In reference to Smeagol's letter , I would like to say that the Muslim does not accept the insinuation that the Prophet Muhammad 'founded' Islam around 622CE (Common Era), or 1,400 years ago in the city of Mecca.

If anything, Islam came as a confirmation of past scriptures and the Quran acts as the criterion to judge between right and wrong. This is evident when we see various passages in the Quran discussing Jewish and Christian belief, affirming them when they are right and correcting, and even rebuking, them when they are wrong.

The name 'Islam' means 'submit (to God)" and a 'Muslim' means 'one who submits'. In the Syriac Peshitta, Jesus used the word 'Mushlam' for believers who acknowledged his connection to God, and the word 'Mushlam' is etymologically close to 'Muslim' in Arabic, since Aramaic and Arabic are sister languages.

In addition, Islam affirms that the progenitor of all mankind is Adam (P) and that he was a Muslim. Abraham (P) was the father of the rebirth of monotheism amongst the Semitic people when he repudiated his own tribe's beliefs and migrated from Mesopotamia.

Monotheism in its primitive form was subsequently continued and propagated by the Prophets Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Solomon and Jesus, peace be upon them all. Muhammad is thus the last of the prophets in the long line of great prophets.

By this argument alone, this makes Islam the natural religion since the beginning of Man and thus the oldest religion in the world. If Smeagol wishes to argue that the Quran was not present during the periods before Muhammad (P) and this means no one could have been a 'Muslim', we say that irrespective of whether the Quran existed or not, each group of communities in the past were sent with their own set of laws.

The Jews have their Torah, the Christians have the Injil. They are accorded their own Shari'ah (set of laws) according to their times until the coming of Muhammad (P) which then abrogates the previous laws.

Thus, those who followed their own laws before the coming of Muhammad were not any less 'Muslim' than the pious Muslim of today.