Since the total submission of one's will to Allaah represents the essence of worship, the basic message of Allaah's divine way of life, Islam, is the worship of Allaah alone and the avoidance of worship directed to any person, place or thing other than Allaah.  Since everything other than Allaah is Allaah's creation; it may be said that Islaam, in essence, calls man away from the worship of creation and invites him to worship only the Creator.

     Allah states in the Quraan:

“And I did not create the jinn and mankind EXCEPT for the purpose of worshipping Me.”  (Quraan, 51:56)

     Our purpose of being created is to worship our Lord, Allaah, ALONE without worshiping aspects of the creation along with Him.  As Muslims, we remind ourselves of this purpose of creation when we do our daily prayers.  At least seventeen times a day, each Muslims says:

“You ALONE we worship, and You ALONE we seek for help.”  (Quraan, 1:5)

     No one has the right to be invoked, supplicated to, called upon, prayed to, or shown act of worship, except Allaah alone.

     And when we see this simple message of Islaam, it becomes evidently clear that Islaam was not a new religion brought by Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, to Arabia in the seventh century; but rather, Islaam is the only religion of God, which was revealed to all the prophets of God, Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Jonah, Lot, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Joshua, John, Jesus, and culminating with prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon all of them.  Try to say that ten times fast.

     Many will say, “are you going to have the audacity to suggest that Moses, Jesus, and the other prophets were Muslims?”  To answer this, let us be clear here.  With regards to following the religion of Islaam as it is known today, praying 5 times a day, fasting the month of Ramadaan, and making pilgrimage to Makkah, in that sense, was Jesus a Muslim?  The answer is no.  But linguistically, with a Muslim being defined as one who submits his own will to the will of Allaah, Jesus, Moses, and all the prophets, peace be upon all of them, were clearly Muslims.

     And to simplify things, Allaah gives the perfect example in the Quraan.  We ask:  what was the religion of Abraham?  He wasn’t a Jew, as Judaism is based on the tribe of Judea, which came after Abraham.  He was not a Christian, as Jesus, peace be upon him, came many, many years after Abraham.  What was his religion?  Abraham, peace be upon him, was a monotheistic believer who submitted his will to the will of his Creator, so much so, that as Jews, Christians, and Muslims all believe, he was willing to sacrifice his own son.

     Allaah says in the Quraan:

 “Abraham was neither a Jew or a Christian; but he was an upright Muslim.” (Quraan, 3:67)

     And it was for this divine purpose, to instruct mankind to establish the oneness of worship of Allaah, that Allaah sent all of the messengers, as we read in the Quraan:

“For we assuredly sent amongst every people/nation a prophet, with the command, worship Allah and avoid false gods.” (Quraan, 16:36)

     Every messenger, was sent to his people to command them with the message of “Islaam” to the people, with the message of submitting your will to the will of the one that Created you, and to worship the Creator ALONE without joining partners with Him in that worship.

     For example, in the Quraan we read that Noah said to his people:

“Worship Allaah, fear Him, and obey me.” (Quraan, 71:3)

     Moses was the only Messenger to whom Allah spoke directly, as Allaah said to him in the Quraan:

“Verily, I am Allah!  There is no other god except Me.  So worship Me, and perform the prayer for My remembrance.” (Quraan, 20:14)

     We read in the Quraan that Jesus, peace be upon him, said to his people:

“And verily, Allah is my Lord and your Lord.  So worship Him alone.  This is the straight path.” (Quraan, 19:36)

     Of course, this sounds very similar, as it should, to what Christians claim Jesus, peace be upon him, said in the Bible when asked about the greatest commandment.  In Mark 12, he replies to the scribe:  “The greatest commandment is this:  the Lord OUR God is one God.”

     And of course, the last messenger to mankind, Muhammad, peace be upon him, also instructed his people with the same message, as Allaah says:

“Say: ‘O Mankind!  Verily, I am sent to you all as the messenger of Allah --- to Whom belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth.  There is no other god except He.  It is He Who gives life and causes death.  So believe in Allah and His messenger, the Prophet who can neither read nor write, who believes in Allah and His Words, and follow him so that you may be guided.” (Quran, 7:158)

     As a result of this one, pure, monotheistic, unified message of all the prophets, in the Quran, Allaah told prophet Muhammad, sallallaahu 'alayhe wa sallama to say the following to the people:

“Say: “We believe in Allah and in what has been sent down to us, and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and the offspring of the twelve sons of Jacob, and what was given to Moses, Jesus, and to all the prophets from their Lord.  We make no distinction between one another among them and to Allah we submit as Muslims.” (Quraan, 3:84)

     So the answer to the question of “What do Muslims believe” or “what is the message of Islaam” should be very clear.  Our message is simple, beautiful, and universally understood, even by the smallest of children.  There is a Creator.  He created you and has given you everything.  Believe in Him, worship Him, and do not join partners with Him in this worship.  And this is the message of all of the prophets and messengers sent by Allaah, as they all commanded their people to worship Allaah alone, and to not join partners with Allaah in this worship.