is islam the only path to god ? does the quran
extend the validity of religions beyond islam to any who believe in god and act rightly ? or does
the quran insist that islam is the exclusive and only path to god ? and what is the idea that some
have come up with from their reading of the quran that at the heart of the world's major religions
and faiths there is an essential unity of truth . now this is a controversial question and whatever
answer we give will attract much criticism . i am not a scholar so this is just my personal view
please correct me if i am wrong . the quran is unambiguous when it says : he who seeks a religion
other than islam , it will not be accepted of him and in the hereafter he shall be among the losers 3 85. elsewhere it states : the true religion in
allah's sight is islam 3 19. whatever other verses may be considered on
this subject these two must surely be central turning to the words of the prophet we find
him proclaiming : by him in whose hand is the life of muhammad . anyone from this nation be
they a jew or a christian who hears of me and dies without believing in what i have come
with shall be among the inhabitants of hell . on this hadith imam al-nawari says : it contains a
proof that all religions have now been abrogated by the prophethood of our prophet . also , in its
explicit meaning is a proof that those to whom the call of islam does not reach are excused . end
quote . not only has the religion of islam that the prophet was sent with superseded or previous
revealed teachings . this last dispensation is a universal one too . the quran says : say o mankind
truly i am the messenger of allah to you all 7 1 5 8 . the prophet's sacred law then has abrogated
and superseded all earlier revealed laws except those provisions in them that the new
sacred law has reconfirmed . in the last century a view has arisen which says that islam affirms
the validity of other religions recourse has been taken to the following verse to justify this
claim : those who believe in the quran , the jews , the christians and the sabians whosoever believes
in allah and the last day and does what is right shall be rewarded by their lord . no fear shall
come upon them nor shall they grieve . that's second surah verse 62 . this verse it is believed extends
the validity of religions beyond just islam and the possibility of salvation beyond just muslims
to whoever believes in allah and the last day . the era of such a claim can be gauged from
the following three points . first: apart from ignoring the above protect proof text to the
contrary the earlier verses and the hadith . (i quoted) this view stands against islamic orthodoxy
which states as per imam al-nawawi : one thou who does not consider a person who follows a religion
besides islam like a christian to be a disbeliever or doubts that such a person is a disbeliever
or deems their religion to be still valid is himself a disbeliever even if along with this
he manifests islam and believes in it . end quote . how should this verse 262 be read then ? scholars
of tafsir along with the belief that the quran's message now supersedes all previous heavenly
teachings offer the following interpretations for this particular verse 262. firstly ,
it is said to refer to those seekers of truth who believed in the imminent arrival of the
final prophet , individuals like habib al-najar says ibn sadha and waraka nafal baraka (excuse my
pronunciation) bahira the monk and solomon al-farsi and others . some of them reached the prophet and
accepted islam at his hand others didn't reach him but nonetheless they're included among those
who believe in allah and the last day . a second option of the tafsir writers is that it refers to
the believers of previous nations following the prophets of their respective times . another option
is its claim to refer to those jews and christians who prior to accepting islam in the time of the
prophet muhammad followed the unaltered teachings of moses and jesus peace be upon them both . a
few say it refers to the hypocrites which is somewhat odd . whatever the correct intent of
this passage is (262) : the view which extends salvation unrestrictedly to include even
those who deny the prophet muhammad's prophethood is conspicuous by its absence in the
classical tafsir literature . now Ibn Kathir helps put the above verse into context with his
customary hermeneutics . and i think this is a really good quote from him . he explains : quote : the
faith of the jews was that of those who adhered to the torah and the way of moses peace be upon
him until the arrival of jesus with the advent of jesus those who follow the torah and the mosaic
laws not leaving them to follow jesus were doomed . the faith of the christians was that of whoever
adhered to the gospel and to the teaching of jesus they were believers and their faith
valid until the advent of muhammad peace be upon him . those who reject muhammad
by not leaving the gospel and jesus way are doomed . this (he writes) doesn't
conflict with what ali relates from ibn abbas who said that (quote) : those who believe in the quran ,
the jews , the christians , and the sabians whoever believes in allah the last day was followed
by allah revealing he who seeks a religion other than islam it will not be accepted from him
and in the afterlife he will be among the losers . end quote . for what ibn abbas is simply informing
is that no path is acceptable from anyone nor any deed unless it conforms to the sharia of muhammad
now that he has been sent prior to this anyone who followed the particular prophet of his time was
upon right guidance and the path of salvation . so in the light of all this teaching , the
philosophies that speak of the essential unity of religions or perennialism are
disbelief (kufr) the metaphysics of these philosophies is such that they insist the world's
major face : judaism , hinduism , buddhism , christianity like christianity like islam , all contain at their
heart a core set of esoteric truths despite them differing immensely in their external appearance
forms and practices and even in their many beliefs . they also believe that these major religions again
like islam are still valid retain their validity even today . the metaphor used to describe the
unity of religions is that of a bicycle wheel . the spokes represent the different religions , the hub
symbolizes god the supreme being the transcendent reality . just as the spokes come closer to each
other as they near the hub so too as each path comes closer to the one reality , it comes closer to
all other paths . now as appealing as this sounds to some people , it can never pass for authoritative
orthodox chronic teachings as has been shown . asserting that such perennialist philosophy
is clear disbelief (kufr) does not amount to an accusation that each specific individual who
holds such a belief is necessarily an unbeliever (a kafir) as is well attested to in mainstream sunni
theology . the maxim in this matter runs as follows this is the principle in sunni theology :
not everyone who falls into disbelief becomes a disbeliever . the sharia upholds the
distinction between a general charge of disbelief and the charge of disbelief upon a specific
individual . as sheikh ibn tamir said (quote) : they have not given proper consideration
that making takfir has conditions and impediments that must be actualized if it
is to be applied to a specific individual because a general declaration of takfir doesn't
imply takfir on a specific individual until conditions are fulfilled and impediments lifted .
end quote . i think it's very helpful distinction the perennialist philosophy or the religious
parentis (in the latin) was first propagated in the late nineteen thirties it was fitch dropped
schuon who appears in my last video who would bring this idea to its fruition : among those
who come under or came under schuon's influence were those like martin lings and
guy eaton (two englishmen) and side Hussein nasser the first two rather are converts
to islam . now such muslims who through a mistaken interpretation that led them into perennialism ,
they are part of a highly learned body of authors and academics who offer some of the
finest critics from a traditional perspective and profound and they offer profound
spiritual expositions of islam to modern beleaguered hearts and minds and
their writings have brought to many westerners they brought many westerners into the
fold of islam particularly via sufism . perennial beliefs aside their writings are a
reminder that to hold to a simple faith without much intellectual and spiritual content
is no longer possible in our modern world . so just to conclude the quran insists that every
prophet came with a core set of universal truths centered around tawheed (god's oneness) the quran
says : we have sent to every nation a messenger proclaiming worship god and shun false gods 16 36.
it's possible therefore that buddhism and hinduism to have been in the ancient past divinely revealed .
i'm not saying they were but it's possible it's equally true that the quran insists of previously
revealed religions and their scriptures that they have long suffered alteration and corruption at
the hands of men and that whatever revealed truths were once present in them have long since been
forgotten changed compromised or overshadowed by corrupted and idolatrous beliefs and practices .
so while the world's major faiths do show similarities with islam , this does not prove their
essential unity with it as they currently exist for they haven't only been altered but they've
also been abrogated and superseded by what was revealed to the final prophet muhammad . this is why
he who seeks a religion other than islam it will not be accepted of him and in the hereafter
he will be among the losers . until next time
