The Universality of Religion and the Finality of Islam!

Thinkerman · May 11, 2003

As-Salaamu-Alaikum

This is a article I found on the universality of religion, it is an

excellent refutation of those who think that there is another

acceptable deen today other than Islam!!!

Ma-Salaam Khalil Muhsin

1. The Universality of Religions and Finality of Islam.

Allah sent mankind and jinn His prophetic messengers (upon whom be

peace), who were trustworthy, intelligent, truthful, and fully

conveyed their messages. He protected them from sin, and from every

physical trait unbecoming to them, though as human beings, they ate,

drank, slept, and married. They were the best of all created beings;

and the highest of them was him whom Allah chose to be the final seal

of prophethood, our prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him

peace).

Though the Sacred Law of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him

peace) superseded all previously valid religious laws, it was

identical with them in beliefs, such as tawhid or "oneness of God",

and so on, a fact that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him

peace) emphasized by saying, "Let none of you say I am superior to

[the prophet] Jonah," (Bukhari, 4.193: 3412), for the illumination of

Jonah's tawhid (upon him be peace)--under the darkness of the storm,

the darkness of the sea, and the darkness of the belly of the fish--

was not less than the illumination of the Prophet's tawhid at the

zenith of his success as the spiritual leader of all Arabia (Allah

bless him and give him peace). The light of their message was one, in

which sense the Koran says, "We do not differentiate between any of

His messengers" (Koran 2:285), showing that previous religions were

the same in beliefs, and though differing in provisions of works, and

now abrogated by the final religion, were valid in their own times.

As for today, only Islam is valid or acceptable now that Allah has

sent it to all men, for the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him

peace) has said,

"By Him in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, any person of this

Community, any Jew, or any Christian who hears of me and dies without

believing in what I have been sent with will be an inhabitant of

hell" (al-Baghawi: Sharh al-sunna 1.104).

This hadith was also reported by Muslim in his Sahih by `Abd al-

Razzaq in his Musannaf, and others. It is a rigorously authenticated

(sahih) evidence that clarifies the word of Allah in surat Al 'Imran

"Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam will never have it

accepted from him, and shall be of those who have truly failed in the

next life" (Koran 3:85)

and many other verses and hadiths. That Islam is the only remaining

valid or acceptable religion is necessarily known as part of our

religion, and to believe anything other than this is unbelief (kufr)

that places a person outside of Islam, as Imam Nawawi notes:

"Someone who does not believe that whoever follows another religion

besides Islam is an unbeliever (like Christians), or doubts that such

a person is an unbeliever, or considers their sect to be valid, is

himself an unbeliever (kafir) even if he manifests Islam and believes

in it" (Rawda al-talibin, 10.70).

This is not only the position of the Shafi'i school of jurisprudence

represented by Nawawi, but is also the recorded position of all three

other Sunni schools: Hanafi (Ibn 'Abidin: Radd al-muhtar 3.287),

Maliki (al-Dardir: al-Sharh al-saghir, 4.435), and Hanbali (al-

Bahuti: Kashshaf al-qina', 6.170). Those who know fiqh literature

will note that each of these works is the foremost fatwa resource in

its school. The scholars of Sacred Law are unanimous about the

abrogation of all other religions by Islam because it is the position

of Islam itself. 1. The Universality of Religions and Finality of

Islam.