Islam: God's gift
By Jafar Wafa
It is a unique distinction of Islam that, unlike Christianity or Buddhism, it is not named after the founder of the religion. Nor the word Muslim restricts the followers of the Islamic faith to a particular race or nationality.
The reason of this uniqueness is not far to seek as 'Islam' and 'Muslim' are God-given words, not coined by humans.
Islam, now a proper noun in Arabic language, was used by the Almighty to specify the religion revealed to His last Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him). The word means, in reference to this particular religion, 'surrender unto God'. From this word are derived the proper nouns Muslim (plural Muslimoon or Muslimeen), again used in the Quran to specify the followers of the Prophet. So, prior to their use in the Quran, neither Islam nor its derivatives were commonly spoken or written in Arabic to denote a religion and its followers.
Islam and Muslim (and its plurals) are used in the Quran not only to specify the religion revealed to His last Prophet but also the religion of pre-historic Prophet Noah, and then Prophet Abraham, the patriarch of Syriac Hebrew people, the first Divinely-inspired person who, in the words of historian Arnold Toynbee, "arrived at a particular concept of God which is common to Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam" ('Study of History'). It will not be out of place to mention here that Montgomery Watt says, alluding to Prophet Abraham's "belief in a living God", that "it is Islam alone that has preserved this reality" ('Muhammad at Madina').
The Almighty Allah, while introducing to mankind the words 'Islam' and its derivatives through His revelations preserved in the Quran, narrates their origin in Al-Baqra, the second Sura (or chapter of the Book) following the seven 'opening' verses (Al-Fatiha). This narrative appearing in Ayaat (or verses) 128-32 of the second Sura is summed up here:
While Abraham and Ismael were raising the foundation of the Kaaba, Abraham prayed: 'Our Lord! make us 'Muslims' (meaning literally: 'submissive to God') and make from our seed a nation of Muslims and raise up in their midst a Prophet from among them who shall recite unto them your revelations and shall instruct them in the Scripture, and in wisdom and shall chasten them and make them grow.' Responding to the prayer, Allah asked him to become a 'Muslim' which he did and the same thing he enjoined upon his sons, acting upon which Jacob told his sons that God had chosen for them the (true) religion and, therefore, they should die not save as Muslims.
Further, in the fourth Sura (Al-Nisa) there is a clarification that it was not for the first time that the form and substance of Islam as a religion was conveyed to Prophet Muhammad through Divine inspiration. The relevant verses (163-65) of the said Sura can be rendered in English thus: "We inspire thee (Muhammad) as We inspired Noah and the Prophets after him, as We inspired Abraham and Ismael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes and Jesus and Job and Jonah and Aaron and Solomon and as We imparted unto David the Psalms. And Messengers (or Prophets) We have mentioned to you before and Prophets We have not mentioned to you. And God spoke directly to Moses."
According to Islamic authorities, the third Ayat of the fifth Sura (Al Maidah) announcing the completion of the religion for Muslims and the choice of Al-Islam as their religion was, chronologically, the latest revelation conveyed to the Prophet during his Farewell Pilgrimage while he was addressing the assemblage of thousands at Arafat (Suburb of Makkah) where the whole of Arabia had embraced Islam, shortly before his demise after a brief illness at Madinah. The relevant verse can be translated in English thus: "This day have I perfected your religion for you and completed my favour unto you and have chosen for you as religion Al Islam."
According to verses 161-63 of the sixth Sura (Al-Anaam), believed to have been revealed in the year before the Prophet's migration to Madinah after thirteen years of his effort at Makkah, he was asked by Allah to declare: "My Lord has guided me to a straight path, a right religion, the community (millat) of Abraham, the upright, who is not an idolator."
Prophet Abraham was, like Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon both) born in a family of idolators and like him struggled and suffered hardships in preaching monotheism among his people. Prophet Muhammad was further asked by Allah to declare to the Makkans: "God has no partners. This I am commanded, and I am the first of those (in Makkah) who has become a Muslim."
The theosophical approach of Islam, the respect and veneration of all the Prophets and specially gifted and Divinely-inspired men, based on Quranic pronouncements, like the one quoted hereunder, is generally overlooked by the critics of Islam and, regrettably, not duly emphasised by the Muslim clerics.
The Quran says that "the Prophet (Muhammad) believes in that which has been revealed to him from his Lord, and so do the believers, in that which has been revealed to him from his Lord. Each one believes in Allah, his angels and His Scriptures and his Prophets (messengers) - We make no distinction between any one of His messengers." (Al-Baqra: 285).
The distinction between Messengers is, however, interpreted by Muslim theologians as referring to the chronological sequence of the various Messengers' appearance on the worldly scene. The basis of this view is provided by another Ayat (253 of Al-Baqra) to the effect that God has caused some of His Messengers to excel others - 'some to whom Allah spoke while some of them He exalted in degree'.
The above is the synopsis of the Quranic account of the origin of Islam, and the recognition of the greatness and important roles of other Messengers of God, as named in the Bible with whom the first listeners of the Quran were fairly familiar, with an unequivocal assertion that God sent His Messengers to other parts of the world as well whose names have not been clearly spelt out for the obvious reason that the Arabs had absolutely no knowledge of them during the period of revelation.
The following excerpt from the Quran inculcates tolerance of other faiths and their true followers who have been promised their due reward for good deeds performed in this world with belief in their Creator and in the final accountability in the next world. The literal translation of the verses, as given in Marmaduke Pickthal's work, is this:
"Those who are Momins (i.e. Muslims who believe in Prophet Muhammad and that which has been revealed unto him) and those who are Jews, and Christians, and Sabaeens - whoever believe in God and the Last day and do good deeds - surely their reward is with their Lord and no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve" (Al-Baqra: Ayat 62). The same message is repeated in Ayat 69 of Al-Maida to reinforce this particular idea or theme.
But this does not detract from the universally-accepted view of the Muslim theologians that Islam - the teachings and practices of Prophet Muhammad and the Scripture revealed to him - supersede all previous Scriptures and teachings of the earlier Prophets. This is supported by numerous verses in the Quran.