Discover Islam: Islam And Muslims
If you are like that man, seeking for
the Truth and confiuseing about Islam and Muslims you must read this articles
to help you to understand Islam and Muslims, In Sha'aa Allah. These are some
Questions from "Discover Islam" Book. I hope you will get benefit from this
book. Please, do not hesitate to write to me
for any comments.Please Do.
Q: 1- What is your religion?
A: Islam
Q: 2- Who is a Muslim?
A: Any person, anywhere in the world, who submits himself/herself to the will of the One True God and organizes his/her life according to the teachings of the last Prophet of God, is a Muslim, i.e., one who practices Islam.
Q: 3- Where does the name 'Muslim' come from?
A: From God:God has given this name.
Q: 4- Who says so?
A: It is mentioned in the final revelation of God - The Holy Qur'aan- in Soorah (Chapter) 22, verse 78: " ... It is He Who has named you Muslims, both before and in this (revelation);..."
Q: 5- Why should you be a Muslim?
A: Because Islam is the 'Only'.
Q: 6- How can you say this?
A: Obviously, the thing acceptable to God will be obedience to Him and submission to His will.
The Holy Qur'aan states:
"If anyone desires a religion other Islam, never will it be accepted of him: and in the Hereafter he shall be among the losers." (Soorah Al-E-Imraan 3:85)
" The religion (way of life) in the sight of God is Islam." (Soorah Al-E-Imraan 3:19)
"O ye who believe! Fear God as He should be feared, and die not except in a state of Islam (i.e., as a Muslim)." (Soorah Al-E-Imraan 3:102)
Q: 7- Does the word (Islam) have any meaning?
A: Yes There are two basic meanings of 'Islam':
1- Total submission to the will of the One True God.
2- Peace.
In fact, these two meanings are related to each other. So, Islam means: attaining peace through loving and total submission to the will of the One True God.
Q: 8- What do you mean by 'submission to the will of the One True God?'
A: It means: accepting the only One True God, the Creator of all, as our Lord and Saviour, obeying His commands and worshipping none other than Him. The submission is not in a negative sense but in a positive sense; it is loving,loving , willing and conscious submission.
It is not a lip service but has to be manifested in the thoughts and deeds, in the actual practical life, of a person.
Q: 9- One meaning of Islam is 'Peace'. What does this denote?
A: It denotes peace in a broad and comprehensive sense:Peace of min, Peace of heart, Peace with the Creator, Peace with other humans and Peace with other creatures,etc.
Q: 10- if ' submission to the will of God' is Islam, then can we say that all other creatures are also Muslims?
A: Yes, This submission can be recognized at two levels;
1- One level is 'compulsory' submission, where there is no question of freedom of choice. All creations (the sun, the moon, the ocean , plants, animals, etc,..) submit to the laws devised by God in nature. So they are all Muslims. A stone thrown up in the air, for example, cannot choose to remain up, or come down after a little more time. Even those persons who deny the existence of God submit to the laws set by God in the biological aspects, e.g., their heart beats or blood pressure or any other biological system have no choice to go against the laws set by God. So, at this level they are also Muslims.
2- At the second level there is freedom in choosing to do or not to do something in some aspects of life (like moral laws, obedience to the commands of God), which is enjoyed by the humans. If a person will be a 'willing' or 'conscious' or 'voluntary' submission. With a harmony between the 'compulsory submission' and the 'submission by choice' a person gets total harmony in this universe and will be at Peace.
So, We could say that Islam is a natural way of life, or it is the 'Religion of Nature'.
Q: 11- Does the Qur'aan mention anything in this regard?
A: Yes. The Qur'aan says:
"Do they seek for other than the religion of God? while all creatures in the heavens and on earth have, willingly or unwillingly, bowed to His will (in Islam), and to Him shall all be brought back." (Soorah Al-E-Imraan 3:83)
Q: 12- Have the scholars differed about this matter?
A: The Islamic concept is that every child, born even in a non-Muslim or atheist family, is a Muslim. Till it reaches the age of discretion ( to be able to choose between the right and the wrong path) it is in a state of 'compulsory submission'. So it is a Muslim; if it dies, it will go to paradise. It will not be held accountable for its deeds. As Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The pen records not the deeds of three: of the child until he becomes a youth, of the unconscious until he awakes, and of the insane until he regains sanity."
Q: 13- Is it not true that every child is born with 'original sin', as the Christians believe?
A: No. Even the Bible rejects this concept, and it is contrary to the teachings of Jesus (peace be upon him). To quote the Bible, for example:
"The soul that sinneth; it shall die. The son shall not bear the inequity of the father, neither shall the father the inequity of the son; the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him," (Ezekiel 18:20)
"But every one shall die for his own inequity..." (Jeremiah 31:30)
"Truly I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:14)
"But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come to me; for such is the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:14)
It is clear that little children are sinless'; they do not inherit sin, because sin in something that is acquired by an individual, as a consequence of his/her actions.
Q: 14- How about a non-Muslim who embraces Islam?
A: By embracing Islam, in fact, a person receives the greatest blessing of God. The All-Forgiving and Most Merciful God forgives all the past sins and mistakes of such a person and he/she starts his/her life with a clean state, as if born again The Holy Qur'aan says:
"Say to the unbelievers, if (now) they desist (from unbelief), their past would be forgiven." (Soorah al-Anfaal 8:38)
"Say: 'O my servants who have transgressed against their souls! Despair not of the mercy of God: surely God forgives all sins' verily He is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (Soorah az-Zumar 39:53)
According to a saying of the Prophet (peace be upon him): "If a person embraces Islam sincerely, then God shall forgive all his past sins, and after that the reward of his good deeds will be ten times to seven hundred times, and an evil deed will be recorded as it is, unless God forgives it."
Q:15-Will a new Muslim be inferior to a person born to Muslim parents?
A: No. On the contrary, a new Muslim could be better than many born Muslims. Islam teaches that no person is superior over any other person on the basis of birth, race, tribe, nationality, language, color, wealth or sex. The Holy Qur'aan says:
"... Verily, the most honoured of you in the sight of God is the one who is most God-conscious..." (Soorah al-Hujuraat 49:13)
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), in his historical farewell sermon, had said:
"O people! Verily your Lord and Sustainer is One and your ancestor is one. All of you descend from Adam, and Adam was made a clay. There is no superiority for an Arab over a non-Arab, nor for an non-Arab over an Arab, neither for a white person over a black, nor a black person over a white, except through God-consciousness. Indeed the noblest among you is the one who is most God-conscious."
Q: 16-Can Islam also be called 'Muhammadanism', and Muslims as 'Muhammedans?'
A: No. These terms (coined by non-Muslims, orientalists) are without any basis. Muslims reject them as these terms offend the very spirit of Islam. Muslims do not worship Muhammad (peace be upon him) but regard him as a human who was a Prophet and Messenger of God; nor is Islam limited to Muhammad (peace be upon him) alone, but goes much beyond this and recognizes all other Prophets of God with respect and reverence.
Q: 17- Is 'Islam' not a new religion founded or started by Muhammad (peace be upon him)?
A: No. Islam, as a matter of fact, is the oldest religion.Muhammad (peace be upon him) never claimed that he brought to the people a new religion. The Holy Qur'aan mentions:
"The same religion He has established for you as that He enjoined on Noah - that which We have revealed to you (O Muhammad)- that which We enjoined on Abraham, and Moses, and Jesus, that ye should remain steadfast in religion and make no divisions therein." (Soorah ash-Shoora 42:13)
"Say ye: ' we believe in God, and that which has been 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 Lord; we make no distinction between one and another of them, and to Him we submit (in Islam)' " (Soorah Al-E-Imraan 3:84)
Q: 18. If Islam is the oldest religion and all the Prophets were Muslims, then why are there so many religions in the world?
A: The Muslims believe in one God, one source of guidance and one basic message for all mankind (that there is none worthy of worship except the One and Only God). Being the caring Creator and Sustainer of all mankind, God cannot be partial to choose on nation to the exclusion of all others for revealing His messages. He raised Prophets in every nation to guide the people to the path of Truth and Righteousness. The Qur'aan states:
"There is not a nation but a warner has passed among them." (Soorah Fatir 35:24)
"And for every nation was a messenger." (Soorah Yoonus 10:47)
With the passage of time the followers of earlier Prophets gradually started deviating from the original teachings. Ideologies and practices that were strange to the original teachings crept into the religion, unintentionally or deliberately, and the purity of belief in God was lost. However, God kept sending Prophets from time to time to remind them of the Truth and bring them back to the right path, which they had lost. But none of these Prophets claimed that they started a new religion. Some people (the Truthseekers) listened to them, corrected themselves and became Muslim, while others remained arrogant in their false pride and stuck to the baseless practices and traditions.
As regards the names of so many religious:
1- These names have no particular significance; they were simply derived after the name of a person as in the case of Christianity which was named after Christ, Buddhism after Buddha; or after the name of a tribe like Judaism after the tribe of Judah; or after the name of a place, like Hinduism after Hind (a variation of Sindh, Indus in English). But the name 'Islam' represents the central principle of God's religion: total submission to the will of God. It is an attributive title, a name with great meaning.
2- These names were not given by God, or the Prophets of God, or even by their followers; these were adopted by the people outside the faith, like the name of Christianity which was first referred to by the Pagans and the Jews in a derogatory manner. But the name 'Islam' was given by God.
3- These names were adopted not during the life time of the respective Prophets but much later.
Q: 19- How do Muslims regard other religions?
A: Muslims regard other religions as stages or links in the same faith. They do not regard them as religions (plural), but the same original religion (Islam) which later lost its purity in different times and at different places and took different names. Therefore, Islam is not in competition with any of these so called religions, but rather is the true and purified from of all these religions.
Q: 20- What do Muslims believe regarding Jesus Christ?
A: Jews and Christians have gone to extremes regarding the personality of Jesus (peace be upon him), while Muslims maintain the correct position. Jews reject him as a Prophet of God and call him an impostor. Christians consider him to be the son of God or God incarnate and worship him as such. Muslims believe him to be neither impostor nor God, but one of the mighty Messengers of God. Muslims respect him and revere him as much as Abraham, Moses and Muhammad (peace be upon him). They also believe: that his mother, Mary (peace be upon him), was chosen by God above the women of all nations, that he was born without father through the same power which brought Adam (peace be upon him) into being, and that he performed miracles, like giving life to the dead and healing the blind and the lepers, by God's permission. Muslims also believe in his second coming before the end of time.
The Bible supports the Muslims standpoint on the personality of Jesus (e.g., the following verses: Matthew 16:13, 12:40,10:40, 21:11, Luke 13:33, John 6:62, 7:16, Acts 2:22, 3:13)
Q: 21-What about the Muslim position regarding Hindu Lords Rama and Krishna, and also Buddha?
These persons could also be Prophets of God who had been raised in that part of the world which is India, since God has sent Prophets and Messengers to every nation at different times. According to a saying of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) the number of Prophets raised in the world was 124,000, but only 25 have been mentioned by name in the Qur'aan. If indeed they were Prophets, their teachings have certainly been corrupted. This is understandable because in those very olden times writing materials were not developing or readily available, communication was primitive and preservation of the original material for a long time was very difficult. About the personality of Jesus (peace be upon him) itself, who had come only 2000 years ago, when we can find misconceptions among his so called followers, no wonder there had been much more severe distortions in the original teachings and personalities of earlier Prophets having no authentic historical records Myths and stories about them, circulating among their followers now, bear no authenticity or authority from God. Therefore we can say that there is every possibility of Rama, Krishna and Buddha also to be the Prophets of God whose original teachings are not preserved intact.
Q: 22-If Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was sent for all the people of the world, was his coming prophesied in earlier scriptures?
A: Yes. Though the earlier Scriptures are not preserved in their original from and have undergone changes with the passage of time, still we find clearly glimpses of the prophecies. Examples:
1- In Jewish and Christian Scriptures: There are many references both in the Old Testament and the New Testament, e.g., Deuteronomy 18: 18, Genesis 21:13, 18, Isaiah 42:1-13, John 16:7-14, John 14:16, Corinthians 13:9-10, etc.(For details, please refer leaflets on (Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the Bible)
2- In Hindu Scriptures: The Prophet is mentioned as 'Mahamad' in Bhavishya Puran, Prati Sarg Parv III:3,3,5,-8 and as 'Narahansah' in Atharv Veda, 20th chapter, Kuntap Sukt, which literally means 'the praised one' in English and Muhammad in Arabic.
3- In Buddhist Scriptures: The Prophet is mentioned as 'Maitreya' or 'Mettaya' (Miroku in Japanese, Mei-ti-li-ye in Chinese, Mahitrej in Tibetan) which means 'Mercy-unto-all', as the Qur'aan calls the Prophet (peace be upon him).
4- In Zoroastrian (Parsi) Scriptures: He is mentioned as 'Soehyant' ( the Mercy-unto-all) and 'Astvat-ereta' in Zend Avesta and also in Dasatir, epistle of Sasan I, 55-61.(For details please refer: Muhammad in Parsi,Hindu and Buddhist Scriptures by A.h. Vidyarthi and U. Ali, Published by Islamic Book Service, New Delhi, India)
Prophecies about the advent of Muhammad (peace be upon him) in earlier Scriptures world-wide indicate that:
a) The source of all the revealed religions was the same, or in other words, the religion of all the earlier Prophets was the same (Islam)
b) The awaited Prophet, i.e. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), is the universal Prophet. All people should follow his teachings after his advent.
