Dating from Adam

All religions can8217;t be true at one and the same time. Truth must be one, and continuous, universal and preserved, complete and authenti...

All religions can8217;t be true at one and the same time. Truth must be one, and continuous, universal and preserved, complete and authentic. We find that various religions have lost sight of truth because of the loss of the original religious scriptures or owing to the mischievous role of the clergy.

Moreover, it is also true that religion needed reassertion with each passing phase of human history. Therefore, the civilisational, cultural and material advancement was the reflection of the evolution of the religion, which in a sense in itself is an Islamic theory of studying a religion.

According to Islam, there had been really only one true religion, ie, the message of Allah, submission to the will of Allah. This is called Islam. It was the religion preached by Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus and all the prophets, by whatever name it may be called.

People, however, have corrupted that pure light and called their religions by different names.

Although Islam teaches Muslims to bear with them all, and allow the names of convenience, it also insists equally on the prevailing of truth over all distorted forms of religion.

The Quran says: 8216;8216;It is He who has sent His messenger with Guidance and the Religion of Truth. That he made it prevail over all religion, even though the pagans may detest it.8217;8217;

In corollary to it the continuity of the message of truth has been also shown: 8216;8216;He has chosen you, and has imposed no difficulties on you in religion, it is the religion of your father Abraham. It is he, who has named you Muslims, both before and this Revelation, hold fast to Allah. He is your protector the best to protect and the best to help!8221; In this way Islam has existed before the preaching of Muhammad on the earth, as the Quran expressly calls Abraham a Muslim. Its teaching submission to Allah8217;s will has been and will be the teaching of religion for all time and for all peoples.

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There had been a continuous chain of prophets throughout the annals of history of mankind and the Quran calls the prophets in the Jewish-Christian-Muslim dispensation frame one family literally, and even claims further that all men of faith form one family.

In this way Islam is universal and claims to date from Adam.

Extracted from 8216;Insight Islamicus8217;, an annual journal of studies and research in Islam, Shah-i-Hamdan Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Kashmir, Srinagar