In Suratu Nuh (lxxi) 29, Noah is represented as saying,

O MY Lord, forgive me, and my parents, and every one who, being a believer, shall enter my house, and believers men and women,

In Suratu Bani Isra'il (xvii) 79, again we read,

As to the youth his parents were believers.

Of Lot we have the record in Suratu'1-'Ankabut (xxix) 25,

But Lot believed in him.

And this must be compared with Suratu'dh-Dharayat (li) 36,

But we found not in it but one family of Muslims.

It should be noted also that in Suratu'l-Buruj (lxxxv) the Christian martyrs are spoken of as true believers, and the torment of hell is threatened against their persecutors. Indeed, the whole teaching of the Qur'an is in agreement with this idea. Belief in one God, and submission to Him as opposed to polytheism constituted true Faith, and all who thus believed were Mu'minun.

The various forms of the stem aslama (to profess Islam) are of frequent occurrence in the Qur'an to describe the true Faith in pre-Muhammadan times. Thus in Suratu'l-Ma'ida, (v) 48, the prophets are said to have professed Islam. Suratu'1-Baqara (ii) 125, also uses the same word to express the faith of Abraham. Similarly in Suratu'n-Naml (xxvii) 45, the queen of Sheba is represented as

saying that she submits to God. The passages which represent the pre-Muhammadan believers as Muslimun are too numerous to require quotation. The followers of Jesus are shown in Suratu Ali 'Imran (iii) 45, and again in Suratu'l-Ma’ida (v) 3, as claiming to be Muslimun. The true Religion of God is said in Suratu Ali 'Imran (v) 17, to be Islam, and in Suratu Bani Isra'il (xvii) 17, this is called simply 'the creed of Abraham'. The whole point may be summed up in the verse 'This, your religion, is the one Religion', [Suratu’l-Anbiya’ (xxi) 92], which all commentators agree in explaining as showing that Islam is the same as the one true Religion of all previous believers.

Thus, we see that there were Mu'minun (true believers in the Unity of God) ages before the Qur'an was revealed, and that according to the Qur'an, Islam existed from the time of Adam downwards through the centuries. We are therefore driven to the conclusion that Islam, as the true attitude of the soul to God, may be independent of any revelation which may claim to be given in the Qur'an, and may exist apart from any knowledge of Muhammad as the prophet of God. This is the testimony of the Qur'an itself. We are not hereby maintaining that Muhammad did not teach the true Islam, or that the Qur'an does not contain a revelation of the true Religion of God. These are questions independent of the one before us, and cone up for decision after the