The Three Prophets

The Three Prophets - One Message

Opening Supplication and Praise

We begin by praising Allah, we praise Him, we seek His help and we ask for His forgiveness. We seek refuge with Allah from the evil of ourselves and from the evil consequences of our evil actions. Whomsoever Allah guides, there is none to misguide. And whomsoever Allah leaves to go astray, there is none to guide. And I testify that Allah alone is worthy of being worshipped and that Muhammad, may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him, is the slave of Allah, His servant and His final messenger.

The Three Monotheistic Religions

The world today has three major what are usually called monotheistic religions: Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Each of these three monotheistic religions or what are called monotheistic religions believe in a messenger or in the case of Christianity of course, the belief concerning Jesus is that he is more than merely a messenger. Those messengers and prophets respectively are Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, Isa or Jesus, peace be upon him and Moses, peace be upon him.

However, all of these three religions recognize the high quality and noble characteristics of one particular man, one particular prophet whose name is Abraham or Ibrahim in Arabic and for the beginning of this lecture, we want to focus on this individual, Ibrahim or Abraham. Because in reality, if we focus on him, he is the individual, the human being to whom all those three religions look towards and recognize as, in a sense, the founding father. Let us look to this individual, Abraham. Let us look to his religion. Let us look to his way of life, what he upheld, what he believed, what he practiced. Because in fact, in this man is a clue to understanding something which one may say is revolutionary.

The Central Proposition: One God, One Religion

The proposition that I want to make tonight and I am going to attempt to prove it, that there is only one God and there is only one true concept and one correct belief in God and in fact, there is in essence only one religion acceptable to God. That all of the prophets, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad, may God's peace be upon all of them, all of them believed in the one same God and all of them taught the same religion. So we have to ask ourselves, what was the religion of Abraham? Was Abraham a Jew? Was he a Christian? Was he a Muslim? What was his religion? We do not know from any external evidence or historical document, including the Bible, if we can call it a historical document, the actual name of Abraham's religion.

Abraham's Message: Pure Monotheism

But there are some things that we can understand about Abraham and what he believed and what he preached and what he practiced. The first thing that is clear from studying the life of Abraham and the teachings of Abraham is that he opposed all forms of idolatry. He lived amongst a people who worshipped idols, which they carved from wood and stone. And he vigorously opposed this. And also the people of his time used to worship the sun and the moon and the stars and that also he opposed. And he called the people to the worship of the one God, the creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who has ultimate control and power and authority over all things.

Abraham's message was clear and it was uncompromising, that these things that the people worshipped from amongst the creation, the created things, the sun, the moon, the stars, the idols carved out of wood and stone, that they were indeed false objects of worship. The people prayed to them, supplicated to them, used them as intercessors between themselves and God. Yet in fact all of these things were incapable of providing any help or any benefits. That the people's life was wasted and indeed their intellect was destroyed by dedicating themselves to worshipping and seeking help from these things, which had no ability to bring harm or to bring benefits. So he was, may God's peace be upon him, Abraham was uncompromising in his monotheistic belief, his call to the people that they should worship only the one true God who is the creator.

The Story of Abraham's Sacrifice: Ultimate Submission

But there is one particular incident from the life of this great man Abraham that highlights and illustrates the reality of the religion that he followed and that he taught and that he believed in and that is indeed the true religion of the one true God. And this story or this event is when Abraham was ordered to sacrifice his son. The biblical tradition tells us that this son was Isaac. The Quran clarifies the fact that this son was not Isaac. It was Ismail or Ishmael. However at this point it is not exactly important as to who the son was but what is important in our discussion here is the actual action and the actual events that took place which are more or less agreed upon. Abraham was ordered by God.

The Quran tells us that Abraham had a dream and the dreams of the prophets are revelation. He had a dream or he was ordered by God and God revealed to him that he must sacrifice his son. Now this is the stage at which we need to stop and think. Here we have a man who has reached old age especially in those days and in that time having a son was something very important and God had favoured him and blessed him with this child and then God had ordered Abraham to sacrifice his son. Now we have to think where is the logic in that? Where is the reason in that? Where is the rationale in that? Where is the morality in that? Does this sound to you like a good moral action to slaughter a young man? Even if he agrees as the Quran tells us and we know from the teachings of Islam that Ismail at that time was a young man of maybe 17 years old. In fact Abraham approached his son and said oh my son I have had a dream and in this dream Allah has told me to sacrifice you. So what do you think? And Ismail says do what our Lord has commanded.

But how does that make sense? Does that sound moral that you should kill your son? You should kill an innocent human being? But Abraham was a true believer in God and to be a true believer in God does not only mean that you believe in the existence of God that there is a creator who controls the universe and has power over all things, who brings it into existence, who is eternal and infinite. This is not what it means to be a believer in God. That is only acknowledging something that is in reality a rational, sensible and inevitable belief for the human being. To believe in the existence of God, to believe in the existence of the creator is in fact the only rational explanation for the existence of our ordered universe and the world in which we live. But believing in God is more than that.

The Meaning of True Belief: Obedience to the Creator

He is ordered to sacrifice his son. So what is his behavior? How does he react to this? His reaction is we hear and we obey. What the creator orders us to do, we do it. It does not matter whether it seems to make sense to us or not. It does not matter whether it seems to be moral or not. Because the person who believes, truly believes in God also knows that the creator is wise, all-wise, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-hearing. And that if God commands something, then God should be obeyed. Because that is what is due to Him. That is how the human being should be before the creator of the heavens and the earth.

So Abraham takes his son and Abraham goes to sacrifice his son. And as Abraham is about to slit the neck of his son, at the point of doing it, an angel comes and intervenes and says, You have fulfilled the command of your Lord. God sends a ram which is sacrificed. What this tells us about Abraham is that his relationship to God, his relationship with the creator of the heavens and the earth was one of obedience and subservience. That when God commanded Abraham to do something, he submitted himself to God. Although we do not know the religion and the name of the religion of Abraham, we could look and understand by looking at his life that he was someone who worshipped God alone, the one true God, the creator, and he submitted to the commandments and to the will of God. Therefore it would be accurate to say that his religion was submission to God. This was his belief, this was his way of life, and this is what he taught to others.

Moses: The Lineage from Abraham

How about then Moses? Moses, or as we say in Arabic, Musa, who is mentioned in the Quran, many places in the Quran, the Quran talks a lot about Moses, about Musa and the Bani Israel. Then we know that Moses is descended from Abraham because Abraham had two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. From Isaac, one of the sons of Isaac was Jacob. Jacob was the one who became known as Israel. That was the name that was given to him also, Israel. And as we know he had 12 sons. From the 12 sons of Israel came the 12 tribes of Israel. And from those 12 tribes came the descendants of Israel, Bani Israel, from whom Moses was one of them. He was one of the Bani Israel.

Was Moses a Jew? The Origin of the Term

However, what was the name of the religion of Moses? Was he a Jew? If we examine the origins of the term Jew, what are the origins of this name or this word Jew? The word Jew actually comes from Judah. From Judah. When the people of Israel were taken into captivity by the Babylonians, there was a small piece of land left which was known as Judah because this was the land that was inhabited by the tribe of Judah and that was one of the 12 sons of Israel. So the people living in that land became known as Jews from Judah. But this is something that took place many many centuries after the time of Moses. The term Jew did not exist in the time of Moses. So there is no way that you could say that Moses was a Jew because the term Jew did not exist.

Moses' Message: The Same Monotheism

But Moses had a religion which he taught, which he believed in, which he practiced and which some of the people around him followed. So what was the name of that religion? Again, if we go to the Bible, we are at a loss to find the name of this religion. However, if again we follow the same methodology, what did Moses believe and what did he teach? We find the same fundamental message as Abraham. Moses taught people to believe that there is one God who is unique, eternal, self-sufficient, who is the creator and the controller of all things. That there is nothing that can be likened unto God. That God is not like anything in this creation and His representation cannot be made in any way from any created thing. No creature of the sea, no creature of the air, no human being in any way, shape or form resembles God. God is unique. He is the creator of all of these things. And it is to this God, this creator of all things that the worship should be directed. Prayer, sacrifice, charity and indeed obedience.

Because one of the things we find it is clear from the religion of Moses is that there is a comprehensive set of guidance, of laws, of rules and regulations by which and through which the true believers in God must adhere to and must obey. That salvation and success in this life and the life to come is through believing in God and worshipping Him alone and by submitting oneself to the divinely revealed commandments of God. So therefore we find just as Abraham was someone who worshipped God alone and submitted to the commands of God, then Moses similarly believed in God alone, submitted to the commands of God and taught other people to do the same. This is the religion of Moses.

Modern Judaism: A Departure from Moses' Teachings

However, today the religion that is attributed to Moses which they call Judaism which of course in fact in reality is not only considered to be the religion of Moses but the teachings of other prophets as well seems to tell a different story. Because Judaism at least orthodox Judaism teaches that salvation is from being a Jew and that in order to be saved, in order to get salvation, in fact in order to be able to get to paradise you have to be born of a Jewish woman. In fact, a friend of mine in England had a conversation with the former chief rabbi and he asked him these questions, how can a non-Jew, how can a non-Jew go to paradise? And he replied that it is not possible. If you want to go to paradise the only way that you can get salvation is by being born of a Jewish

The Doctrine of the Trinity: Unknown to Previous Prophets

That God is not only one God, which the Christians don't deny, they say God is one, but they say God is a triune God. That there is the Father who is God and there is the Son who is God and there is the Holy Spirit that is God. But they are not three Gods, they are one God. Again this is a doctrine unknown and undescribed by any previous prophets. The best that a Christian can do is go to the Old Testament and find some things where they try and make it as if this shows that it's really the Trinity. But where in the Bible does any prophet including Jesus sit down and explain in clear and unambiguous terms the theology of the Trinity? It does not exist. It does not exist.

Salvation in Christianity: A Different Concept

And this is not the end of the story. Because salvation according to Christianity is not anymore by believing that there is one God who is separate from the creation and different from it. And that God alone should be worshipped and that salvation is by obeying the laws that God has revealed. Christianity tells us now the opposite or something completely different. That in fact that you do not worship anymore God alone, that rather you worship Jesus who is a human being. Although of course they say he is God. But worship is directed through Jesus. So now we have an intermediary between us and God. And the salvation is not by submitting yourself to God's will and obeying His commandments. No, salvation now we are told is by believing that Jesus has died on the cross as an atonement for our sins. And that salvation comes by believing in that and accepting it.

Did Jesus Preach Christianity?

However, was that really the teaching of Jesus? Or is this a religion that has been invented after the time of Jesus? Did Jesus preach Christianity? Or did he in fact preach a different religion altogether? First of all of course we find that Jesus never preached a religion called Christianity. In fact the term Christian was only applied as a nickname rather as the term Jew was a type of nickname. Also the term Christianity was a nickname. In fact the Acts of the Apostles state that the first time they were called Christians was in Antioch. A Christian means a devotee or a follower of Christ. Jesus never called anyone to be a Christian.

The Problem of Biblical Authenticity

So what was the message of Jesus? Of course we are confronted with a problem. And the first problem is that the sources that we have available or at least the most popular sources that is the Bible is of questionable authenticity. In fact we cannot be sure that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John actually represent the pure and original teachings of Jesus or the pure and original sayings of Jesus. In fact as is known to biblical scholars but not very widely known to others that even the names of these Gospels Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the

actual names Matthew, Mark, Luke and John were attributed to these Gospels at a much later stage. The original documents that were circulated were circulated anonymously. They had no names to them. In fact it was only Eusebius who was writing about 300 years after Jesus, the time of Jesus, who said that Irenaeus who was living about 125 years after Jesus. It was Irenaeus who first claimed that Matthew wrote what is supposed to be the Gospel of Matthew and Mark the Gospel of Mark. But in fact the original writings were distributed anonymously. We don't actually even know who wrote these Gospels.

The Selection of Canonical Gospels

And this is aside from the fact that there are literally thousands of other Gospels that are known about that were rejected as being apocryphal by the church. But which church? The church that had chosen a particular doctrine, the doctrine that we now know to be the Trinitarian doctrine, the doctrine of vicarious atonement, the idea that Jesus died for the sins of mankind. But much modern biblical research and research into the early origins of Christianity and who was the historical Jesus clearly indicates and it is a strong body of evidence that Jesus never taught such a doctrine. And in fact his early disciples never believed such a thing. This is something that was attributed to Jesus at a later stage.

Jesus in the Gospels: A Human Prophet

In fact even if we take the Gospels, what is known as the four Gospels, even if we take them as they are, realizing that even so they have some doubtful authenticity, but even so we clearly find that Jesus is calling people to believe in God, to worship God, that he clearly distinguishes himself as being someone different from God. He is a servant of God, he is a prophet of God, he is someone who when he needs something he prays to God. Does God pray to Himself? Is God the one who is prayed to or is God the one who prays? Jesus says in the Gospels that he has a God. He says I go unto my God and your God, my father and your father. So he says that he has a God. In fact you will find especially in the earliest Gospels like Mark that Jesus is a very human character. It is only in the later Gospels as the Gospels proceed in age, meaning they get further away from the time of Jesus, then Jesus is given more and more divine attributes. But in reality we will find that Jesus is a very human character.

The Story of Jesus and the Fig Tree

For me one of the most startling evidences of that is in an extraordinary incident that takes place where Jesus is riding on a donkey. Now that is the first thing, does God ride on a donkey? Jesus is riding on a donkey and he feels hungry. So a God riding on a donkey feeling hungry? A hungry God? And then he sees a fig tree. He sees a fig tree. So he wants to eat some figs. So he goes to the fig tree and he discovers that there are no figs on the tree because it wasn't the season for figs. So this God does not even know the season of figs. He is supposed to have created the heavens and the earth but he doesn't even know there's not figs on the tree. Because he doesn't even know that it's not the season for figs. This is how Jesus is described as being ignorant of these things. How

can we therefore ascribe divinity to such a person who is riding on a donkey feeling hungry and does not even know that it is not the season for figs.

Jesus' True Teachings in the Gospels

In fact if you look at the gospels and you did not go to them with any preconceived ideas, there is no way that you will be able to believe in the divinity of Jesus. The impression that you would get is of Jesus of a man and a teacher who is calling people to worship God and to submit themselves to His divinely revealed commandments. In fact in the words that are attributed to Jesus in the gospels, he said I have not come to change the law and whoever changes one dot, one iota of the law will be considered least in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus himself clearly is a man who calls people to worship God alone, who is calling people away from hypocrisy, who is calling people away from following man made laws and calling them back to the worship of God and submitting to His divine will.

Muhammad: Descended from Abraham Through Ishmael

And then if we look to Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, of course Muhammad traces his ancestry also to Abraham but not through Isaac but through Ismail who was the other son of Abraham from whom the Arabs are descended. The Arabs are descended from Ismail, in fact they are called Ishmaelites and the prophet Muhammad may God's peace and blessings be upon him traced his ancestry back to Ismail.

The Fundamental Teachings of Islam

So what was the message of Muhammad? What is the fundamental essential teachings of Islam? Of course if you were someone who reads the newspapers and watches the TV, you might imagine that Muslims worship some God with daggers and maybe a Kalashnikov and that they believe in blowing people up and killing them and massacring as many people as possible and you might imagine that this was the religion of Islam. In fact you might say that Islam and terrorism are two words that are totally synonymous with one another. However what is the actual basic fundamental teachings of the religion that was preached by Muhammad may God's peace and blessings be upon him?

Now unlike Abraham and unlike Moses and unlike Jesus we actually know the name of the religion that was taught by prophet Muhammad because the Quran clearly tells us that the name of this religion is called Islam. It's funny however that some Christians and some secularists they say that we are Muhammadans and we follow Muhammadanism. You see because they say Christianity and Judaism so they think we are the same so they call it Muhammadanism. Even though clearly our religion has a name that is mentioned in the book. The name of the religion is Islam and the followers are called Muslim.

The Core Beliefs of Islam

And what are the fundamental teachings of Islam? What are the things the fundamental teachings that a Muslim

must believe? Again if we look we will find that we are taught to believe that there is one God who is the creator of the heavens and the earth, the controller of all things, who has power over all things, that He is the sovereign and He is the Lord and that He alone is worthy of being worshipped. That we should not worship the moon or the stars or any of the created things. We should not worship other human beings, that we should direct our worship only to God. And that we should submit ourselves to the divinely revealed commandments, to the laws, to the way that God has revealed for the benefit of all of mankind. So therefore just as Abraham and just as Moses and just as Jesus, Muhammad also taught to believe in one God and submit to Him.

The Meaning of the Word "Islam"

If we examine the meaning of the word Islam then something very interesting takes place. Because the word Islam does not mean by the way as you will find George Bush and Tony Blair that want to teach us about our religion now. It's very kind of them. Mufti Bush and Mufti Blair. Sheikh of Islam George Bush. Instead of putting president maybe they can put Sheikh of Islam now. They say that, he says Islam they say means peace. Islam they say means peace. It's nice. Thanks George. And they will get their usual Muslim scholars to come and also tell us that Islam means peace. But in fact Islam and even they will say it comes from the word Salama which means peace. But this is not true at all. As anyone who knows the Arabic language and they know the roots of the words then it is not from Salama. Islam does not mean peace. Islam is derived from the word Istislam. Istislam which means to submit or to surrender. Islam means actually submission to God. The word Islam means submission to God. It means submission but in reality submission to what? Submission to God. You see the word Islam the name of the religion describes the religion. If you want to know what is your religion about? My religion is Islam meaning submission to God. And a Muslim is someone who submits themselves to the word of God.

The Quran's Message: All Prophets Taught the Same Religion

And when you read the Quran you come across something that is both startling and that is beautiful. And that brings a sense of relief and peace and tranquility to your heart. Because the Quran is telling mankind, humanity that all of the prophets taught the same religion. The message of Abraham, the message of Moses, the message of Jesus, the message of Muhammad was in fact one message. They all worship the same God. They all call people to worship and believe in the same God. And in fact they call people to essentially the same religion, the same way of life, the same means of attaining salvation. And that was to believe in God, to worship Him alone and to submit to His divinely revealed commandments. If you translate that into Arabic you have the word Islam. So therefore Abraham himself was a Muslim who taught Islam. And Moses was a Muslim who taught Islam. And Jesus was a Muslim who taught Islam. And Muhammad was a Muslim who taught Islam. And the true followers of all of these religions were Muslims who followed Islam. One God, one religion.

One Message Through All the Prophets

They all taught to worship God alone and to submit to Him. And that is what they did themselves or tried to do

themselves. So that God did not reveal different religions and thus cause confusion and conflict. In fact the creator has only in reality revealed in essence one religion. One means of salvation. But in reality what has happened is that the people have changed and corrupted and distorted that message. The original message and the original teaching of the prophets was one. They were all brothers one to another in the sense that their religion was the same religion. They worshipped the same God and received revelation from the same God. It was the same angel Gabriel who brought the Torah to Moses, who brought the Injil or the Gospel to Jesus. And who brought the Quran to Muhammad.

How Corruption Entered the Original Message

But it is the people who due to their pride, their greed, their hatred one for another, their love of the world and their following of their desires and their speaking about God without knowledge. These are the things that cause them to go astray, to corrupt the message, to corrupt the teachings of the messengers and to invent for themselves their own religions. Although they ascribe them to God and they ascribe them to the prophets of God, in reality the prophets were free from those things. So therefore there is no reason in reality for the conflict that we find amongst religions in the world today. At least if people from the so called monotheistic religions were only to be sincere and to sincerely and honestly examine the teachings of their prophets to take away the traditions and the cultures and the man-made interpretations and they were going, if they were only to go to the root, to the essence of what the messengers taught they will find indeed that the God is one, the message is one, the religion is one.

The Completion of the Message Through Muhammad

And this is why the prophet Muhammad, may God's peace and blessings be upon him, he said the religion of God is like a beautiful building, the religion of God is like a beautiful building and the people go round this building but there is one brick that is missing. So the people say, oh what a beautiful building but if only this brick was in place. The prophet said, I am that brick, I am the one who has completed that religion and the religion has been perfected through me and just as if someone who believes or who believed in Abraham and came to hear about Moses could only be a true believer if he believed in Moses because how could you believe in one of God's messengers and reject another? It is the same as rejecting God, it is the same as rejecting God. You cannot pick and choose and say, well I like this messenger and not that one. No, you must believe in all.

The Obligation to Believe in All the Prophets

So if one was a follower of Abraham and Moses came along, one is obliged to follow Moses and for those people who claim to follow Moses, then when Isa came and he was indeed the Messiah for the Bani Israel, he was the expected Messiah, then it is obligatory upon them that they must believe in him and not reject him because to reject God's chosen messenger is ingratitude and indeed infidelity, disbelief in God. Similarly, every true believer in Isa, in Jesus, every true believer in Moses, every true believer in Abraham must also believe in God's final messenger, Muhammad. May Allah's peace and blessings be upon him. If they are true to their claim

that they love God and they are true to their claim that they believe in God and that they are true to their claim

that they want His pleasure and that they want to be saved from His wrath then how can they reject the

messenger that He has sent down for the benefit and for the guidance of all of mankind.

Closing Supplication

We ask Allah, we ask Allah the creator to guide ourselves and yourselves closer to the truth. (اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمْ)