بِسْمِ ٱللَّهِ ٱلرَّحْمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Alhamdolillah, today April the 4th 2018, Allah ﷻ has bestowed upon me the blessing of commencing a blog dedicated to the Muslims who have recently entered the fold of Islam or those who are mulling over taking their final decision to take their Shahadah and accept Islam as their faith. And for this reason I have named my blog as Islam: My Ultimate Decision. I hope to cover all possible facets of Islam in easy to understand language for everyone to understand.
This being my first post, I will try define what Islam is and in future posts will develop the theme more exhaustively.
Allah, the one and only one true God, sent his first of the believers Prophet Adam and Eve to this world of ours to lay down the foundation of a community which would take His name in everything they did and lived a life of righteousness, peace and love for each other. After Adam, Allah sent a chain of prophets and messengers including Noah, Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job, Moses, Aaron, David, Solomon, Elias, Jonah, John the Baptist, and Jesus, peace be upon them all. And also revealed onto a few His holy scriptures as guidelines for others to live a life that Allah has envisioned for us.
Like all prophets, the last of the prophets has been Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) who came after Jesus in the barren sandy lands of Arabia. Allah also revealed unto Him the last of His scriptures The Holy Qur'an to serve as the last Godly guidelines not only for those who accepted the religion of Islam, but also for the entire mankind till the Day of Judgment. Islam in fact is in continuation of the all previous religions and completes Allah's countless guidelines with the revelation of Holy Qur'an.
Those who embrace Islam believe in the absolute Oneness of Allah, in all of his angels and all prophets and the holy scriptures of Psalms, Torah and Bible, and of course the Day of Judgment.
Islam means complete submission to Allah as against the misnomer Mohammedanism which gives a faulty impression as if Islam was coined by someone named Muhammad. And that Muslims worship Muhammad instead of Allah. Like all messengers of Allah who were gifted with the holy scriptures for guidance of their people, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) too was gifted the Holy Qur'an to continue the message of Allah to the mankind. Thereafter, there have not been any prophets as Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the last of the prophets as enunciated in the Holy Qur'an as the Khātim an-Nabīyīn, the Seal of the Prophets or as Khātam al-Anbiyā, the last of the prophets:
"Muhammad is not the father of [any] one of your men, but [he is] the Messenger of Allah and last of the prophets. And ever is Allah, of all things, Knowing." Al Qur'an Surah Al-Ahzab [33:40]This also dispels the notion that many Jews hold that Islam is idolatry as they worship Muhammad. In fact it was Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) upon capture of Makkah broke all 360 or more idols of varying natures kept inside the Ka'aba and around and forbade idol worshiping as commanded by Allah in the Holy Qur'an.
"And [mention, O Muhammad], when Luqman said to his son while he was instructing him, "O my son, do not associate [anything] with Allah . Indeed, association [with him] is great injustice." Al-Qur'an Surah Luqman [31:13]
"Indeed, Allah does not forgive association with Him, but He forgives what is less than that for whom He wills. And he who associates others with Allah has certainly fabricated a tremendous sin." Al-Qur'an Surah An-Nisa [4:48]Thus today, by the countless blessings of Allah, more than a billion people live the life as prescribed to them by Allah in the form of guidelines in the last of the Holy Qur'an and as described by personal living examples by the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Anyone who embraces Islam, does not only accepts a new religion but a complete way of life as Islam is a religion and "Deen" as well. "Deen" in Arabic means a complete way of life as unlike other religions which were just prelude to Islam, Muslims are given to guidelines how they should live their lives and laws of inheritance, marriage, interest, relations with others and laws to govern their lives.
It may be added here that Islam is the continuation of all previous religions and faiths and as a Muslim, we all submit to the validity of all religions that Prophet Abraham laid the foundation of and all his descendants carried the same torch. While Prophets Moses and Jesus (may peace be upon them) descended from Abraham's younger son Isaac, Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) de4scended from Prophet Abraham's elder son Ishmael. It was Prophet Abraham established the settlement in the heart of the Arabia, today known as Makkah, and built a house for Allah called Ka'aba. And since rise of Islam, Muslims from all over the world turn to the direction of Ka'aba to offer their five daily obligatory prayers facing all in one direction.
The word of Islam was brought to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), a man of 40 years from one of the most respected tribes of Makkah, Banu Hashim. Before the first verse of Holy Qur'an was revealed onto Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), he had already a well respected man due to his honesty and integrity. Angel Gabriel had been a bridge between the Allah Almighty and the prophet in bringing down to him the Godly commandments which continued for the next 23 years till the present day Qur'an was finally completed.
Why Islam has spread so widely while the already established religions of Jews and Christians were already at their peak in Europe and elsewhere? The answer is very simple: Islam is very simple to understand and very easy to follow provided one has full faith in what he believes. Islam also answers many questions about life, physics, astronomy, geography and history besides acknowledging all other faiths and prophets before it.
In nutshell Islam is all about our way of life, which is not restricted to Muslims but to the entire mankind. Many forms of governments today take references from the Holy Qur'an in establishing welfare states. The commandments of Allah contained in the Qur'an are augmented by the way Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) lived his life, called Sunnah in Arabic. In fact his whole life was the translation of the Qur'an and whatever he did, practiced and said was all within the fold of Islam as desired by Allah.
The five pillars of Islam are: 1) Faith, 2)Prayers, 3)Zakat (Charity), 4)Fasting and 5)Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah and taking rounds of Ka'aba as was done by Prophet Abraham some four thousand years ago.
Please read various sections of our blog for detailed account of each pillar of Islam, about Qur'an and summary of its chapters, about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and rise of Islam and many other aspects that you may need answers for. You may also refer to our Reference Pages and Understanding Al Qur'an for knowing more about Islam and Qur'ān.
May Allāh (سبحانه و تعالى) help us understand Qur'ān and follow the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, which is embodiment of commandments of Allah contained in the Qur'ān. May Allah help us to be like the ones He loves and let our lives be lived helping others and not making others' lives miserable or unlivable. May all our wrong doings, whether intentional or unintentional, be forgiven before the angel of death knocks on our door.
وَمَا عَلَيۡنَاۤ اِلَّا الۡبَلٰغُ الۡمُبِيۡنُ
(36:17) and our duty is no more than to clearly convey the Message.”
That is Our duty is only to convey to you the message that Allah has entrusted us with. Then it is for you to accept it or reject it. We have not been made responsible for making you accept it forcibly, and if you do not accept it, we shall not be seized in consequence of your disbelief, you will yourselves be answerable for your actions on Day of Resurrection.
Reading the Qur'ān should be a daily obligation of a Muslim - Reading it with translation will make it meaningful. But reading its Exegesis / Tafsir will make you understand it fully. It will also help the Muslims to have grasp over social issues and their answers discussed in the Qur'an and other matter related to inter faith so that they are able to discuss issues with non-Muslims with authority based on refences from Qur'an.
May Allah forgive me if my posts ever imply a piety far greater than I possess. I am most in need of guidance.
Note: When we mention God in our posts, we mean One True God, we call Allah in Islam, with no associates. Allah is the Sole Creator of all things, and that Allah is all-powerful and all-knowing. Allah has no offspring, no race, no gender, no body, and is unaffected by the characteristics of human life.
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