contradiction in the Qur’an regarding the fate of those who adopt a religion other than Islam

 Content of the doubt:

Some skeptics imagine that there is a contradiction between the words of Allah the Almighty: “And He will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection” (Al Imran: 55), and His words: “And whoever desires other than Islam as religion, never will it be accepted from him” (Al Imran: 85). They ask: How can Allah praise those who followed Jesus - the Christians - in one place, stating that He will make them superior to those who disbelieved until the Day of Resurrection, then prove in another place that whoever adopts a religion other than Islam will never be accepted from him?! Their aim behind this is to claim that the Holy Quran was made by humans.

Two ways to refute the doubt:
1) Islam is the oneness of Allah, and its creed is the creed of all the prophets, and it is a law that concluded the heavenly laws, so it is obligatory for all followers of previous messages to follow it.
2) Whoever believes in Jesus - peace be upon him - and follows him is a Muslim, so if Muhammad - may Allah bless him and grant him peace - is sent, he has no choice but to follow him.

Detail:
First: Islam is the religion of monotheism, the belief of all the prophets, and a law that sealed the heavenly laws, so it is obligatory for all followers of the previous messengers to follow it:
Islam is the sincerity of religion to God through monotheism, and it is the submission of the face to God Almighty, so God will not accept a religion from anyone other than Islam, and in the Hereafter he will be among those who have fallen into absolute loss. God Almighty said: “And whoever desires other than Islam as religion - never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers (85)” (Al Imran). God - Glory be to Him - rejected the religion of whoever wanted a religion other than the religion of God, that religion with which He revealed His books, and sent His messengers, which is the worship of Him alone, with no partner for Him, and to which all those in the heavens and the earth have submitted willingly and unwillingly. So the believer submits with his heart and soul to God, and the disbeliever submits to God unwillingly, for he is under subjugation, coercion, and the great authority that does not oppose or resist[1].
Islam, as a belief, is the religion of all the prophets and messengers. God Almighty said: “Indeed, the religion in the sight of God is Islam” (Al Imran: 19). He said about Abraham: “And strive in God’s cause with the striving due to Him. He has chosen you and has not placed upon you in religion any difficulty. [This is] the religion of your father Abraham. He named you Muslims before” (Al Hajj: 78). God Almighty said: “And Abraham enjoined this upon his sons and Jacob, [saying], ‘O my sons, indeed God has chosen for you this religion, so do not die except as Muslims (132)’” (Al Baqarah). God Almighty said: “Say, ‘We believe in God and in what was revealed to us and what was revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus and what was given to the prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and we are Muslims (136)’” (Al Baqarah).
As for Islam as a law - rules, regulations and ethics - it contained some of the contents of the laws of the previous messages and differed from them in some others. In this sense, it is the final message brought by Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - and it is obligatory upon all of creation from the day his call reaches them to believe in him and abandon their laws and doctrines. Consequently, nothing will be accepted from them after the mission of Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - except belief in his message - Islam - as a belief and law, and whoever seeks other than it will incur clear loss.
So whoever believes in his prophet and obeys him will have Paradise. As for after the mission of the Prophet - may God bless him and grant him peace - his law abrogated the laws and his religion abrogated the religions, and nothing will be accepted from anyone except Islam. This is the meaning of the other verse.
This is supported by what was reported from Salman, who said: I asked the Prophet, may God bless him and grant him peace, about the people of a religion I was with, and I mentioned their prayers and worship, so this verse was revealed: “Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans - those who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord. And no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve (62)” (Al-Baqarah) [2] . Al-Suddi said: “Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans - those who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord. And no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve (62)” (Al-Baqarah) was revealed about the companions of Salman Al-Farsi, while he was talking to the Prophet, he mentioned his companions and told him about them, so he said: They used to pray and fast and believe in you, and they testify that you will be sent as a prophet. So when Salman finished praising them, the Prophet of God said to him: “O Salman, they are from the people of Hellfire.” This was difficult for Salman, so God revealed this verse [3] .
The belief of the Jews was that whoever adhered to the Torah and the Sunnah of Moses - peace be upon him - until Jesus came, then when Jesus came, whoever adhered to the Torah and took the Sunnah of Moses and did not abandon it or follow Jesus, was doomed. The belief of the Christians was that whoever adhered to the Gospel and the laws of Jesus was a believer and accepted from him until Muhammad came, so whoever did not follow Muhammad and abandoned what he was upon of the Sunnah of Jesus and the Gospel was doomed.
This does not contradict what was reported on the authority of Ali bin Abi Talha on the authority of Ibn Abbas: “Indeed, those who believed and those who were Jews or Christians or Sabeans - those who believed in Allah and the Last Day and did righteousness - will have their reward with their Lord. And no fear will there be concerning them, nor will they grieve (62)” (Al-Baqarah). Then God revealed after that: “And whoever desires other than Islam as religion - never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers (85)” (Al-Imran). What Ibn Abbas said was information that no method or action would be accepted from anyone except what was in accordance with the law of Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - after he was sent with it. As for before that, everyone who followed the Messenger in his time was on guidance, a path, and salvation. The Jews: They are the followers of Moses - peace be upon him - who used to judge by the Torah in their time [4] . When Jesus was sent, it was obligatory for the Children of Israel to follow him and submit to him. His companions and the people of his religion are the Christians. When God sent Muhammad as the Seal of the Prophets and Messenger to the children of Adam in general, it was obligatory for them to believe in what he informed them of, obey him in what he commanded, and refrain from what he forbade them from. These are the true believers.
Among the clear texts in this regard is the hadith of Abu Hurairah on the authority of the Messenger of God, who said: “By the One in Whose Hand is the soul of Muhammad, no one from this nation hears of me, Jew or Christian, and then dies without believing in what I was sent with, except that he will be among the people of the Fire . ” [5] Second: Whoever believes in Jesus - peace be upon him - and follows him is a Muslim. If Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - is sent, he will have no choice but to follow him: In the verse: “And I will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection” (Al Imran: 55), God - Glory be to Him - says to Jesus, son of Mary: I will support those who follow you in Islam against those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection. It has been said that the Christians are superior to the Jews until the Day of Resurrection. There is no country in which there are Christians except that they are superior to the Jews in the East or West. They - meaning the Jews - are humiliated in every country. It has been said that Jesus is raised up before God, then he will descend before the Day of Resurrection. So whoever believes in Jesus and Muhammad - peace be upon them - and is on their religion, they will continue to prevail over those who left them until the Day of Resurrection [6] .



It was mentioned that when Jesus, peace be upon him, was certain of the stubbornness of the Children of Israel and their insistence on disbelief, he wanted to distinguish between his supporters who believed in him and the disbelievers, so he said to them: Who among you will support the religion of God and help me convey what I have been commanded to do? His chosen ones and his sincere ones - and they were twelve men, and they were the disciples - said: We are the sincere supporters of God for His call and the believers in what you have brought, so bear witness to that for us on the Day of Resurrection. Then they turned to God to write them among those who testified to His Oneness, acknowledged His Lordship, and followed the Messenger of God. God Almighty said: “And when Jesus perceived disbelief on their part, he said: Who are my supporters for God? The disciples said: We are supporters of God. We have believed in God, and bear witness that we are Muslims (52)” (Al Imran). God called upon the followers of Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - to support the religion of God, as the disciples did. God Almighty said: “O you who have believed, be supporters of God as Jesus, son of Mary, said to the disciples: Who are my supporters for God? The disciples said: We are supporters of God. So a party of the Children of Israel believed and a party disbelieved. So We supported those who believed against their enemy, and they became dominant.” (14) (Al Saff).
He ordered these disciples to believe in God and His Messenger Jesus, peace be upon him. They said: We believe, and bear witness that we are Muslims to you, and bear witness, O Jesus, that we are Muslims to God. God Almighty said: “And when I inspired the disciples, ‘Believe in Me and My Messenger,’ they said, ‘We believe, and bear witness that we are Muslims (111)’” (Al-Ma’idah) [7] .
It was said that what is meant by God Almighty’s statement: “And He will make those who follow you superior to those who disbelieve until the Day of Resurrection” (Al-Imran: 55) is that He will make them superior to them in many worldly interests, because that is permissible to share in, but not in what is connected to the matter of the Hereafter, because that is something in which it is not permissible to share between a Muslim and a disbeliever. Therefore, He said: “Then to Me is your return, and I will judge between you concerning that over which you used to differ (55)” (Al-Imran) [8] . That is, on the Day of Resurrection, and the Almighty said: “And never will Allah grant the disbelievers a way over the believers (141)” (An-Nisa’), so this is in the meaning of giving preference to the believers over the disbelievers.

Conclusion:
There is no contradiction between the two verses; because Islam is the sincerity of religion to Allah through monotheism, and submission of the face to Allah - Glory be to Him - is the religion of Allah with which He revealed His books, and sent His messengers with it, and it is the worship of Him alone with no partner for Him, so Islam is a belief, and it is a continuation of the belief in monotheism that the messengers followed from Adam to Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon them all.
As for Islam as a law, it agreed with some of the previous laws in some rulings and differed from them in others, and it is obligatory upon all creation to believe in the message of Islam as a belief and law - as brought by Muhammad - may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him - and to call for other than that, and whoever seeks other than that will be disappointed and lose.
· Those who followed Jesus - peace be upon him - according to his nature and his Sunnah are among the people of Islam. They are those who supported and aided him. They are those who believed in Jesus and Muhammad - peace and blessings be upon them - after Jesus descended from the heavens. They are the sincere disciples of his call and the believers in what he brought.
It was said that what is meant is that God made those who followed Jesus superior to those who disbelieved in many worldly interests.

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[1] Interpretation of the Great Qur’an, Ibn Kathir, Dar Al-Ma’rifah, Beirut, 1400 AH/1980 AD, Vol. 1, p. 378.
[2] Narrated by Ibn Abi Hatim in his interpretation (1/165), interpretation of Surat Al-Baqarah, No. (633).
[3] Narrated by Ibn Abi Hatim in his interpretation (1/166), interpretation of Surat Al-Baqarah, No. (635).
[4] Interpretation of the Great Qur’an, Ibn Kathir, Dar Al-Ma’rifah, Beirut, 1400 AH/1980 AD, Vol. 1, p. 248.
[5] Narrated by Muslim in his Sahih, Book of Faith, Chapter on the Obligation of Belief in the Message of Our Prophet Muhammad - may God bless him and grant him peace - to All People (403).
[6] See: Al-Durr Al-Manthur, Al-Suyuti, Dar Al-Fikr, Beirut, 1st ed., 1983 AD, Vol. 2, p. 227.
[7] Studies in the Holy Qur’an, Dr. Muhammad Abd al-Salam Abu al-Nil, Dar al-Fikr al-Arabi, Cairo, 2nd ed., 1987, pp. 218, 219.
[8] Tanzih al-Qur’an from Objections, Judge Abd al-Jabbar, edited by: Dr. Ahmad Abd al-Rahim al-Sayeh, Counselor Tawfiq Ali Wahba, al-Nafiza Library, Cairo, 1st ed., 2006, pp. 86, 87.