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Fatwa CenterShe is Muslim but she knows nothing about the Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam
Question
As-salam `alaykum wa ra7mat ALLAH wa barakatuh. Here's a question from a sister: "i need to know when is som1 a Muslim in the eyes of Allah swt there's a sister that grew up thinking she was a Muslim because she could read the Quran, believed in Allah, angels, past prophets, aakhirah but she didn't know about Muhammad (saw). She could only recite Quran and when her Islamic teacher taught her things it didn't go through her head, she lived in a non Islamic environment, where there were only her and her family as Muslims (Kent). she was only yr 6 at the time. she used to know more about Christianity than Islam, and she knew that Muslims believe in Jesus and that Allah doesn't have children nor does He have parents. so she assumed (as she was quite childish remember) that when she said the la ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad rasoolullah (s.a.w) it meant i believe in Allah and Jesus is Mary's son, not Allah's son. and then just b4 yr 7 they moved to another area. in her new secondary school there were a lot of Muslims mashaAllah so slowly she realized she wasn't a "proper Muslim" etc and she got more interested especially in her R.E lessons where she learned about the final messenger pbuh. so that's how she didn't know bout Muhammad (saw). My actual question is can some 1 be a Muslim without knowing about the final messenger pbuh? she wants to make up for her Ramadhan fasts that she missed out, does she have to?" Jazakum ALLAH khaira Fee aman ALLAH
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
A person cannot be really a Muslim unless he utters the Two Testimonies of Faith, which is to say: "Ash-Hadu Allaa Ilaaha Illallaah Wa Ash-Hadu Anna Muhammadan Rasoolullaah" (I testify that none has the right to be worshipped but Allaah and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah), and abides by their meaning, among which is to affirm the prophecy of Muhammad and abide by the religious obligations. As regards knowing the Prophet, i.e. knowing the details of his life, and the like, then this is not a pre-requisite to embrace Islam. This is in general.
As regards your female friend, she is a Muslim even before she became adult as she follows her parents (in regard to religion). After becoming pubescent, if she did not deny the prophecy of Muhammad but she confessed this after she got to know about it, then she is still a Muslim.
Nonetheless, if she does not know that the prayer is an obligation or does not know the obligation of fasting the month of Ramadan because of being brought up in non-Muslim countries, then she is not obliged to make them up according to the view of many scholars 
.
Allaah Knows best.
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