Answer
Short Answer: God’s chosen people are the people who have chosen to obey God, not some certain ethnic or religious group. The Qur’an generally says that anyone who submits himself to God will be given eternal salvation, and doesn’t explicitly forbid “non-Muslims” from Paradise.
Asalamu Alaikum,
Thank you for contacting About Islam with your question.
Dr. Shabir Ally from Let the Quran Speak addresses this question in the video below.
Transcript:
Aisha Khaja: So, Dr. Shabir the question we have is: are African Americans, Latinos, or Native Americans descendants of the Israelites?
And when the Bible and Quran refer to them as Allah’s chosen people, does God mean that they can achieve salvation?
Dr. Shabir Ally: I don’t know of any evidence historical or scriptural that will link all of these various groups as descendants of the Israelites.
When the Quran speaks about the Israelites as God’s chosen people, the Quran speaks of this as, not a categorical matter, there is always a condition.
And this is in the Bible as well: If you do this, then you remain God’s chosen people, but if you disobey God, then obviously you are disqualifying yourself from this kind of close relationship with God.
So, it’s mutual choosing. You choose God and God chooses you.
In terms of salvation, traditionally Muslims thought of salvation as being limited to Muslims alone.
But we should think more generally, that God is merciful and merciful to all people.
And there’s no reason why God would limit His Grace’s in the life hereafter only to Muslims.
But the Quran speaks of [this] in a more general way {quoting Quran in Arabic}: whoever submits his face to God and is muhsin (and is a doer of good), would have salvation in the life hereafter.
Aisha Khaja: So, then what about believing in Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)?
Dr. Shabir Ally: The principle is that if the message about the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) reaches a person with clarity and persuasiveness then that person is responsible for believing in the Prophet.
But not everyone has received that message with such clarity and persuasiveness. S
o, people might be excused before God on that basis.
I hope this helps answer your question. Please keep in touch.
Walaikum Asalam.
(From AboutIslam’s archives)
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https://aboutislam.net/counseling/ask-about-islam/why-do-we-respect-the-people-of-the-book/