ISLAM: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION
ALLAH is ,for Muslims the greatest and most inclusive of the Names of
God, an Arabic word of rich and varied meaning, denoting the one who
is adored in wor****p, who creates all that exists, who had priority
over all creation, who is lofty and hidden, who confounds all human
under- standing. It is exactly the same word which the Jews, in
Hebrew, use for God (eloh), the word which Jesus Christ used in
Aramaic when he prayed to God. God has an identical name in Judaism,
Christianity and lslam; Allah is the same God wor****ped by Muslims,
Christians and Jews.
"He is God, the One God independent and Sought by all; He begets not,
nor is begotten, and there is none like unto Him"
(The Holy Qur'an - Chapter on Sincerity)
Islam teaches that all faiths have, in essence, one common message:
The existence of a Supreme Being, the one and only God, whose
Sovereignty is to be acknowledged in wor****p and in the pledge to obey
His teaching and commandments, conveyed through His messengers and
prophets who were sent at various times and in many places throughout
history.
Islam, as an Arabic word, is rich in meanings. One im****tant dimension
is the commitment to submit and surrender to God so that one can live
in peace?; Peace (salam) is achieved through active obedience to the
revealed Commandments of God, for God is the Source of all Peace.
Commitment to Islam entails striving for peace through a struggle for
justice,equality of op****tunity, mutual caring and consideration for
the rights of others, and continuous research and acquisition of
knowledge for the better protection and utilization of the resources
of Creation.
Islam teaches that the objective of the Commandments of God is that
peace should be established in the human societies of this world, in
preparation for a further dimension of human existence in the world to
come, the Afterlife. Islam's vision of peace is therefore truly
universal; it transcends time and belongs to the order of God's
eternity.
Islam does not regard itself to be a new teaching, different or
separate from that of other world religions. It is the reaffirmation
of the ancient yet living truth of all religions which can be
expressed in the following beliefs:
*- the Uniqueness of the one and only God who is Sovereign of the
universe;
*- the Revelation of the teachings and commandments of God through
Angels in heaven to Prophets on earth, and written in sacred writings
which all have the same transcendent source; these contain the will of
God which marks the way of peace for the whole universe and all of
humankind;
*- the Day of Judgment which inaugurates the Afterlife, in which God
rewards and punishes with respect to human obedience and disobedience
to His will.
Islam affirms these simple beliefs as the basis for the decent,
civilized society towards which it strives. Its vision of society is,
in essence, not different from that upheld by all monotheistic
religions. This is particularly true of Judaism and Christianity which
share with Islam the direct spiritual lineage of the Prophet Ibrahim.
Islam affirms the divinely-ordained missions of the Prophet Moses,
through whom God revealed the sacred scripture called the Torah, and
of the Prophet Jesus, through whom God revealed the scripture known as
the Gospel. The message of Islam is in essence the same as that which
God revealed to all his prophets and messengers. The Prophet Muhammad
(the peace and blessing of God be upon him) was commanded to recite in
the Holy Qur'an:
"Say we believe in God and that which was revealed unto us, and that
which was revealed unto Ibrahim and Ismael and Isaac and Jacob, and
the tribes, and that which was vouchsafed unto Moses and Jesus and the
prophets from their Lord; We make no distinction between any of them,
and unto Him we have surrendered." (The Holy Qur'an 3:84)
The success of civilizations and cultures is directly related to the
extent of their practice of the righteous way of life revealed in the
teachings and commandments of God, and set forth in the monotheistic
religions which are confirmed by Islam. God's revelation enshrines the
highest values of humankind, and the divine commandments are
essentially not different from the values which human beings have
cherished and striven to maintain throughout history, regardless of
cultural, racial, linguistic and socioeconomic differences. Success in
this life is directly related to the practice of these values.
The irreducible minimum of faith is to believe in God as the Sole
Sovereign Lord of this world and the next, and to believe in the
reality of the Afterlife for which human beings are to prepare by
living righteously in this world. God alone is the Judge of human
righteousness, and it is God alone who rewards and punishes in this
life and in the life hereafter.
"Righteousness does not mean for you to turn your faces towards the
East and towards the West, but righteousness means one should believe
in God (alone), the Last Day, the Angels, the Book and the prophet;
and no matter how he loves it, to give his wealth away to near
relatives, orphans the needy, the wayfarer and the beggars, and toward
the freeing of captives: and to keep up prayer and pay the welfare
tax :and those who keep their word whenever they promise any thing and
are patient under strain and hard****p and in time of peril. Those are
the ones who act loyally and perform their duty" (The Holy Qur'an
2:177)
A Muslim is one who is committed to peace by continuously striving to
follow the way of righteousness and justice revealed by God; the
Arabic word muslim refers to a man, muslima to a woman. In either case
the literal meaning is "one who submits to God's teachings and
commandments, which lead to peace."
Muslims have three distinct advantages to help them in the practice of
Islam as their way of life:
1. The Sacred Scripture called the Qur'an, which was revealed to the
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the 7th century of the Common
Era, and which, after 1400 years, remains authentic in its original
Arabic text, in the language which is still used and understood by
millions of people through out the world today; contains God's
guidance in teachings and commandments which are valid for all times
and all places, and which encompass all spheres of human life.
2. The Prophet Muhammad, whom the Qur'an names as "the Seal (last) of
the Prophets", and of whose life and mission there is a complete and
authentic record in the Sira and the Hadith. These show how he
exemplified the teachings and commandments of God in practice, and
elaborated the principles laid down in the Qur'an in order to provide
a sure guidance for their interpretation and application for all later
times and societies.
3. The Sacred Law, called the Shari'ah, which sets out the way of
wor****p prescribed in the Qur'an and the Prophet's practice; it goes
beyond the common understanding of wor****p as the performance of
religious rituals. And encomp***** the whole of human life,
individual as well as social. Thus all so-called secular activities
become acts of wor****p, provided they are performed with pure and
righteous intention, seeking God's pleasure.
Muslims are enjoined to organize their lives on the basis of series of
ritual acts of wor****p which are ordained in the Qur'an as ways which
discipline human beings to remember God constantly, accepting his
Sovereignty and pledging to obey his commandments:
1. Declaration of belief (Shahada): this is the initial act of
faith,expressed in a simple statement which testifies to one's
commitment to following the straight path of God's guidance upon which
Muslims seek to live their lives;
"I bear witness that there is no god but God I bear witness that
Muhammad is His servant and His Prophet."
2. Prayer (Salat), offered five times a day, has the effect of
reminding the faithful that "remembrance of God is indeed the greatest
virtue", and helps them adhere to the path of righteousness, and to
restrain from indecency and evil.
3. Fasting (Sawm), observed through the daylight hours of the 29/30
days of the Islamic month of Ramadan, involves abstinence from eating,
drinking, smoking and marital intercourse; this reminds the believers
of their dependence upon God, as well as their kin****p with, and
responsibility for the millions of human beings in the world who
experience involuntary fasting because of lack of food, or its unjust
distribution.
4. Purification of wealth (Zakat); this requires the annual giving of
a fixed amount of excess personal assets for the benefit of the poor,
the incapacitated, the deprived, and the welfare of the community; it
serves to remind Muslims that all beneficence comes from the bounty of
God, and is enjoyed only through His mercy; sharing becomes an act of
purification both of the wealth itself, and of the giver whose soul is
disciplined against greed by the practice of selflessness.
5. Pilgrimage (Hajj), which all Muslims should perform at least once
in a lifetime, if personal cir***stances permit; gathers the
believers as members of the diverse human family into a single
community. They perform prescribed acts of wor****p at the Holy House
of the Ka'ba in Makkah (Mecca) which ,according to the Qur'an, was
originally built by the Prophet Ibrahim and his son Ismael; and at
Mount Arafat, where they remember the pure and original way of life of
Adam, the progenitor of the human race, reaffirmed by the Patriarch of
the entire human family, the Prophet Ibrahim, and finally perfected
and completed by God for all humanity through the mission of the
Prophet Muhammad - the way of life known as Islam which has at its
heart the doctrine of the unity and uniqueness of the One God.
Each of these prescribed acts of wor****p bring Muslims daily and
repeatedly before God Almighty as the Creator, Sustainer and Judge of
all humanity.
Through these acts of wor****p God helps Muslims to fulfill the
obligation of striving which He has ordained for this life; the
striving actively and freely to surrender one's own will in obedience
to the will of God, inwardly in intention and outwardly in word and
deed individually in personal conduct and collectively in the
improvement of society; the striving for peace in the world through
the proclamation of true faith, and its defense against all that
threatens it.
Islam presents human beings with a simple twofold invitation:
*- to bear witness that there is no God but God Almighty;
*- to bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.
This declaration is the door to a life of service, one of
participation in a community of believers whose highest duty is to
call on humanity to embrace what is righteous and good, and to reject
what is evil and degrading. Muslims are brothers and sisters of all
people of good faith, and wish to strive with them for peace in this
world.
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