Confession of Faith
From the Quran,
Assert,[1] “We believe in God,
And in what was revealed to us,
And what was revealed to Abraham,
Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the tribes[2],
And in what was revealed to Moses, Jesus,
And the prophets from their Lord.
We don’t make distinction from among any of them,
And we totally submit to Him.
Anyone who seeks other faith than Islam,
Will not be accepted from him,
And will be among the losers.”
Quran, 3:84–85
Those verses shine the light clearly on the universality of the teachings of the Quran. Let us review the words.
It starts with a pledge or a declaration by Muslims of their total faith in the teachings of the Quran as well in all prior messages and scriptures. Lest there be any misunderstanding, the verses go on naming the prophets followed by the messengers of God. It should be noted that there are two types of emissaries of God: prophets and messengers.
The prophets of God, some of whom are mentioned in the verses above and some are alluded to but never mentioned in the Quran, are sent as teachers of already available scriptures.
Messengers, on the other hand, are entrusted with new teachings or scriptures to supplement or correct some misconceptions. Moses, Jesus and Muhammad, may God’s blessings be upon all of them, fall in this category. They brought forth the Torah, the Ingeel (Gospel) and the Quran.
The following verse is the same as the one above, but restated here little differently:
Anyone who seeks other faith than Submission (to God)
Will not be accepted from him,
And will be among the losers.
This is a more reflective of the actual meaning than the one above, because Islam, the word used in the verse has dual meanings. It designates the followers of Muhammad, but it also refers to all those who submit to the will of God and covers, in that sense, all monotheist faiths.
The proof of this point could be deduced from the following verses from the Quran:
Those who believe, the Jews, the Christians and the Sabians[3]
Whoever believes in God and the Day of Judgment
And performed good deeds,
Will have their reward with their Lord,
And they will have nothing to fear or be sorry for.”
Quran, 2:62
[1] Assert is used here instead of the common interpretation given by most translations of the Quran of using “say” which, in this author’s opinion is not adequate. The verse implies a commitment or a pledge rather than to let it be known.
[2] The tribes refer to the twelve tribes headed by the twelve sons of Jacob.
[3] There are different interpretations as to who the Sabians are. The most likely one is that they are the followers of John the Baptist