A Contradiction to the Qur'an, Sunnah, and Consensus in Many Aspects
Regarding all the polytheists mentioned in the preceding examples as Muslims would be in stark contradiction to the Islamic sources. Anyone who reads the Qur'an will see clearly that all prophets عليهم السلام regarded their people as mushrikin. They addressed them as such and called upon them to abandon shirk and worship Allah alone.
For this reason, the scholars of tafsir, history, language, and all other Islamic sciences were in unanimous agreement in referring to the Arabs before the advent of the Prophet as “the mushrikun of the Arabs.”
The same applies to other non-Muslims, such as Jews, Christians, and others. The Qur'an clearly refers to them as non-Muslims, which is why the scholars were also in consensus on this matter.
No one ever claimed that these non-Muslims become Muslims merely through their ignorance. On the contrary, the early scholars explicitly transmitted a consensus that merely holding an opposing opinion regarding idolaters, Jews, and Christians would itself constitute apostasy from Islam. According to their view, even someone who merely doubts whether idolaters or followers of Judaism or Christianity are non-Muslims is not a Muslim.