Sermon's Title: Islam is the Only True Religion
Themes of the Sermon:
Islam is Allah's grace upon His servants.
Islam is the only true religion in Allah’s sight.
The concepts of the Abrahamic religion and the unity of religions are deviations.
The permissibility of coexistence with non-combatant disbelievers.
All praise is due to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may Allah exalt and send peace to the best of prophets and messengers, our Prophet Muhammad, his family and all his companions. Thereafter,
O servants of Allah, fear Allah with true piety, and be mindful of Him in private and in public:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ حَقَّ تُقَاتِهِ وَلَا تَمُوتُنَّ إِلَّا وَأَنْتُمْ مُسْلِمُونَ
"O you have believed, be pious to Allah with His true piety, and definitely do not die except as Muslims" (Quran 3:102).
O servants of Allah: Before the Prophet’s (ﷺ) mission, people were in a state of complete ignorance and darkness, as they were either misleading polytheists or deviant followers of distorted scriptures. Then, Allah bestowed His favor upon His servants by sending the best of mankind, our Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) who called people to Islam and guided them to faith. Allah, The Almighty, said:
لَقَدْ مَنَّ اللَّهُ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ إِذْ بَعَثَ فِيهِمْ رَسُولًا مِنْ أَنْفُسِهِمْ يَتْلُو عَلَيْهِمْ آيَاتِهِ وَيُزَكِّيهِمْ وَيُعَلِّمُهُمُ الْكِتَابَ وَالْحِكْمَةَ وَإِنْ كَانُوا مِنْ قَبْلُ لَفِي ضَلَالٍ مُبِينٍ
"Certainly did Allah confer [great] favor upon the believers when He sent among them a Messenger from themselves, reciting to them His verses and purifying them and teaching them the Book and wisdom, although they had been before in manifest error. " (Quran 3:164).
And in another verse Allah says,
الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا
"This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion." (Quran 5:3).
Islam, which Allah has chosen for His servants, is a religion with clear principles and boundaries. A servant is not regarded as a Muslim unless he adheres to them, and whoever deviates from any of them has abandoned Islam, left its fold and turned away from submission to Allah the Almighty.
Whoever denies anything that Allah has revealed, associates any partners with Him in worship, becomes too arrogant to follow Allah's commands, or deems it permissible to transgress the teachings of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), that person has lost his religion, abolished his belief, and traded guidance for misguidance and forgiveness for punishment.
Dear brothers and sisters in Islam:
There is no religion among all human faiths that is accepted by Allah and can save people from severe punishment, except for one religion, which is Islam. This excludes humanely-assigned polytheistic religions and corrupted faiths by the people of the scripture.
Thus, whoever imagines anything other than this principle, then he should read Allah's words:
شَهِدَ اللَّهُ أَنَّهُ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ وَالْمَلَائِكَةُ وَأُولُو الْعِلْمِ قَائِمًا بِالْقِسْطِ لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْعَزِيزُ الْحَكِيمُ * إِنَّ الدِّينَ عِنْدَ اللَّهِ الْإِسْلَامُ
"Allah witnesses that there is no deity except Him, and [so do] the angels and those of knowledge - [that He is] maintaining [creation] in justice. There is no deity except Him, the Exalted in Might, the Wise. Indeed, the religion in the sight of Allah is Islam." (Quran 3:18 - 19).
And let them reflect upon the following verse which says:
وَمَنْ يَبْتَغِ غَيْرَ الْإِسْلَامِ دِينًا فَلَنْ يُقْبَلَ مِنْهُ وَهُوَ فِي الْآخِرَةِ مِنَ الْخَاسِرِين
"And whoever desires a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted from him, and in the Hereafter, he will be among the losers." (Quran 3: 85).
In addition, whoever thinks that belief in Moses or Jesus (peace be upon them both) without believing in Muhammad (ﷺ) is sufficient for salvation on the Day of Judgment and labels one as a believer, let them read the words of Allah, the Exalted:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يَكْفُرُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَيُرِيدُونَ أَنْ يُفَرِّقُوا بَيْنَ اللَّهِ وَرُسُلِهِ وَيَقُولُونَ نُؤْمِنُ بِبَعْضٍ وَنَكْفُرُ بِبَعْضٍ وَيُرِيدُونَ أَنْ يَتَّخِذُوا بَيْنَ ذَلِكَ سَبِيلًا * أُولَئِكَ هُمُ الْكَافِرُونَ حَقًّا وَأَعْتَدْنَا لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابًا مُهِينًا
"Indeed, those who disbelieve in Allah and His messengers and wish to discriminate between Allah and His messengers and say, 'We believe in some and disbelieve in others,' and wish to adopt a way in between - those are the true disbelievers, and We have prepared for the disbelievers a humiliating punishment" (Quran 4: 150 - 151).
Furthermore, whoever ignorantly assumes that believing in a book other than the Glorious Qur’an, such as the Torah or the Gospel, is adequate instead of believing in the Qur’an, and that it makes one a believer who is saved in the sight of Allah as they are from the People of the scripture, let them read the words of Allah, the Exalted:
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا مِنْ أَهْلِ الْكِتَابِ وَالْمُشْرِكِينَ فِي نَارِ جَهَنَّمَ خَالِدِينَ فِيهَا أُولَئِكَ هُمْ شَرُّ الْبَرِيَّةِ
"Indeed, those who disbelieve among the People of the Book and the polytheists will be in the fire of Hell, abiding eternally therein. Those are the worst of creatures." (Quran 98: 6).
Moreover, whoever fabricates lies against Allah’s prophets claiming that the religion of Abraham (peace be upon him) includes different faiths, incorporating Islam along with Judaism and Christianity, let them read the words of Allah, the Exalted:
مَا كَانَ إِبْرَاهِيمُ يَهُودِيًّا وَلَا نَصْرَانِيًّا وَلَكِنْ كَانَ حَنِيفًا مُسْلِمًا وَمَا كَانَ مِنَ الْمُشْرِكِينَ
"Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was one inclining toward truth, a Muslim [submitting to Allah]. And he was not of the polytheists." (Quran 3: 67).
Whoever also listens to the Western calls for the unity of religions and wishes to obey them in this regard, let them read the words of Allah, the Exalted:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِنْ تُطِيعُوا فَرِيقًا مِنَ الَّذِينَ أُوتُوا الْكِتَابَ يَرُدُّوكُمْ بَعْدَ إِيمَانِكُمْ كَافِرِينَ* وَكَيْفَ تَكْفُرُونَ وَأَنْتُمْ تُتْلَى عَلَيْكُمْ آيَاتُ اللَّهِ وَفِيكُمْ رَسُولُهُ وَمَنْ يَعْتَصِمْ بِاللَّهِ فَقَدْ هُدِيَ إِلَى صِرَاطٍ مُسْتَقِيمٍ
"O you who have believed, if you obey a party of those who were given the Scripture, they would turn you back, after your belief, to be unbelievers. And how could you disbelieve while to you are being recited the verses of Allah and among you is His Messenger. And whoever holds firmly to Allah has been guided to a straight path." (Quran 3:100 - 101).
It is known that the straight path is the pure Islamic faith, free from Judaism and Christianity.
O brothers of Islam, do we not read the words of Allah, the Exalted:
اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ * صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ
"Guide us to the straight path – The Path of the ones whom You have favored, other than that of the ones against whom You are angered, and not (that of) the erring." (Quran 1:6 - 7).
It has been authentically reported from the Prophet (ﷺ) that he said: "Those who have evoked [Allah's] anger are the Jews, and those who are astray are the Christians," The majority of exegetes unanimously agreed upon this interpretation.
What a wonder for a Muslim reading these verses in every unit of prayer, and then thinks that there are different paths leading to Allah, including Islam and others! No, the straight path that leads to Allah and connects to the gardens of eternal bliss is Islam alone.
May Allah bless us and you with the great Quran and benefit us with its verses and the precise [and wise] message. I say these words and ask Allah’s forgiveness for me, for you, and for all Muslims from every sin, so seek His forgiveness, it is He who is the Forgiving, the Merciful.
The Second Sermon:
Praise be to Allah, and may Allah exalt and send peace to the Messenger of Allah, his family, his companions, and those who follow him.
O Muslims:
It is essential to differentiate between two things: first, coexistence with non-believers, respecting their covenant, and refraining from oppressing or attacking them; second, confusion between Islam and disbelief, and removing the boundaries between them.
Our Prophet (ﷺ) and the Muslims lived in Medina, and for a period, the Jews lived among them as well. They had treaties and were granted security. Muslims would buy from and sell to them, and they would honor their covenants and protection, not harming them in life or property without just cause.
Whoever has a pact with the leader of the Muslims from the People of Scripture has their treaty honored, and their life and property protected. It is not permissible to betray their trust or violate their covenant. It was narrated by Al-Bukhari, from Abdullah bin Amr bin Al-As, may Allah be pleased with them both, the Prophet (ﷺ) said, "Whoever kills a person under a covenant will not smell the fragrance of Paradise, even though its fragrance can be detected from a distance of forty years."
However, the Prophet (ﷺ) did not flatter the People of the Scripture in matters of religion. He received revelations in Medina, including al-Baqarah, Ᾱlū-'Imrān, an-Nisā, al-Mā'idah, and other Surahs. All these revelations include the prophet’s (ﷺ) repeated calls to the People of the Scripture to embrace Islam, clarifications of their disbelief and falsehood, disavowal from them, and prohibiting Muslims from loving, obeying, imitating or being loyal to them. The revelations also exposed their various forms of misguidance, such as their distortion of their scriptures, confusion between truth and falsehood, and constant efforts to harm Muslims, as well as their vehement denial to the truth despite knowing it, and many other issues mentioned in the Book of Allah.
There is a profound difference between coexistence with the disbelievers among the People of the Scripture, treating them kindly, and being just with them, and removing the boundaries between our religions, equating Islam with disbelief, considering all paths as leading to Allah, and ways to be saved from His punishment. Then we would congratulate them on their holidays, pray for their dead, show mercy to them, and ask for forgiveness for them. This is a great misguidance and deviation from the right religion, may Allah protect us and you.
Then, offer prayers and greetings to our Prophet Muhammad. O Allah, exalt and send peace to our Prophet Muhammad, his family, and his companions.
O Allah, make our religion easy for us by virtue of which our affairs are protected, set right for us our world where our life exists, make good for us our Hereafter which is our resort to which we have to return, and make our life prone to perform all types of good, and make death a comfort for us from every evil. O Allah, guide our leader to what You love and are pleased with, and lead him to righteousness and piety. Our Lord, grant us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and save us from the torment of the Fire.
O servants of Allah, remember Allah abundantly, glorify Him morning and evening, and our final supplication is that all praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the worlds.
