Belief in the Books Revealed by Allah
and Belief in His Messengers
Since the time the Prophet Adam (pbuh) was sent to the Earth, Allah has sent messengers to every nation, to communicate to them the existence of Allah and the Hereafter, and to convey the divine message. Some of these messengers are those prophets whose names are stated in the Qur'an and to whom books were revealed. A Muslim must not discriminate between them, but respect them all equally, since they were all prophets of the true religion. Allah commands Muslims to believe in all the prophets, without making distinction:
Say, "We believe in Allah and what has been sent down to us and what was sent down to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the Tribes, and what Moses and Jesus were given, and what all the Prophets were given by their Lord. We do not differentiate between any of them. We are Muslims submitted to Him." (Surat al-Baqara: 136)
The book by which humanity is responsible in our time is the Qur'an, revealed to the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace). Because, as we are informed in the Qur'an, the earlier books, which were originally revealed to communicate the truth to mankind, were later altered through additions and deletions:
Woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say "This is from Allah" to sell it for a paltry price. Woe to them for what their hands have written! Woe to them for what they earn! (Surat al-Baqara: 79)
For this reason, Islam was revealed by Allah as the final religion. Allah, in a verse of the Qur'an, commands as follows:
...Today I have perfected your religion for you and completed My blessing upon you and I am pleased with Islam as a religion for you... (Surat al-Ma'ida: 3)
In the Qur'an Allah also informs us that the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) is the last prophet:
Muhammad is not the father of any of your men, but the Messenger of God and the Final Seal of the Prophets. God has knowledge of all things. (Surat al-Ahzab: 40)
Consequently, the only true religion for all times, since the era of the Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and grant him peace), until the Day of Resurrection, is Islam, and its source, the Qur'an.
