At that time, those of them who denied Muhammad renounced their Islam, and those of them who followed Muhammad remained on their Islam; as God Almighty has said in this regard: ﴿الَّذِينَ آتَيْنَاهُمُ الْكِتَابَ مِنْ قَبْلِهِ هُمْ بِهِ يُؤْمِنُونَ ۝ وَإِذَا يُتْلَى عَلَيْهِمْ قَالُوا آمَنَّا بِهِ إِنَّهُ الْحَقُّ مِنْ رَبِّنَا إِنَّا كُنَّا مِنْ قَبْلِهِ مُسْلِمِينَ ۝ أُولَئِكَ يُؤْتَوْنَ أَجْرَهُمْ مَرَّتَيْنِ بِمَا صَبَرُوا﴾[1]; “Those to whom We gave the book before it believe in it, and when it is recited to them, they say: ‘It is the truth from our Lord, we were Muslims before It’; they will be given their reward twice for what they patiently endured.” Therefore, the religion of God is one, and all His Prophets are like its various rulings, and all their books are like various verses of one book, and the necessity of following the last Prophet and Book is only due to the necessity of following the abrogating ruling and verse, which is a rational and intellectual necessity, and this is the meaning of Islam.

[Islam is a matter of belief]

It is hereby understood that the concept of Islam is submission to the will of God, and the acceptance of the last Prophet is its example, but is it sufficient to accept the last Prophet theoretically for the example of Islam to be realized, or is it necessary to accept him practically through the implementation of the rulings communicated by him? A group of Muslims, such as Kharijites and Salafists, believe that believing in the Prophethood of the last Prophet, in the sense of believing in the correctness of everything he has brought from God and the necessity of acting on it, is not sufficient for the example of Islam to be realized, and a Muslim is one who adheres to this belief along with its practical requirements and specifically avoids deeds like the deeds of disbelievers, such as resorting to the dead and calling on them, but the truth is that this avoidance, although very good and valuable, is not the example of Islam, but rather it is the example of faith that transcends Islam; because Islam is submission to the will of God, in the sense of confirming His authority theoretically and accepting His rulings as things that lead to the perfection of a Muslim, and acting on it, which includes avoiding deeds like the deeds of disbelievers, is something beyond confirming and accepting it;