Islam-Deen e Ibrahimi and An Abrahamic Faith

[ejaz naqvi]

Dear friends

Assalamo Alaikum

Many people consider Prophet Muhammad as the founder of Islam. But the Qur'an calls Islam a way(religion) of Abraham. If Prophet Muhammad "brought Islam", how do we reconcile the conventional thinking, and the Qur'an's message? I hope no one thinks the article in any way lowers his status in Islam, as he clearly is the front and center in islam. Just want to make sure that my immense love for him is still reflected in there.

Best

Ejaz

Islam- Religion of Abraham and one religion. Who was founder of Islam?

Islam- Religion of Abraham and one religion. Who was founder of Islam? Ask A (Born Again) Muslim Most people consider Prophet Muhammad as the founder of Islam. But the Qur'an calls Islam a way of Abraham. If P...

Sincerely

Ejaz Naqvi, MD

Blogger: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/askamuslim/

Amazon Bestselling Author of

The Three Abrahamic Testaments

www.drejaz.com

Past host of weekly talk show, "Frank Talk with Dr. Ejaz" on Toginet Radio

[mhus...@yahoo.com]

Wa alaikum Assalam akhi Dr. Ejaz,

There is a linguistic confusion in this article, I hope you have the interest and patience to read it.

There is a difference between “Deen - دين" and “Mellah - ملة". 

Deen tends to describe the Faith and nothing should be recognized under his category except Islam, “In the sight of Allah, there is no Deen except Islam PERIOD” (ان الدين عند الله الاسلام). Other than Islam, we call it Kufr - كفر.

Mellah tends to describe the way one approaches faith (Sharea - شريعة). So Muslim مسلم or Mushrik مشرك describes how people approach Islam. If they approach it in Abraham’s way, do this the best approach and was recommended to Prophet Muhammad in Quran in many verses because of the quality and purity of Abraham’s sincerity to find out about his Lord and his dedication to stay on the his path as told. Abraham was an exemplary model for the Prophet to follow, would that give Abraham a superiority over Prophet Muhammad? The answer is NO.

As for Christians and Jews, they too have their own Mellah (ملة) approach. They took some of Abraham’s way and left many. That’s why they are not Muslims while their earlier people were Muslims because they didn’t change Abraham’s way.

Mellah also includes the essence of Deen while Deen stands alone as Islam. So Buddhism or Hinduism have no traces of Islam and therefore Muslim males cannot marry girls from these types of Faiths.

Finally, I just found out that Abraham (ابراهام) as a name was recited by Prophet Muhammad in one of the ten ways Jebreel has taught him to match different Arab slangs, the called this recitation (Alshamyya- الشامية).

My apologies for the lengthy reply.

Wassalam,

Magdy Hussein 

Magdy Hussein, PhD

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[ejaz naqvi]

Waalekum Assalam dear brother Dr. Magdy

Thank you so much for reading the post carefully and your thoughtful response. Let me take your points one at a time.

1. "Abraham was an exemplary model for the Prophet to follow, would that give Abraham a superiority over Prophet Muhammad? The answer is NO."  Not sure why you mentioned superiority of one over the other. That is NOT the objective of this discussion, nor my belief. Please share with me where I said it. 

2. We can get into the literalism and dissect the difference between "religion",  "Deen" and Mellah" The verse 6:161  and 22:78 do use the word Mellah. This has been variously translated as faith(Shakir, Pickthall for example), way (Sahih International, Asad), Cult(Yousuf Ali). The same word is translated as 'religion" by Pickthall, Shakir and Yousuf Ali in verse 2:130 to refer to the religion of Abraham".

Words aside, in terms of concepts and deep meaning, I think there is consensus that Allah sent the same religion to all prophets-from Adam to Prophet Muhammad. The way we know islam now resembles most closely with Abraham's way.

Many of the pillars of Islam were established before Prophet Muhammad. The prophets before him were called Muslims numerous times(Prophet Abraham himself, Yousuf's advice to his children to die not but as Muslims, Prophet Jesus's disciples affirming they were Muslims and so on). 

Prophets before Prophet Muhammad prayed salat, gave Zakah,fasted and performed Hajj. The Qur'an clearly makes numerous references to that. Surely, the way they were done were not exactly the same ritually as we know now as Muslims. But the essence of the pillars was the same.

Like my post states, Prophet Muhammad completed, or perfected Islam. We  as Muslims believe he has the highest status among all creations. But that does not take away the facts I outlined above.

It is not pitting one prophet against another. In fact just the opposite- saying that they preached the same basic religion.

If we don't believe that, then are we saying the same God sent different religions to different prophets?

And Allah knows best.

Thanks again for your thoughtful email.

Ejaz

Sincerely

Ejaz Naqvi, MD

Blogger: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/askamuslim/

Amazon Bestselling Author of

The Three Abrahamic Testaments

www.drejaz.com

Past host of weekly talk show, "Frank Talk with Dr. Ejaz" on Toginet Radio