All Monotheists Can Attain Salvation, Researcher Says
This is according to Javad Hashmi, a PhD Candidate in Islamic Studies at Harvard University, who made the remarks while addressing a webinar titled “Three Ramadan Nights with Harvard Scholars” organized by MIT Shia Muslim Association (ZEKR) during the blessed month of Ramadan.
Here are excerpts from his speech:
The title of my presentation is based on the two books "Muhammad and the Believers: At the Origins of Islam" by Fred Donner and (the subtitle is based on this book) “When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation”, by Paula Fredriksen.
I’m arguing that initially fuzzy borders existed in all other religions: Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Sikhism, etc. It takes time for social-religious movements to develop into fully discrete or “reified” institutionalized religions. And the names of religions usually came later. The question is ‘Is Islam an exception?’
This is the question asked by Wilfred Cantwell Smith in his book “The Meaning and End of Religion”. He gives the example of Guru Nanak (d.1539), who is called ‘the founder of Sikhism’. Guru Nanak was a devotee and Sufi who preached sincerity and adoration and the overwhelming reality of God. He attacked religious formalism of all kinds. Only several generations later his followers were religiously formalized, systematized and became Siks as opposed to Hindus or Muslims. He was trying to break down the religious boundaries and formalism.
And I think Many modern Muslims have done the same thing.
Another point is that founders of religions are charismatic figures who break tradition and status quo, and try to reform social-religious norms. But after the founders die, routinization process takes place.
Routinizing charisma takes place when “Charismatic authority is succeeded by a bureaucracy controlled by a rationally established authority or by a combination of traditional and bureaucratic authority.”
But the point is that it goes from a social-religious reform movement to a new religion, which seeks to uphold status quo and protect tradition. Part of this reification process is the hardening of confessional lines, defining who is in and who is out.
Coming back to the question “Is Islam an exception?” when we look at the Quran, we find that Islam is used in a different way. Another scholar who discusses the issue is Fred Donner. According to him, Muslim in Quranic usage is committed monotheist and Islam is committed monotheism and the early followers of Prophet Muhammad were mu’minun (believers) as opposed to muslimun.
Michael Penn writes in his book “Envisioning Islam, Syriac Christians and the Early Muslim World” that what was once relegated to a handful of specialists has become increasingly mainstream in the study of classical Islam.
Many historians agree that it is difficult to differentiate in the 7th century between Islam and other monotheistic traditions. These scholars notice that in the Quran there is a difference between Muslim and Mu’min.
I think that Donner has accidentally mixed up believer and submitter. I think The Believers (mu’minun) were those who believed in God and Muhammad as their prophet and specifically who followed Quranic law. Meanwhile, I believe muslim is a wider term and refers to any one who is a submitter to God. I believe Jews and Christians could be considered muslimun (Submitting Monotheists) … if they submitted to God religiously and to Muhammad from a social and political perspective – perhaps/ likely even accepting him as a prophet sent to the Arabian Gentiles – and were thus united with the Believers.
The key point is that all of these above can secure salvation and I argue that according to the Quran not only Muslims can attain salvation but also Jews and Christians.
“I would concede Donner’s point that salvation is here clearly presented as available to members of earlier religious communities. However, I would also insist that we cannot assume that belief in the unity of God and in the Last Judgement as well as righteous behavior, even if viewed as entitling one to salvation, were necessarily seen as coextensive with membership in the earthly community of Believers – the Believers with a capital B, as it were.” (The Unknown Known, 79)
Although Sinai is correct to say that these other groups would not be “coextensive with membership in the earthly community of Believers,” we should keep in mind that they were still a part of the supra-community of Submitters.
It is simply not convincing to think that there would be no connection whatsoever between salvation and membership in the (supra-)community. It was, after all, the saved community at the end of time, surrounded by and set against the Rejecting pagans. Indeed, all of the punishment stories in the Quran point us to the belief in the idea that God’s punishment was impending, with only the saved community being, as the name implies, saved.
In the traditional narrative, academic scholars argue that traditional memory of the Pre-Islamic Arabia downplays the presence of Judaism and Christianity in Arabian Peninsula, it also seeks to downplay the Prophet’s role as a merchant, claims that the Prophet was illiterate.
But now the academics are pushing back to all these three arguments and say that more Jews and Christians were present in Arabian Peninsula and the Prophet was a travelling merchant. And we think that Prophet Muhammad was unlettered or a gentile.
There seems to be a gap between when the Quran was revealed and when the Quran was exegeted. Many Muslims hesitate to use any historical-critical approach to the Quran and Hadith.
Basically, we all know that the word ‘Islam’ is in the Quran, (3:19) “The true religion with Allah is Islam”. However, the verses like (2:62, 5:69) “Truly those who believe, and those who are Jews, and the Sabeans, and the Christians – whosoever believes in God and the Last Day and works righteousness – no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve,” are talking about salvation and leaving the door open for Jews, Christians, Sabeans, whosoever believes in God and the Last Day, that is monotheist.
Also verses immediately preceding 5:69 (5:65-66, 68) make it clear that it is referring to current Jews and Christians.
My argue is that Islam actually has three different meanings:
- Existential meaning: muslim=submitter [to God], islam=submission [to God], i.e. the stance of whole-hearted, unconditional, and exclusive self-abandonment in and absolute devotion to God.
- Universal meaning: the absolute devotion of one’s worship to God, i.e. the committed monotheism of the primordial, timeless religion with God.
- Particularized meaning: Islam as an institutionalized religion, having a time-initiated beginning with Prophet Muhammad and requiring the affirmation of Muhammad as one’s religious prophet.
In the verse (2:62) the Quran does not say Judaism or Christianity instead of Jews and Christians because there is only one true religion (Din) which has manifested itself in the time of Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Prophet Muhammad. (42:13) “He has prescribed for you as religion (din) that which He enjoined upon Noah, and that which We revealed unto you [O Muhammad], and that which We enjoined upon Abraham, Moses, and Jesus, that you uphold religion (din) and not become divided therein.”
Different names for the One True Religion in Quran are: “The Religion” (2:132), “God’s religion” (3:83, 110:2), “The Pure Religion” (39:3), “The Upright Religion” (30:30, 98:5), “The Religion of Truth” (9:29, 9:33, 48:28, 61:9), “The Religion of “Submission [to God]”: absolute devotion in worship to God, committed monotheism (3:19, 3:85, 5:3), The Religion of [primordial] Monotheism (2:105, 2:135, 3:67,…)
Prof. Joseph Lumbard says: “This universal, presectarian submission [to God] is presented throughout the Quran as the quintessence of all [virtuous] religions. But the original Quranic usage [of al-islam] refers to the submission of all human beings to God and the attitude of submission that is believed to be inherent in the true faith.”
In verse (5:48) Quran says that there are multiple paths to God: “For each [community] among you We have appointed a [religious] law (Shari’a) and a [religious] path (Minhaj). And had God willed, He would have made you one community, but [He willed otherwise] …” (5:48) “So race with one another in good deeds…”
There are always two groups in the Quran when it comes to the People of the Book, some pious, religious and some disbelieving, (3:75).
Donner concludes that: “… When the Quran refers to the People of the Book (ahl al-kitab) in general, the tone of the passage is usually positive, whereas verses with negative overtones usually refer to a part of the ahl al-kitab.”
In the Quran Kafirs were earlier pagans who rejected Prophet Muhammad, (109:1-3) “Say, ‘O Disbelievers (Kafirun) I worship not what you worship, nor are you worshippers of what I worship…” and not necessarily include the People of the Book. If the People of the Book ally themselves with the Kafirs then they themselves become Kafirs.
Quran says to the believers, Christians and Jews to come to a common word, (29:46) “…our God and your God are one, and unto Him are we submitters.”
In verse (3:80) the Quran criticizes some of the Christians “And he (Jesus) would not command you to take the angels and the prophets as lords. Would he command you to disbelief after your having been submitters (muslimun)?” So, the Quran here is acknowledging that some Christians were muslims.
About the question that ‘are the Torah and Gospel corrupted?’ I argue that the Quran allows the Jews and Christians in the submitting community to follow the Torah and the Gospel, (5:66, 68) and when the Quran criticizes them, it actually is coitizing them for not following the Torah and the Gospel. And when the Quran talks about corruption it does not mean textual corruption, but says they distorted the meaning. The Quran is confirming the previous books and protecting them not abrogating. According to Quran there is only one book with God, one Divine Book, the preserved tablet.
According to Quran, salvation is not based on which sect or group you belong to, but it is based on faith and virtue.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the speaker and do not necessarily reflect the view of International Quran News Agency.
