What is monasticism and what is the position of Islam toward it?

Question : Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, and may peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, and upon his family and his Companions. The questioner asks: What is monasticism? And what is the position of Islam toward it?

Answer : Monasticism is worshipping Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He, with something that Allah has not prescribed, such as a person being severe in his religion and performing acts of worship that Allah the Exalted and His Messenger have not prescribed. As for the position of Islam toward it, the monasticism of the Christians is invalid, because the religion of the Christians and others who claim to belong to religions, all of these religions were abrogated in Islam; Islam invalidated them, and they are not acceptable to Allah, Mighty and Majestic, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted , and His saying . Therefore, one who believes that we, the Jews, and the Christians are all People of the Book and people of religion, makes a great error. Some express this poorly, saying that the Jews and Christians are our brothers in religion because we all believe in the heavenly religions. However, if a person holds this belief and believes that the religion of the Jews and Christians is the truth, he is a disbeliever in the religion of Islam, because he invalidates the saying of Allah, Mighty and Majestic, and His saying . The previous heavenly religions were invalidated and abrogated by Islam, and the One who legislated them is the One who invalidated them, Blessed and Exalted is He. The faith of the People of the Book in Islam is not correct faith, because they believe that Islam is the religion of the Arabs only, and that Muhammad was sent to the Arabs only. This is not faith in Islam. Rather, faith in Islam is for a person to believe that Islam is the religion of all of humanity, and that it is not permissible for any human being to depart from the religion of Islam. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) swore by the One in whose hand is his soul, who is Allah, Mighty and Majestic, that no Jew or Christian hears of it and does not believe in what he brought, except that this Jew or Christian will be from the people of the Fire. Therefore, it is obligatory for the Muslim to correct his belief regarding the religion of Judaism and the religion of Christianity. The religion of the Jews was the truth when it was established in the law of Moses (peace be upon him). There is no doubt that those who followed Moses while his law was in effect were believers, sincere to Allah, and Muslims. We love them, and they are included in our supplication when we say . But those who disbelieved in Jesus from among them, or in Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and those who disbelieved in Muhammad from among the followers of Jesus, are all now not Muslims and not believers in Allah. They are not our brothers, and we are not on the same religion as they are. We are on the religion of Islam, and they are on invalid religions. It is not permissible for a Muslim to believe that they are the truth after the religion of Islam.