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96chapter twowas true.” And it only added to their faith and their zeal in obedience.( Al-AÈz§b 33:20–22)The first two verses from Sårat al-MumtaÈana tell us that, in Hisquest to implant tauÈÊd in us, Allah has made Abraham a role model.It says ‘there is for you an excellent example (to follow) in Abrahamand those with him’. In verse 33:22 we hear that Allah has madeMuÈammad (ß) a role model for exactly the same reasons: to implanttauÈÊd in us. In both cases the text addresses the same people forwhom MuÈammad (ß) and Abraham are role models: ‘for any onewhose hope is in God and the Final Day’; it confirms the sameidentity of those who should emulate Abraham and MuÈammad. Itis undeniable that the Book stresses a similarity between the twoprophets and between those who follow them. We hear that thereason why Abraham turns away from his peoples is their shirk ofAllah because they worship idols. And we learn that the root causeof conflict between MuÈammad (ß) and his peoples is exactly thesame.Allah wants us to take MuÈammad (ß) and Abraham as role modelsin our fight against idolatry and in our efforts to plant tauÈÊd in oursouls. The similarity of MuÈammad and Abraham as role models,as given by the Book, does not allow us to define the exemplary behaviourof MuÈammad (ß) exclusively through the ÈadÊths, because theygive MuÈam mad (ß) a separate identity (from Abraham) and do notcontain anything about Abraham that we could emulate.The call for tauÈÊd, following the examples of Abraham andMuÈammad, is the only reason why we should confront our fellowbrothers and sisters. They should never be challenged because theydo not wear the Èij§b or because their beards are too short. We distanceourselves from any attempt to define MuÈammad’s role modelin terms of how we should dress, eat, drink, sleep and talk. It isunacceptable that people form groups and sects because of suchtrivial issues, sow enmity and hatred, and even go as far as to killpeople because they dress and behave differently.This is certainly the case with the so-called Islamic revival. Theso-called revivalists have completely forgotten the tauÈÊd principle,the basic moral commandments of God and Allah’s dictum that‘there shall be no coercion in religion’ ( Al-Baqara 2:156). Instead,they focus exclusively on matters of ritual purity and what could gowrong while praying or fasting: how our ablutions might be polluted,