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The Religion of Islam
The first thing that one should know and clearly understand about
Islam is what the word "Islam"
itself means. The religion of Islam is not named after a person as in
the case of Christianity that was named after Jesus Christ, Buddhism
after Gotama Buddha, Confucianism after Confucius and Marxism after
Karl Marx. Nor was it named after a tribe like Judaism after the
tribe of Judah and Hinduism after the Hindus. Islam is the true
religion of "Allah"
and as such, its name represents the central principle of Allah's "God's"
religion: the total submission to the will of Allah "God".
The Arabic word "Islam" means the submission or surrender
of one's will to the only true god worthy of worship "Allah"
and anyone who does so is termed a "Muslim",
The word also implies "peace"
which is the natural consequence of total submission to the will of
Allah. Hence, it was not a new religion brought by Prophet Muhammad
(PBUH) in Arabia in the seventh century, but only the true religion
of Allah re-expressed in its final form.
Islam is the religion that was given to Adam, the first man and the
first prophet of Allah, and it was the religion of all the prophets
sent by Allah to mankind. The name of God's religion Islam was not
decided upon by later generations of man. It was chosen by Allah
himself and clearly mentioned in his final revelation to man. In the
final book of divine revelation, the Qur'aan,
Allah states the following:
"This day I have perfected your religion for you,
completed My favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your
religion". (Soorah
Al-Maa'idah 5:3)
"If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to
Allah (God) never will It be accepted of Him". (Soorah
Aal'imraan 3:85)
"Abraham was not a Jew nor Christian; but an upright Muslim".
(Soorah Aal'imraan 3:67)
Nowhere in the Bible
will you find Allah saying to Prophet Moses' people or their
descendants that their religion is Judaism, nor to the followers of
Christ that their religion is Christianity. In fact, Christ was not
even his name, nor was it Jesus! The name "Christ" comes
from the Greek word Christos that means the anointed. That is, Christ
is a Greek translation of the Hebrew title "Messiah". The
name "Jesus" on the other hand, is a latinized version of
the Hebrew name Esau.
The Message of
Islam
Since the total submission of one's will to Allah represents the
essence of worship, the basic message of Allah's divine religion,
Islam is the worship of Allah alone and the avoidance of worship
directed to any person, place or thing other than Allah. Since
everything other than Allah, the creator of all things, is Allah's
creation; it may be said that Islam in essence calls man away from
the worship of creation and invites him to worship only its creator.
He is the only one deserving man's worship as it is only by his will
that prayers are answered. If man prays to a tree and his prayers are
answered, it was not the tree that answered his prayers but Allah who
allowed the circumstances prayed for to take place. One might say, "That
is obvious" however, to tree-worshippers it might not
be.
Man's worship of creation instead of the creator is to a large degree
based on ignorance of this concept. It is the belief that the essence
of Allah is everywhere in his creation or that his divine being is or
was present in some aspects of his creation, which has provided
justification for the worship of creation though such worship maybe
called the worship of Allah through his creation. How ever, the
message of Islam as brought by the prophets of Allah is to worship
only Allah and to avoid the worship of his creation either directly
or indirectly. In the Our'aan Allah clearly states:
"For We assuredly sent amongst every people a
prophet, (with the command) worship me and avoid false gods ". (Soorah Al-Nahl 16:36)
When the idol worshipper is questioned as to why he or she bows down
to idols created by men, the invariable reply is that they are not
actually worshipping the stone image, but Allah who is present within
it. They claim that the stone idol is only a focal point for Allah's
essence and is not in itself Allah! one who has accepted the concept
of the presence of God's being within his creation in any way will be
obliged to accept this argument of idolatry. Whereas, one who
understands the basic message of Islam and its implications would
never concede to idolatry no matter how it is rationalized. Those who
have claimed divinity for themselves down through the ages have often
based their claims on the mistaken belief that Allah is present in
man. They merely had to assert that although Allah according to their
false beliefs is in all of us; he is more present in them than in the
rest of us. Hence, they claim, we should submit our will to them and
worship them as they are either God in person or God concentrated
within the person.
The
Universality of Islam
Since the consequences of false religion are so grave, the true
religion of Allah must be universally understandable and attainable,
not confined to any people, place or time. There can not be
conditions like baptism, belief in a man, as a savior etc., for a
believer to enter paradise. Within the central principle of Islam and
in its definition, (the surrender of one's will to God) lies the
roots of Islam's universality. Whenever man comes to the realization
that Allah is one and distinct from his creation, and submits himself
to Allah, he becomes a Muslim in body and spirit and is eligible for
paradise. Thus, anyone at anytime in the most remote region of the
world can become a Muslim, a follower of God's religion, Islam, by
merely rejecting the worship of creation and by turning to Allah
(God) alone-It should be noted however, that the recognition of and
submission to Allah requires that one chooses between right and wrong
and such a choice implies accountability. Man will be held
responsible for his choices, and, as such, he should try his utmost
to do well and avoid evil. The ultimate good being the worship of
Allah alone and the ultimate evil being the worship of his creation
along with or instead of Allah. This fact is expressed in the final
revelation as follows:
"Verily those who believe, those who follow the
Jewish (Scriptures), the Christians and the Sabians any who believe
In Allah and the last day, and work righteousness shall have their
reward with their Lord; They will not be overcome by fear nor grief".
(Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:62)
"If only they had stood by the law, the Gospel, and
all the revelation that was sent to them from their Lord, they
would have enjoyed happiness from every side. There is from among
them a party on the right course; but many of them follow a course
that Is evil.". (Soorah Al-.Maa'idah
5:66)
Recognition of
Allah
The question that arises here is, "How can all people
be expected to believe in Allah given their varying- backgrounds,
societies and cultures?". For people to be responsible
for worshipping Allah they all have to have access to knowledge of
Allah. The final revelation teaches that all mankind have the
recognition of Allah imprinted on their souls, a part of their very
nature with which they are created.
In Soorah Al-A'raaf, Verses 172-173;
Allah explained that when he created Adam, he caused all of Adam's
descendants to come into existence and took a pledge from them
saying, am I not your Lord?, to which they all replied, "Yes,
we testify to It", Allah then explained why he had all
of mankind bear witness that he is their creator and only true God
worthy of worship. He said, "That was in case you
(mankind) should say on the day of Resurrection, Verily we were
unaware of all this", that is to say, we had no idea
that you Allah were our God. No one told us that we were only
supposed to worship you alone. Allah went on to explain that it was
also in case you should say, "Certainly it was our
ancestors who made partners (With Allah) and we are only their
descendants; will You then destroy us for what those liars did?".
Thus, every child is born with a natural belief in Allah and an
inborn inclination to worship him alone called in Arabic the "Fitrah". If the child were left
alone, he would worship Allah in his own way, but all children are
affected by those things around them, seen or unseen.
The Prophet (PBUH) reported that Allah said, "I created
my servants in the right religion but devils made them go astray".
The Prophet (PBUH) also said, "Each child is born in a
state of "Fitrah", then his parents make him a Jew,
Christian or a Zoroastrian".
(Collected by Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim)
So, just as the child submits to the physical laws that Allah has put
in nature, his soul also submits naturally to the fact that Allah is
his lord and creator. But, his parents try to make him follow their
own way and the child is not strong enough in the early stages of his
life to resist or oppose the will of his parents. The religion that
the child follows at this stage is one of custom and upbringing and
Allah does not hold him to account or punish him for this religion.
Throughout people's lives from childhood until the time they die,
signs are shown to them in all regions of the earth and in their own
souls, until it becomes clear that there is only one true God
(Allah). If the people are honest with themselves, reject their false
gods and seek Allah, the way will be made easy for them but if they
continually reject Allah's signs and continue to worship creation,
the more difficult it will be for them to escape.
Prophets were sent, as was earlier mentioned, to every nation and
tribe to support man's natural belief in Allah and man's inborn
inclination to worship him as well as to reinforce the divine truth
in the daily signs revealed by Allah. Although, in most cases, much
of the prophets' teachings became distorted, portions remained which
point out right and wrong. For example, the ten commandments of the Torah, their confirmation in
the Gospels and the existence of laws against murder, stealing and
adultery in most societies. Consequently, every soul will be held to
account for its belief in Allah and its acceptance of the religion of
Islam; the total submission to the will of Allah.
What
can I get from Islam ?
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