Q: Before Muhammad (S.A.W) became a prophet, was islam a religion present anywhere around the world. I know that prophets before Muhammad (S.A.W) conveyed messages to worship one God(Allah), so does that mean that islam was present. If so, i sometimes get confused as to how khadijjah was the first woman/person to become muslim.
Time: Sunday April 17, 2011 at 9:28 pm

Answers:

• For purposes of simplicity, Islam always existed. The simple definition of Islam constitutes the following: belief in One Allah and the final prophet of the given time and following what they command for us to follow. Believing in that which they commanded us to believe in.
• If one followed Isaa (Jesus) peace be upon him, then the follower of Issa (AS) would be called a Muslim and thus by virtue of that they would be viewed as being part of Islam even thou the name Muslim for them would be Christian and in the place of Islam they would be called Christians. Same can be said for Adam, Noah, Abraham and his children, Jacob and Joseph, etc (peace be upon them all) and the respective religious they had brought forth.
• Once people relinquish following the prophet of a given time or had a time pass wherein they relinquished belief in the messenger that they had to follow,  then in such a situation the statues of Islam/Muslim would be eliminated despite it be called something else.
• In the case of Khatijah (ra) we do know that she trusted the faiths of Christianity and Judaism in their authentic form as authentic. Although we cannot claim with authenticity that she (ra) was part of these faiths, we do have indication that she trusted in their inherent Truths. Thus, when the first revelation came to the Prophet (saw), she took him (SAW) to a man by the name of Waraqah. He was a man that had knowledge pertaining to the scriptures. Waraqah as we are aware made predication’s that Mohammad (SAW) would be dealt with in harsh terms by his (saw) people. This implies that she Khatijah (ra) approved previous scriptures from credible and authentic sources.
• Even if she was part of the Ahle-kitab, her conversion would still mean that she is the first muslimah, for the new definition of muslim/ah would now come to mean, ‘i follow Mohammad and all that he (SAW) requires.’ That is why such a person would acquire double reward: one for being a Christian, the other for conversion to Islam.
• Most significant is the fact that Islam had been her preferred and loyal choice of religion. Muslims also remain confidant in the claim that she (RA) was amongst the very first faithful making the honorable decision of being a Muslimah.

Allah Certainly Knows Best.