"…if Islam means surrendering to God, then we all live and die as Muslims." Goethe 

     Every cell, every atom in the universe bespeaks the marvel of creation, celebrates the praise of Allah and the grandeur of His craftsmanship: The birds in the sky, the beasts on the land, the fish in the seas, the stars and planets, forests and deserts, mountains and valleys, all bow down in worship and adoration to Allah, their Lord and Cherisher and humbly submit to His will.  Hence their being all Muslims.

     Believers and atheists, monotheists and polytheists, the benevolent and the malevolent, the black and the white, the blind and the sighted, the deaf and the hearing, the dumb and the speaking, the rich and the poor, the oppressed and the oppressors, the learned and the ignorant all bow down in worship and adoration to Allah, their Lord and Cherisher and humbly submit to His will. Hence their being all Muslims.

 

"The seven heavens and the earth and all beings therein declare His glory. There is not a thing but celebrates His praise; and yet ye understand not how they declare His glory. Verily He is oft-Forbearing, most Forgiving.  Al-Israa 44

 

"Do they seek for other than the Religion of God? Which all creatures in the heavens and on earth have, willing or unwilling, bowed to His will (accepted Islam) and to Him shall all be brought back.    Al-Imran 83

 

     Thus, insofar as they unconsciously bow down in worship and adoration to Allah, all creatures are Muslims. However, because it is not voluntary, this type of forced Islam won't be rewarded by Allah unless it is seconded by a freely and consciously chosen Islam. What Allah wants from His creatures is that they respond to that inward call of Islam entrenched in their hearts by voluntarily submitting their will to Allah through the declaration of faith: "I bear witness that there is no deity but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His messenger." By so doing, they acquire peace because Islam is - as implied by the root verb salima and Aslama from which the word Islam is derived- peace acquired by submitting one's will to Allah.

    The transition from unconscious to conscious Islam is made smooth by the inclusive comprehensiveness of Islam: Islam is the quintessence of the teachings of Buddha, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and all the other prophets and messengers. It is the receptacle of the one truth taught by all the inspired Books. Indeed, it not only endorses earlier teachings and recognizes preceding prophets but makes this endorsement and recognition a condition without which no one can claim to be a Muslim. What further corroborates this basic tenet is the fact that Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, is not - as some ill-informed people would have him- the founder of Islam, but the last link in a long chain of messengers sent by Allah.

     In a nutshell, what separates unconscious Islam from conscious Islam is a single step, which once taken, will confirm our cosmic identity, namely that we are all Muslims!