The Notion of Law
Goudarzi further explores the interpretation of din as “law” in his study, though he expresses skepticism about this meaning. He notes that early modern European scholars of the Qur’an often translated din as “law” before “religion” became the more accepted term. For Goudarzi, instead of understanding din as a legal tradition, it is better understood as a form of worship that includes obligatory laws surrounding it.
Islam: The Exclusivity of Din
The Qur’an was revealed to critique the polytheism of those who worshiped multiple gods. In contrast, the Prophet and his followers worshiped the one true God, Allah. The term islam is therefore closely tied to the concept of akhlasa, which signifies exclusive devotion to a single deity. To be a mukhlis or muslim means not just serving, worshiping, and submitting to Allah, but doing so in a total and exclusive manner. Alongside exclusivity, islam*also signifies monotheism (tawhid).
While in pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, aslama often meant to surrender, abandon, or even betray, contemporary scholarship, like that of Nicolai Sinai, redefines the term to signify full devotion.