Jews and Christians Who Do Not Believe in Muhammad ﷺ Are Not Among the Savedاليهود والنصارى الذين لم يؤمنوا بمحمد صلى الله عليه وسلم ليسوا من الناجين

But I will draw attention to a point regarding your topic, because there is now confusion among people about it. Some people imagine that a Jew or a Christian who believed in Jesus or believed in Moses, but did not believe in Muhammad, might possibly be among the saved if he is not a polytheist. This is held by some contemporaries, and it is a very grave error; its falsehood is known by necessity from the religion of Islam. A Jew — even if he never left the masjid and affirmed the oneness of Allah — if he did not believe in Muhammad after [his message] reached him, is among the people of Hellfire, in the lowest depth of the Fire. This is settled with certainty in Islam, because of his statement ﷺ, "By the One in whose hand is my soul, no one of this nation — neither Jew nor Christian — hears of me and then does not believe in that with which I have been sent, except that he will be among the people of the Fire." And Allah, Majestic and Exalted is He, said, "Indeed, those who disbelieved among the People of the Book and the polytheists will be in the fire of Hell, abiding eternally therein; those are the worst of creatures" — "among the People of the Book" being the Jews and the Christians, "and the polytheists."

So we affirm with certainty that everyone who disbelieves in Muhammad is a disbeliever — that is the first point. The second point: we affirm with certainty that he is among the people of Hellfire. Allah, Majestic and Exalted is He, said, "Indeed, Allah has cursed the disbelievers and prepared for them a Blaze, abiding therein forever; they will not find any protector or helper."

How, then, does someone now say that if they are monotheists they may be among the saved — when most Jews and Christians today are disbelievers even according to their own law? The generality of Jews today say, "Ezra is the son of Allah," and this is disbelief in the law of Moses (audio unclear). And the Christians say, "Allah is the third of three," and all of this is disbelief in Jesus. Moreover, they have not adhered to the command of Jesus and Moses: Moses foretold Muhammad, and Jesus foretold Muhammad.

This is why, when Shaykh al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyyah] debated a man from among the Christians, he said, "You are a disbeliever even in Jesus — you are not a follower of Jesus. We follow Muhammad ﷺ, who commanded us to believe in Jesus, so we believed in him. And with us in Islam, if a person were to say, 'I disbelieve in Jesus,' what would be his ruling in Islam? So we are believers — why? Because that is how Muhammad taught us, and that is how the Qur'an came." Ibn Taymiyyah said, "You are a disbeliever even in Jesus." The man said, "I?" He said, "Jesus foretold Muhammad; he informed [you] that he would come and that following him would be obligatory. And when he came, you did not follow him. So you are a disbeliever in Jesus: he commanded you to follow, and you refused — and this is out of obstinacy and arrogance." (audio unclear) and he did not know what to say.

And Jesus said, "…and bringing good tidings of a messenger to come after me, whose name is Ahmad." But when he came to them, they did not believe in him at all; they disbelieved. Jesus was a bearer of good tidings, and Allah took the covenant of the prophets: "Whatever I give you of Scripture and wisdom, and then there comes to you a messenger confirming what is with you, you must believe in him and support him." [Allah] said, "Do you acknowledge and take upon that My commitment?" They said, "We acknowledge it." So Allah took the covenant from all of the prophets, that no prophet would be sent except that they would believe in him; and there is no prophet whom Allah sent except with this.

النص العربي الأصلي