May one refer to the previous divine religions as Islam? The short answer is…
Islam means to submit oneself and obey Allah. According to the Qur’an, Islam means to submit oneself only to Allah, be the servant of Him, and worship none but Him (swt). This is the requirement of tawhid.
In this sense, Islam is not limited to the religion introduced by the Prophet Muhammad (saw), but it is also the belief system introduced by all prophets. In this respect, the duty of all prophets were the same in terms of inviting humanity to adopt basic principles of faith.
Accordingly, all prophets invited to tawhid firstly. Because tawhid is the beginning of being on the path to the truth and the first step of beliving in Allah. Allah the Almighty commanded all prophets to invite their ummah to tawhid as follows, “And We sent not before you any messenger except We revealed to him that, ‘There is no deity except Me, so worship Me.’” (Anbiya 21/25)
The true religion started with the first human and the first prophet Adam and ended with the Prophet Muhammad. Therefore, the essence of the religion sent by Allah in different times through prophets is the same; it is called “Islam” and its believers are called ‘‘Muslim’’. The Holy Qur’an clearly expresses it as, “He [i.e., Allah] named you “Muslims” before [in former scriptures] and in this [revelation].” (Hajj, 22/78)
The word “Muslim” is used for the Prophet Abraham in the following verse: “Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was one inclining toward truth, a Muslim [submitting to Allah].” (Al-i ‘Imran, 3/67). Moreover, the following verse states that the message of prophets are one and the same and it is Islam as: “Say, [O believers], “We have believed in Allah and what has been revealed to us and what has been revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Descendants [al-Asbat]1 and what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are Muslims [in submission] to Him.”” (Baqarah, 2/136) However, Judaism and Christianity in their current situation cannot be called Islam as their originality could not be preserved in the way revealed to the prophets.
Essentially, there is no change in the basic principles of the true religion. However, the Almighty Allah has made some changes in the forms of worships and the provisions on mu’amalat (dealings).
Jews and Christians are called as non-Muslim because they do not believe in the last prophet Muhammad and the religion sent through him by Allah.
Source: Presidency Of Religious Affairs The Turkey, High Board of Religious Affairs FATWAS
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