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Ahl al-Fatrah
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In Islamic theology, the term Ahl al-Fatrah (Arabic: أهل الفترة, ahlu-l-fatratu) refers to everyone whom the dawah (message of Islam) has not reached in an uncorrupted manner, i.e. the people who live in ignorance of the teachings of Islam, either in geographical isolation, or in times predating Muhammad. The term literally translates to "people of the interval". The intended meaning is, people living at a time of an interval between two prophets so that they are never exposed to divine revelation.
There is disagreement among Muslim scholars regarding those who had no access to the call of any prophet during their lifetime. Some Muslim scholars maintain that this group of people should have pondered over God's Creation till they perceive the truth. If they managed to reach the truth by their deep thinking, then they will be spared God's Punishment, but not otherwise.
Other Muslim scholars state that people are to adhere to religious ordinances and to proclaim faith only if God sends them a divine legislation through a prophet. This group backed their view by citing the following verse:
- We never punish until we have sent a messenger. (Al-Isra 15)
Based on numerous such verses in the Qur'an, scholars such as Imam Al-Ghazali have stated that those who have not heard of the message of the Prophet Muhammad, will not be punished for failing to accept his message. To punish people for failing to accept a message that they know nothing about is utterly contrary to the divine justice which is at once immaculate and beyond question. Asharite theologians like ‘Abd al-Qahir al-Baghdadi (d. AH 429/1037), al-Suyuti (d. AH 911/1505) and the late Abdullah bn al-Siddiq al-Idrisi al-Ghummari declare that those whom the Islamic Da`wah has not reached and who died without faith are redeemed as Ahl al-Fatrah.
Another Qur'anic verse,
- there is not a nation but a warner hath passed among them. (Fatir 24)
is cited to the effect that a messenger was, indeed, sent to every people. But by the Islamic concept of corruption of divine revelation over time (tahrif), there may still be "people of the interval" who have access only to such corrupted revelations.