Holy Religion of Islam
Introduction of Islam |
Five Pillars of
Islam | Who was Prophet Muhammad |
Islam and Terrorism
The
word "Islam" is an
Arabic word which means "submission to the will of
God". This word comes from the same root
as the Arabic word "salam", which means "peace". As such, the religion
of Islam teaches that in order to achieve true
peace of mind and surety of heart, one must
submit to God and live according to His Divinely
revealed Law. The most important truth that God
revealed to mankind is that there is nothing
divine or worthy of being worshipped except for
Almighty God, thus all human beings should
submit to Him.
The
word "Muslim" means one
who submits to the will of God, regardless of
their race, nationality or ethnic background.
Being a Muslim entails willful submission and
active obedience to God, and living in
accordance with His message. Some people
mistakenly believe that Islam is just a religion
for Arabs, but nothing could be further from the
truth. Not only are there converts to Islam in
every corner of the world, especially in England
and America, but by taking a look at the Muslim
World from Bosnia to Nigeria, and from Indonesia
to Morocco, one can clearly see that Muslims
come from many various races, ethnic groups and
nationalities. It is also interesting to note
that in actuality, more than 80% of all Muslims
are not Arabs - there are more Muslims in
Indonesia than in the whole Arab World! So
though even though it is true that most Arabs
are Muslims, the large majority of Muslims are
not Arabs. However, anyone who submits
completely to God and worships Him alone is a
Muslim.
Continuity of the Message
Islam is not a new religion because "submission to the will of
God", i.e. Islam, has always been the
only acceptable religion in the sight of God.
For this reason, Islam is the true "natural religion", and it is
the same eternal message revealed through the
ages to all of God's prophets and messengers.
Muslims believe that all of God's prophets,
which include Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus and
Muhammad, brought the same message of Pure
Monotheism. For this reason, the Prophet
Muhammad was not the founder of a new religion,
as many people mistakenly think, but he was the
Final Prophet of Islam. By revealing His final
message to Muhammad, which is an eternal and
universal message for all of mankind, God
finally fulfilled the covenant that He made with
Abraham, who was one of the earliest and
greatest prophets. Suffice it to say that the
way of Islam is the same as the way of the
prophet Abraham, because both the Bible and the
Qur'an portray Abraham as a towering example of
someone who submitted himself completely to God
and worshipped Him without intermediaries. Once
this is realized, it should be clear that Islam
has the most continuous and universal message of
any religion, because all prophets and
messengers were "Muslims", i.e. those who
submitted to God's will, and they preached "Islam", i.e. submission to
the will of Almighty God.
The Oneness of Allah
The
foundation of the Islamic faith is belief in the
Oneness of Almighty God - the God of Abraham,
Noah, Moses and Jesus. Islam teaches that a pure
belief in One God is intuitive in human beings
and thus fulfills the natural inclination of the
soul. As such, Islam's concept of God is
straightforward, unambiguous and easy to
understand. Islam teaches that the hearts, minds
and souls of human beings are fitting
receptacles for clear divine revelation, and
that God's revelations to man are not clouded by
self-contradictory mysteries or irrational
ideas. As such, Islam teaches that even though
God cannot be fully comprehended and grasped by
our finite human minds, He also does not expect
us to accept absurd or demonstrably false
beliefs about Him. According to the teachings of
Islam, Almighty God is absolutely One and His
Oneness should never be compromised by
associating partners with Him - neither in
worship nor in belief. Due to this, Muslims are
required to maintain a
direct relationship with God, and therefore all
intermediaries are absolutely forbidden. From
the Islamic standpoint, believing in the Oneness
of God means to realize that all prayer and
worship should be exclusively for God, and that
He alone deserves such titles as "Lord" and "Savior". Some religions, even
though they believe on "One
God", do not make all of their worship
and prayers for Him alone. Also, they also give
the title of "Lord" to
beings that are not All-Knowing, All-Powerful
and Un-Changing - even according to their own
scriptures. Suffice it to say that according to
Islam, it is not enough that people believe that
"God is One", but they
must actualize this belief by proper conduct. In
short, in the Islamic concept of God, which is
completely based on Divine Revelation, there is
no ambiguity in divinity - God is God and man is
man. Since God is the only Creator and continual
Sustainer of the Universe, He is transcendent
above His creation - the Creator and the
creature never mix. Islam teaches that God has a
unique nature and that He is free from gender,
human weaknesses and beyond anything which human
beings can imagine. The Qur'an teaches that the
signs and proofs of God's wisdom, power and
existence are evident in the world around us. As
such, God calls on man to ponder over the
creation in order to build a better
understanding of his Creator. Muslims believe
that God is Loving, Compassionate and Merciful,
and that He is concerned with the daily affairs
of human beings. In this, Islam strikes a unique
balance between false religious and
philosophical extremes. Some religions and
philosophies portray God as just an impersonal "Higher Power" who is
uninterested, or unaware, of the life of each
individual human. Other religions tend to give
God human qualities and teach that He is present
in His creation, by being incarnate in someone,
something - or even everything. In Islam,
however, Almighty God has clarified the truth by
letting mankind know that He is "Compassionate", "Merciful", "Loving" and the "Answerer of Prayers". But He
as also emphasized strongly that "there is nothing like unto
Him", and that He is high above time,
space and His creation. Finally, it should be
mentioned that the God that Muslims worship is
the same God that Jews and Christians worship -
because there is only one God. It is unfortunate
that some people mistakenly believe that Muslims
worship a different God than Jews and
Christians, and that "Allah" is just the "god of the Arabs". This myth,
which has been propagated by the enemies of
Islam, is completely false since the word "Allah" is simply the Arabic
name for Almighty God. It is the same word for
God which is used by Arabic-speaking Jews and
Christians. However, it should be clarified that
even though Muslims worship the same God as Jews
and Christian, their concept of Him differs
somewhat from the beliefs of other religions -
mainly because it is based completely on Divine
Revelation from God. For example, Muslims reject
the Christian belief that God is a Trinity, not
only because the Qur'an rejects it, but also
because if this was God's true nature, He would
have clearly revealed it to Abraham, Noah, Jesus
and all of the other prophets.
Prophet Muhammad
Unlike the founders of many religious,
the final prophet of Islam is a real documented
and historical figure. He lived in the full
light of history, and the most minute details of
his life are known. Not only do Muslims have the
complete text of God's words that were revealed
to Muhammad, but they have also preserved his
saying and teachings in what is called "hadith" literature. This
having been said, it should be understood that
Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad was
only a man chosen by God, and that he is not
divine in any way. In order to avoid the
misguided wish to deify him, the Prophet
Muhammad taught Muslims to refer to him as "God's Messenger and His
Slave". The mission of the last and final
prophet of God was to simply teach that "there is nothing divine or worthy of
being worshipped except for Almighty
God", as well as being a living example
of God's revelation. In simple terms, God sent
the revelation to Muhammad, who in turn taught
it , preached it, lived it and put it into
practice. In this way, Muhammad was more that
just a "prophet" in the
sense of many of the Biblical prophets, since he
was also a statesman and ruler. He was a man who
lived a humble life in the service of God, and
established an all-encompassing religion and way
of life by showing what it means to be an ideal
friend, husband, teacher, ruler, warrior and
judge. For this reason, Muslims follow him not
for his own sake, but in obedience to God,
because Muhammad not only showed us how to deal
with our fellow human beings, but more
importantly, he showed us how to relate to and
worship God, worship Him in the only way
pleasing to Him. Like other prophets, Muhammad
faced a great deal of opposition and persecution
during his mission. However, he was always
patient and just, and he treated his enemies
well. The results of his mission were very
successful, and even though his mission started
in one of the most backward and remotes places
on earth, within a hundred years of the death of
Muhammad, Islam had spread from Spain to China.
The Prophet Muhammad was the greatest of all of
God's prophets, not because he had new doctrines
or greater miracles, but because the results of
his mission have brought more human beings into
the pure and proper belief in the One True God
than any other prophet.
Islamic Way of Life
In
the Holy Qur'an, God teaches human beings that
they were created in order to worship Him, and
that the basis of all true worship is
God-consciousness. Since the teachings of
Islamic encompass all aspects of life and
ethics, God-consciousness is encouraged in all
human affairs. Islam makes it clear that all
human acts are acts of worship if they are done
for God alone and in accordance to His Divine
Law. As such, worship in Islam is not limited to
religious rituals. The teachings of Islam act as
a mercy and a healing for the human soul, and
such qualities as humility, sincerity, patience
and charity are strongly encouraged.
Additionally, Islam condemns pride and
self-righteousness, since Almighty God is the
only judge of human righteousness. The Islamic
view of the nature of man is also realistic and
well-balanced. Human beings are not believed to
be inherently sinful, but are seen as equally
capable of both good and evil. Islam also
teaches that faith and action go hand-in-hand.
God has given people free-will, and the measure
of one's faith is one's deeds and actions.
However, human beings have also been created
weak and regularly fall into sin. This is the
nature of the human being as created by God in
His Wisdom, and it is not inherently "corrupt" or in need of
repair. This is because the avenue of repentance
of always open to all human beings, and Almighty
God loves the repentant sinner more than one who
does not sin at all. The true balance of an
Islamic life is established by having a healthy
fear of God as well as a sincere belief in His
infinite Mercy. A life without fear of God leads
to sin and disobedience, while believing that we
have sinned so much that God will not possibly
forgive us only leads to despair. In light of
this, Islam teaches that: only
the misguided despair of the Mercy of their
Lord. Additionally, the Holy Qur'an,
which was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad,
contains a great deal of teachings about the
life hereafter and the Day of Judgment. Due to
this, Muslims believe that all human beings will
ultimately be judged by God for their beliefs
and actions in their earthly lives. In judging
human beings, Almighty God will be both Merciful
and Just, and people will only be judged for
what they were capable of. Suffice it to say
that Islam teaches that life is a test, and that
all human beings will be accountable before God.
A sincere belief in the life hereafter is key to
leading a well-balanced life and moral.
Otherwise, life is viewed as an end in itself,
which causes human beings to become more
selfish, materialistic and immoral.
Islam for a Better Life
Islam teaches that true happiness can
only being obtained by living a life full of
God-consciousness and being satisfied with what
God has given us. Additionally, true "freedom" is freedom from
being controlled by our base human desires and
being ruled by man-made ideologies. This stands
in stark contrast to the view of many people in
the modern world, who consider "freedom" to be the ability to
satisfy all of their desires without inhibition.
The clear and comprehensive guidance of Islam
gives human-beings a well-defined purpose and
direction in life. In addition to being members
of the human-brotherhood of Islam, its
well-balanced and practical teachings are a
source of spiritual comfort, guidance and
morality. A direct and clear relationship with
Almighty God, as well as the sense of purpose
and belonging that ones feels as a Muslim, frees
a person from the many worries of everyday life.
In short, the Islamic way of life is pure and
wholesome. It builds self-discipline and
self-control thought regular prayer and fasting,
and frees human-beings from superstition and all
sorts of racial, ethnic and national prejudices.
By accepting to live a God-conscious life, and
realizing that the only thing that distinguishes
people in the sight of God is their
consciousness of Him, a person's true human
dignity is realized. |
