# Was Christianity still a true religion until Muhammad's first revelation?

*Was Christianity still true until the first revelation to Muhammad?*

- URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/s/28/
- Date: 2021-01-05 · Kind: question · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Monday Nights with Mufti #196 | Q&A Unscripted & Unrestricted! 😉 | Mufti Abu Layth (2:13:21–2:14:41)
- Status: general teaching
- Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo90sV4JVHo&t=8001s
- Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/

**Topics:** Christians and other faiths; Jesus in the Quran

**Question as asked:** Was Christianity a true religion up until the exact point when Muhammad received his first revelation from God, or was it corrupted before then?

**Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mufti Abu Layth reframes the question: Jesus was sent to the Israelites, not the Arabs, and monotheists existed in Arabia before the Prophet.

**Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth says Jesus was never sent to the Arabs but to the Israelites.

**Evidence, his words at 2:14:15:** “So um and and and Jesus was never sent to the Arabs. So Jesus was sent to the Israelites.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo90sV4JVHo&t=8055s)

## Longer summary

Asked whether Christianity was a true religion up to the moment Muhammad received revelation or was corrupted before, Mufti Abu Layth says it is not about Christianity being corrupted. He believes there were many prophets and people between prophets with an intuition towards God, such as the hunafa in Arabia who were inclined to monotheism before the Prophet. He says Jesus was never sent to the Arabs but to the Israelites, and that there may have been many prophets the Quran does not mention.

## Sources and names cited

- Isa (Jesus)
- hunafa (pre-Islamic monotheists)

## Transcript (machine tier, 2:13:21–2:14:41)

[2:12:49] There's uh Dr. Wah I mean the these people I would say reach out to these people honestly incredible people. There are Shia, but they are uh they've never I've never from what I've known of them, I've never seen them ever speaking about splitting up the um only heard them speak about having unity and love and respect and so great people. I would definitely advocate their institute for Shia that want to learn only from Shia sources, then these are your people.

[2:13:20] Cool. Let's uh move on. All right. What is going on? I just had a question. Was Christianity a true religion up until the exact point when Muhammad received his first revelation from God or was it corrupted before then? See, it's not about Christianity being corrupted.

[2:13:43] You have I I believe that look there were many prophets and people even in between prophets, they had this intuition to to God. And in Arabia it was often referred to as the sim the were these people that had an inclination to just monotheism and to God. And there was people like um and other people who were preaching this kind of stuff this monotheism before the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.

[2:14:15] So um and and and Jesus was never sent to the Arabs. So Jesus was sent to the Israelites. So just to be uh we don't um we don't believe that prophets one prophet was sent to there were there may have been multiple prophets. We don't know. Allah says that there were many prophets.

[2:14:40] We did not tell you about them. Right? So uh Dervish says a lot of Shia scholars have a better approach to the common person than lots of selfies. Possibly I I mean I I look I'm not I just feel that the problem is the extreme ends what's in the middle.

## Cite

Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment eo90sV4JVHo/s/28. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/eo90sv4jvho/s/28/

Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.