Abraham was Muslim, and Islam means ...

[safdar.dushantappeh]

Islam nowadays is understood as the specific religion of prophet Muhammad pbuh. The way Quran defines Islam, however, Noah, Abraham, all the prophets, and many of their followers were also Muslim. In this article we use Quran as the only source to approach a definition for Islam. Using the purified definition we then challenge the common misunderstandings such as "Islam as the religion of the followers of prophet Muhammad pbuh is the only acceptable religion", "A person has to convert to Islam to reach salvation", and etc.

Summary:
SaLAM means peace. It is therefore the best word people could say to each other when they greet. A peace treaty after war is also called SaLM (8:61). MoSLeM is a person who accepts another power as superior and has nothing but peaceful intentions in mind when meeting it (27:31). Quran reuses the word MoSLeM to refer to a person who accepts the God as the ultimate authority and lives in such a way that after death meet the God in peace (3:102, 2:132, 7:126, 12:101, 26:89), as the God himself is the ultimate peace (Al-SaLAM) and the home of ultimate peace can be found nowhere but with him (6:127). Such lifestyle is called eSLAM and is the intended essence of religion (3:83, 39:11, 29:46) that is recommended to all mankind (46:15) and is applied by all prophets like Noah, Lot, Abraham, the prophets sent to Children of Israel, as well as Jesus's Disciples. The religion always gets abused and perverted as it is the case now and it was the case when the prophet Muhammad pbuh started his mission. He hence started by reminding the religious people, of eSLAM being the essence of religion (2:112, 3:20, 4:125, 2:132) that is common between all of them (29:46). The revived notion of religion was hence also named eSLAM (2:128) and the people who agreed with it were also called MoSLeMs (49:14, 49:17). In this sense a nominal MoSLeM (Muslim), which is a claimed follower of the prophet Muhammad pbuh, could be different from actual MoSLeMs, who could be from any other religion and yet have peace entered in their hearts (26:89).

1. Methodology
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The full article can be found here: http://simpleislam.weebly.com/islam

 

[mojtaba]

Thank you Safdar.

According to Holy Quran, Abraham was Shia( follower ) of Prophet Noah,

و إن من شيعته لإبراهيم​

And Abraham was certainly among his( Noah ) Shias( followers )[ 37:83 ]

 

[safdar.dushantappeh]

Thanks Mojtaba for your comment. I am however not quite sure whether you find yourself agreed with the position of the article or not. Perhaps it would help if I paste the conclusion here:

7. Conclusion

In this article, we showed that in Quran's view the essence of all religions is eSLAM (i.e. Islam), a lifestyle that leads meeting the creator with a heart in peace and MoSLeM (i.e., Moslem) is a person who reaches that state. Having these terms clarified we then challenged the misunderstanding that only the people who agree with the prophet Muhammad's message will reach salvation. Inspired from Quran, our position is that doing good is the key to a peaceful heart and hence salvation, and not the details and rituals of one specific religion.

 

[mojtaba]

Thanks Mojtaba for your comment. I am however not quite sure whether you find yourself agreed with the position of the article or not. Perhaps it would help if I paste the conclusion here:

7. Conclusion

In this article, we showed that in Quran's view the essence of all religions is eSLAM (i.e. Islam), a lifestyle that leads meeting the creator with a heart in peace and MoSLeM (i.e., Moslem) is a person who reaches that state. Having these terms clarified we then challenged the misunderstanding that only the people who agree with the prophet Muhammad's message will reach salvation. Inspired from Quran, our position is that doing good is the key to a peaceful heart and hence salvation, and not the details and rituals of one specific religion.

Safdar, because here is Dir., I do not like to challenge. But because you asked my comment, I will say you it.

Allah says in Quran that Ahlul Kitab( Those who follow one of the God's Prophets ) should do three things to become felicitous. Those three things are, 1. following Prophet Muhammad( peace be upon him and his pure progeny ), 2. believing in him( peace be upon him and his pure progeny ) 3. and following Quran.

7:157
Those who follow the Apostle, the untaught prophet, whose mention they find written with them in the Torah and the Evangel, who bids them to do what is right and forbids them from what is wrong, makes lawful to them all the good things and forbids them from all vicious things, and relieves them of their burdens and the shackles that were upon them—those who believe in him, honour him, and help him and follow the light that has been sent down with him, they are the felicitous.’

Anyway, those who do not know Prophet Muhammad and also are unblameworthy in their ignorance, are excluded.

Unblameworthy ignorant person is the person who is not at all aware of his ignorance or he/she is aware of it, but there is no way out of it.

 

[safdar.dushantappeh]

Thanks Mojtab for your constructive feedback.

This verse is very relevant to our discussion. Before dive into it, lets remind ourselves the many verses in Quran that
1. say many previous prophets and their followers were already MoSLeM (Muslim)
2. The followers of other religions are in a good path as long as they do good deeds
3. The core of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh)'s message was reminding people of the quality of being MoSLeM, which is the core message in all previous religions.

Now lets read 7:156 again.

And appoint goodness for us in this world and the Hereafter ... Soon I shall appoint it for those who are Godwary and give the zakat and those who believe in Our signs (156) —those who follow the Apostle, the untaught prophet, whose mention they find written with them in the Torah and the Evangel, ... —those who believe in him, honour him, and help him and follow the light that has been sent down with him, they are the felicitous.’ (157)

1. First, combined with the verse 156 it talks about appointing goodness to those who do such things. This does not mean the ones who are not appointed goodness in this verse will end up in hell. The same word "goodness" has used in other verses as well and implies that it has many incarnations, e.g., 4:40 "Indeed Allah does not wrong [anyone] [even to the extent of] an atom’s weight, and if it be a good deed He doubles it[s reward], and gives from Himself a great reward. (40)"
2. As the article explains the core of prophet Muhammad (pbhu)'s message is reviving the quality of becoming MoSLeM (meeting the God in peace) which is the core of all previous religions too. Therefore, "the light that has been sent down with him" could be interpreted as reminder of this quality, and as we explained before one need not to convert to Islam (in the sense that it is preached by Muslims) to develop this quality.
3. Notice the verbs "help him" and "honour him" in the verse. This implies that the target audience of this verse were specifically the follower of other religions who were living when the prophet started his mission; when the community around him was small and vulnerable. And this verse invite them to help the prophet in his mission and thus have goodness appointed to them via this help. At 21st century a person who is born into other religions would be a real helper and follower of the light that was sent with the prophet if she recognizes the quality of becoming MoSLeM (meeting the God in peace) in their religion and purify their religion to get aligned with this core message.

 

[mojtaba]

Thanks Mojtab for your constructive feedback.

This verse is very relevant to our discussion. Before dive into it, lets remind ourselves the many verses in Quran that
1. say many previous prophets and their followers were already MoSLeM (Muslim)
2. The followers of other religions are in a good path as long as they do good deeds
3. The core of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh)'s message was reminding people of the quality of being MoSLeM, which is the core message in all previous religions.

Now lets read 7:156 again.

And appoint goodness for us in this world and the Hereafter ... Soon I shall appoint it for those who are Godwary and give the zakat and those who believe in Our signs (156) —those who follow the Apostle, the untaught prophet, whose mention they find written with them in the Torah and the Evangel, ... —those who believe in him, honour him, and help him and follow the light that has been sent down with him, they are the felicitous.’ (157)

1. First, combined with the verse 156 it talks about appointing goodness to those who do such things. This does not mean the ones who are not appointed goodness in this verse will end up in hell. The same word "goodness" has used in other verses as well and implies that it has many incarnations, e.g., 4:40 "Indeed Allah does not wrong [anyone] [even to the extent of] an atom’s weight, and if it be a good deed He doubles it[s reward], and gives from Himself a great reward. (40)"
2. As the article explains the core of prophet Muhammad (pbhu)'s message is reviving the quality of becoming MoSLeM (meeting the God in peace) which is the core of all previous religions too. Therefore, "the light that has been sent down with him" could be interpreted as reminder of this quality, and as we explained before one need not to convert to Islam (in the sense that it is preached by Muslims) to develop this quality.
3. Notice the verbs "help him" and "honour him" in the verse. This implies that the target audience of this verse were specifically the follower of other religions who were living when the prophet started his mission; when the community around him was small and vulnerable. And this verse invite them to help the prophet in his mission and thus have goodness appointed to them via this help. At 21st century a person who is born into other religions would be a real helper and follower of the light that was sent with the prophet if she recognizes the quality of becoming MoSLeM (meeting the God in peace) in their religion and purify their religion to get aligned with this core message.

Holy Quran, Chapter 18
Say, ‘Shall we inform you who are the biggest losers in their works? (103) Those whose efforts are misguided in the life of the world, while they suppose they are doing good.’ (104) They are the ones who deny the signs of their Lord and encounter with Him. So their works have failed. On the Day of Resurrection We will not give them any weight. (105) That is their requital—hell—because of their unfaith and for deriding My signs and apostles[ e.g., Prophet Muhammad ]. (106)

As I said in the previous post of mine, the unblameworthy ignorant persons are excluded. Allah(Jalla Jalalohoo) says, Chapter 4

... The refuge of such shall be hell, and it is an evil destination. (97) Except the oppressed among men, women and children, who have neither access to any means nor are guided to any way. (98)

Good luck!