All religions are originally one religion revealed by Allah through His Prophets and Messengers. They are different in legislation and laws and agree in content and objectives. The main message of Islam is the same basic message in all revealed religions, as they are all are from the same source: to guide people to worship Allah alone, to do righteous deeds that entail entering Paradise and to refrain from vices and sins entailing entering the Hellfire. However, Allah has distinguished the religion of Islam from other religions with some characteristics that made it the only religion worthy to be followed and the only religion lasting to the Day of Resurrection. Here are the most prominent differences between Islam and other religions:
1- Islamic faith is compatible with rationality. It is free from superstitions and irrational beliefs, and its principals are simple and clear. Allah is the Only God, the Eternal Refuge, He neither begets nor is born, nor is there to Him any equivalent. He created this life for testing, and it does not end at death, but it entails immortality in the Paradise or the Hellfire according to one’s faith and deeds. The Holy Quran is a miracle book. It’s the perfect words of Allah revealed through His angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad to guide all people to truth.
2- The direct connection to Allah Almighty without mediation or religious priesthood; the Muslim Scholar, no matter how much pious or righteous he is. He does not forgive sins, listen to confessions. nor sell lands in Paradise to people as does the monk in Christianity. Rather, he prays and asks for forgiveness, and performs the obligatory duties as other Muslims do.
3- Islam is a universal religion. It is valid for all kinds of people at all times and places. Our Prophet (peace be upon him) taught us that there is no preference for an Arab on a non-Muslim or a white person on a black one except in terms of piety. Allah says in the Qur’an:
(interpretation of the meaning): “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah is Knowing and Acquainted” (49: 13)
4- Unlike other sacred scriptures, which have been distorted according to human whims, the Quran is the only scripture that has been perfectly preserved in both its words and meaning over thousands of years. Allah Almighty says in the Qur’an:
Interpretation: ” Indeed, it is We who sent down the Qur’an and indeed, we will be its guardian” (15:9)
5 – Islam does not admit any separation between material and moral aspects. Islamic law guarantees satisfaction of the emotional and material needs of the human being, without negligence or exaggeration. One the other hand, the West was divided between two cultures: Christian culture denied the physical needs and followed the monastic order, and a secular culture born as a reaction to the dominance of the first culture in Europe. It separated between body and spirit and turned man into individual parts.
6 – Islam is a comprehensive religion. It’s not just a religion, rather it is a comprehensive lifestyle. Islam is the only religion that offers humans solutions to their problems, from the largest to the smallest and in all fields (politics, economy, education, ethics, administration, hygiene …etc.) The Islamic system represents an integrated approach that ensures continuity of life on a sound approach, unlike other religions and ideologies which are limited to one aspect of human life, whether spiritual, political or economic.
7- Islam is a practical religion. Its message is not just about theorizing and calling for good. All religions and principles of the world call for human virtues, ideals and values, but they do not offer practical ways and means to achieve those virtues and values in practical life. Although some of these religions propose some practical methods and apply them, these methods have not proved effective as Islam did.
For example, almost all religions (except Judaism and others) renounce racism and believe equality of all human beings before their Creator, and that the distinction between them is in piety, not in terms of race or nationality… etc. Everyone agrees on that, as well as the statutes of some countries. Nevertheless, has any religion or legislation succeeded in eliminating racial discrimination radically in all its forms? The answer is, of course, no, racial discrimination still exists even in the twenty-first century. However, Islam has offered a practical solution for each problem in two aspects:
1- The cognitive aspect: through the texts of revelation that most Muslims know from the Quran and the Sunnah.
2 – The practical aspect: as for racism, the practical solution is reflected in performing the pilgrimage of Muslims to Makkah, where Muslims come from the five continents of the world and of all races and ethnicities: Africans, Asians, Indians, Europeans, Arabs…etc. All wear the same clothes and perform the same rituals.
Islam also offered humanity practical remedies for all its problems, for example, Zakat fights poverty, Shura (consultation) fights injustice and tyranny, prayer prevents indecency and evil, and fasting protects oneself from incest and infidelity, and many more.
