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Introduction to Islam
(Submission to God)
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"He decreed for you the same religion decreed for Noah,
and
what we inspired to you, and what we decreed for Abraham,
Moses, and Jesus: "You shall uphold this one
religion, and do not divide it."
42:13
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This Quranic verse, alongside numerous other verses, confirm the truth that as
far as God is concerned there has always been one religion. The one religion
was decreed to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad.
All the Scripture revealed to mankind from God advocate one and the same
religion. This religion God calls Islam (Submission to God). Submission to
God as a religion is also described as Monotheism (Hanifeyah) …. see 3:67,
6:79, 10:105, 98:5.
The principal command from God in all Scripture is to worship God alone
devoting all the religion to Him and rejecting all other gods/idols :
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Old Testament:
"You shall have no other gods besides Me"
Exodus 20:3 (First Commandment)
New Testament:
"You shall worship the Lord your God. and Him ONLY you shall serve"
(Luke 4:8)
The Quran:
"You shall know that: "There is no other god beside God"
47:19
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Submission to God is the religion whereby we recognize God's absolute
authority, and reach an unshakeable conviction that God ALONE possesses
all power; no other entity possesses any power that is independent of Him.
The natural result of such a realization is to devote our lives and our worship
absolutely to God ALONE. As shown this is the message of all Scripture.
The above Quranic verse (42:13) confirms that the religion that was revealed
to Muhammad through the Quran is not different from what was given to the
previous prophets.
Within the religion of Islam God decreed specific rituals and practices
designed to teach man to worship his Lord. These acts (Prayer, pilgrimage
.... etc.) were taught first to Abraham.
This truth is given light in numerous verses such as:
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"We made them (Abraham and his sons) imams who guided
in accordance with our commandments, and we taught them
how to work righteousness, and how to observe the Contact
Prayers (Salat) and the obligatory charity (Zakat)."
21:73
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Essentially, if there is only one religion decreed by God there must be One
'truth'. Do we conclude that there should be one revelation? The answer to
this question is that 'truth' and 'revelation' are not absolutely equivalent terms.
Because 'truth' is an absolute term it is situated independent of form, whereas
revelations are relative to time, people and place, and thus require a form. But
to speak of form is to speak of diversity and thus plurality.
The need for different revelations at different times and for different people is
justified by the following factors:
1- Mankind has gone through enormous development through the ages
physically, mentally and spiritually, that there was always the need for various
revelations at different times and for different peoples. Although the various
revelations are united in message and truth, yet we find that God never
addresses identical revelations to two different people. This being so, it can
be said that the diverse revelation do not, and should not contradict one
another, for although they differ in form, the religion decreed in all of them
(Monotheism) is one.
2- If there appears any apparent contradictions between different
revelations, they are in human receptacles and not in the divine message. This
is a result of human inability to interpret such revelations and more importantly
the failure to preserve the 'truth' contained in the revelation, which always
tends to be impaired and altered with the passing of time.
Ultimately, the apparent contradiction is no more than one between corrupt
scripts and interpretations of the original revelations, and not between the
revelations themselves.
Inevitably, and through corruption in the transfer and application of a
Scripture, together with the social and cultural factors that always widen the
gap between the factions, we are left with a multitude of corrupt religions.
These sub-religions in many ways hardly bare any resemblance to one
another, or to the original religion decreed by God.
For that, there becomes a necessity for mankind to receive another revelation
that puts them back on track with God's law that has been badly corrupted.
3- We find that up until the advent of the industrial revolution and the fast
travel era, the world was still a wide expanse of disjointed lands and peoples.
Many people would have not even heard of those Scripture that have already
been revealed in various other parts of the world. This is why a new scripture
would be revealed to new communities who have not received the Scripture.
However, after the revelation of the Quran, there became no need for any
further revelations. Not because the message of the Quran is much different
from the message of the Torah or the Gospel, but because of the following
reasons:
A- A divine promise has been endorsed in the Quran that it will not be
corrupted like previous Scripture. As a result, and if the message would
remain intact in one Scripture, there becomes no need to reveal further
Scripture.
B- With the advent of the modern fast travel means of today, the whole
world became a closer knit unit. People do not have to travel to hear or
receive information, it is brought right up to them through the various media
channels that were not available a few centuries ago.
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"The only religion approved by God
is Islam (Submission)."
3:19
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The word Islam simply means Submission (to God). We learn from previous
Scripture that all the prophets of God submitted to God Almighty and called
their people to submit to the One and only God.
It is a mistaken concept among Muslims (and non Muslims alike) that Islam is
basically the religion of the Quran and the religion of Muhammad.
God tells in the Quran that Islam (Submission to God) is as old as Abraham
(22:78), and that all the practices of Islam were first given to Abraham and his
sons long before Muhammad was born.
Millions of Muslims today believe that it was Muhammad who taught them
how to pray and conduct their other rituals. This belief is erroneous since it
violates the truth of the Quran. In the Quran we read:
1-
God taught Abraham and his sons all the rituals of Islam (Prayer, pilgrimage,
Zakat ... etc see 21:73, 22:26-29). This took place long before the time of
Muhammad.
2- Muhammad was in fact commanded to follow the religion of Abraham
(16:123) .... This is described in the same verse as being Monotheism, which
is submission to God without setting any idols besides Him. But God also
tells Muhammad in verse 5:48 that within each revelation there are specific
laws and rites that are specific to the receivers of this particular revelation.
Hence the command is issued in 5:48 that Muhammad should follow the rites
given to him in the Quran and NOT the rites of previous people.
This is followed by God’s description of the Quran as 'COMPLETE' (6:115),
'FULLY DETAILED' (6:114), that 'NOTHING' has been left out of it (6:38)
and that it offers ‘explanations for EVERYTHING’ 16:89.
God calls this One religion that He decreed to all previous prophets Islam
(Submission).
It is through this overall plan that we should understand the meaning of the
phrase (the only religion acceptable to God is Islam). It does not mean that
Islam is exclusively the religion of the Quran, nor does it mean that Islam is
the religion first brought by Muhammad.
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