If there is One God, why are So Many Religions?

Which one is the right religion?

A quest for the truth and finding the right religion should include this question: if there is One God, why are so many religions? This is also a question that atheists pose when they question the validity of religious beliefs. To answer the question, we have to explore how we get so many religions, to begin with? Not to mention, an atheist will discard any further intelligent discussion on this, as the religion appears to them make of the human imagination.

Why were messengers needed?

One message, many messengers

There is one religion under One God. God has sent messengers with the same fundamental message: submit to the will of One Creator and do good to the other creations. Abraham, Noah, Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad (Peace be on all of them) were some of the messengers mentioned in the Quran. It is important to realize that there are many others whose names we do not know. As seen in the Quran, God sent them over time to different communities as good role models for the people. God inspired them the knowledge to teach people the moral standards prescribed by God. All prophets were unique in their scope and ability. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was the last member of this prophetic chain. The Quran commanded Muslims not to discriminate between the prophets.

How did one religion of God become many?

Reliable and verifiable recording and transmission mechanisms were absent in the old times. As a result, the Preservation of information in ancient times was imprecise. Moreover, literacy was extremely low. The messengers delivered the divine revelations to the people around them. People from generation to generation relayed those messages as oral traditions. Unknown people of unknown time-lapse from the revelations collected some of those in writing. People forgot the contents and also the contexts of the revelations in the pure form. They added their opinions to the revelations. Reactions from humans became part of the divine message. Over time, the difference in interpretations of the scriptures became wider and wider. As a result, one religion under one God turned to many.

Does the Quran recognize previous scriptures?

The Quran verifies amends and concludes all previously revealed scriptures. The messages in the previous scriptures were changed due to human factors. One name of the Quran is “the Forqan,” meaning “the criterion.” The Quran asserted itself as a yardstick to evaluate the messages of the older scriptures. Thus, the Quran intended to rectify the corrupted messages in the previous scriptures and keep one religion under One God.

A copy of the Holy Quran

Preserving the Quran in its original form

Allah revealed the Quran through the angel Jibril to Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him). Since the time of the first revelation, Allah sent parts of revelations over a period of 23 years. Sometimes revelation came in response to certain occasions and events to instruct and guide the believers. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) was unlettered. So he memorized all the revelations himself. He also appointed some of his disciples to write down the revelations. Many of the disciples memorized the Quran to its entirety. https://qpeace.net/?p=3960

Thus, the Quran has been preserved unaltered since its revelation, firstly in writing and secondly in people’s memory. Even these days, millions of Muslims have the complete Quran memorized as part of a trend of memorization of the Quran, which dates back to the earliest revelations.

If you want further reading, please click the following link. https://www.onepathnetwork.com/the-history-of-the-preservation-of-the-quran/