Wa-itha yutla AAalayhim qaloo amanna bihi innahu alhaqqu min rabbina inna kunna (surah Qasas: 53)

Tafseer Tafheem-ul-Quran by Syed Abu-al-A'la Maududi

(28:53) and when it is recited to them, they say, "We have believed in it: this is indeed the Truth from our Lord: we were Muslims even before this. " *73

Wa izaa yutlaa `alaihim qaaloo aamannaa biheee innahul haqqu mir rabbinaaa innaa kunnaa min qablihee muslimeen

*73) That is, "Even before this we were believers in the Prophets and the Divine Books. Therefore, we had no other Faith than Islam and we have believed in that Book too, which this Prophet has brought from Allah. Thus, no change has occurred in our religion: we were Muslims before even as we are Muslims now."
This saying clearly indicates that Islam is not the name of the Faith brought by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the term "Muslim" is not only applicable to his. followers, but Islam has been the Faith of all the Prophets since the very beginning and their followers were Muslims in every age. These Muslims became disbelievers only when they refused to acknowledge a true Prophet who came afterwards. But no interruption occurred in the Islam of those people who believed in the former Prophet and also affirmed faith in the Prophet who succeeded him. They continued to be Muslims as they had been Muslims before.
It is strange that even some learned men also have failed to comprehend this fact, and this clear verse also could not satisfy them. `Allama Suyuti wrote a treatise on the subject that the term "Muslim" was only reserved for the followers of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (may Allah's peace be upon him). Then, as he himself says, when this verse came before him he was stunned: he prayed to God that He guide him in the matter. At last, instead of revising his opinion he stuck to it even more firmly and gave several interpretations of the verse, each to which is more meaningless than the other. For example, one of his interpretations is: "We were Muslims even before this" means: We intended to become Muslims even before the revelation of the Qur'an, because we had been foretold by our Scriptures that it would come, and we hadthe intention that when it came we would accept Islam." Another interpretation is: "In this sentence, the word bi-hi after muslimin is omitted, implying: We believed in the Qur'an beforehand, because we expected it would come, and had believed in it in anticipation. Therefore, we were Muslims, not because we believed in the Torah and the Gospels, but because we had believed in the Qur'an as Allah's Word even before its revelation." The third interpretation is: "It had been divinely destined for us that we would accept Islam on the advent of the Holy Prophet and the revelation of the Qur'an; therefore, we were Muslims even before this." None of these interpretations bears any impress that Divine help had become available for the right understanding of this verse.
The fact is that the Qur'an has expressed this fundamental principle not only here, but at scores of other places also that the real Way of life is only Islam (submission to AIIah), and in God's universe there can be no other way of life than this for His creatures. Since the beginning of the creation every Prophet who came for the guidance of mankind brought this very Way of Life: the Prophets themselves have always been Muslims, and they impressed upon their followers also to live as Muslims, and all their followers who submitted to the Divine Command brought by the Prophets, were also Muslims in every age. Consider the following few verses for instance:
(1) Indeed, Islam is the only rightway of life in the sight of Allah." (Al-'Imran: 19)
(2) "Whoever adopts any other than this way of submission (Islam), it will not be accepted from him." (Al-i-`imran: 85)
(3)"My reward is with Allah, and I have been commanded to believe like a Muslim." (Yunus: 72)
About Prophet Abraham and his descendants it has been said:
(4) "When his Lord said to him, 'Surrender', he promptly responded, 'I have surrendered to the Lord of the universe (and become a Muslim)'. He also enjoined on his children to follow the same way. Jacob also did the same and his last will to his sons was: 'O my children, AIIah has chosen the same way of life for you. Hence, remain Muslims up to your last breath.' (Dare you deny this?) Were you present at the time when Jacob was on the point of death ? He asked his children, `Whom will you worship after me?' They all answered, `We will worship the same One AIIah Whom you, your forefathers Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac acknowledged as their Allah and to Him we all surrender as Muslims'." (Al-Baqarah: 133) (5) "Abraham was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a Muslim, sound in the Faith." (AI-i-`Imran: 67) Prophets Abraham and Ishmael themselves prayed:
(6) "Lord, make us Thy Muslims and raise from our offspring a community which should also be Muslim (submissive to Thy will)." (AI-Baqarah: 128). In connection with the story of the Prophet Lot it has been said:
(7) "We did not find in it any house of the Muslims except one." (AdhDhariyat: 36) The Prophet Joseph prayed to Allah:
(8) "Let me die as a Muslim, and join me with the righteous in the end." (Yusuf: 101) Prophet Moses says to his people:
(9) "O my people, if you sincerely believe in Allah, put your trust in Him, if you are Muslims." (Yunus: 84)
The real religion of the Israelites was not Judaism but Islam as was known to their friends and foes alike. That is why the last words that Pharaoh said while drowning were:
(10) "I have believed that there is no god but the real God in Whom the children of Israel have believed, and I am of the Muslims." (Yunus:90)
Islam was the Way of life of all the Israelite Prophets:
(11) "Indeed, We sent down the Torah wherein was Guidance and Light: thereby aII the Prophets, who were Muslims, judged the cases of those who had become Jews." (Al-Ma'idah: 44).
The same was the Prophet Solomon's way of life. So when the queen of Sheba believed in him, she said.
(12) "I submit myself (as a Muslim) with Solomon to AIIah, Lord of the wands." (An-Naml: 44). And the same was the religion of the disciples of the Prophet Jesus:
(13) "And when I inspired the disciples to believe in Me and My Messenger, they said: `We believe and bear witness that we are Muslims'." (AlMa'idah: 111). In this connection, if somebody expresses the doubt that the Arabic words "lslam" and "Muslims" could not have been used in different languages and countries, it would obviously be a foolish objection. For the real thing is not the Arabic words but the meaning in which they are used in Arabic. In fact, what has been stressed in the above-cited verses is that the real Way of life sent by God was neither Christianity nor Mosaicism nor Muhammadanism, but to surrender to the Divine Commands taught by the Prophets and the Scriptures, and whoever adopted this Way anywhere and at any time in the world, is the follower of the same universal, eternal and everlasting true Way of Life. For those who have adopted this Way consciously and sincerely, it is no change of the faith to believe in Jesus after Moses and in Muhammad after Jesus(may Allah's peace be upon all of them), but a natural and logical demand following the same real Way of life (Islam). Contrary to this, those people who got into the Prophets' communities without due understanding or were born in them, and for whom nationalistic and racial and tribal prejudices were the religion, became mere Jews or Christians, and on the advent of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) their ignorance was exposed. For by refusing to believe in the Last Prophet of Allah, they not only refused to ,remain Muslims in the future but also proved that they were not "Muslims" even before: they had been charmed by the personality of a Prophet or Prophets, or had taken blind conformity to their forefathers for religion.