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بســم الله الرحمـن الرحيـم THE TRUE RELIGION 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 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" mean the submission or surrender of one's will to the only true God worthy of worship "Allah" and any one 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: peace be upon him) in Arabia in the seventh century, but only the true religion of Allah re-expressed in the 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 religion ,Islam, was not decided upon by later
generations of man. It was chosen by Allah Himself and clearly mentioned
to His final revelation, to man. In the final book of divine
revelation, the Qur'aan, Allah states the following: "If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah (God)) never will it be accepted" (Soorah Aal'imran 3:85) "
Abraham was not a Jew nor yet a
Christian; but an upright Muslim." (Soorah
Aal'imran 3:67) 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 say 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 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 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
be called the worship of Allah through his creation. However, 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. 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 on 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 is a figment of man's imagination. Thus, it may be stated that the basic message of false religion is that Allah maybe worshipped in the form of his creation. False religion invite man to the worship of creation by calling the creation or come aspects of it God. For example, prophet Jesus invite 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
Qur'aan: THE UNIVERSALITY OF ISLAM Since the consequences of false 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 savoir etc., for a believer to enter paradise.
Within the central principle of Islam and 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 his creation, and submits himself to Allah, he becomes a
Muslim in body and spirit and is eligible for paradise. Thus, any
one at any time 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 His creation along with or instead of Allah.
This fact is expressed in the final revelation as follows: 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 Soorah Al-A'araaf, 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 this." 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 un seen. 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 "Fetrah", then his parents make him a Jew, Christian or Zoroastrian, the way an animal gives birth to a normal offspring. Have you noticed any that were born mutilated? (Collected by Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim). 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 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 f all creation. The
following day a yang man entered the hut to bay homage to the God,
and while he was in prostration to what he had been taught was his
Creator and Sustainer, a mangy old flee-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. 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 will as
to reinforce the divine truth in the daily signs revealed by Allah.
Although, in most cases, much of the prophets' teaching 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. We pray to Allah, the exalted, to keep us on the right path to which He had guided us, and to bestow on us 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 Muhammad, his family, his companions, and those who rightly follow them. By: Belal Philips
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