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". (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 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".
2:
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 nottell 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')" (Soorah Al-
Maa'idah- 5:116)
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, known as Soorah Al-Faatihah, verse 4:
"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)."(Soorsh Mu'min 40:60)
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 maybecalled 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
clearlystates:
"For We assuredly sent amongst every people a prophet,(with the
command) worship meand avoid false gods " (Soorsh 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.
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 lllallaah" (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.
