Examples Of The Disbelieving Characters Described In The Qur'an

THOSE WHO TAKE THE CREATED ONES AS GODS

Say: 'Have you thought about those you call upon apart from Allah? Show me what they have created on the earth. Or do they have a partnership in the heavens? Produce a Book for me before this one or a shred of knowledge if you are telling the truth.' (Qur'an, 46:4)

If you ask them, 'Who created the heavens and the earth?', they will say, 'Allah.'Say: 'So what do you think? If Allah desires harm for me, can those you call upon besides Allah remove His harm? Or if He desires mercy for me, can they withhold His mercy?'Say: 'Allah is enough for me. All those who truly trust put their trust in Him.' (Qur'an, 39:38)

Say: 'Who is the Lord of the heavens and the earth?' Say: 'Allah.' Say: 'So why have you taken protectors apart from Him who possess no power to help or harm themselves?' Say: 'Are the blind and seeing equal? Or are darkness and light the same? Or have they assigned partners to Allah Who create as He creates, so that all creating seems the same to them?' Say: 'Allah is the Creator of everything. He is the One, the All-Conquering.' (Qur'an, 13:16)

What then of Him Who is standing over every self seeing everything it does? Yet still they associate others with Allah! Say: 'Name them! Or would you inform Him of something in the earth He does not know, or are they words which are simply guesswork on your part?' However, the plotting of those who do not believe seems good to them and they bar the way. Anyone misguided by   Allah has no guide (Qur'an, 13:33)

THOSE WHO ONLY PRAY AT TIMES OF
HARDSHIP AND PUT ALLAH BEHIND THEM
WHEN THE HARM IS REMOVED

Desperate when bad things happen, begrudging when good things come. (Qur'an, 70:20-21)

Any blessing you have is from Allah. Then when harm touches you, it is to Him you cry for help. But when He removes the harm from you, a group of you associate others with their Lord. (Qur'an, 16:53-54)

When harm touches man he calls on Us. Then when We grant him a blessing from Us he says, 'I have only been given this because of my knowledge.' In fact it is a trial but most of them do not know it. (Qur'an, 39:49)

Say: 'Who rescues you from the darkness of the land and sea? You call on Him humbly and secretly: "If You rescue us from this, we will truly be among the thankful."' Say: 'Allah rescues you from it, and from every plight. Then you associate others with Him.' (Qur'an, 6:63-64)

When harm touches man he calls upon his Lord, repenting to Him. Then when He grants him a blessing from Him, he forgets what he was calling for before and ascribes rivals to Allah, so as to misguide others from His Way. Say: 'Enjoy your disbelief for a little while. You are among the Companions of the Fire.' (Qur'an, 39:8)

Our Lord, remove the punishment from us. We are really believers.' How can they expect a Reminder when a clear Messenger has already come to them? But then they turned away from him and said, 'He is an instructed madman!' We remove the punishment a little, and you revert! (Qur'an, 44:12-15)

When the waves hang over them like canopies, they call on Allah, making their religion sincerely His. But then when He delivers them safely to the land, some of them are ambivalent. None but a treacherous, thankless man denies Our Signs. (Qur'an, 31:32)

When We grant blessing to a man, he turns away and draws aside but when any evil touches him, he is full of endless prayers! (Qur'an, 41:51)

THOSE WHO PRAY ONLY FOR THE LIFE OF THIS WORLD

When you have completed your (Pilgrimage) rites, remember Allah as you used to remember your forefathers—or even more. There are some people who say, 'Our Lord, give us good in this world.' They will have no share in the hereafter. (Qur'an, 2:200)

If anyone desires to cultivate the hereafter, We will increase him in his cultivation. If anyone desires to cultivate this world, We will give him some of it but he will have no share in the hereafter. (Qur'an, 42:20)

As for those who desire the life of this world and its finery, We will give them full payment in it for their actions. They will not be deprived here of their due. But such people will have nothing in the hereafter but the Fire. What they achieved here will come to nothing. What they did will prove to be null and void. (Qur'an, 11:15-16)

As for anyone who desires this fleeting existence, We hasten in it whatever We will to whoever We want. Then We will consign him to Hell where he will roast, reviled and driven out. (Qur'an, 17:18)

THOSE WHO ABANDON THEIR FAITH UPON
FACING HARDSHIP IN THE WAY OF ALLAH

Do you not see those who were told: 'Hold back from fighting but perform prayer and give alms'? Then when fighting is prescribed for them, a group of them fear people as Allah should be feared, or even more than that. They say, 'Our Lord, why have you prescribed fighting for us? If only You would give us just a little more time!' Say, 'The enjoyment of this world is very brief. The hereafter is better for those who guard againt evil. You will not be wronged by so much as the smallest speck.' (Qur'an, 4:77)

If it had been a case of easy gains and a short journey, they would have followed you, but the distance was too great for them. They will swear by Allah: 'Had we been able to, we would have gone out with you.' They are destroying their own selves. Allah knows that they are lying. (Qur'an, 9:42)

There are some people who say, 'We believe in Allah,' and then, when they suffer harm in Allah's cause, they take people's persecution for Allah's punishment; but if help comes from your Lord they say, 'We were with you.' Does Allah not know best what is in every person's heart? (Qur'an, 29:10)

When they came at you from above you and below you, when your eyes rolled and your hearts rose to your throats, and you thought unworthy thoughts about Allah, at that point the believers were tested and severely shaken. When the hypocrites and people with sickness in their hearts said, 'What Allah and His Messenger promised us was mere delusion.' (Qur'an, 33:10-12)

Yet they had previously made a contract with Allah that they would never turn their backs. Contracts made with Allah will be asked about. Say: 'Flight will not benefit you if you try to run away from death or being killed. Then you will only enjoy a short respite.' (Qur'an, 33:15-16)

They think that the Confederates have not departed and if the Confederates did appear then they would wish they were out in the desert with the Arabs, asking for news of you. If they were with you they would only fight a very little. (Qur'an, 33:20)

THOSE WHO AVOID STRUGGLING
IN THE WAY OF ALLAH

Say: 'If your fathers or your sons or your brothers or your wives or your tribe, or any wealth you have acquired, or any business you fear may slump, or any house which pleases you, are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and striving in His Way, then wait until Allah brings about His command. Allah does not guide people who are deviators.' (Qur'an, 9:24)

THOSE WHO DENY, DESPITE THEIR
CERTAINTY OF THE EXISTENCE OF ALLAH

Say: 'Who provides for you out of heaven and earth? Who controls hearing and sight? Who brings forth the living from the dead and the dead from the living? Who directs the whole affair?' They will say, 'Allah.' Say, 'So will you not guard against evil?' (Qur'an, 10:31)

If you asked them, 'Who created the heavens and the earth?' they would say, 'Allah!' Say: 'Praise be to Allah!' But most of them do not know. (Qur'an, 31:25)

If you asked them who created them, they would say, 'Allah!' So how have they been perverted? (Qur'an, 43:87)

Do you really hope they will follow you in faith when a group of them heard Allah's Word and then, after grasping it, knowingly distorted it? (Qur'an, 2:75)

THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE DUE
TO THEIR FEAR OF FACING PRESSURE
FROM THE UNBELIEVERS

No one believed in Musa except for a few of his people out of fear that Pharaoh, and the elders, would persecute them. Pharaoh was high and mighty in the land. He was one of the profligate. (Qur'an, 10:83)

They say, 'If we follow the guidance with you, we shall be forcibly uprooted from our land.' Have We not established a safe haven for them to which produce of every kind is brought, provision direct from Us? But most of them do not know it. (Qur'an, 28:57)

THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE
IN RESURRECTION

They say, 'When we have been absorbed into the earth, are we then to be in a new creation?' In fact they reject the meeting with their Lord. (Qur'an, 32:10)

That is their repayment for rejecting Our Signs and saying, 'What, when we are bones and crumbled dust, will we then be raised up as a new creation?' (Qur'an, 17:98)

If you were to obey a human being like yourselves, you would, in that case, definitely be the losers. Does he promise you that when you have died and become dust and bones you will be brought forth again? What you have been promised is sheer nonsense! What is there but our life in this world? We die and we live and we will not be raised again. What is he but a man who has invented a lie against Allah? We do not believe in him.' (Qur'an, 23:34-38)

THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT ALLAH WILL FORGIVE THEM AT ALL EVENTS

An evil generation has succeeded them, inheriting the Book, taking the goods of this lower world, and saying, 'We will be forgiven.' But if similar goods come to them again they still take them. Has not a covenant been made with them in the Book, that they should only say the truth about Allah and have they not studied what is in it? The Final Abode is better for those who guard against evil. Will you not use your intellect? (Qur'an, 7:169)

THOSE WHO SUPPOSE THAT THEY ARE
OF THE COMPANIONS OF THE GARDEN

The Jews and Christians say, 'We are Allah's children and His loved ones.' Say: 'Why, then, does He punish you for your wrong actions? No, you are merely human beings among those He has created. He forgives whoever He wills and He punishes whoever He wills. The kingdom of the heavens and the earth and everything between them belongs to Allah. He is our final destination.' (Qur'an, 5:18)

He entered his garden and wronged himself by saying, 'I do not think that this will ever end. I do not think the Hour will ever come. But if I should be sent back to my Lord, I will definitely get something better in return.' (Qur'an, 18:35-36)

People whose efforts in the life of this world are misguided while they suppose that they are doing good.' (Qur'an, 18:104)

But if We let him taste mercy from Us after he has suffered hardship, then he says, 'This is my due. I do not think that the Hour is going to come.And if am returned to my Lord, I will definitely find the best reward with Him.'But We will inform those who do not believe of what they did and make them suffer a ruthless punishment. (Qur'an, 41:50)

Say, 'If the abode of the hereafter with Allah is for you alone, to the exclusion of all others, then long for death if you are telling the truth.' (Qur'an, 2:94)

They say, 'No one will enter the Garden except for Jews and Christians.' Such is their vain hope. Say, 'Produce your evidence if you are telling the truth.' (Qur'an, 2:111)

THOSE WHO THINK THE FIRE WILL TOUCH
THEM FOR A SHORT TIME ONLY AND THEY
WILL ULTIMATELY ENTER THE GARDEN

They say, 'The Fire will only touch us for a number of days.' Say, 'Have you made a contract with Allah—then Allah will not break His contract—or are you rather saying about Allah what you do not know?' (Qur'an, 2:80)

That is because they say, 'The Fire will only touch us for a number of days.' Their inventions have deluded them in their religion. (Qur'an, 3:24)

THOSE WHO SEEK MIRACLES
IN ORDER TO BELIEVE

They have sworn by Allah with their most earnest oaths that if a Sign comes to them they will believe in it. Say: 'The Signs are in Allah's control alone.' What will make you realise that even if a Sign did come, they would still not believe? (Qur'an, 6:109)

They say, 'Why has a Sign not been sent down to him from his Lord?' Say: 'The Unseen belongs to Allah alone. So wait, I am waiting with you.' (Qur'an, 10:20)

They say, 'Why has an angel not been sent down to him?' If We were to send down an angel, that would be the end of the affair and they would have no reprieve. (Qur'an, 6:8)

They ask, 'Why has no Sign been sent down to him from his Lord?' Say, 'Allah has the power to send down a Sign.' But most of them do not know it. (Qur'an, 6:37)

THOSE WHO THINK THEY ARE
ON THE RIGHT WAY

When they are told, 'Believe in what Allah has sent down,' they say, 'Our faith is in what was sent down to us,' and they reject anything beyond that, even though it is the truth, confirming what they have. Say, 'Why then, if you are believers, did you previously kill the Prophets of Allah?' (Qur'an, 2:91)

And what of him the evil of whose actions appears fine to him so that he sees them as good? Allah misguides whoever He wills and guides whoever He wills. So do not let yourself waste away out of regret for them. Allah knows what they do. (Qur'an, 35:8)

They (hypocrites) will call out to them, 'Were we not with you?' They will reply, 'Indeed you were. But you made trouble for yourselves and hung back and and doubted and false hopes deluded you until Allah's command arrived. The Deluder deluded you about Allah. (Qur'an, 57:14)

We have assigned close comrades to them who have made what is before them and behind them seem good to them. And the statement about the nations, both of jinn and men, who passed away before them has proved true of them as well. Certainly they were lost. (Qur'an, 41:25)

If someone shuts his eyes to the remembrance of the All-Merciful, We assign him a satan who becomes his bosom friend—they debar them from the path, yet they still think they are guided. (Qur'an, 43:36-37)

THOSE WHO HOLD ALLAH RESPONSIBLE
FOR THEIR OWN DEEDS

Those who associate others with Allah will say, 'If Allah had willed we would not have associated anything with Him, nor would our fathers; nor would we have made anything forbidden.' In the same way the people before them also lied until they felt Our violent force. Say: 'Do you have some knowledge you can produce for us? You are following nothing but conjecture. You are only guessing.' (Qur'an, 6:148)

THOSE WHO SAY "WE WILL BEAR
YOUR BURDEN"

Those who do not believe say to those who believe, 'Follow our way and we will bear the weight of your mistakes.' They will not bear the weight of a single one of their mistakes. Truly they are liars. They will bear their own burdens and other burdens together with their own. On the Day of Rising they will be questioned about what they invented. (Qur'an, 29:12-13)

No burden-bearer can bear another's burden. If someone weighed down calls for help to bear his load, none of it will be borne for him, even by his next of kin. You can only warn those who fear their Lord in the Unseen and perform prayer. Whoever is purified, is purified for himself alone. Allah is your final destination. (Qur'an, 35:18)

Whoever is guided is only guided to his own good. Whoever is misguided is only misguided to his detriment. No burden-bearer can bear another's burden. We never punish until We have sent a Messenger. (Qur'an, 17:15)

THOSE WHO BELIEVE THEIR PIOUS KIN WILL
SAVE THEM ON THE DAY OF RESURRECTION

Allah has made an example for those who do not believe: the wife of Nuh and the wife of Lut. They were married to two of Our servants who were righteous but they betrayed them and were not helped at all against Allah.They were told, 'Enter the Fire along with all who enter it.' (Qur'an, 66:10)

THOSE WHO FOLLOW THE MAJORITY

If you obeyed most of those on earth, they would misguide you from Allah's Way. They follow nothing but conjecture. They are only guessing. (Qur'an, 6:116)

Those who do not believe say, 'We will never believe in this Qur'an, nor in what came before it.' If only you could see when the wrongdoers, standing in the presence of their Lord, cast accusations back and forth at one another! Those deemed weak will say to those deemed great, 'Were it not for you, we would have been believers!' (Qur'an, 34:31)

THOSE WHO EXPLOIT RELIGION
FOR THEIR OWN ENDS

You who believe! Do not nullify your charity by demands for gratitude or insulting words, like him who spends his wealth, showing off to people and not believing in Allah and the Last Day. His likeness is that of a smooth rock coated with soil, which, when heavy rain falls on it, is left stripped bare. They have no power over anything they have earned. Allah does not guide unbelievers. (Qur'an, 2:264)

You who believe! Many of the rabbis and monks devour people's property under false pretences and bar people from access to the Way of Allah. As for those who hoard up gold and silver and do not spend it in the Way of Allah, give them the news of a painful punishment. (Qur'an, 9:34)

Among them is a group who distort the Book with their tongues so that you think it is from the Book when it is not from the Book. They say, 'It is from Allah,' but it is not from Allah. They tell a lie against Allah and they know it. (Qur'an, 3:78)

Who could do greater wrong than someone who invents lies against Allah or denies His Signs, or who says, 'It has been revealed to me,' when nothing has been revealed to him, or someone who says, 'I will send down the same as Allah has sent down'? If you could only see the wrongdoers in the throes of death when the angels are stretching out their hands, saying, 'Disgorge your own selves! Today you will be repaid with the punishment of humiliation for saying something other than the truth about Allah, and being arrogant about His Signs.' (Qur'an, 6:93)

Those who conceal what Allah has sent down of the Book and sell it cheap, take nothing into their bellies but the Fire. On the Day of Rising Allah will not speak to them or purify them. They will have a painful punishment. (Qur'an, 2:174)

Woe to those who write the Book with their own hands and then say 'This is from Allah' to sell it for a paltry price. Woe to them for what their hands have written! Woe to them for what they earn! (Qur'an, 2:79)

THOSE WHO DESPISE THE BELIEVERS

Those who did evil used to laugh at those who believed. When they passed by them, they would wink at one another. (Qur'an, 83:29-30)

The ruling circle of those of his people who did not believe said, 'We consider you a fool and think you are a liar.' (Qur'an, 7:66)

They say, 'If we return to Madina, the mightier will drive out the inferior.'But all might belongs to Allah and to His Messenger and the believers. But the hypocrites do not know this. (Qur'an, 63:8)

They said, 'Why should we believe you when the vilest people follow you?' (Qur'an, 26:111)

When they are told, 'Believe in the way that the people believe,' they say, 'What! Are we to believe in the way that fools believe?' No indeed! They are the fools, but they do not know it. (Qur'an, 2:13)

The ruling circle of those of his people who did not believe said, 'We do not see you as anything but a human being like ourselves. We do not see anyone following you but the lowest of us, unthinkingly. We do not see you as superior to us. On the contrary, we consider you to be liars.' (Qur'an, 11:27)

Am I not better than this man who is contemptible and can scarcely make anything clear? (Qur'an, 43:52)

Those who do not believe say of those who believe, 'If there was any good in it, they would not have beaten us to it.' And since they have not been guided by it, they are bound to say, 'This is an antiquated falsehood.' (Qur'an, 46:11)

THOSE WHO UNDERESTIMATE THE WISDOM
AND KNOWLEDGE IN THE QUR'AN

When Our Signs are recited to them, they say, 'We have already heard all this. If we wanted, we could say the same thing. This is nothing but the myths of previous peoples.' (Qur'an, 8:31)

We and our forefathers were promised this before. This is nothing but the myths of previous peoples!' (Qur'an, 23:83)

When Our Signs are recited to him, he says, 'Just myths of previous peoples!' (Qur'an, 68:15)

THOSE WHO DETERMINE WHAT IS
PERMITTED AND WHAT IS FORBIDDEN
ACCORDING TO THEIR OWN IDEAS

Those, who kill their children foolishly without any knowledge and make what Allah has provided for them forbidden, inventing lies against Allah, such people are lost. They are misguided. They are not guided. (Qur'an, 6:140)

They say, 'These animals and crops are sacrosanct. No one may eat them except those we wish',— as they allege—and animals on whose backs it is forbidden to ride, and animals over which they do not mention Allah's name, inventing falsehood against Him. He will repay them for the things they have invented. (Qur'an, 6:138)

If you obeyed most of those on earth, they would misguide you from Allah's Way. They follow nothing but conjecture. They are only guessing. (Qur'an, 6:116)

You who believe! Do not make forbidden the good things Allah has made lawful for you, and do not overstep the limits. Allah does not love people who overstep the limits. (Qur'an, 5:87)

There are eight in pairs: A pair of sheep and a pair of goats—Say: 'Is it the two males He has made forbidden, or the two females, or what the wombs of the two females contain? Tell me with knowledge if you are being truthful.' (Qur'an, 6:143)

And a pair of camels and a pair of cattle—Say: 'Is it the two males He has made forbidden, or the two females, or what the wombs of the two females contain? Were you then witnesses when Allah gave you this instruction?' Who could do greater wrong than someone who invents lies against Allah thus leading people astray without any knowledge? Allah does not guide the people of the wrongdoers. (Qur'an, 6:144)

Say: 'Produce your witnesses to testify that Allah made this forbidden.' If they do testify, do not testify with them and do not follow the whims and desires of people who deny Our Signs, and who do not believe in the hereafter and make others equal to their Lord. (Qur'an, 6:150)

THOSE WHO CLAIM THAT THE QUR'AN   
AS WRITTEN BY THE PROPHET

Do they say, 'He has invented it'? Say: 'Then produce a sura like it and call on anyone you can besides Allah if you are telling the truth.' (Qur'an, 10:38)

Or do they say, 'He has invented it'? Say: 'If I have invented it the crime will be laid at my door, but I am innocent of the crimes which you commit.' (Qur'an, 11:35)

Or do they say, 'He has invented it'? .Say: 'If I have invented it, then you possess no power to help me against Allah in any way. He knows best what you hold forth about. He is witness enough between me and you.He is the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful.' (Qur'an, 46:8)

THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN ONE PART
OF THE QUR'AN AND REJECT THE OTHER

Then you are the people who are killing one another and expelling a group among you from their homes, ganging up against them in wrongdoing and enmity. Yet if they are brought to you as captives, you ransom them, when it was forbidden for you to expel them in the first place! Do you, then, believe in one part of the Book and reject the other? What repayment will there be for any of you who do that except disgrace in this world? And on the Day of Rising, they will be returned to the harshest of punishments. Allah is not unaware of what you do. (Qur'an, 2:85)

THOSE WHO DEPRECATE  THE QUR'AN

When Our Clear Signs are recited to them, those who do not expect to meet Us say, 'Bring a Qur'an other than this one or change it.' Say: 'It is not for me to change it of my own accord. I follow nothing except what is revealed to me. I fear, were I to disobey my Lord, the punishment of a Dreadful Day.' (Qur'an, 10:15)

Fight those of the people who were given the Book who do not believe in Allah and the Last Day and who do not make forbidden what Allah and His Messenger have made forbidden and do not take as their religion the religion of Truth, until they pay the polltax with their own hands in a state of complete abasement. (Qur'an, 9:29)

THOSE WHO ARE TRULY FAITHFUL
ARE FEW IN NUMBER  

But most people, for all your eagerness, are not believers. (Qur'an, 12:103)

Alif Lam Mim Ra. Those are the Signs of the Book. And what has been sent down to you from your Lord is the Truth. But most people have no faith. (Qur'an, 13:1)

Most of them do not believe in Allah without associating others with Him. (Qur'an, 12:106)

They swear by Allah with their most earnest oaths that Allah will not raise up those who die, when, on the contrary, it is a binding promise on Him; but most people do not know it. (Qur'an, 16:38)

That is Allah's promise. Allah does not break His promise. But most people do not know it. (Qur'an, 30:6)

So set your face firmly towards the Religion, as a pure natural believer, Allah's natural pattern on which He made mankind. There is no changing Allah's creation. That is the true Religion—but most people do not know it. (Qur'an, 30:30)

The creation of the heavens and earth is far greater than the creation of mankind. But most of mankind do not know it. The blind and the seeing are not the same. Nor are those who believe and do right actions the same as evildoers. What little heed they pay! The Hour is coming—there is no doubt about it. But most of mankind have no faith. (Qur'an, 40:57-59)

Say: 'Allah gives you life, then causes you to die, and then will gather you together for the Day of Rising about which there is no doubt. But most people do not know it.' (Qur'an, 45:26)

ALL THE PROPHETS HAVE CALLED
PEOPLE TO THE RELIGION OF TRUTH

Ibrahim was neither a Jew nor a Christian. But a man of pure natural belief—a Muslim. He was not one of the idolaters. (Qur'an, 3:67)

We sent a Messenger among every people saying: 'Worship Allah and keep clear of all false gods.' Among them were some whom Allah guided but others received the misguidance they deserved. Travel about the earth and see the final fate of the deniers. (Qur'an, 16:36)

Say, 'We believe in Allah and what has been sent down to us and what was sent down to Ibrahim, Isma'il and Ishaq and Ya'qub and the Tribes, and what Musa and 'Isa and all the Prophets were given by their Lord. We do not differentiate between any of them. We are Muslims submitted to Him.' (Qur'an, 3:84)

The religion with Allah is Islam. Those given the Book only differed after knowledge had come to them, envying one another. As for those who reject Allah's Signs, Allah is swift at reckoning. (Qur'an, 3:19)

Or do they say that Ibrahim and Isma'il and Ishaq and Ya'qub and the Tribes were Jews or Christians? Say, 'Do you know better or does Allah?' Who could do greater wrong than someone who hides the evidence he has been given by Allah? Allah is not unaware of what you do. (Qur'an, 2:140)

He has laid down the same religion for you as He enjoined on Nuh: that which We have revealed to you and which We enjoined on Ibrahim, Musa and 'Isa: 'Establish the religion and do not make divisions in it.' What you call the idolaters to follow is very hard for them.Allah chooses for Himself anyone He wills and guides to Himself those who turn to Him. (Qur'an, 42:13)

Say, 'People of the Book! Come to a proposition which is the same for us and you – that we should worship none but Allah and not associate any partners with Him and not take one another as lords besides Allah.' If they turn away, say, 'Bear witness that we are Muslims.' (Qur'an, 3:64)

If anyone desires anything other than Islam as a religion, it will not be accepted from him, and in the hereafter he will be among the losers. (Qur'an, 3:85)

Ibrahim directed his sons to this, as did Ya'qub: 'My sons! Allah has chosen this religion for you, so do not die except as Muslims.' (Qur'an, 2:132)

Strive for Allah with the striving due to Him. He has selected you and not placed any constraint upon you in the religion—the religion of your forefather Ibrahim. He named you Muslims before and also in this, so that the Messenger could be witness against you and you could be witnesses against all mankind. So perform prayer and give alms and hold fast to Allah. He is your Protector – the Best Protector, the Best Helper. (Qur'an, 22:78)