ISLAM'S UNIVERSALITY

Islam’s Universality

Islam’s universality: All people who believe in One True God without partners and submit themselves to Him are called Muslims

The message of Islam is the continuation of the clear and profound message of pure monotheism revealed by God throughout history to all of His prophets in every place on earth. Allah had sent us prophets who all taught the same religion: {“He (Allah) has ordained for you the same religion (Islam) which He ordained for Noah, and that which We revealed to you (Muhammad), and that which We ordained for Abraham, Moses, and Jesus”} (Qur’an 42:13).

Anyone, born in any place, and at any period of time, can become a Muslim because Islam is what the prophets had been teaching ever since the time of Adam. All people who followed one of the many prophets, who believe in One True God without partners, and submit themselves to Him are called Muslims – a person who submits his will to the will of God according to the teachings of the prophets.

The true religion of God cannot be confined to any one person, place, or period of time. If we were to claim that a certain religion is true, then it has to be accessible at any period of time, anywhere. Because if it doesn’t, then how can a person attain salvation and follow a religion claimed to be true if he was born and died before the religion even exists?

The test of its universality then is the hallmark of a true religion, because for it to be true, a religion has to be accessible to mankind at all times under all circumstances. And within the central principle of Islam and its definition – the surrender of one’s will to God – rests the roots of Islam’s universality – the religion that man can practice from the time of Adam until the end of time.

With its universality, Islam is attainable by all mankind at all times by rejecting the worship of creation and worshiping One God purely. In every age of human history, and in every place on earth, all people who have believed and followed their prophets had lived this simple practice of faith. They were all Muslims, irrespective of whether they call Islam with a different name in their language.

It is not necessary that the name of the religion is Islam. People who followed their prophet from different parts of the world in separate periods of time have a variety of ways to express the term man’s submission to the will of God. People from different places have their own distinct languages, and prophets that were sent to them brought Islam in the language that they understand, and so it is only natural that they call Islam with a different name in their own language.

Islam alone is, and always has been, the universal message from God (Allah SWT)

Whatever its name was, it signified submission to God’s will and therefore it is Islam and nothing but Islam. Islam’s accessibility to all mankind at all times convincingly support Islam’s claim that from the beginning of time, in whichever place it was taught, and whatever language it was expressed, Islam alone is, and always has been, the universal message preached by all the prophets of God. Its appeal is for the whole of humanity, and anyone, born in any place, and at any point in time can become a Muslim because Islam was already been in existence since the time of Adam.

All prophets who have appeared from time to time brought the message of Islam. They were born on separate periods of time and came with different forms of commandments sent by God to guide and govern people, but the essence of their teachings were the same – the surrender of one’s will to God. Allah had sent us prophets who all taught the same religion: {“He (Allah) has ordained for you the same religion (Islam) which He ordained for Noah, and that which We revealed to you (Muhammad), and that which We ordained for Abraham, Moses, and Jesus”} (Qur’an 42:13).

After the creation of the first man – Adam – only one message has been repeatedly delivered to mankind throughout the history of humanity. Thus, to remind people about it and bring them back on track, prophets and messengers including Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and finally Muhammad were sent to convey only one message, the message of submitting oneself to the will of God, which is translated in Arabic as Islam.

The pure essence of the beliefs and teachings that were revealed by God to Prophet Muhammad are the same as God taught to all the other prophets of the past.
Islam – the pure submission to and worship of God alone – was the message of all prophets since the time of Adam. However, after the coming of Prophet Muhammad, there is a further distinction that needs to be made. Before the time of Prophet Muhammad, one could say that they were many “Islam”.

That is, each nation had their prophet, followed their teachings and was on the right path of Islam. But at the same time, if a new prophet would come to them, they will have to follow that new prophet. God sends a new prophet to either reveal new commandments applicable to the people, or to bring them back to the right path after they had deviated from the teachings of the previous prophet over the passage of time. Thus, after the time of Prophet Muhammad, since he is the last of the prophets, there is only one acceptable manner of worshiping and submitting to God.

All the Prophets, from the first to the last brought the same message: to worship Allah alone without partners. In our time, this message still remains, in the form of the Qur’an and the life-example of the last prophet. This is the only path that today can truly be called submitting oneself to the will of God as taught by prophets of the past. Today, the only option left to be on the path of Islam and follow the way of all the earlier prophets is by following Prophet Muhammad.

Prophet Muhammad PBUH did not bring something new

God (Allah SWT)’s messengers had been raised among every people, and they all conveyed essentially that same religion which Prophet Muhammad brought. Muhammad was the last in the series of prophets since the time of Adam. All the prophets of God – from Adam to Muhammad – have brought one and the same religion. Although the Divine Message that Allah revealed to each prophet differed in form to suit the needs of the community to which he was sent, but the identifying nature of the message is the same – the principle of Tawheed.

The only thing that distinguishes Prophet Muhammad from all other prophets is that the prophets of the past came with the Divine message of Islam in its different forms that suits to a particular people in a certain place and for a specific periods of time, whereas the Last Prophet brought the Divine Message of Islam in its Last Form for the whole of humanity and for all time to come.

Prophet Muhammad did not bring something new. He only brought the same message that was also brought by the prophets that came before him. And a person can become a Muslim and follow Islam even before Prophet Muhammad’s time because Islam was already been in existence since the time of Adam. Islam has had existed since Adam’s time. All people who followed one of the many prophets, all people who believed and worshiped the One True God without partners, and submitted themselves to Him are called Muslims.

A Muslim doesn’t necessarily mean a follower of Prophet Muhammad, the reality is that there are people who were true believers in God and His message even before the time of Muhammad, and each and every one of them is labeled a Muslim – a person who submits his will to the will of God according to the teachings of the prophets.

Prophet Muhammad’s message was the same as that was conveyed by prophets of the past in different periods of time. All of them came with one message – the message of Islam. The word Islam is the name of the central principle of the religion, and that is submission of man’s will to the will of God. And anyone who does so is a Muslim, regardless of whether he had or she had lived in the time of Noah, David, Solomon, Jacob, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, or Adam. Whoever submits their will to God according to the teachings of the prophets – as they originally taught them – then that person is a Muslim.  (HSH)

Source: Al Qu'ran