WHAT IS ISLAM?
One reason why this question is important is that whether we like it or
not Islam is the fastest growing ideology/religion in the world today,
including in the UK. In fact the statistics suggest that as many as 4 times as
many women are embracing Islam in the UK than men, despite the false claims of
Islam being misogynistic (anti-women). This is because Islam agrees with our
nature as human beings. It is intended in this short leaflet to introduce you
to the great religion of Islam. The word Islam, as opposed to what many would
have you believe, does not in fact mean ‘peace’ but rather ‘submission’.
Submission, that is, to the commands of our creator and sustainers, Allah
(God). The Muslim is therefore the one who submits to the commands of his Lord.
In this respect all the Prophets of Allah and all those who truly follow their
teachings are considered to be Muslims.
Islam teaches that all the Prophets of God are equally revered and that
Noah (Nuh in Arabic), Abraham (Ibrahim), Moses (Musa), Jesus (Isa) were all
sent with messages from their Lord to their own people, culminating in the last
and final Prophet Muhammad who was sent to the whole of mankind and after whom
there will be no more Prophets. Each of the Prophets of God taught essentially
the same fundamental belief, that no one has the right to be truly worshipped,
obeyed or followed except for Allah (God) and that we must take the Prophets as
our examples in this life of how to behave. The final criteria for action can
be found in the example of the Prophet Muhammad and in what was revealed to him
in the form of the Qur’an.
Although Muslims believe that the original Torah (Taurat) and Bible
(Injeel) contain some of the word of God, the current old and new testaments
have been tampered with, added to and deleted from and the original messages of
Moses or Jesus were never written down contemporaneously (i.e. at the time of
revelation) and hence what we have in our hand in the form of the Torah and
Bible today, after 1000’s of years, is not the authentic message from God to
mankind. This is in contrast to the Qur’an which is the actual word of God, as
spoken to the angel Gabriel (Jibraeel) and then spoken by him to the Prophet
Muhammad (peace be upon him).
The Qur’an was not just memorised by the Prophet Muhammad and many of
his companions verbatim (word for word) but it was also uniquely written down
as it was revealed upon things like leafs, gazelle skin, bone etc to ensure its
preservation, which in fact Allah promises to do in the Qur’an itself. Unlike
the Bible and Torah there is only ONE Qur’an in the world and this has been
totally memorised, until today, by millions of Muslims. In the Qur’an we are
told about all of the Prophets of God including those mentioned here such as
Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus and about their true lives and messages, all
completely free from any distortion and/or errors. Moreover when one
investigates the Qur’an one discovers that it is also in fact the only
preserved miracle of the Prophets of God in the world today that one can
incredibly witness oneself, whether that be linguistically or scientifically or
historic etc proving beyond doubt the truth of the finality of the
Messenger-ship and Prophet-hood of Muhammad.
When one looks at Islam one can see that it is in fact the only religion
that encourages those who worship God to do so without any partners, such as a
son or idols, it is the only religion that outlaws all the evils that plague
mankind such as alcohol, gambling, usury, fornication and bribery and that it is
the only religion that has a comprehensive alternative system/way of life to
the current capitalism and communism, with its own unique ruling, economic,
social and judicial systems and even a foreign policy all derived from the
Qur’an and the example of the Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him). This is
why Muslims prefer to call Islam a ‘Deen’ as Allah calls it in the Qur’an, as
opposed to a ‘religion’ which word suggests a purely personal spiritual belief
devoid of rules to govern the affairs of society. Hence although Christianity,
Judaism, Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism are ‘religions’, Islam is a ‘Deen’ (an
ideology or complete way of life) incorporating all aspects of life, including
a Ruling system (Khilafah)
The Prophet Muhammad informed us that whoever heard his name, from the
Jews and Christians, and did not believe in him (and in Islam) that they would
be destined for the hellfire. In fact to enter the paradise on the day of
judgement and to be saved from the hellfire, Allah says in the final revelation,
the Qur’an and via the Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) that only Islam
will be accepted. Hence we invite you to embrace Islam and to save yourselves,
after having read this leaflet. To embrace Islam is in fact simple, one merely
needs to declare that:
‘I testify that there is no one truly worthy of worship except for
Allah and I testify that Muhammad is his servant and Messenger’ this is
called the Shahadah or the Kalima, which in the Arabic transliteration reads:
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