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Why the Quran calls “Islam” as the only religion accepted by God

Friday Khutba by Dr Zahid Aziz, for Lahore Ahmadiyya UK, 19 July 2024

“Surely the religion with Allah is Islam. And those who were given the Book differed only after knowledge had come to them, out of envy among themselves. And whoever disbelieves in the messages of Allah — Allah indeed is Quick at reckoning. But if they dispute with you (O Prophet), say: I submit myself entirely to Allah and (so does) he who follows me. And say to those who have been given the Book and the Unlearned (people): Do you submit yourselves? If they submit, then indeed they follow the right way; and if they turn back, your duty is only to deliver the message. And Allah is Seer of the servants.” — ch. 3, Āl-‘Imrān, v. 19–20.

اِنَّ الدِّیۡنَ عِنۡدَ اللّٰہِ الۡاِسۡلَامُ ۟ وَ مَا اخۡتَلَفَ الَّذِیۡنَ اُوۡتُوا الۡکِتٰبَ اِلَّا مِنۡۢ بَعۡدِ مَا جَآءَہُمُ الۡعِلۡمُ بَغۡیًۢا بَیۡنَہُمۡ ؕ وَ مَنۡ یَّکۡفُرۡ بِاٰیٰتِ اللّٰہِ فَاِنَّ اللّٰہَ سَرِیۡعُ الۡحِسَابِ ﴿۱۹﴾ فَاِنۡ حَآجُّوۡکَ فَقُلۡ اَسۡلَمۡتُ وَجۡہِیَ لِلّٰہِ وَ مَنِ اتَّبَعَنِ ؕ وَ قُلۡ لِّلَّذِیۡنَ اُوۡتُوا الۡکِتٰبَ وَ الۡاُمِّیّٖنَ ءَاَسۡلَمۡتُمۡ ؕ فَاِنۡ اَسۡلَمُوۡا فَقَدِ اہۡتَدَوۡا ۚ وَ اِنۡ تَوَلَّوۡا فَاِنَّمَا عَلَیۡکَ الۡبَلٰغُ ؕ وَ اللّٰہُ بَصِیۡرٌۢ بِالۡعِبَادِ ﴿٪۲۰﴾

Recently I saw a poster produced by some Muslims which quoted the opening words of the passage that I have recited: “Surely the (acceptable) religion with Allah is Islam”, with “acceptable” added before religion to explain its meaning. Above these words on the poster was a circle with the symbols of all the religions of the world around it, with the star and crescent of Islam placed at the top of the circle and highlighted in a larger size. This presentation might create the impression that Islam rejects all other religions as false and only itself as true. That, in fact, may have been the message that the designers of the poster wanted to convey. It occurred to me that followers of every religion make the same claim about their religion, that ours is the best, the only true, and the only religion sent by God. Does Islam, in the same way, tell Muslims to squabble with followers of other religions, saying we are the only right ones, you are all false? And what proof do Muslims put forward for this claim?

If we look at the next verse, which I also read above, we find that it mentions submitting to God. It says to the Holy Prophet: “But if they dispute with you, say (to them): I submit myself entirely to Allah and (so does) he who follows me.” The meaning is that if people of other religions dispute this claim, that the religion approved of by God is Islam, the Holy Prophet should show them how he and his followers completely submit themselves to God. In the words “I submit myself entirely to Allah”, the word translated as “entirely” means with the whole of my being, with my body and my soul and my heart and my mind and my every fibre. These words “I submit myself entirely to Allah” do not equate to “I am a Muslim” in name or by claim. They indicate showing in practice what a Muslim is. So the Holy Prophet is told by God that when other people dispute your claim that the religion approved of by God is Islam, then show them how you and those who follow you are submitting to God in practice, and how your religion of Islam has changed you.

If we look at some verses occurring just before this, they show what a Muslim really should be. Five verses before this, in v. 14, it is stated:

“The love of desires is made attractive to people — of women and sons and hoarded treasures of gold and silver and well-bred horses and cattle and crop produce. This is the provision of the life of this world. And Allah — with Him is the good goal (of life).”

The particular things mentioned here, which people desire, are just examples and those mentioned after “women and sons” are taken from material things of those times. In our times, these have been replaced by other things, such as cash and investments, cars, appliances and the latest gadgets. The desire for “women and sons” remains the same as ever before. Whatever the examples may be, the same principle applies: “This is the provision of the life of this world. And Allah — with Him is the good goal (of life).” Muslims should be those whose goal of life is not any of these material things. Only then can Muslims prove to others that Islam is the religion acceptable to God by showing their own example of submitting whole-heartedly to God.

Then, just before verse 19 which says that Islam is the religion acceptable to God, there are verses 16 and 17 which describe Muslims as follows:

“Those who say: Our Lord, we believe, so forgive our sins and save us from the punishment of the fire. The patient and the truthful and the obedient and those who spend (on good works) and those who ask Divine protection in the morning times.”

This is what the followers of that religion should be like which claims that it is the only religion acceptable to God. Without this practical example, just shouting that Islam is the best religion, the only religion acceptable to God, is just an unproven claim of no value.

Immediately after the statement, “Surely the religion with Allah is Islam”, the verses goes on to say:

“And those who were given the Book differed only after knowledge had come to them, out of envy among themselves.”

These were the Jews and the Christians of the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s time. What is meant is that the earlier revelation had also given people the knowledge that the religion acceptable and approved by God was submission to Him, but even after receiving this knowledge the followers of these revelations added other beliefs into their religions as fundamental beliefs, and they did this merely due to their mutual hostility towards one another.

In the book of Psalms in the Bible it is stated:

“Happy are those who live pure lives, who follow the Lord’s teachings. Happy are those who keep his rules, who try to obey him with their whole heart. They don’t do what is wrong; they follow his ways. Lord, you gave your orders to be obeyed completely. I wish I were more loyal in obeying your demands.” (Psalms, 119:1–5; NCV translation)

We also read in the Bible the advice:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs, 3:5–6; NIV translation).

Jesus taught his disciples:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew, 7:21).

So when Allah says in the Quran, “Surely the religion with Allah is Islam”, this refers not only to the religion brought by the Holy Prophet Muhammad which we call Islam, but also to the basic teachings given in previous books of God.

Due to their mutual hostility, the Jews and the Christians stopped accepting that this was the core of their religion, and that it was the same for both. One side turned from submission to God to blind following of priests and rituals of religion, and the other side gave up worship of the one God alone and declared Jesus as a partner of God. As the Quran says:

“They take their scholars of religion and their monks (or priests or saints) for lords besides Allah, and (also they take as lord) the Messiah, son of Mary. And they were enjoined that they should serve one God only — there is no god but He.” (9:31)

When the Holy Prophet Muhammad appeared with the same teachings as those given by the prophets of the Bible and Jesus, teaching people the same knowledge, they disagreed with him and wanted to stick to the beliefs they had added to the fundamental teaching of submission to God. This is mentioned in the words of the verse: “But if they dispute with you.”

I may mention an interesting point here. The Quran is the only scripture out of all religious scriptures which gives a name to the religion that it teaches, and that name, as you know, is Islam. Apart from the verse we are discussing, the Quran calls its religion as Islam in seven other places. Moreover, the name Islam reflects its basic teachings. As to the names of other religions, for example, the Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish and Christian religions, no one knows for sure how they came to have these names. Either the later followers of these religions named them, or other people, such as their enemies, started calling them by these names and those names then stuck. Nor does any of these names have a meaning which tells you what the principles of that religion are.

The Jewish religion is named after a tribe, and the Christian religion was named not by Christians but by a non-Christian society that they lived in. A Catholic website which answers questions about their religion (www.catholic.com) says:

“Originally Christians weren’t even called Christians.”

Another Christian website (www.relevantmagazine.com) says:

“The early Church never called themselves Christians. … It wasn’t a name Jesus’ disciples gave themselves — it was a name given to them by the society in Antioch.”

This was a city where early Christians had settled. As you can see, and no one can deny, that religions other than Islam are named after their founders, or the races among which they originated, or their places of origin. Because of this practice of naming religions in this way, people in Europe, including their scholars of religion, used to call Islam as Muhammadanism and Muslims as Muhammadans because they thought this is the name it ought to have. Although these terms are no longer heard, but they continued to be used till about fifty years ago. Therefore, we may say that one meaning of the words, “Surely the religion with Allah is Islam”, is that the only religion named by God is Islam.

To sum up, what these words mean is that the basis of the teachings sent into the world by God is that humans should submit to Him. This was always the case, not just in the message revealed through the Holy Prophet Muhammad, but also in the messages revealed through all previous prophets. This is why we find mention of submitting to God in the Bible as well, in the same way as in the Quran. But the Quran came to clarify and stress this point since the followers of previous books had added and placed other beliefs above submission to the one God.

May Allah enable us to understand His message in the Quran and to explain it to the world at large — Ameen.

Website: www.aaiil.uk