How should one respond to those who cite Allah’s statement regarding the People of the Book, “Among them are the believers,” to claim that the People of the Book are believers?
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Question:
The questioner asks about the saying of Allah the Exalted:[Ali 'Imran 3:110] The question is: How do we respond to those who cite the saying of Allah the Exalted, "Among them are believers," to argue that some Muslims and some of the People of the Book are the same?
Answer:
“Among them are the believers” refers to those in their time. The believers in their time, before the sending of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), were those who held fast to a heavenly religion and followed a messenger from among the messengers; they were believers. But when the religions were abrogated by the Shari'ah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), the practice of those previous religions ended, and the practice of the Shari'ah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) began. Therefore, after his sending (peace and blessings be upon him), one is not a believer except by following him. Yes.
The questioner asks about the saying of Allah the Exalted:
You are the best nation produced [as an example] for mankind. You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and believe in Allah. If only the People of the Scripture had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them are believers, but most of them are defiantly disobedient.
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِاللَّهِ وَلَوْ آمَنَ أَهْلُ الْكِتَابِ لَكَانَ خَيْرًا لَّهُم مِّنْهُمُ الْمُؤْمِنُونَ وَأَكْثَرُهُمُ الْفَاسِقُونَAnswer:
“Among them are the believers” refers to those in their time. The believers in their time, before the sending of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), were those who held fast to a heavenly religion and followed a messenger from among the messengers; they were believers. But when the religions were abrogated by the Shari'ah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), the practice of those previous religions ended, and the practice of the Shari'ah of Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) began. Therefore, after his sending (peace and blessings be upon him), one is not a believer except by following him. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، [2379- 4717] كيف يرد على من يستدل بقوله تعالى في أهل الكتاب: ﴿منهم المؤمنون﴾ بأن أهل الكتاب مؤمنون؟ — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.