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The Definition of Islam
By: Allamah Sayyid Muhammad Husayn at-Tabataba'i
On page four of “Shi‘ah dar Islam”, the following remark is made: “Islam etymologically means surrender and obedience.”1 Though this definition is etymologically correct, in the Islamic culture, islam applies exclusively to the religion preached by the Noble Prophet (“That which Muhammad brought”).
According to the definition of Islam you offer in that book, we would not be justified in construing Qur’anic verse, “Should anyone follow a religion other than Islam, it shall never be accepted from him…”2
to mean that Islam is the ultimate religion, for islam, according to your explanation, means obedience, which can take the form of a multiplicity of religions no one of which would be superior to the others. Your definition of islam disagrees with hadiths that confirm the popular understanding of islam. (A number of these hadiths is recorded in the second volume of “Usul al-Kafi”.) Furthermore, there is universal consensus that islam is the name of the particular religion God revealed to Muhammad.3
Reply
Let me begin by quoting what I have said in “Shi‘ah dar Islam”: “Islam etymologically means surrender and obedience. The Holy Qur’an calls the religion which invited men toward this end “islam” since its general purpose is the surrender of man to the laws governing the Universe and men, with the result that through this surrender he worships only the One God and obeys only His commands.”
Where do I say that islam has only one meaning and that is its etymologic meaning or that wherever islam appears in the Qur’an or hadiths it denotes solely this meaning? What I have said concerns solely the question of appellation and nothing more. You also acknowledge the etymologic meaning of islam in your letter: “Islam is absolute submission to God. This, however, does not become manifest unless one utters the two testifications of faith and abides by Islamic rules.”
At any rate, islam is the name of this sacred religion. This usage of islam as the name of a particular religion does not disown its etymologic meaning. As a matter of fact, in Islamic sources, the word is used in both senses. For an example of its usage in its etymologic meaning, it suffices to note the following verse: “And who has a better religion than him who submits [aslama: past participle, from Islam] his will to God, being virtuous, and follows the creed of Abraham…”4
This verse indicates that the creed of Abraham was a manifestation of Islam in the sense of submission to God. One finds Islam used in this sense also in the words of Jacob’s children: “They said, ‘We will worship your God, and the God of your fathers, Abraham, Ishmael, and Isaac, the One God, and to Him do we submit’.”5
You further contend that if Islam denoted the etymologic meaning of the word and not the conventional meaning, we would not be justified in citing verse (3:85) as proof that Islam is the ultimate religion. This contention however is based on two presuppositions: one, that there is no reason other than the verse in question for Islam being the final religion and, two, that in this verse, Islam denotes the conventional meaning, not the etymologic meaning. Both of these presuppositions, however, are false.
You further write, “Hadiths confirm the conventional meaning of the term.” No one denies that there is such a meaning. The point is: the conventional meaning does not discard the etymologic meaning. Thus, the hadiths in some cases refer to and describe the conventional meaning and in some cases point to the etymologic meaning (i.e., submission, obedience), explicating its various degrees.
As to your point that people all around the world know Islam as the religion brought by Muhammad, there is no question about that. In fact, it was Abraham who first introduced this name: “…the faith of your father, Abraham. He named you Muslims before…”6
Thus, the Qur’an refers to prophets after Abraham and their followers (e.g., Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Solomon, Queen of Sheba, Joseph, Jacob’s sons, Pharaoh’s magicians, and Jesus’ disciples) as those who embraced Islam. Islam was initially used in reference to the religion ordained by God in allusion to its being submission to Him; it was only in time that it became a proper noun, even as the Divine Names were first used as attributes for God in their etymologic sense, but due to repeated usage over a long period of time they turned into proper nouns for God. Nevertheless, the etymologic sense of Islam is still preserved, a fact attested to by the al- that we occasionally attach to it—al-Islam.7
Notes:
1. Shi‘ah dar Islam: ‘Allamah’s book on Shi‘ah history and doctrine. Sayyid Husayn Nasr has translated the work under the title Shi‘ah. The quotation here is taken from his translation, p. 46. [trans.]
2. Surah Al ‘Imran 3:85.
3. This in only a summary of the critic’s letter to ‘Allamah Tabataba’i.
4. Surah al-Nisa’ 4:125.
5. Surah al-Baqarah 2:133.
6. Surah al-Hajj 22:78.
7. Lit., “the Submission.” In the Arabic language, an al- is occasionally affixed to a proper noun that originally was not a proper noun. The function that al- plays in such a cases is referred to as talmih or allusion; for, it enables the word to allude to the original meaning of the word while also functioning as a proper noun. [trans.]
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