The Religion of Islam 1

The Reli­gion of Islam

Chap­ter 1 : The Reli­gion of Islam

Islam is the reli­gion that God sent to Muhammad(P) and made it the final and most com­plete reli­gion for His slaves. Islam is an Ara­bic word which means peace, puri­ty, accep­tance and com­mit­ment. As a reli­gion, Islam calls for com­plete accep­tance of and sub­mis­sion to the teach­ings and guid­ance of God.

A Mus­lim is one who freely and will­ing­ly accepts the supreme pow­er of God and strives to orga­nize his life in total accord with the teach­ings of God. He also works for build­ing social insti­tu­tions which reflect the guid­ance of God. ​“Mohamedanism” is a mis­nomer for Islam and offends its very spir­it since the Prophet Muham­mad, peace be upon him, was a mes­sen­ger of God, and not a divine being wor­shipped by Muslims.

Mus­lims use the Ara­bic word ​“Allah for the Eng­lish word ​“God.” The under­stand­ing of Deity in Islam dif­fers from some of the con­no­ta­tions in the Eng­lish word ​“God.” For the con­ve­nience of Eng­lish-speak­ing read­ers, the word ​“God” is used in this arti­cle except when the word ​“All?” is in the quo­ta­tions from the Qur’? The mis­guid­ed claims of Dr. Robert Morey, who says in his book The Islam­ic Inva­sion that ​“All?quot ; is the name of the moon­god can be eas­i­ly dis­proved when one opens the Ara­bic Bible and notice that the equiv­a­lent word for ​“God” in the cor­re­spond­ing Eng­lish trans­la­tion is the word ​“All?quot ;.

Islam is not a new reli­gion or ever claim itself to be as such. It is, in essence, the same mes­sage and guid­ance which God revealed to all His pre­vi­ous messengers.

“Say : ​‘We believe in Allah and that which was revealed to us, and that which was revealed to Abra­ham and Ish­mael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes and that which was giv­en to Moses and Jesus and to the Prophets from their Lord ; we make no dis­tinc­tion between any of them, and to Him we sub­mit.’ ” (Qur’? 3:83)

The mes­sage which was revealed to the Prophet Muham­mad is Islam in its com­pre­hen­sive, com­plete and final form. God per­fect­ed, in this reli­gion, the boun­ties that He bestowed on His slaves, and accepts only Islam from them. God said,

“Muham­mad is not the father of any man among you, but he is the Mes­sen­ger of All ? and the Seal of the Prophets.” [33:40]

“This day, I have per­fect­ed your reli­gion for you, com­plet­ed My favor upon you, and have cho­sen Islam for you as your reli­gion.” [5:3]

“Tru­ly, the reli­gion in the Sight of God is Islam.” [3:19]

and :

“And who­ev­er seeks a reli­gion oth­er than Islam, it will nev­er be accept­ed of him, and in the Here­after he will be one of the losers.” [3:85].

God oblig­at­ed all mankind to fol­low Islam, as

“Say (O Muham­mad): ​‘O mankind ! Ver­i­ly, I am sent to you all as the Mes­sen­ger of All ? to Whom belongs the domin­ion of the heav­ens and the earth. There is none who has the right to be wor­shipped but He ; It is He Who gives life and caus­es death. So believe in All?and His Mes­sen­ger (Muham­mad), the Prophet who can nei­ther read nor write, who believes in All?and His Words (this Quran, the Torah and the Gospel), and fol­low him so that you may be guid­ed.’ ” (Qur’an:158).

Abu Hurairah report­ed that the Mes­sen­ger of God said, what trans­lat­ed means, ​“By Whom the soul of Muhammed is in His Hand ! No mem­ber of this nation, no Jew or Chris­t­ian, hears of me and does not believe in what I was sent with, but he will be of the peo­ple of the Fire.” [Sahih Mus­lim].

Believ­ing in the Mes­sen­ger means believ­ing in what was revealed to him, cou­pled with accep­tance and sub­mis­sion ; with­out them the belief is not suf­fi­cient. This is why Abu Tal­ib, the Prophet’s(P) uncle, was not a believ­er in the Mes­sen­ger, although he believed in what he was sent with and con­firmed that Islam was the best reli­gion (but with­out accep­tance or adher­ence to Islam).

Islam con­tains all of what brings ben­e­fit which was also con­tained in pre­vi­ous reli­gions. Islam, how­ev­er, is suit­able for imple­men­ta­tion any­time, any­where and by any nation. God said :

“And We have sent down to you (O Muham­mad) the Book (this Quran) in truth, con­firm­ing the Scrip­ture that came before it and dom­i­nant over it.” (Qur’an 5:48)

The mean­ing of ​“suit­able for imple­men­ta­tion at any­time, any­where and by any nation,” is that Islam only brings ben­e­fit to mankind, when­ev­er and wher­ev­er it is imple­ment­ed. Islam is not under the con­trol, and thus is not to be altered by, any nation liv­ing at any giv­en time at any giv­en place, as some peo­ple would want it to be.

Islam is the reli­gion of truth. It is the reli­gion that God guar­an­teed aid and dom­i­nance for who­ev­er firm­ly adheres by it. He said :

“It is He who has sent His Mes­sen­ger (Muham­mad) with guid­ance and the Reli­gion of Truth (Islam), to make it supe­ri­or over all reli­gions even though the dis­be­liev­ers hate it.” [9:33]

and :

“Allah has promised those among you who believe, and do right­eous, good deeds, that He will cer­tain­ly grant them suc­ces­sion to (the present rulers) in the earth, as He grant­ed it to those before them, and that He will grant them the author­i­ty to prac­tice their reli­gion, which He has cho­sen for them (Islam). And He will sure­ly give them in exchange a safe secu­ri­ty after their fear (pro­vid­ed) they (the believ­ers) wor­ship Me and do not asso­ciate any­thing (in wor­ship) with Me. But who­ev­er dis­be­lieved after this, they are the rebel­lious (dis­obe­di­ent to All?.” [24:55].

Islam con­tains belief and Law. It is a com­plete reli­gion, both in its belief and in its Law. It demands from its fol­low­ers the following :

  • Believ­ing in Tauhiyd (One­ness) of God and dis­be­liev­ing in Shirk (poly­the­ism).
  • Being truth­ful and not lying.
  • Being just, that is to deal com­pa­ra­ble things with equal­i­ty, and aban­don­ing injustice.
  • Being hon­est and aban­don­ing treachery.
  • Pre­serv­ing one’s promis­es and con­tracts and not break­ing them.
  • Being duti­ful­ly good to one’s par­ents and not cut­ting ties of kinship.
  • Keep­ing rela­tions with rel­a­tives and not cut­ting them.
  • Being good with neigh­bors and not harm­ing them.

In gen­er­al, Islam orders Mus­lims to have the best pos­si­ble con­duct and for­bids all bad behav­ior. It requires Mus­lims to enjoin every right­eous deed and avoid every evil deed. God said :

“Ver­i­ly, God enjoins jus­tice, Al-Ih’san (excel­lence in reli­gion), giv­ing (help) to kith and kin, and for­bids all evil (deeds), Al-Munkar (all that is pro­hib­it­ed) and injus­tice. He admon­ish­es you, that you may take heed.” (Qur’an 16:90]. The Religion of Islam 2Endmark

Cite this arti­cle as : Bis­mi­ka Allahu­ma Team, ​“The Reli­gion of Islam,” in Bis­mi­ka Allahu­ma, Sep­tem­ber 14, 2005, last accessed April 26, 2024, https://​bis​mikaal​lahu​ma​.org/​i​s​l​a​m​/​i​n​t​r​o​d​u​c​i​n​g​-​i​s​l​a​m​/​b​a​s​i​c​-​b​e​l​i​e​fs/

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One response to “The Reli­gion of Islam”

  1. shery Avatar
    shery

    Regard­ing the ​“One­ness” (monothe­ism) of God in the Bible (even today’s Eng­lish translations):
    There are so many Bib­li­cal pas­sages teach­ing God is only One and with­out any part­ners. This is a basic premise through­out the entire teach­ing of the Bible. The many explic­it pas­sages clear­ly declare this as a car­di­nal truth.
    Each of the fol­low­ing 27 pas­sages explic­it­ly teach that there is one — and only one — true and liv­ing God.
    Please note that the King James Ver­sion (used here) des­ig­nates the Hebrew name Jeho­vah (or Yah­weh) with ​“LORD” spelled with all let­ters cap­i­tal­ized ; Adon­ai, mean­ing ​“Lord” or ​“Mas­ter,” is des­ig­nat­ed by ​“Lord;” and ​“Elo­him,” is trans­lat­ed as ​“God.” Thus, in Duet. 4:35, for exam­ple, the phrase ​“the LORD he is God,” would be lit­er­al­ly trans­lat­ed, ​“Jeho­vah, he is Elo­him.” (In those instances were Adon­ai is used as a com­pound with Jeho­vah, the lat­ter term is spelled GOD, so that the com­pound name ​“Lord GOD” des­ig­nates the Hebrew, ​“Adon­ai Jehovah”).
    1. DEUTERONOMY 4:35,39 — Unto thee it was shown, that thou might­i­est know that the LORD he is God ; there is none else beside him. (39) Know there­fore this day, and con­sid­er it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heav­en above, and upon the earth beneath : there is none else.
    2. DEUTERONOMY 6:4 — Hear, O Israel : The LORD thy God is one LORD. [Note in Mark 12:28 – 34 how Jesus and a Jew­ish scribe he encoun­tered under­stood this text.]
    3. DEUTERONOMY 32:39 — See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me : I kill, and I make alive ; I wound, and I heal : nei­ther is there any that can deliv­er out of my hand.
    4. 2 SAMUEL 7:22 — Where­fore thou art great, O LORD God ; for there is none like thee, nei­ther is there any God beside thee, accord­ing to all that we have heard with our ears.
    5. 1 KINGS 8:60 — That all the peo­ple of the earth may know that the LORD is God, and that there is none else.
    6. 2 KINGS 5:15 — And he returned to the man of God, he and all his com­pa­ny, and came, and stood before him : and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel ; now there­fore, I pray thee, take a bless­ing of thy servant.
    7. 2 KINGS 19:15 — And Hezeki­ah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwells between the cheru­bims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the king­doms of the earth ; thou hast made heav­en and earth.
    8. NEHEMIAH 9:6 — Thou, even thou, art LORD alone ; thou has made heav­en, the heav­en of heav­ens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are there­in, the seas, and all that is there­in, and thou pre­serves them all ; and the host of heav­en wor­ship thee.
    9. PSALM 18:31 — For who is God save the LORD ? or who is a rock save our God ?
    10. PSALM 86:10 — For thou art great, and doest won­drous things : thou art God alone.
    11. ISAIAH 37:16,20 — O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwells between the cheru­bims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the king­doms of the earth : thou has made heav­en and earth. (20) Now there­fore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the king­doms of the earth may know that thou art the LORD, even thou only.
    12. ISAIAH 43:10,11 — Ye are my wit­ness­es, saith the LORD, and my ser­vant whom I have cho­sen : that ye may know and believe me, and under­stand that I am he : before me there was no God formed, nei­ther shall there be after me. I, even I, am the LORD ; and beside me there is no savior.
    13. ISAIAH 44:6,8 — Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts ; I am the first, and I am the last ; and beside me there is no God. Fear ye not, nei­ther be afraid ; have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it ? ye are even my wit­ness­es. Is there a God beside me ? yea, there is no God ; I know not any.
    14. ISAIAH 45:21 — Tell ye, and bring them near ; yea, let them take coun­sel togeth­er : who hath declared this from ancient time : who hath told it from that time ? have not I the LORD ? and there is no God else beside me ; a just God and a Sav­ior ; there is none beside me.
    15. ISAIAH 46:9 — For I am God, and there is none else ; I am God, and there is none like me.
    16. HOSEA 13:4 — Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt, and thou shalt know no god but me ; for there is no sav­ior beside me.
    17. JOEL 2:27 — And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else : and my peo­ple shall nev­er be ashamed.
    18. ZECHARIAH 14:9 — And the LORD shall be king over all the earth : in that day shall there be one Lord, and his name one.
    19. MARK 12:29 – 34 —And Jesus answered him, The first of all the com­mand­ments is, Hear, O Israel ; The Lord our God is one Lord : And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength : this is the first com­mand­ment. And the sec­ond is like, name­ly this, thou shalt love thy neigh­bor as thy­self. There is none oth­er com­mand­ment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Mas­ter, thou hast said the truth : for there is one God ; and there is none oth­er but he : And to love him with all the heart, and with all the under­stand­ing, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neigh­bor as him­self, is more than all whole burnt offer­ings and sac­ri­fices. And when Jesus saw that he answered dis­creet­ly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the king­dom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
    20. JOHN 17:3 — And this is life eter­nal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
    21. ROMANS 3:30 — See­ing it is one God, which shall jus­ti­fy the cir­cum­ci­sion by faith, and uncir­cum­cised through faith.
    22. 1 CORINTHIANS 8:4 – 6 — As con­cern­ing there­fore the eat­ing of those things that are offered in sac­ri­fice unto idols, we know that an idol is noth­ing in the world, and that there is none oth­er God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heav­en or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,) But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom all things, and we in him ; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.
    23. GALATIANS 3:20 — Now a medi­a­tor is not a medi­a­tor of one, but God is one.
    24. EPHESIANS 4:6 — One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
    25. 1 TIMOTHY 1:17 — Now unto the King eter­nal, immor­tal, invis­i­ble, the only wise God, be Hon­or and glo­ry for ever and ever. Amen.
    26. 1 TIMOTHY 2:5 — For there is one God, and one medi­a­tor between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.
    27. JAMES 2:19 — Thou believes that there is one God ; thou doest well : the dev­ils also believe, and tremble.
    Note# 2. Dawah (invit­ing or call­ing to Islam) is pre­scribed in Quran as a duty to Mus­lims. It implies liv­ing an exem­plary life and shar­ing the mes­sage of monothe­ism and obe­di­ence to Allah’s Shar’ah with oth­ers. Mus­lims are ordered not to dis­pute with oth­ers about the mat­ters, only to con­duct dialogs in a way that is better.
    http://​islam​to​mor​row​.com/​d​a​w​a​h​&gt ;

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