslims): and We have sent down to thee the Book
explaining all things a guide a Mercy and glad tidings to Muslims."
(Q16:89). " Those who believe (in the Qur'an) and those who follow the
Jewish (Scriptures) and the Christians and the Sabians and who believe in
Allah and the last day and work righteousness shall have their reward with
their Lord; on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve." Q2:62.
Each prophet will be a witness against people who lived during his
dispensation. The dispensation of a prophet ends with the arrival of a new
prophet and people that follow the old prophet are expected to follow the
new prophet for continuity as we do when there is a change of government.
Q2:62 refers to people who lived during the dispensation of the prophets
associated with those religious names. The Jews that lived during the time
of Jesus (PBUH) but did not believe in him will be questioned on the Day
of Judgement for their disbelief. Likewise, all people who heard about the
message of the last of Prophets, Muhammad (PBUH), will be questioned on
the Day of Judgement for their disbelief because we are in the
dispensation of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
The Qur'an informs us that every prophet was the only way to Allah during
his dispensation. And every prophet made a similar statement made by Jesus
(PUBH) that "I am the way and the light no one comes to the father except
through me". Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said: "By Him in Whose hand is the
life of Muhammad, he who amongst the community of Jews or Christians hears
about me, but does not affirm his belief in that with which I have been
sent and dies in this state (of disbelief), he shall be but one of the
denizens of Hell-Fire." (Muslim 284).
Praise be to Allah for Muslims believe in all prophets and Scriptures
before Muhammad (PBUH). Allah commands, " Say you (Muslims): "We believe
in Allah and the revelation given to us and to Abraham, Isma`il, Isaac,
Jacob and the Tribes and that given to Moses and Jesus and that given to
(all) Prophets from their Lord we make no difference between one and
another of them and we submit to Allah (in Islam)." Q2:136.
However, despite Allah's caution on division "And hold fast all together
by the rope which Allah (stretches out for you) and be not divided among
yourselves" Q3:103, it is unfortunate that Muslims have been divided into
sects. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) on this said, "Allah's Messenger (peace be
upon him) said: There will befall my Ummah exactly (all those) evils which
befell the people of Isra'il, so much so that if there was one amongst
them who openly committed fornication with his mother there will be among
my Ummah one who will do that, and if the people of Isra'il were
fragmented into seventy-two sects my Ummah will be fragmented into
seventy-three sects. All of them will be in Hell Fire except one sect.
They (the Companions) said: Allah's Messenger, which is that? Whereupon he
said: It is one to which I and my companions belong (the sect that
strictly follow the Qur'an and Sunnah)." (Tirmidhi 171)
Muslims should evaluate their beliefs, do they conform to the Qur'an and
the sunnah? May Allah guide all of us aright.
Peace be on you.
Surajudeen.
KFUPM, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
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