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And who is fairer in religion than he who submits his purpose to<br />
God and is virtuous, and who follows the creed of Abraham as<br />
a hanif ? And God took Abraham for a close friend. (<strong>Al</strong>-Nisa,<br />
4:125)<br />
This also explains why Islam is the normative—and hence<br />
‘middle’—religion, that is, by that fact, a ‘witness’ over humanity<br />
as such:<br />
Thus We have appointed you a middle nation, that you may<br />
be witnesses over mankind, and that the Messenger may<br />
be a witness over you. (<strong>Al</strong>-Baqarah, 2:143)<br />
Equally, this explains why Islam is the universal religion—that is<br />
to say, the religion of all the prophets prior to the Prophet Muhammad’s<br />
restatement of it. God says:<br />
Say, ‘We believe in God, and that which has been revealed<br />
to us, and that which has been revealed to Abraham and<br />
Ishmael, and Isaac and Jacob, and the Tribes; and in that<br />
which was given to Moses and Jesus, and the prophets, from<br />
their Lord; we make no division between any of them; and to<br />
Him we submit’. / Whoever desires a religion other than Islam,<br />
it shall not be accepted from him and in the Hereafter he shall<br />
be among the losers. (Aal-‘Imran, 3:84–85)<br />
And also:<br />
God bears witness that there is no god, except Him, and the<br />
angels, and those of knowledge; upholding justice; there<br />
is no god except Him, the Mighty, the Wise. / Lo!, the religion<br />
with God is submission [to the One God]….. (Aal-‘Imran,<br />
3:18–19)<br />
Being Primordial, Normative and Universal, Islam is necessarily<br />
perfect in itself. God says:<br />
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