Islam 101
I seek refuge in Allah from the rejected Satan.
In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Kind.
ISLAM
Sarah saw the son of
Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac.
So she said to Abraham, “Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of
this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac.” The matter was
very distressing to Abraham on account of his son…..
The angel of God
called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, “What troubles you Hagar? Do not
be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy (Ishmael) where he is, Come,
lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great
nation of him,”…..
God was with the boy,
and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow.
Genesis (21:9-20)
Historical Context
2000 BC Prophet Abraham
1200 BC Prophet Moses
4 BC Prophet Jesus was born
AD 29 Prophet Jesus was crucified
AD 570 Prophet Muhammad was born
AD 632 Prophet Muhammad passed away
Key Words: Allah, Islam, Muslim, Muhammad, Quran, Shahada, Salat, Ramadhan, Zakat, Hajj, Shariah
ALLAH - 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 worship, who creates all that exists, who had priority over all creation, who is lofty and hidden, who confounds all human understanding. It is exactly the same word that 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 Islam; Allah is the same God worshipped 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 112 - Al-Ikhlas- Sincerity
of Faith)
Allah
in The Bible?<!--webbot
bot="Navigation" endspan i-checksum="17113" -->
ALLAH - 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 worship, who creates
all that exists, who had priority over all creation, who is lofty and hidden,
who confounds all human understanding. It is exactly the same word that the
Jews, in Hebrew, use for God (eloh), the
word which Jesus Christ used in Aramaic when he prayed to God.
•
"ELOI, ELOI, LAMA SABACHTHANI? which is,
being interpreted, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mark
15:34).
•
ALLELUYA = YA ALLA
HU = OH! Allah
•
Elohim =Eloh +im (pleural), translated to Allah in Arabic Bible.
<big></big>The Arabic Bible, uses the word Allah to refer to God. Thus Arab Christians' God is Allah. It may surprise many in the West, but it is the plain truth. Allah is the One God of every one. Allah is the Creator of prophets like Jesus and Muhammad (peace be on them). It is not just the name Allah for God, the Almighty. All beautiful names belong to Him.
Say:
“Call upon Allah, or call upon Rahman (the Most Merciful): by whatever name ye
call upon Him, (it is well): for to Him belong the Most Beautiful Names.” (The
Holy Quran,17:110)
Allah
is He, than Whom there is no other god; Who knows (all things) both secret and
open; He, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Allah
is He, than Whom there is no other god; the Sovereign, the Holy One, the Source
of Peace (and Perfection), the Guardian of Faith, the Preserver of Safety, the
Exalted in Might, the Irresistible, the Supreme: Glory to Allah! (High is He)
above the partners they attribute to Him.
He
is Allah, the Creator, the Evolver, the Bestower of Forms (or Colours). To Him
belong the Most Beautiful Names: whatever is in the heavens and on earth, doth
declare His Praises and Glory; and He is the Exalted in Might, the Wise. (The Holy Quran: 59:22-24)
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 worship 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, An Arabic word, rich
in meaning. One important 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 opportunity, 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 Commandment 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 teaching 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 after-life, 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, no 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 Abraham. 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 Abraham and lshmael 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 teaching 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 no
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 prophets; 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 anything; and
are patient under strain and hardship and in time of peril Those are the ones
who act royally and perform their duty. (The Holy Qur 'an 2:177)
A Muslim is one who is
committed to peace 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 leads to peace."
Muslims have three distinct sources
to help them in the practice of Islam as their way of life:
1. The Sacred Scripture called the Holy 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 throughout the world today; it 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
worship prescribed in the Qur’an and the Prophet's practice; it goes beyond the
common understanding of worship as the performance of religious rituals, and
encompasses the whole of human life, individual as well as social. Thus all
so-called secular activities become acts of worship, provided they are
performed with pure and righteous intention, seeking God's pleasure.
Muslims are enjoined to organize their lives on the basis of a
series of ritual acts of worship 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:
"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 kinship 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
circumstances permit; it gathers the believers as members of the diverse human
family into a single community. They perform prescribed acts of worship at the
Holy House of the Ka’ba in Makkah (Mecca) which, according to the
Qur'an, was originally built by the prophet Abraham and his son Ishmael; 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 Abraham, 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
worship brings Muslims daily and repeatedly before God Almighty as the
Creator, Sustainer and Judge of all humanity.
Through these acts of worship,
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 two-fold invitation:
to witness that there is no God but God
Almighty;
to 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.
"My choice of
Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise
some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in
history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular
level."
THE
100: A RANKING OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS IN HISTORY
By
Michael
H. Hart