ISLAM
May the Peace and Blessings of Allah be Upon You!
Islam was founded in 622 CE by Mohammed the Prophet (circa 570 to 632 CE) in Medina. Little is known about Muhammad's childhood. He was orphaned at the age of 6 and brought up by his uncle. As
a child, he worked as a shepherd. He was taken on a caravan to Syria by his uncle at the age of 9 (or perhaps
12). Later, as a youth, he was employed as a camel driver on the trade routes between Syria and Arabia.
Mohammed later managed caravans on behalf of merchants. He met people of different religious beliefs on his
travels, and was able to observe and learn about Judaism, Christianity and the indigenous Pagan religions.
After marriage, he was able to spend more time in meditation. At the age of 40, (610 CE), he was visited in
Mecca by the angel Gabriel. He developed the conviction that he had been ordained a Prophet and given the
task of converting his countrymen from their pagan, polytheistic beliefs and what he regarded as moral
decadence, idolatry, hedonism and materialism.
He met considerable opposition to his teachings. In 622 CE he moved north to Medina due to increasing
persecution. The trek is known as the hegira . Here he was disappointed by the rejection of his message by the
Jews. Through military activity and political negotiation, Mohammed became the most powerful leader in
Arabia, and Islam was firmly established in the area.
By 750 CE, Islam had expanded to China, India, along the Southern shore of the Mediterranean and into Spain.
By 1550 they had reached Vienna. Wars resulted, expelling Muslims from Spain and Europe. Since their
trading routes were mostly over land, they did not an develop extensive sea trade (as for example the English
and Spaniards). As a result, the old world occupation of North America was left to Christians.
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 has priority over all
creation, who is lofty and hidden, who confounds all human understanding. It is exactly the same word as, in
Hebrew, the Jews 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 He begotten,
and there is none like unto Him.
(The Holy Qur'an Chapter of Sincerity of Faith)
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, is rich in meaning. One important dimension is the "commitment to submit and
surrender to God so that one could 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 others' rights,
and continuous research and acquisition of knowledge for the better protection and utilization of the resources
of the universe.
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 re-affirmation 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 Afterlife in which God rewards and punishes with respect to
human obedience to His will.
Islam affirms these simple beliefs as the basis of the decent, civilized society for 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 Ishmael 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, irrespective of cultural, racial, linguistic and socio-economic differences. Success
in this life is directly related to the practice of these values.
Islam teaches that human diversity is a sign of the richness of God's mercy, and that God wills human bangs
to compete with each other in goodness in order to test who is the finest in action: this is, according
to Islam, the reason for the creation of the universe. To strive for peace in the societies of this world is to
compete in the fulfillment of human destiny in preparation for the ultimate Abode of Peace in a further, renewed
dimension of human existence in the Afterlife. The irreducible minimum of faith is to believe in God as the sole
sovereign Lord of this world and of 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 West, but
righteousness means one should believe in God (Alone), the Last Day, angels, the Book and
prophets; and no matter how he loves it, to give his wealth away to near relatives, orphans, the
needy, the wayfarer and beggars, and towards freeing 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
suffering and hardship and in time of peril (stress). Those are the ones who act loyal 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 leads 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 1,400 years, remains authentic
in its original Arabic text, in the language which is still used and understood by millions of people in
the world today; it contains God's guidance in teachings and commandments which are valid for all
times and 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
(Sunna); 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 and 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:
1) Declaration of belief(Shahada): this is the initial act of faith, expressed in a simple creedal
statement which testifies 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 '7 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 themselves 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 the lack of provisions, or their 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 by 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 virtue of selflessness.
5) Pilgrimage (hajj), which all Muslims should perform at least once in a lifetime if personal
circumstances permit, 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 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 all human beings, 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 bring 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 announcement of true faith, and its defense against all
that threatens it.
Islam presents human beings with a simple twofold 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, and to participation in a community of believers whose highest
duty is to call humanity to embrace what is righteous and good, and to reject what is evil and degrading.
Muslims are sisters and brothers of all people of true faith, and wish to strive with them for peace in this world.
Credits:
Article published by Mr. Abdul Jalil, Chairman of Al-Huda Islamic Center, P. O. Box 962, Elberton, GA 30635, USA; in consultation with Dr. David Kerr, Professor
of Islamic Studies, Hartford Seminary, Hartford, Connecticut, USA.