is islam the only path to god ? does the quran  extend the validity of religions beyond islam  

to any who believe in god and act rightly ? or does  the quran insist that islam is the exclusive and  

only path to god ? and what is the idea that some  have come up with from their reading of the quran  

that at the heart of the world's major religions  and faiths there is an essential unity of truth . 

now this is a controversial question and whatever  answer we give will attract much criticism . i am  

not a scholar so this is just my personal view  please correct me if i am wrong . the quran is  

unambiguous when it says : he who seeks a religion  other than islam , it will not be accepted of him  

and in the hereafter he shall be among the losers  

3 85. elsewhere it states : the true religion in  allah's sight is islam 3 19. whatever other  

verses may be considered on this subject these two must surely be central  

turning to the words of the prophet we find  him proclaiming : by him in whose hand is the  

life of muhammad . anyone from this nation be  they a jew or a christian who hears of me and  

dies without believing in what i have come  with shall be among the inhabitants of hell . 

on this hadith imam al-nawari says : it contains a  proof that all religions have now been abrogated  

by the prophethood of our prophet . also , in its  explicit meaning is a proof that those to whom  

the call of islam does not reach are excused . end  quote . not only has the religion of islam that the  

prophet was sent with superseded or previous  revealed teachings . this last dispensation is a  

universal one too . the quran says : say o mankind  truly i am the messenger of allah to you all  

7 1 5 8 . the prophet's sacred law then has abrogated  and superseded all earlier revealed laws  

except those provisions in them that the new  sacred law has reconfirmed . in the last century  

a view has arisen which says that islam affirms  the validity of other religions recourse has been  

taken to the following verse to justify this  claim : those who believe in the quran , the jews ,

the christians and the sabians whosoever believes  in allah and the last day and does what is right  

shall be rewarded by their lord . no fear shall  come upon them nor shall they grieve . that's second  

surah verse 62 . this verse it is believed extends  the validity of religions beyond just islam and  

the possibility of salvation beyond just muslims  to whoever believes in allah and the last day .

the era of such a claim can be gauged from  the following three points . first: apart from  

ignoring the above protect proof text to the  contrary the earlier verses and the hadith . (i  

quoted) this view stands against islamic orthodoxy  which states as per imam al-nawawi : one thou who  

does not consider a person who follows a religion  besides islam like a christian to be a disbeliever  

or doubts that such a person is a disbeliever  or deems their religion to be still valid  

is himself a disbeliever even if along with this  he manifests islam and believes in it . end quote . 

how should this verse 262 be read then ? scholars  of tafsir along with the belief that the quran's  

message now supersedes all previous heavenly  teachings offer the following interpretations  

for this particular verse 262. firstly , it is said to refer to those seekers of  

truth who believed in the imminent arrival of the  final prophet , individuals like habib al-najar  

says ibn sadha and waraka nafal baraka (excuse my  pronunciation) bahira the monk and solomon al-farsi  

and others . some of them reached the prophet and  accepted islam at his hand others didn't reach him  

but nonetheless they're included among those  who believe in allah and the last day . a second  

option of the tafsir writers is that it refers to  the believers of previous nations following the  

prophets of their respective times . another option  is its claim to refer to those jews and christians  

who prior to accepting islam in the time of the  prophet muhammad followed the unaltered teachings  

of moses and jesus peace be upon them both . a  few say it refers to the hypocrites which is  

somewhat odd . whatever the correct intent of   this passage is (262) : the view which  

extends salvation unrestrictedly to include even  those who deny the prophet muhammad's prophethood  

is conspicuous by its absence in the  classical tafsir literature . now Ibn Kathir  

helps put the above verse into context with his  customary hermeneutics . and i think this is

a really good quote from him . he explains : quote : the  faith of the jews was that of those who adhered  

to the torah and the way of moses peace be upon  him until the arrival of jesus with the advent  

of jesus those who follow the torah and the mosaic  laws not leaving them to follow jesus were doomed .  

the faith of the christians was that of whoever  adhered to the gospel and to the teaching of jesus  

they were believers and their faith  valid until the advent of muhammad  

peace be upon him . those who reject muhammad  by not leaving the gospel and jesus way 

are doomed . this (he writes) doesn't  conflict with what ali relates from ibn abbas  

who said that (quote) : those who believe in the quran , the jews , the christians , and the sabians whoever  

believes in allah the last day was followed  by allah revealing he who seeks a religion  

other than islam it will not be accepted from him  and in the afterlife he will be among the losers .

end quote . for what ibn abbas is simply informing  is that no path is acceptable from anyone nor any  

deed unless it conforms to the sharia of muhammad  now that he has been sent prior to this anyone who  

followed the particular prophet of his time was  upon right guidance and the path of salvation .

so in the light of all this teaching , the  philosophies that speak of the essential  

unity of religions or perennialism are  disbelief (kufr) the metaphysics of these  

philosophies is such that they insist the world's  major face : judaism , hinduism , buddhism , christianity  

like christianity like islam , all contain at their  heart a core set of esoteric truths despite them  

differing immensely in their external appearance  forms and practices and even in their many beliefs .

they also believe that these major religions again  like islam are still valid retain their validity  

even today . the metaphor used to describe the  unity of religions is that of a bicycle wheel . the  

spokes represent the different religions , the hub  symbolizes god the supreme being the transcendent  

reality . just as the spokes come closer to each  other as they near the hub so too as each path  

comes closer to the one reality , it comes closer to  all other paths . now as appealing as this sounds to  

some people , it can never pass for authoritative  orthodox chronic teachings as has been shown .

asserting that such perennialist philosophy  is clear disbelief (kufr) does not amount to  

an accusation that each specific individual who  holds such a belief is necessarily an unbeliever (a  

kafir) as is well attested to in mainstream sunni  theology . the maxim in this matter runs as follows  

this is the principle in sunni theology : not everyone who falls into disbelief  

becomes a disbeliever . the sharia upholds the  distinction between a general charge of disbelief  

and the charge of disbelief upon a specific  individual . as sheikh ibn tamir said  

(quote) : they have not given proper consideration  that making takfir has conditions and  

impediments that must be actualized if it  is to be applied to a specific individual  

because a general declaration of takfir doesn't  imply takfir on a specific individual until  

conditions are fulfilled and impediments lifted . end quote . i think it's very helpful distinction  

the perennialist philosophy or the religious  parentis (in the latin) was first propagated in  

the late nineteen thirties it was fitch dropped  schuon who appears in my last video who would bring  

this idea to its fruition : among those  who come under or came under schuon's  

influence were those like martin lings and  guy eaton (two englishmen) and side Hussein nasser  

the first two rather are converts  to islam . now such muslims who through a mistaken  

interpretation that led them into perennialism , they are part of a highly learned body of  

authors and academics who offer some of the  finest critics from a traditional perspective  

and profound and they offer profound  spiritual expositions of islam  

to modern beleaguered hearts and minds and  their writings have brought to many westerners  

they brought many westerners into the  fold of islam particularly via sufism . 

perennial beliefs aside their writings are a  reminder that to hold to a simple faith without  

much intellectual and spiritual content  is no longer possible in our modern world .

so just to conclude the quran insists that every  prophet came with a core set of universal truths  

centered around tawheed (god's oneness) the quran  says : we have sent to every nation a messenger  

proclaiming worship god and shun false gods 16 36.  it's possible therefore that buddhism and hinduism  

to have been in the ancient past divinely revealed .  i'm not saying they were but it's possible it's  

equally true that the quran insists of previously  revealed religions and their scriptures that they  

have long suffered alteration and corruption at  the hands of men and that whatever revealed truths  

were once present in them have long since been  forgotten changed compromised or overshadowed by  

corrupted and idolatrous beliefs and practices . so while the world's major faiths do show  

similarities with islam , this does not prove their  essential unity with it as they currently exist  

for they haven't only been altered but they've  also been abrogated and superseded by what was  

revealed to the final prophet muhammad . this is why  he who seeks a religion other than islam it will  

not be accepted of him and in the hereafter  he will be among the losers . until next time