Would this be a good starting description of Islam to a Non-Muslim

format_quote Originally Posted by crimsontide06

Lets say I wanted to give knowledge about Islam to someone, would this be a good way to start.

"Islam is not a new or Arab religion. Islam is a continuation of the previous messages sent to mankind from God. This includes the original Torah, original Bible, & original scrolls of David." "This is why stories from the Bible are referenced in the Quran, because there is no reason to retell the whole story"(of whatever is being referenced).

"Islam started with Adam & Eve"



However... how do I explain why prior to the prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him), the actual Arabic words "Islam" & "Muslim"...did not exist.

Those words Islam and Muslim are Arabic words hence that's why they may not have existed in previous scriptures as previous scriptures were in Hebrew and Aramaic.

There is a difference of opinion in Islam as to what the previous religions were called, one group of scholars maintain that they weren't called Islam and that only our religion is named that

It doesn't really matter what the previous religions were called as what we share with their original revelations is their beliefs which were always the same. They only differed in practices:

Though the Sacred Law of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) superseded all previously valid religious laws, it was identical with them in beliefs, such as tawhid or "oneness of God", and so on, a fact that the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) emphasized by saying, "Let none of you say I am superior to [the prophet] Jonah," (Bukhari, 4.193: 3412), for the illumination of Jonah's tawhid (upon him be peace)--under the darkness of the storm, the darkness of the sea, and the darkness of the belly of the fish--was not less than the illumination of the Prophet's tawhid at the zenith of his success as the spiritual leader of all Arabia (Allah bless him and give him peace). The light of their message was one, in which sense the Qur'an says, "We do not differentiate between any of His messengers" (Qur'an 2:285), showing that previous religions were the same in beliefs, and though differing in provisions of works, and now abrogated by the final religion, were valid in their own times.

http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/amat.htm

Ok Thanks, I am going to assume that's a yes on it being a good intro but yours is more detailed.

format_quote Originally Posted by *charisma*

Actually, Pre-Islam, Arab Christians called Allah by His name. They still do. Even the Christians in the nonArab country of Malta call Him Allah. There are also variants of it in other religions.

Wiki:

Allah (/ˈælə, ˈɑːlə, əlˈlɑː/;[1][2] Arabic: الله‎, romanized: Allāh, IPA: [ɑɫˈɫɑː(h)] (About this soundlisten)) is the Arabic word for God in Abrahamic religions. In the English language, the word generally refers to God in Islam.[3][4][5] The word is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh, which means "the god", and is related to El and Elah, the Hebrew and Aramaic words for God.[6][7]

The word Allah has been used by Arabic people of different religions since pre-Islamic times.[8] More specifically, it has been used as a term for God by Muslims (both Arab and non-Arab) and Arab Christians.[9]

JazakAllah Sister!

Names remain the same in any language and although there's a view that Allah means the God, the correct view is that Allah is Allah's personal name, so in every original revelation this name would have been mentioned

The believers of past religions did describe themselves as Muslims but they might have done it in their own language:

When Jesus found Unbelief on their part He said: "Who will be My helpers to (the work of) Allah." Said the disciples: "We are Allah.s helpers: We believe in Allah, and do thou bear witness that we are Muslims. (Surah Al-Imran, 52)