Answer
Assalamu Alaykum Dear Yusuf,
First of all, we would like to thank you for the good words you have spoken of our website.
To find answers for all the questions of the kind you have mentioned, we should look into the Noble Quran and the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad, peace be on him.
Islam teaches that from the beginning of mankind on the face of the earth, God had been sending His Guidance to mankind through His chosen prophets. The first prophet was the first man Adam. Thereafter, generation after generation thousands of prophets came to the peoples who inhabited different lands in different periods of history. These prophets include Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad (peace be upon them all).
All these prophets of God taught basically the same Religion: namely Islam or a life of complete obedience and surrender to the One and Only God. But by “Islam” we usually mean the last form of the religion of God taught by the Last Prophet, Muhammad (peace be upon him).
The Religion of Judaism is based on the teachings and the laws of prophet Moses, while Christianity in its original form, was based on the teachings of prophet Jesus. All the three religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) have their roots in the teachings of the patriarch Abraham.
In the course of hundreds of years, the teachings of the earlier prophets got corrupted. The true religion had to be restored by another Prophet from God. A long line of prophets came to the world; of whom Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the Last Prophet sent to fulfill and perfect the Divine guidance. Thus, we can say that Islam, as taught by Muhammad is a continuation and culmination of the religion of God taught by all the previous prophets.
Thus the major distinction of Islam is that it is the perfected form of the other two religions. It is a universal religion that is meant for the whole of humanity, while the earlier religions were not. Judaism and Christianity were addressed to the Children of Israel alone. All the true followers of the prophets of old were “Muslims” (= those who peacefully submitted to God), because they lived a life of submission to God alone.
In this sense, all the pious Jews were Muslims. When Jesus came to them saying he was the expected Messiah foretold in their Torah, some Jews followed him; and they were later called Christians. And the Christians who followed Jesus the prophet of God, were also “Muslims”; because they worshiped none but the One and Only God of the universe.
Muhammad (peace be upon him) came in answer to the prophecies in the Jewish and Christian books of the Bible. And those Jews who recognized in Muhammad, the Prophet-like-Moses, prophesied in Deuteronomy 18: 15-19 followed him. The same was true of the Christians who saw that Muhammad was “the Comforter” foretold in the Gospel of John 16: 5-15 (as well as in Deuteronomy).
They became the followers of Muhammad, peace be on him. But the Jews and Christians who obstinately refuse to listen to the call of the Last Prophet are in the wrong. Allah only knows what judgment is waiting for them, because they misinterpret the clear prophecies in their own scriptures and turn away from the Guidance of God brought by His Last Prophet.
The Noble Quran is clear about one point, which is: Allah will not punish anyone unjustly. He will not do even the least bit of injustice:
{The word changes not before Me, and I do not the least injustice to My servants.} (Qaf 50:29)
{On no soul doth God place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns…} (Al-Baqarah 2:286)
{But how (will they fare) when we gather them together against a day about which there is no doubt, and each soul will be paid out just what it has earned, without (favor or) injustice?} (Aal `Imran 3:25)
{Who receives guidance, receives it for his own benefit: who goes astray doth so to his own loss: No bearer of burdens can bear the burden of another: nor would We visit with Our wrath until We had sent an apostle (to give warning).} (Al-Israa’ 17:15)
It is clear from the above verses, that Allah is Most Just and there is no question of His doing any injustice to any of His creatures. Allah will not punish people who are ignorant of His guidance, or who are prevented by the circumstances of their lives from knowing the Truth.
That is to say, it is only after people have been informed of the true guidance and they have knowingly rejected it. Those are the ones who would be held accountable and judged to be deserving of punishment.
But it has also been made clear that Allah has put in every person a natural tendency towards good. If a person will fully act against this inner sense of good, (that could be called the Divine messenger within their own soul), they will be judged accordingly.
That also is part of the Divine justice. No one can offer false alibis and excuses to escape Divine Judgment. Allah says what means:
{Then guard yourselves against a day when one soul shall not avail another nor shall intercession be accepted for her, nor shall compensation be taken from her, nor shall anyone be helped (from outside).} (Al-Baqarah 2:48)
In other words, the core of Islamic ethics is justice and freedom of choice. From the Islamic point of view, the judgment of an action is dependent, first and foremost upon the motive derived from the faith of the person. So a person who knows nothing of Islam cannot be held accountable for not following Islam.
There will never be any injustice in the Ultimate Judgment of God. And for us humans, it is basically a question of our sincerity in seeking the truth and following it.
So the Message of Islam is perfectly clear: Follow the natural tendency towards good, towards the truth. Do not try to avoid your duty towards your Creator and Sustainer. Seek His guidance and help through prayer, honest striving and patience. And most assuredly you will find Allah to be the Most Just, the Most Merciful.
And Allah knows best.
I hope this satisfies you. If you still have any other inquires, don’t hesitate to send us back. Please stay in touch.
Salam.