The Holy Quran

[ BACK ] The religion of Islam is summarised in the two phrases: la ilaha ill-Allah (there is no God but Allah) and Muhammad-ur rasul Allah (Muhammad is the messenger of Allah). By affirming these two precepts, a person enters the fellowship of Islam.

These two constituents do not occur together in the Holy Quran, as they do in the Kalima, but each is a constant theme of the Quran:

``Know that there is no God but Allah.'' (47:19)

and

``Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.'' (48:29)

The Quran also says:

``Believe in Allah and His messengers.'' (4:171)

As regards who is a Muslim, the Quran says:

``Say: It is revealed to me that your God is one God. Will you then be Muslims?'' (21:108)

``Say: We believe in Allah and in that which has been revealed to us, and in that which was revealed to Abraham and Ismael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and in that which was given to Moses and Jesus, and in that which was given to the Prophets from their Lord. We do not make any distinction between any of them, and we are Muslims.'' (2:136)

``And when I revealed to the disciples, saying, Believe in Me and My messenger, they said: We believe, and bear witness that we are Muslims.'' (5:111)

``The desert Arabs say, We have faith. Say to them: `You do not have faith, but rather say, we are Muslims --- faith has not yet entered your hearts'.'' (49:14)

``Do not say `you are not a believer' to a person who says assalamu alaikum to you.'' (4:94)

These verses make it clear that the person who believes in the oneness of God and the prophethood of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, and believes in his revelation, is a Muslim. Verse no. 5 goes so far as to say that a person who offers the greeting assalamu alaikum to show that he is a Muslim cannot be called kafir (unbeliever or non-Muslim).