Introduction: milla and nihla

Preliminary Remarks

Before presenting the subject of our study in detail, we would like to mention some matters that we find helpful in clarifying the subject of the research:

First: The meaning of milal and nihal

Al-milal is the plural of milla; milla, with a kasra under the mim, means religion. Al-nihal is the plural of nihla; nihla, with a kasra under the nun, means a claim. One says intahala fulan al-shay', meaning that someone claimed a thing for himself.

Second: The subject of the research and its method

The subject of our research concerns the great heavenly religions which, to distinguish between them, have conventionally been called Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Our aim is to distinguish within them between the Word of God as revelation expressed it and the word of man that was claimed to be from revelation or an expression of revelation; that is, between the milla (religion as God revealed it), as religion from God, and the nihla (a claim or doctrine put forward by human beings), as a claim made by human beings.

Our method in studying them will be historical and comparative. For, as Dr. al-Bahi says, the position of any community towards a creed it has embraced "appears in two forms: the form of strong faith, and then the form of understanding and reasoning.

And the more the warmth of faith in hearts cools, the more the aspect of disagreement in understanding it comes to the fore" (1).

(1) Al-Janib al-Ilahi fi al-Tafkir al-Islami (The Divine Aspect in Islamic Thought), p. 54, Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, Cairo 1967.

For us, the first form represents the three religions in the form in which revelation brought them down.

The second form, for us, represents the opinions and schools of thought that the followers of each of the three religions put forward, relying in what they held on rational interpretation and personal understanding of their religious texts.

With regard to Islam, we can easily and readily distinguish the milla, or religion, within it from the nihla, or claim, since its religious texts, foremost among them the Qur'an, are a truthful witness to both matters together: I mean Islam as revelation brought it down and Islam as its followers understood it. This enables us to uncover or critique the claims made by those who believe in it, and to measure how far they stand from revelation or how close to it.

As for Judaism and Christianity, the matter is quite different, since it is difficult, if not impossible, to distinguish religion from nihla in them, because the alteration of their sacred books has been established scientifically. In the field of precise scholarly documentation one cannot therefore rely on those books to distinguish the religion as revelation brought it down from the claims that human beings added to Judaism or Christianity in their present state.

Hence we have relied on the Qur'an, wherever possible, as a criterion of critique and distinction with regard to Judaism and Christianity. This position of ours does not stem from partisanship but from a purely scholarly motive, since the Qur'an has been subjected to scholarly criticism, of both its text and its chain of transmission, by the most fanatical of its opponents, and no one has been able to impugn its truthfulness and soundness in any of the issues it has raised, including those connected with the other religions. From a purely scholarly standpoint, then, we need to rely on it, not only in criticising the documents of those religions and bringing to light the gaps that occurred in them, but also to establish their very historical existence. Otherwise it would become scientifically easy to cast doubt on their heavenly lineage altogether, and the mantle of sanctity would fall from their documents and their symbols. The Gospels, for example, cannot by themselves, from a scholarly point of view, prove the existence of Jesus (peace be upon him); rather, they acquire their legitimacy and recognition from the existence of Jesus (peace be upon him) being proved by other routes and evidence. For leafing through the Gospels, as Charles Guignebert says, "is enough to convince us that their authors arrived at clearly contradictory arrangements of the same events and sayings, which compels us to say that they did not seek the actual truth and were not inspired by a fixed history whose sequence of events imposed itself upon them. On the contrary,

each of them followed his own inclination and his own plan in arranging and ordering his work .. and so we can no longer clearly distinguish the historical aspects of the person of Jesus, nor do we any longer possess the sources necessary to determine the events of his life with precision"⁽²⁾. The matter is no different with regard to Judaism. Both, then, are in need of the Qur'an, which grants them recognition of their lineage; relying on their own documents alone would be nothing but a gamble with their fate and with the legitimacy of their lineage.

Third: The origin of the names

By this we mean answering the question: are the names of the three religions human or divine in origin?

Let us first know that the true religions sent down from God Almighty upon the messengers to guide human beings to the straight path are one in their foundations and one in their source, which is God, glory be to Him, the Exalted. All of them mean submission and complete compliance, in heart, mind and body, to everything God has commanded through His messengers. Revelation expressed this stance, or God named it, with a single name, in His words:

• Truly, the religion in the sight of God is Islam (3)
• Whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him (4)
• and I have chosen Islam for you as your religion (5)
• Whomever God wills to guide, He opens his breast to Islam (6)
• and I have been commanded to submit to the Lord of the worlds (7)
• And who is better in speech than one who calls to God, does righteous deeds and says: I am of those who submit (the Muslims) (8)

(2) Al-Masihiyya: Nash'atuha wa Tatawwuruha (Christianity: Its Origin and Development), pp. 28-29, translated by Abd al-Halim Mahmud, al-Maktaba al-Asriyya, Beirut.

(3) Al Imran 3:19. (5) Al-Ma'ida 5:3. (4) Al Imran 3:85. (6) Al-An'am 6:125.

It is revelation, then, that named the true religion Islam, and it is the religion with which all the prophets were charged and which they were commanded to convey to the people.

Thus of Abraham, the father of the prophets (peace be upon him), the Qur'an says:

Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian; rather, he was a man of pure faith, one who submitted (a Muslim) (9)

And who would turn away from the milla of Abraham except one who makes a fool of himself? We chose him in this world, and in the Hereafter he is among the righteous. When his Lord said to him, "Submit," he said, "I have submitted to the Lord of the worlds" (10)

And Islam is the religion that Abraham enjoined upon his sons. Together with his son Ishmael (peace be upon him) he prays:

Our Lord, make us submissive to You, and of our descendants a nation submissive to You (11)

Likewise:

And Abraham enjoined it upon his sons, and so did Jacob: "My sons, God has chosen for you the religion, so do not die except as those who submit (Muslims)" (12)

Then it is the testament of Jacob to his sons after him:

Or were you witnesses when death came to Jacob, when he said to his sons, "What will you worship after me?" They said, "We will worship your God and the God

(9) Al Imran 3:67. (10) Al-Baqara 2:130-131. (11) Al-Baqara 2:12[8]. (12) Al-Baqara 2:132.

of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac, One God, and to Him we submit (we are Muslims)" (13)

Then it is the religion of Moses, which he was charged to convey to the Children of Israel:

And Moses said, "O my people, if you have believed in God, then put your trust in Him, if you are those who submit (Muslims)" (14)

And Moses' Pharaoh:

Until, when drowning overtook him, he said, "I believe that there is no god but He in whom the Children of Israel believe, and I am of those who submit (the Muslims)" (15)

He did not say "I am of the Jews" or "of the Israelites", because he knew that the religion to which Moses (peace be upon him) was calling was named Islam.

And Islam is the religion to which Solomon (peace be upon him) called the people of Sheba when he said to them:

Do not exalt yourselves against me, but come to me in submission (as Muslims) (16)

And it is the religion of Jesus (peace be upon him), who:

said, "Who are my helpers for God?" The disciples said, "We are God's helpers. We believe in God; bear witness that we submit (that we are Muslims)" (17)

(13) Al-Baqara 2:133.

(14) Yunus 10:84.

(15) Yunus 10:90.

(16) Al-Naml 27:31.

(17) Al Imran 3:52.

And finally it is the comprehensive message with which Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was charged and which he was commanded to convey to all people:

Say: We believe in God and in what has been sent down to us, and in what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus and the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we submit (we are Muslims) (18)

From all this it becomes clear that naming the true religion Islam is a divine naming, not a human one.

And Islam is the religion with which all the messengers were charged, from Adam to Muhammad, God's blessings and peace be upon them all, although it differed in its general or particular scope: with the earlier messengers it was a call specific to a particular time, place and people, and it culminated in a general call encompassing all people at the hands of Muhammad, God bless him, the Seal of the prophets and messengers.

As for Judaism or Christianity, these are names devised by human beings, originating in personal affiliation.

For this reason we find the Noble Qur'an at times mentioning them in the context of praise, when they believe, and at times in the context of censure, when they disbelieve; that is, it described them with both disbelief and belief.

In the context of praise, for example, are the words of the Exalted:

Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Christians and the Sabians, whoever believes in God and the Last Day and does righteous deeds, they shall have their reward with their Lord, and no fear shall be upon them, nor shall they grieve (19)

(19) Al-Baqara 2:62.

(18) Al Imran 3:84-85.

In the context of censure, for example, are the words of the Exalted:

The Jews say, "Ezra is the son of God," and the Christians say, "The Messiah is the son of God." That is their saying with their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before. May God fight them; how are they turned away! They have taken their rabbis and their monks as lords besides God, and also the Messiah, son of Mary, though they were commanded only to worship One God; there is no god but He. Glory be to Him above what they associate with Him (20)

Islam, however, it mentions only in the context of praise, because its opposite is disbelief or associating partners with God.

We conclude from this that Judaism, and Christianity, which is also called al-Nasraniyya, are conventional names applied to the followers of Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them), and they do not necessarily mean that these followers adhere to the true religion that was sent down to Moses or Jesus, which God named Islam.

(20) Al-Tawba 9:30-31.