In today’s article we will look at the word al-islam in the Qur’an. Muslims claim that this word is referring to the religion of Islam. But if we really investigate the usage of this word in the Qur’an we realize that it simply means submission to God. Am I saying that billions of Muslims are wrong? The short answer is yes and the Qur’an confirms this to be the case:
Muslims claim that their religion is the only religion accepted by God and those who do not convert to their religion will not enter Paradise in the Hereafter. They advance the following verse in support of their argument:
Here is a neutral translation of this verse:
We can verify that the arabic word al-islam ( الْإِسْلَامِ ) which Muslims claim to mean the religion of Islam is not how the Qur’an uses this word. The Qur’an uses it in a general sense to mean submission to God. This word occurs in 5 other places in the Qur’an.
“Is it other than God I should seek as judge when He it is that sent down to you the Writ set out and detailed?” And those to whom We gave the Writ know that it is sent down from thy Lord with the truth; so be thou not of those who doubt.
And perfected is the word of thy Lord in truth and justice; there is none to change His words; and He is the Hearing, the Knowing.
And if thou obey most of those upon the earth, they will lead thee astray from the path of God; they follow only assumption, and they are only guessing.
(6:114-116)
Prophet Muhammad’s statement on the Day of Judgment
Let us begin by considering the statement of prophet Muhammad on the Day of Judgment regarding the people he was sent to.And the Messenger will say: “O my Lord: my people took this Qur’an as a thing abandoned.”
(25:30)
The religion of Islam
I give credit to Brother Gerrans for a lot of ideas presented in this work. You can read and download his entire work for free. All translations used in this article are from The Qur’an: A Complete Revelation.Muslims claim that their religion is the only religion accepted by God and those who do not convert to their religion will not enter Paradise in the Hereafter. They advance the following verse in support of their argument:
In this translation by Saheeh International (which is a typical translation) it is understood that Allah (which is God in Arabic) will only accept the religion of Islam — by which they mean the Sunni flavor of the religion of Islam with its invented 5 pillars. It is ironic that they fail to realize that the latter part of the verse is talking about them; that those who were given the Scripture (which now includes Muslims as well) differed after knowledge has come to them due to jealousy i.e. people who were given the Qur’an (God’s Scripture) have differed among themselves due to jealousy and have invented an entire separate religion called Islam with its various sects such as the Sunni and Shia sects.Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam. And those who were given the Scripture did not differ except after knowledge had come to them – out of jealous animosity between themselves. And whoever disbelieves in the verses of Allah , then indeed, Allah is swift in [taking] account. (3:19)
Here is a neutral translation of this verse:
Now, here is another verse that talks about the breaking off the people of the Scripture into sects:The doctrine with God is submission. And those given the Writ differed only after knowledge had come to them, through sectarian zealotry between them; and whoso denies the proofs of God — then is God swift in reckoning.
(3:19)
So, those who were given the Scripture “were commanded to only to serve God, sincere to Him in doctrine, inclining to truth; and to uphold the duty, and to render the purity — and that is the doctrine of the upright.” They were not commanded to establish a separate religion called Islam with its invented 5 pillars. And they were not commanded to set up a stone idol in Mecca and make it a focus of their ritual prayer. Nor were they commanded to bow, prostrate and circle this idol.Those who ignore warning among the doctors of the Law and the idolaters were not to desist until the clear evidence came to them:
A messenger from God, reciting purified pages
In which are upright writs.
And those given the Writ were divided only after the clear evidence had come to them.
And they were commanded only to serve God, sincere to Him in doctrine, inclining to truth; and to uphold the duty, and to render the purity — and that is the doctrine of the upright.
(98:1-5)
We can verify that the arabic word al-islam ( الْإِسْلَامِ ) which Muslims claim to mean the religion of Islam is not how the Qur’an uses this word. The Qur’an uses it in a general sense to mean submission to God. This word occurs in 5 other places in the Qur’an.
Is it then other than the doctrine of God they seek, when to Him has submitted whoso is in the heavens and the earth, willingly or unwillingly, and to Him they will be returned?
Say thou: “We believe in God, and what has been sent down upon us, and what was sent down upon Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac, and Jacob and the Grandsons; and what was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their Lord. We make no division between any of them, and to Him we are submitting.”
And whoso seeks a doctrine other than submission الْإِسْلَامِ, it will not be accepted from him; and he in the Hereafter will be among the losers.
How will God guide a people who denied after their faith, and had borne witness that the Messenger is true, and clear signs had come to them? And God guides not the wrongdoing people.
(3:83-86)
O you who heed warning: fulfil contracts. Made lawful for you is grazing livestock save what is recited to you, hunting not being permitted when you are forbidden; God ordains what He wills.
O you who heed warning: violate not the tokens of God, nor the inviolable month, nor the offering, nor the necklaces, nor the visitors to the inviolable house seeking the favour of their Lord and approval. And when you are permitted, then you may hunt. And let not hatred of a people who turned you away from the inviolable place of worship move you to commit injustice. And assist one another to virtue and prudent fear; and assist not one another in sin and enmity. And be in prudent fear of God; God is severe in retribution.
Forbidden to you is carrion, and blood, and the flesh of swine, and that dedicated to other than God, and the strangled, and the beaten, and the fallen, and the gored, and that eaten by the beast of prey save what you slaughter, and that sacrificed upon the altar, and that you seek apportionment by divining arrows — that is perfidy — (this day have those who ignore warning despaired of your doctrine, so fear them not, but fear Me; this day have I perfected for you your doctrine and completed My favour upon you, and approved for you submission الْإِسْلَامَ as doctrine) but whoso is compelled by hunger, without inclination to sin — God is forgiving and merciful.
They ask thee what is made lawful for them. Say thou: “Made lawful for you are good things; and what you have trained of animals of prey as trainers teaching them of what God taught you — eat of what they catch for you, and remember the name of God over it. And be in prudent fear of God; God is swift in reckoning.”
This day are good things made lawful for you; and the food of those given the Writ is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them, as are chaste women among the believing women and chaste women among those given the Writ before you, when you have given them their dowries, being chaste and not fornicators, nor taking secret friends. And whoso denies the faith: his work has been in vain, and he in the Hereafter is among the losers.
(5:1-5)
And whom God wills to guide, He expands his breast towards submission لِلْإِسْلَامِ; and whom He wills to lead astray, He makes his breast constricted, distressed, as if he were ascending into the sky; thus does God appoint abomination for those who do not believe.
And this is the path of thy Lord, one straight; We have set out and detailed the proofs for people who take heed;
(6:125-126)
Is then he whose breast God has expanded to submission لِلْإِسْلَامِ so that he follows light from His Lord[…]? Then woe to those whose hearts are hardened against the remembrance of God! Those are in manifest error.
God has sent down the best narration: a Writ of paired comparison whereat shiver the skins of those who fear their Lord; then their skins and their hearts soften to the remembrance of God — that is the guidance of God wherewith He guides whom He wills;and whom God sends astray, for him there is no guide.
(39:22-23)
And who is more unjust than he who invents a lie about God, when he is invited to submission الْإِسْلَامِ? And God guides not the wrongdoing people.
They want to extinguish the light of God with their mouths; but God will perfect His light, though the false claimers of guidance be averse.
He it is that sent His messenger with the guidance and the doctrine of truth that He might make it manifest over all doctrine, though the idolaters be averse.
(61:7-9)