Islam: The Religion Of Truth Page 1

Knowing The Messenger

If we already know that God (Allah in Arabic) is our Lord who created us and that He will raise us up after death to recompense us for our deeds, we should also know that God ((God in Arabic) had sent a Messenger to us and to mankind and ordered us to obey and follow him. God informed us that the only method to know how to worship Him in a right way is to follow this Messenger, and worship God according to the religion revealed to him.

This honourable Messenger that all mankind should believe in and follow is Muhammad, the unlettered Prophet, the seal of Messengers, and the Messenger of God to mankind.

Both Moses and Jesus announced the glad tidings of Prophet Muhammad's coming. These tidings were clear in more than 40 verses of the Old Testament and Bible, but the Jews and Christians perverted and changed these books.

This honourable Prophet whom God had sent to mankind is Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, the grandson of Abdul Muttalib, the Hashimi and Qurashi. Muhammad was the most honourable and truthful man in the most honourable clan that ever lived on earth. Muhammad, the descendant of the prophet Ismaeal, son of prophet Ibrahim, was born in Makkah in the year 570 A.C. The moment of his birth witnessed many indicative events: people were amazed by brightness casting light over the world, the idols worshipped by Quraiysh at Makkah were reversed, the (Iywan) throne of Khosrau king of Persia was shaken that night and a dozen of its battlements broke down. Even the big fire which the Persians used to worship went out, although it had never done so for 2000 years before.

These were all signs and glad tidings to people that the last of the prophets had been born on that night, that he would demolish idol worshipping and that he would call Arabs, Persian and Greeks to worship God Alone and follow His true religion.

These signs were also a warning to these people that if they refused to follow the last of the prophets, God would give him and his followers victory over pagan Arabs, Persians and Greeks; and that the prophet would propagate his religion, which is an enlightenment from God to mankind.

God endowed Muhammad (blessings and peace of God be upon him) by the following favours which characterised him over all other prophets:

Muhammad is the seal of 'prophets and no prophet will be sent after him, may the blessings and peace of God be upon him.
His message is a universal and common message. God sent him to all nations and not to a special nation or clan.

As the message of Muhammad is oriented to all the peoples of the world with no distinction among them, therefore whosoever follows Muhammad's religion and obeys him will have salvation and find his path to paradise and whosoever disobeys him will dwell in Hell-fire. Even the Jews and the Christians are ordered to follow Muhammad; if they disobey him, they will disbelieve not only Muhammad, but also in Moses, Jesus and all other prophets. All prophets who preceded Muhammad, may the blessings and peace of God be upon them, announced the glad tidings of his coming and ordered their nations to follow him. Muhammad's religion, Islam, is the same religion that had been revealed to all previous prophets, except that Islam got its absolute perfection during the mission of Muhamrnad, the seal of prophets. Consequently, it is not for anyone to adopt any religion other than Islam, the perfect. And true religion which substitutes all other religions. As for Judaism and Christianity, they have both been changed and perverted. On the other hand, every Muslim following Muhammad is, at the same time, a follower of Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. Every unbeliever of Islam is also an unbeliever of Moses, Jesus, and other prophets even if he pretends to be one of their followers. This explains why many Jewish rabbis and Christian monks hastened to embrace Islam and believe in Muhammad.

Historians who wrote prophet Muhammad's biography estimated that the miracles proving his prophethood number more than one thousand. Among these miracles was the seal of prophethood between his shoulders in the form of warts composing these words: Muhammad is the Messenger of God. One of his miracles was that clouds cast shadows upon him wherever he walked in the hot sun in summer, pebbles glorified God as he put his hand over them, trees greeted him when he passed by. Also he told of the unseen events to happen in the coming years, and these events turned out to be true, confirming gradually that what the Prophet had said before was certainly a miracle. The unseen events, about which the Prophet had informed us are recorded in books such as the book of Ibn Katheer (AL-Nihayah) the book entitled (Kitab AL-Akhbar Almusha'fi Ashrat As-sa'a) and the chapters dealing with signs of Dooms day in books of Hadith (prophet's traditions).

All these miracles are similar to the miracles endowed to other prophets, but Mohammad, may the grace and peace of God be upon him, was privileged with an immortal miracle which no prophet before him had ever been endowed with, this immortal miracle is the Glorious Qur'an, the words of God.

God undertook to guard the Qur'an against all sorts of change or pervertion. There are hundreds of millions of Qur'an copies all over the world. All these copies are identically similar. If anyone tries to change a letter in a Qur'anic word, his action will be revealed. As for the Old Testament and Bible, they are diversified; each copy differs from the other, because the Jews and Christians changed these books and perverted them when God had entrusted them to guard it. But for the Qur'an, God promised to guard it by Himself. He said:

Verily, We, it is We Who have sent down the Message (i.e. the Qur'an) and surely We will guard it (from corruption)
(15 : 9).

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Rational and Qur'anic Evidences That The Qur'an is The speech of God To His Messenger Muhammad

One of the most demonstrative and logical evidences which prove that the Qur'an is the revelation of God to His Messenger Muhammad (blessings and peace of God be upon him) is the fact that God had challenged the unbelievers of Qurayesh to produce a book like the Qur'an. Although the Qur'an was revealed in their own language, and they were masters of fluency, eloquence, poetry and literature, they failed even to produce one Surah like it. God stated that if all of mankind, supported by Jinn, try to produce a book like this Qur'an, they will never be able to produce the like of it:

Say: "If the whole of mankind and the jinn were together to produce the like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they helped one another".
(17 : 88)

Had the Qur'an been the words of Muhammad, or the production of any other mortal, the unbelievers, with their eloquence and fluency, would have been able to face the challenge and produce a Surah similar to the Qur'an. But they failed because the Qur'an is the word of God. The superiority of the Qur'an over mortals speech is as the sublimity of God over all His creatures. As God, Glory be to Him, has no simile, His words also are not alike to any mortal words.

As the words of God are communicated to mankind through a Messenger sent from God, consequently, Muhammad who communicated the Qur'an to mankind is a Messenger sent from God. This has been stated clearly in the Qur'an:

Muhammad is not the father of any of your men but he is the Messenger of God and the Seal of the Prophets and God has full knowledge of all things.
(33 : 40)

Almighty God says:

We have not sent thee but as a "Messenger" to all mankind giving them glad tidings and warning them (against sin), but most men know not.
(34 : 28)

Almighty God says:

And We have sent you (O Muhammad, peace be upon him) not but as a mercy for all creatures (mankind, jinn and all that exist). (21 :107)

In the first verse, God stated that Muhammad (peace arid blessings of God be upon: him) is His Messenger to mankind, and that he is the last of His Messengers. Therefore, no prophet will be sent after Muhammad. God stated also that He had chosen Muhammad for this noble mission because he is the most appropriate and fit man to carry it out. In the second verse, God stated that He had sent Muhammad to the whole of mankind with no distinction between races. Muhammad is sent to the whites and blacks, to Arabs and non Arabs, ... etc, but most men do not understand the truth. They went astray and became unbelievers when they refused to follow Muhammad.

In the third verse, God addresses His prophet and informs him that he had been sent as a mercy to all beings. The Messenger is the mercy of God which He bestowed upon mankind.

Therefore, whoever believes in the Prophet and follows him is accepting the mercy of God and will be rewarded by Paradise and whoever disbelieves in Muhammad and refuses to follow him is rejecting the mercy of God and deserves severe punishment in Hell-fire.

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How To Know The Religion of Truth

If man is aware that God is the Lord who has created and nourished him and that God is the only true God with no partners associated to Him, thus, He is the Only True God that deserves to be worshipped and if man knows also that Muhammad is the Messenger of God to mankind, he must also know that his faith in God and his Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) will not be perfect unless he is acquainted with the religion of Islam, believes in it, and behaves according to its precepts. This is due to the fact that Islam is the true religion approved by God, Glory be to Him, for mankind. God had commanded all His Messengers, before Muhammad, to follow Islam, and He sent Muhammad the last of His prophets to propagate Islam and enjoin people to behave according to its precepts.

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What is Islam.

Muhammad, the last Messenger of God to mankind, defined Islam as follows: Islam is to testify that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is His Messenger, to perform prayers, pay the poor tax (Zakat), fast in the month of Ramadan and do pilgrimage to the Holy House in Makkah if you have the means for that.

Islam is the universal true religion for mankind. Almighty God says: Truly, The Religion with God is Islam.
(3:19)

All Messengers of God, even those who had been sent before Muhammad, adopted Islam, manifested it and behaved according to it. The Qur'an states:

And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers.
(3 :85)

According to these two Qur'anic verses, Islam is the only true religion from God and no other religion will be accepted in the Hereafter. Therefore, Muslims alone will gain happiness in the next world. Those who die adopting a religion other than Islam will be of the losers in the next world and will be tormented in Hell-fire.

This explains why all the prophets who had been sent before Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) declared themselves to be Muslims and surrendered to God. They declared that they are free of everyone who rejects Islam. Thus, a Jew or a Christian, who strives for salvation and wants to gain happiness in the Hereafter should embrace Islam and follow Muhammad the Prophet of Islam (peace and blessings of God be upon him). By embracing Islam, the Jew or the Christian becomes, at the same time, a true follower of Jesus and Moses, may the peace and blessings of God be upon them, because, as it has been mentioned before, Moses, Jesus, Muhammad and all Messengers of God who had been sent before Muhammad, were Muslims and called people to Islam, the true religion of God. Whoever is born after the mission of the last prophet Muhammad, (peace and blessings of God be upon him) should not call himself a Muslim, unless he believes in Muhammad the Messenger of God, follows him and does what God commands and avoids what He prohibits. God says in the Qur'an:

Say: (O Muhammad, peace be upon him to mankind): "If you (really) love God then follow me: God will love you and forgive you your sins, God is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.
(3 : 31).

In this verse, God orders his Messenger Muhammad to tell those who pretend that they love God: If you love God truly, follow me and God will love you, God will never love you nor will He forgive your sins unless you believe in His Messenger Muhammad and follow him. God had sent Muhammad to propagate Islam, the comprehensive and tolerant religion to all mankind. God stated in the Qur'an that He gave perfection to Islam and approved it to be the religion of mankind.

This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion.
(5 : 3)

This Qur'anic verse was revealed to the seal of prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) during his last pilgrimage while he was standing on the mount of Arafat, giving his prayers to God and thanking Him for His help and that He had accomplished His favours on His Messenger by the completion of the Qur'an, and that Islam had begun to take its course by gaining an ever increasing number of followers.

This verse also indicates that Islam was revealed to Muhammad in order to call all mankind to it because it is the perfect, comprehensive and suitable religion for mankind in all ages, all places and for all nations.

This is due to the fact that Islam is characterised by knowledge, tolerance, Justice and good. It contains a clear, perfect and straight method that can guide man in all spheres of life. Islam is not only a faith but it also has its own distinguished basis of governing, Justice, political system, social affairs, economy and whatever useful knowledge which mankind may need to achieve prosperity in this worldly life and happiness in the coming life (after death).

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The Pillars Of Islam

Islam is based on the following five principles. No one can claim to be a Muslim unless he believes in these five essential rules and practises them sincerely:

To testify that none has the right to be worshipped but God, and Muhammad is God's Messenger.
To offer the five daily prayers dutifully and perfectly.
To pay Zakat (obligatory charity.)
To observe fast during the month of Ramadan
To perform Hajj Whenever one is capable.

To testify that there is no god save God and that Muhammad is His Messenger has a specific meaning which the Muslim should not only know but also practise sincerely. Whoever utters this testimony (Shahadah) without knowing its meaning, or without binding himself by it in his behaviour will gain no use from it.

This testimony means that there is none on the earth nor in the heavens deserving to be worshipped save God alone. God is the One True God. All other deities, whatever they may be, are false. Therefore, whoever worships any deity besides is an unbeliever and an idolater even if what he worships is a prophet, a saint or a holy man, under the pretext that this deity will be his intercessor to God. The unbelievers, against whom Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) carried a continuous fight had used this false pretext to justify worshipping their prophets and pious men. Seeking to gain the consent of God, or asking for His help can not be achieved by worshipping others than God but it can only be attained by serving God alone, glorifying Him by His names and Attributes and by performing the good deeds that He had commanded us to do, such as prayer, fasting, fighting for His cause, pilgrimage and kind treatment to the parents etc.

Worshipping takes different forms and one of them is supplication which means to ask for something which no one can ever grant except God. The fall of rain, recovery of patient, recovery from misfortunes, asking for salvation from fire hell and dwelling in paradise etc, in all cases and other similar cases one should ask God alone to grant such blessings.

Whoever asks a mortal being to grant him such thing is indeed worshipping this being. God ordered His bondsmen to supplicate Him alone for whatever they may need:

And your Lord says: "Call on me; I will answer your (prayer), but those who are too arrogant to serve me will surely enter Hell abased".
(40:60)

God instructed us that mortal beings whom idolaters supplicate are deprived of power; they can never cause harm or bring any benefit to any one:

Say: "Call on those besides Him whom you fancy, they have neither power to remove your troubles from you nor to change them"

(17:56).

Almighty God says:

And the places of worship are for God (alone): so invoke not any one along with God
(72:18)

Offering sacrifices and votive offerings are services which should be consecrated for God alone. Whoever offers a sacrifice or makes a vow for dead pious man, for the Jinn or for any other than God. The Qur'an states:

Say: Truly, my prayer and my service of sacrifice, my life and my death are all for God, The Cherisher of the worlds; no partner hath He: This am I commanded and I am the first of those who bow to His Will.
(6:162-163)

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of God be upon him) said: May God curse whoever offers a sacrifice to anyone other than Him, If a person says: I vow to offer a sacrifice to this in the examination, or if I am relieved from a disease etc. This kind of vow is certainly a form of idolatry because vows should be consecrated to God alone and absolutely not to anyone else other than God.

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SOURCE

From The Religion Of Truth by Abdul Rahman Ben Hammad Al-Omar.

Published by Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Riyadh 1995. ISBN 9960290492