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 which 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) I in Arabia in the seventh century, but only the true religion of Allah
re-expressed in its final form.
Islam is the religion which 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 "lslam" 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 have I perfected your
religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your
religion."
"If anyone desires a religion other
than Islam (submission to Allah (God) never will It be accepted of Him"
"Abraham was not a Jew nor yet a
Christian; but an upright Muslim."
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 which means the annointed. 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.
For simplicity's sake, I will however
continue to refer to Prophet Esau (PBUH) as Jesus. As for his religion, it was what he
called his followers to. Like the prophets before him, he called the people to surrender
their will to the will of Allah; (which is Islam) and he warned them to stay away from the
false gods of human imagination.
According to the New Testament, he taught
his followers to pray as follows: "Yours will be done on earth as it is in
Heaven".
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 which 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. Similarly, prayers to Jesus,
Buddha, or Krishna, to Saint Christopher, or Saint Jude or even to Muhammad, are not
answered by them but are answered by Allah. Jesus did not tell his followers to worship
him but to worship Allah. As the Qur'aan states:
"And behold! Allah will say: "O
Jesus the son of Mary Did you say to men, Worship me and my mother as gods besides Allah
He will say-"Glory to you I could never say what I had no right (to say')"
Nor did he worship himself when he
worshipped but rather he worshipped Allah. This basic principle is enshrined in the
opening chapter of the Qur'aan :
"You alone do we worship and from
you alone do we seek help"
Elsewhere, in the final book of
revelation, the Qur'aan, Allah also said:
"And your Lord says:"Call on Me
and I will answer your(prayer)"
It is worth noting that the basic message
of Islam is that Allah and His creation are distinctly different entities. Neither is
Allah His creation or a part of it, nor is His creation Him or a part of Him.
This might seem obvious, but, 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 may becalled 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 "
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.
Similarly, those who have asserted the
godhood of others after their passing have found fertile ground among those who accept the
false belief of God's presence in man. One who has grasped the basic message of Islam and
its implications could never agree to worship another human being under any circumstances.
God's religion in essence is a clear call to the worship of the Creator and the rejection
of creation-worship in any form. This is the meaning of the motto of Islam:
"Laa Elaaha illallaah" (There
is no god but Allah)
Its repetition automatically brings one
within the fold of Islam and sincere belief in it guarantees one Paradise.
Thus, the final Prophet of Islam is
reported to have said, "Any one who says: There is no god but Allah
and dies holding that (belief) will enter paradise".(Reported by Abu Dharr and collected by Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim).
It consists in the submission to Allah as
one God, yielding to Him by obeying His commandments, and the denial of polytheism and
polytheists.
THE MESSAGE OF FALSE RELIGION
There are so many sects, cults,
religions, philosophies, and movements in the world, all of which claim to be the right
way or the only true path to Allah. How can one determine which one is correct or if, in
fact, all are correct? The method by which the answer can be found is to clear away the
superficial differences in the teachings of the various claimants to the ultimate truth,
and identify the central object of worship to which they call, directly or indirectly.
False religions all have in common one basic concept with regards to Allah. They either
claim that all men are gods or that specific men were Allah or that nature is Allah or
that Allah is a figment of man's imagination.
Thus, it may be stated that the basic
message of false religion is that Allah may be worshipped in the form of His creation.
False religion invites man to the worship of creation by calling the creation or some
aspect of it God. For example, prophet Jesus invited his followers to worship Allah but
those who claim to be his followers today call people to worship Jesus, claiming that he
was Allah!
Buddha was a reformer who introduced a
number of humanistic principles to the religion of India. He did not claim to be God nor
did he suggest to his followers that he be an object of worship. Yet, today most Buddhists
who are to be found outside of India have taken him to be God and prostrate to idols made
in their perception of his likeness.
By using the principle of identifying the
object of worship, false religion becomes very obvious and the contrived nature of their
origin clear. As God said in the Our'aan.
That which you worship besides Him are
only names you and your forefathers have invented for which Allah has sent down no
authority: The command belongs only to Allah:
"He has commanded that you only
worship Him; that is the right religion, but most men do not understand"
It may be argued that all religions teach
good things so why should it matter which one we follow. The reply is that all false
religions teach the greatest evil, the worship of creation. Creation-worship is the
greatest sin that man can commit because it contradicts the very purpose of his creation.
Man was created to worship Allah alone as Allah has explicitly stated in the Our'aan:
"I have only created Jlnns and men,
that they may worship me"
Consequently, the worship of creation,
which is the essence of idolatry, is the only unforgivable sin. One who dies in this state
of idolatry has sealed his fate in the next life. This is not an opinion, but a revealed
fact stated by Allah in his final revelation to man:
"Verily Allah will not forgive the
joining of partners with Him, but He may forgive (sins) less than that for whom so ever He
wishes"
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 saviour 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 lslam'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 good 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"
"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."
RECOGNITION OF ALLAH
The question which 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 the Qur'aan 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, the way
an animal gives birth to a normal offspring. Have you noticed any that were born
mutilated? "
So, just as the child submits to the
physical laws which 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 which 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. For example, in the South
Eastern region of the Amazon jungle in Brazil, South America, a primitive tribe erected a
new hut to house their main idol Skwatch, representing the supreme God of all creation.
The following day a young man entered the hut to pay homage to the God, and while he was
in prostration to what he had been taught was his Creator and Sustainer, a mangy old
flea-ridden dog walked into the hut, The young man looked up in time to see the dog lift
its hind leg and pass urine on the idol. Outraged, the youth chased the dog out of the
temple, but when his rage died down he realized that the idol could not be the Lordof the
universe. Allah must be elsewhere. he now had a choice to act on his knowledge and seek
Allah, or to dishonestly go along with the false beliefs of his tribe. As strange as it
may seem, that was a sign from Allah for that young man. It contained within it divine
guidance that what he was worshipping was false.
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.
We pray to Allah, the exalted, to keep us
on the right path to which He has guided us, and to bestow on us a blessing from Him, He
is indeed the Most Merciful. Praise and gratitude be to Allah,the Lord of the worlds, and
peace and blessings be on prophet Muhammed, his Family, his companions, and those who
rightly follow them.
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