Native Americans before Columbus. Are their sins written by the angels according to Islamic law or the polytheistic religion they belonged to?

Question

I know that in the day of judgment those that didn't have any possibility to learn Islam will have a parallel world that will last 50 thousand years created for them and will be tested by being sent a prophet.

Imagine those countless indigenous tribe in the Americas that didn't have any possibility of learning Islam. They had completely different religions from Islam and completely different obligations and prohibitions.

Allah says: To every folk we have given their laws.

1. Does it mean only Islamic laws or all laws including polytheistic and atheistic laws?

2. If a polytheist that lived 16 centuries ago in the middle of the jungle faithfully followed the obligations and prohibitions of his religion, will he be rewarded for that?

3. Are their sins written according to Islamic law or the laws of the polytheistic religion they have?

Certainly a polytheist that disobeys and does grave sins according to his polytheistic religion, like insulting an idol and not respecting obligations of his idolatrous religion, not because he believes in Islam, but because he is arrogant, cannot be the same with a humble idolater. He insults his idolatrous religion out of arrogance and not because he believes Islam.

What can we say about other sins like murder, theft, treachery?

Are they written by the angels according to Islamic law or the polytheistic religion they belonged to? What about those that were atheistic and lived in the middle of the Amazon forest before Columbus discovered America. According to which laws are their sins and good deeds written?

Answer 1

I will try to answer your question by breaking it into smaller parts.

Can you provide a reference to the below statement of yours from the Quran or Sahih Hadiths:

I know that in the day of judgment those that didn't have any possibility to learn Islam will have a parallel world that will last 50 thousand years created for them and will be tested by being sent a prophet.

I haven't come across one, hence the curiosity.

In the second part, you mainly inquire if people before Prophet Muhammed (SAW) will be judged according to the parameters set by Islam.

The answer is No

From Hadiths, we know that Allah has sent 124,000 Prophets to humankind & jinnkind.

Some of them were sent to preach to their villages, some to their own communities and some to just their families. There were also periods when at the same time there were more than one Prophet at a place. And there were other times were there were multiple Prophets but in different places at the same time.

All of them may have had a different Sharia but the foundation was the same (monotheism).

We can observe this by analyzing the fasting rituals of the Jews and Muslims. The Jews have a more strenuous obligation to fast when compared to the Muslims. They had different laws applicable to them while the Muslims have a different set of laws to obey. Yet at the very base, both of the religions preach worship of One God.

It is believed that almost all tribes in the world (whether they be in Africa, Americas, Australia or Asia) have being sent a Prophet. By name we are aware of only about 25 Prophets (most of whom are Biblical).

Historically Atheism has had a very small following and at best had cult status. It is only in the last 3-4 centuries that it has garnered much steam thanks to the industrial revolution and the increase in capitalistic values among the masses.

W.r.t the discovery of Americas, it is now an established fact that Columbus did not discover the Americas. There were human beings who lived in great civilizations (Aztecs, Mayans) and in smaller tribes across both the continents. It is their ancestors who migrated either from Polynesia or the Bering Bridge who in reality should get credit for discovering the Americas. Also to be noted is that the Vikings has set foot on the Americas hundreds of years before Columbus.

To conclude, each person will be held accountable to the prevailing Sharia in his/her time and location. For our Ummah, it is the Shariah brought by Prophet Muhammed through Islam.

Answer 2

Let me answer your question on two parts:

First:

Islam is as our prophet Muhammad explained

" Who is Muslim?

A Muslim is whom people are safe from his tongue and his hands".

Second:

Good deeds are written by angels, but the bad ones is not written unless you know it is bad.

In your example you said

What about those that were atheistic and lived in the middle of the Amazon forest before Columbus discovered America. According to which laws are their sins and good deeds written?

If they know what they are doing is wrong then a sin shall be written, if they don't know then no sin shall be written as they didn't have any messenger to someone to tell them what is right and what is wrong.

Allah treats people by justice, and this justice required knowledge to be asked for. Can you imagine if you went to an exam, you will be asked for whatever you have studied only, correct.

I hope I've answered your question.