Millat-a-Ibrahim: The True Faith of Abraham
Chapters
There are many similarities between the three great monotheistic religions in the world, namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Not only do they all confess the existence of one Supreme Being only, hut they place the revelation of his will and the development of prophetic history against the same background. All three teach that God created the world in six days, that the first man created was Adam and that Eve (Hawwa) was his wife, that men have sinned against God and need his forgiveness, that God has sent a series of prophets into the world (such as Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, etc.), and that there will be a Day of Judgement for the vindication of the righteous and the destruction of the ungodly.
Yet the same three religions have marked differences, so radical and so crucial that there is ultimately no prospect of reconciliation between them. Each looks to a respective founder - Judaism to Moses, Christianity to Jesus, and Islam to Muhammad - and the former faiths are not prepared to acknowledge the founders of the religions that succeeded them. The result has been much dispute and debate about the two great authors of the world's two universal monotheistic faiths, Christianity and Islam. Am objective approach to all three religions must lead to the conclusion that the true religion is somewhere among these three, but which one is it?
An open mind, aided by the guidance of God, can no doubt discover the one true religion, but as there is so much debate and dispute between the three major faiths, especially over the personalities of Jesus and Muhammad, perhaps it is better to look towards one of the great prophets who preceded all three religions and about whom all three are generally in agreement, namely the patriarch Abraham. Although ho was not the founder of any of those three, yet he is openly regarded by all of them as a true prophet and an example of a man of true faith, a prototype of the fuller revelation of God's truth yet to come through his antitype.
It is indeed fascinating to discover that all three monotheistic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, acknowledge that Abraham was a central, and yet unique figure in the matter of God's revelation of his truth to the human race. In fact there are three major points relating to Abraham where the major monotheistic religions all agree and, in the circumstances, it can be presumed that these points of agreement are based on a foundation of truth common to each one. The religion and faith of Abraham therefore, called in the Qur'an millata-Ibrahim (Quran 2.130), is commonly acknowledged to be the true one. All three religions can openly testify that these words express a conviction cherished and recognised by each one in turn:
Say: Follow the religion of Abraham the upright, for he was not one of the Pagans. Quran 3.95
It is thus agreed that "the religion of Abraham" (millat-a-Ibrahim) was indeed the true one and that he foreshadowed a greater revelation of it yet to come. But which one was it? We all agree in principle that he was a man of true faith, but which faith did he represent, Judaism, Christianity or Islam? Let us proceed to analyse the three points of agreement referred to and press on from there to study the implications of each, for if we can truly discover what Abraham's faith really was, we can settle the whole issue between us and duly discover God's true final revelation to mankind. By establishing a foundation of truth based on those facets of Abraham's life and faith upon which we agree, we can build until we come to a realisation of what the true religion of Abraham really was and on what grounds he was found pleasing and acceptable to God.