Last Updated: May 2024
Believers are the followers of the messengers of Allah. By following the messenger of their time, they become a group of the same religion that has been given to all generations of humanity. They all believe in the SAME GOD and the same Message. They all believe that their God is One God; the messenger He has sent to their community is true; the Message he gives about this life and Hereafter is true; and the communication between Allah and His messenger occurs through the Angel.
Though the span of the preaching of the religion is stretched over thousands of years, the [true] follower of every messenger from every era believes in five fundamental beliefs. It is the belief in these five fundamental beliefs that makes believers identify each other.
A true believer can easily identify the true Message and feel no hesitation to join the followership of the next messenger. However, one who is already a half-hearted believer cannot understand that the transition is a part of time; and the new message is the revival of the Original Message.
True believers of all messengers, from Noah [PBUH], Abraham [PBUH], Mosses [PBUH], and Jesus [PBUH], to Muhammad [PBUH], are one community. Their transition from the followership of one messenger to the other is like the growth of a plant that sprouts from a single seed and after going through different stages of growth, becomes a strong tree.
This community of yours is one community, and I am your Rubb, so worship [obey] Me. (21: 92)
As all believers from their respective times are Peacemakers [already discussed in Chapter Two], they, therefore, deserve the Home of Peace.
Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans [before prophet Muhammad] – those [among them] who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness – will have their reward with their Rubb, and no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve (2: 62)
However, after the arrival of Muhammad [PBUH], believers are those who believe in what was revealed to him by Allah.
Muhammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah and last of the prophets. And ever is Allah, of all things, Knowing (33: 40)
A believer always has a different personality from that of a disbeliever.
That is because those who disbelieve follow falsehood, and those who believe follow the truth from their Rubb. Thus does Allah present to the people their comparisons (47: 3)
Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. Those with him are stern against the disbelievers, yet compassionate amongst themselves. You see them kneeling, prostrating, seeking blessings from Allah and approval. Their marks are on their faces from the effects of prostration. Such is their description in the Torah, and their description in the Gospel: like a plant that sprouts, becomes strong, grows thick, and rests on its stem, impressing the farmers…………(48: 29)
He (Allah) has ordained for you of religion what He enjoined upon Noah and that which We have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], and what We enjoined upon Abraham and Moses and Jesus – to establish the religion and not be divided therein………………. (42: 13)
And hold firmly to the rope [religion] of Allah all together and do not become divided………. (3: 103)
All believers, as said before, are one community, and they have been commanded to stay united against disbelievers throughout time but unfortunately, they have divided their religion and have become sects.
.. the people divided their religion among them into sects – each faction, in what it has, rejoicing. So leave them in their confusion for a time. (23: 53-54)
Have they not pondered the Word? Or has there come to them what came not to their forefathers of old? (23: 68)
Indeed, your Rubb will judge between them on the Day of resurrection concerning that over which they used to differ (32: 25)
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ANSWERS TO SOME QUESTIONS ABOUT BELIEVERS, DISBELIEVERS AND HALF-HEARTED BELIEVERS
A disbeliever does not believe in the five basic realities [mentioned in Chapter Six], not because they are irrational; it is because he himself fails to understand them.
As mentioned in Chapter Five, believing or being convinced [of any information] is absolutely a personal matter; one cannot force someone to be convinced. If a recipient of the information does not try or take interest in understanding the information, nobody can convince him/her to act upon it.
No fresh reminder comes to them from their Rubb, but they listen to it playfully. [With] their hearts distracted……………. (21: 2-3)
So, avoid him who has turned away from Our remembrance, and desires nothing but the present life. That is the extent of their knowledge ……………….(53: 29-30)
…..their knowledge of the Hereafter is confused. In fact, they are in doubt about it. In fact, they are blind to it (27: 66)
… We have certainly diversified for the people in this Quran from every [kind] of example, but most of the people refused [anything] except disbelief. (17: 89)
So leave them to blunder and play, until they meet their Day which they are promised. (70: 42)
On that Day they will be asked:
…………… “Did you reject My revelations without comprehending them?...........” (27: 84)
Had Allah willed, everyone on earth would have believed. Will you compel people to become believers? (10: 99)
No soul can believe except by Allah’s leave; and He lays disgrace upon those who refuse to understand. (10: 100)
Say, “Look at what is in heavens and the earth.” But signs and warnings are of no avail for people who do not believe. (10: 101)
There shall be no compulsion in religion; the right way has become distinct from the wrong way. Whoever renounces/rejects evil and believes in Allah has grasped the most trustworthy handle, which does not break. Allah is Hearing and Knowing (2: 256)
And We showed him the two ways (90: 10). Both positive and negative aspects of each action.
"We guided him to the way, be he appreciative or unappreciative (76: 3). Obey or disobey.
We sent down upon you the Book for mankind in truth. He who follows guidance does so for the good of his soul. And he who strays in error does so to its detriment. You are not their overseer. (39: 41)
Being convinced is wholly a personal matter. Though the truth is enough to convince someone, there are still many who refuse to accept it. What we can do for such people is that we can only inform them about realities. Believing or not believing is their personal matter.
So remind; you are only a reminder (88: 21)
You are not over them a controller (88: 22)
Whoever disbelieves – let not his disbelief sadden you. To Us is their return. Then We will inform them of what they did. Allah knows what lies within the hearts (31: 23)
Those who disbelieve and avert [people] from the way of Allah – He will waste their deeds. And those who believe and do righteous deeds and believe in what has been sent down upon Muhammad – and it is the truth from their Rubb – He will remove from them their misdeeds and amend their condition. That is because those who disbelieve follow falsehood, and those who believe follow the truth from their Rubb. Thus does Allah present to the people their comparisons (47: 1-3)
And those who believe and do righteous deeds – We will surely remove from them their misdeeds and surely reward them according to the best of what they used to do (29: 7)
The world has not only two kinds of people – believers and disbelievers. There is also a third kind who mixes up belief with disbelief – they are half-hearted believers. It is basically them to whom Allah sends guidance and gives time to reform themselves.
Allah would not leave the believers in that [state] you are in [presently] until He separates the evil from the good………………. (3: 179)
Acceptance of guidance is the criteria of goodness, righteousness, and perfection. The purpose of the test is therefore:
That Allah may distinguish the bad from the good, and heap the bad on top of one another, and pile them together, and throw them in Hell…………. (8: 37) [Details have already been given in Chapter Six]