(part 1 of 4): The core of Islam
God has endowed humanity in His grace and favor with the innate ability to recognize and recognize His existence. He planted this awareness deeply into their hearts as a natural disposition that has not changed since humans were first created. In addition, He reinforced this natural disposition through the signs in His creation that testify to His existence. Since it is impossible for people to get a precise knowledge of Him except through His revelations, God sent His messengers to tell people about their Creator to worship. These messengers also brought details of how one should serve God, because such details can only be learned through revelation. These two basics were the most important things who sent the messengers of all divine revelations from God. At this level, all divine revelations have the same noble goals:
1.
To confirm the uniqueness of God – the praised and praised Creator – in His nature and qualities 2. To confirm that God should be worshiped alone and that no other being besides Him or in His place may be worshiped
3. To preserve the well-being of people and to fight corruption and evil. Because everything that preserves faith, life, reason, property and descent are part of this human well-being that protects religion. On the other hand, anything that threatens these five universal needs is a form of corruption that religion fights and forbids.
4. To invite people to the highest level of righteousness, moral values and noble customs
The ultimate goal of every Divine Message has always been the same: to lead people to God, to make them aware of His existence, and to worship Him alone. Every Divine Message came to reinforce this meaning, and these words were repeated by the tongues of all messengers: „Serve God, you have no other God but Him.“ This message was brought to mankind by prophets and messengers that God sent to every nation. All of these messengers came with the same message, the message of Islam.
All of the Divine Messages came to move people’s lives to voluntary surrender in God’s will. For this reason, they all share the name of „Islam,“ or „surrender,“ derived from the Arabic word „salam,“ or „peace.“ In this sense, Islam was the religion of all prophets, but why are there so many differences in the religion of God if they all came from the same source? The answer is twofold:
The first reason is that due to the long time that has passed and the fact that the previous religions were not under God’s protection, they have undergone numerous changes and changes. As a result, we can see that the basic truths that all messengers had brought now differ among religions; this is most evident in doctrine and service to God alone.
The second reason for these variations is that God, in His immense wisdom and with His Eternal Will, has determined that all the divine messages before the last message of Islam, which Muhammad, may God have praised, brought only to a certain time frame remain valid for a limited time. Because of this, their laws and methodology only deal with these special conditions of the people for whom they were sent.
Mankind has lived through numerous periods of guidance, deception, righteousness and deviations, from the most primitive age to the highest civilization. The divine guidance has accompanied people through all of this and has provided appropriate solutions and remedies at all times.
This was the crux of the inconsistency that prevails among different religions. This disagreement never went beyond the specifics of the Divine Law. Every manifestation of the law was directed to the particular problems of the people for whom it was intended. Nevertheless, there are still many sections with astonishing similarities, e.g. in the principles of belief, the foundations and goals of Divine Law, such as the protection of belief, life, reason, property, lineage, and justice in the country; and certain basic prohibitions also correspond, the most important of which are: idolatry, adultery, murder, theft and false testimony. Furthermore, they also agree on good moral qualities, such as honesty, justice, chastity, Righteousness and grace. These and other principles are eternal and permanent; they form the essence of all divine messages and connect them with each other.
(part 2 of 4): The origins of Islam
But where does the message of Muhammad – may God praise him – fit in with the earlier messages that God has revealed? A short historical excursion may explain this point to us.
Adam, the first man, followed Islam by devoting his worship to God alone and to no one else and remaining faithful to His commands. However, with the passage of time and the spread of humanity on earth, people deviated from this message and began to worship other things instead of or with God. Some began to worship the pious who crossed their paths, while others sought spirits or the forces of nature to worship. Then God began to send messengers to mankind to make them worship Him alone again, which corresponded to their natural disposition, and to warn them of the harsh consequences if they worshiped anything else besides Him.
The first of these messengers was Noah, who was sent to convey this message of Islam to his people after they began to worship their pious forefathers with God. Noah called on his people to give up their idolatry and ordered them to return to worship God alone. Some of them followed Noah’s teachings while the majority did not believe him. Those who followed Noah were followers of Islam or Muslims, but those who did not remained unbelieved and held accountable for their actions.
After Noah, God sent messengers to every people who had been discouraged from the truth to guide them back to her. This truth was the same all the time: to reject all idolatry and to direct all worship to God and no one else, to remain faithful to the Creators and Lords of all and His commands. But as mentioned before: Because each people differed in their way of life, language and culture from the others, certain envoys were sent to certain peoples at a certain time.
God sent messengers to all peoples. He sent Abraham – one of the earliest and greatest prophets – to the Kingdom of Babylon, who asked his people to refrain from the idolatry they devoted themselves to. He called them to Islam, but they rejected him and even tried to kill him. God subjected Abraham to many trials, and he proved his veracity in all of them. For his numerous sacrifices, God promised him that a huge people would emerge from his offspring, from whom He would choose prophets. Whenever people from his offspring began to stray from the truth, God sent another messenger to them to lead them back to her.
Accordingly, we see many prophets sent to the descendants of Abraham, such as his two sons Isaac and Ismael, along with Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Moses, and of course Jesus, to name but a few – may the blessings and peace of God be rest on them all. Each prophet was sent to the children of Israel (the Jews) if they deviated from the true religion of God, and it was their duty to follow the messengers who were sent to them and to obey their orders. All of these messengers came with the same message: to refuse worship to beings other than God alone and to obey His commands. Some did not believe the prophet while others believed them. Those who believed were followers of Islam (which means submission to the will of Allah),
Among the messengers was Muhammad – may God praise him – from the descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham – may God praise him – who followed Jesus as an ambassador. Muhammad – may God praise him – preached the same message of Islam as the previous prophets and messengers had done before him – to direct all worship to God and not to obey anyone else and His commands – in which the followers of the previous prophets had departed.
From this we can see that the Prophet Muhammad – may God praise him – was not the founder of a new religion, as many people mistakenly think, but was sent as the last Prophet of Islam. In revealing His last message to Muhammad, which is an eternal and universal message for all of humanity, God finally fulfilled the promise He made to Abraham.
Just as it was up to those who were alive to follow the message of the last prophet who was sent to them, so it is up to all of humanity to follow the message of Muhammad. God promised that this message should remain unchanged and be appropriate for all times and places. Suffice it to say that the nature of Islam is the same as that of the Prophet Abraham, because both the Bible and the Qur’an worship Abraham as an outstanding example of someone who has completely submitted to God and his worship only to Him alone and has not been given to anyone else without any intermediaries. When you realize this, you should realize that Islam has the most consistent and universal message of all religions,
Here we see that those who call themselves Muslims today are not following a new religion, rather they are following the religion and message of all previous prophets and messengers who were sent to humanity by God’s command, also known as Islam. The word „Islam“ is an Arabic word and literally means „surrender to God,“ and Muslims are those who voluntarily submit to and obey Him and live in agreement with His message.
(part 3 of 4): The Foundations of Faith in Islam
There are many aspects of belief that those who cling to Islam must be firmly convinced of. Of these, six are the most important, known as the “Six Articles of Faith”.
1) Believe in God
Islam maintains the strict monotheism and belief in God that is at the heart of belief. Islam teaches belief in a God who is neither a father nor a father and who has no partner in His oversight of the world. He alone brings life to life, lets him die, brings good things, causes suffering and supports his creation. In Islam, God is the one creator, lord, preserver, legislator, judge and keeper of the universe. There is no one who is equal in His abilities and qualities, such as knowledge and power. All worship, worship and homage should be addressed directly to God and to no one else. Any break with this concept denies the basis of Islam.
2) Believe in the angels
Followers of Islam have to believe in the invisible world mentioned in the Quran. The angels of this world are God’s messengers, each of whom is assigned a special task. You have no free will or the ability not to obey; it is their special nature to be God’s faithful servants. Angels may not be taken as demigods or as objects of worship or veneration; they are only God’s servants who obey each of His commands.
3) Believe in the prophets and messengers
Islam is a universal and comprehensive religion. Muslims believe in all prophets, not only in the Prophet Muhammad – may God praise him – but also in the Hebrew prophets, including Abraham and Moses, as well as the prophets of the New Testament, Jesus and John the Baptist. Islam teaches that God did not only send prophets to Jews and Christians, but sent prophets to all peoples of the world with a central message: worship God alone. A Muslim must believe in all God-sent prophets mentioned in the Quran without making any difference between them. Muhammad was sent with the last message and there will be no other prophet after him.
4) Believe in the Scriptures
Muslims believe in certain books that God has sent down to mankind through his prophets. These books include the books of Abraham, the Torah of Moses, the Psalter of David, and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These books all came from the same source (God), the same message, and were all revealed in truth. However, this does not mean that this truth has been preserved as it was revealed. Muslims (and also many Jewish and Christian scholars and historians) found that these books that exist today are no longer the original writings that were actually lost, changed, and repeatedly translated, thereby losing their original message . Excepted from this is demonstrably only the last message of Allah to human beings,
As Christians view the New Testament as the fulfillment and completion of the Old Testament, Muslims believe that the Prophet Muhammad received revelations from God through the angel Gabriel to clarify the errors of the people, which are reflected in the writings and teachings of Judaism, Christianity and all other religions had crept in. This revelation is the Quran, revealed in Arabic, and still preserved in its original form today. He tries to guide humanity in all life situations: spiritually and worldly, individually and collectively. It contains guidelines for living, reports stories and parables, describes the characteristics of God and speaks about the best laws for governing social life. It contains guidance for everyone every place and all times. Millions of people have memorized the Quran today and all copies of the Quran today and in the past are absolutely identical. God has promised that He will protect the Quran from change until the end of time so that guidance remains clear to people and the message of all prophets is available to those who seek it.
5) Belief in
Afterlife Muslims believe in a day when all creation will perish and everyone will be resurrected to be held accountable for their actions: the day of judgment. On this day everyone is gathered before God and each individual is asked about his life in this world and how he lived it. Those who hold true belief in God and the afterlife and do righteous deeds will go to Paradise, even if they have to pay for some of their sins in hellfire unless God chooses righteousness in His Infinite to forgive them. But as for those who are addicted to idolatry with its many faces, they will enter hellfire and never leave it.
6) Belief in Divine Predestination
Islam emphasizes that God has complete strength and knowledge of all things and that nothing happens except with His will and full knowledge. What is known as Divine Advice, fate or “doom” is called al-Qadr in Arabic. The fate of every creature is already known to God.
This belief does not contradict man’s free will to determine the nature of his actions. God doesn’t force us to do anything; we can decide whether we obey him or not. Our choice is known to God before we do it. We don’t know our fate ourselves, but God knows the fate of all things.
So we should have a firm belief, whatever happens to us, it is God’s will and happens with His knowledge. Things can happen to us in this world that we do not understand, but we should trust that God has wisdom about all things.
(part 4 of 4): Worship in Islam
There are five simple but essential worship practices that all practicing Muslims must accept and follow. These “pillars of Islam” represent the core that unites all Muslims.
1) The “Creed”
A Muslim is someone who testifies that “no one has the right to be worshiped except God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God”. This statement is known as the “Shahada” (testimony, testimony). God is the Arabic name for God, just like Yahweh is the Hebrew name for God. By making this simple statement, you become a Muslim. The statement emphasizes the absolute belief in the unity of God in Islam, its exclusive right to worship, as well as the tenet that joining God is an unforgivable sin, as we read in the Quran:
„Truly, God will not forgive it, that gods are placed with him; but He forgives what is less than what He wants. And whoever puts God to the side of God has truly committed a tremendous sin. ” (Quran 4:48)
The second part of the Creed states that Muhammad – may God praise him – is a prophet of God, like Abraham, Moses and Jesus before him. Muhammad brought the final, final revelation. By recognizing Muhammad as the “Seal of the Prophets”, Muslims believe that his prophecy confirms and fulfills all of the messages revealed, starting with Adam. In addition, Muhammad plays an exemplary role due to his exemplary life. A believer’s effort to follow Muhammad’s example reflects the importance that Islam attaches to practice and action.
2) The Prayer (Salah)
Muslims pray five times a day: at daybreak, at noon, in the afternoon, at sunset, in the evening. This helps the believer to be aware of God while dealing with work and the family. It aligns him again with the spiritual center, reassures him of total dependence on God and lets him see worldly matters in view of the last judgment and the afterlife. Prayer consists of sections of standing, bowing, prostrating with the face to the floor, and sitting. Prayer is a means of maintaining the connection between God and His creation. It contains recitations from the Quran, praises of God, prayers for forgiveness and other different supplications. It is an expression of the submission, humility and worship of God. You can pray in any clean place: alone or in community, in a mosque or at home, at work or on the street, indoors or outdoors. It is preferable to pray with others as a unit, which demonstrates discipline, fraternity, equality and cohesion. As they prepare to pray, Muslims turn their faces to Mecca, the holy city built around the Kaaba – the house of God that Abraham and his son Ishmael built.
3) The Mandatory Alms (Zakah)
In Islam the true owner of all things is God, not man. God entrusts their good to people. Zakah is a worship and thanksgiving to God by supporting the poor and needy, thereby purifying your own wealth. For this purpose, an annual amount of 2.5% of own property and assets is required. For this reason, Zakah is not a simple “alms”, it is an obligation for those who have received their wealth from God to meet the needs of the less fortunate members of society. Zakah is used to support the poor, orphans and widows, to help the debtors and in ancient times to free slaves.
4) Fasting in Ramadhan (Hem)
Ramadhan is the ninth month in the Islamic lunar calendar that is spent fasting. Healthy Muslims refrain from eating, drinking and sexual activity from sunrise to sunset. Fasting develops spirituality, the awareness of dependence on God and teaches you to do with less. A special evening prayer is held in the mosques, whose Quran recitations can be heard from afar. The families get up before sunrise to have their first meal of the day, which is supposed to give them strength until sunset. The month of Ramadhan ends with one of the two major Islamic festivals, the fast-breaking festival, called Id-ul-Fitr, which is characterized by joy, family visits and the exchange of gifts.
5) The fifth pillar is the pilgrimage or Hağğ to Mecca.At
least once in a lifetime, every adult Muslim who is in good health and financially capable has to sacrifice some time, money, position and everyday comfort of life in order to complete the Hağğ pilgrimage undertake and devote themselves entirely to the service. Every year, over two million Muslims from different countries and in different languages from all over the world travel to the Holy City of Mecca [1] to follow God’s call.
Who are muslims
The Arabic word “Muslim” literally means “someone who is in the state of Islam (submission under the will and law of God)”. The message of Islam is addressed to the whole world, and anyone who accepts his message becomes a Muslim. There are over a billion Muslims worldwide. Muslims make up the majority of the population in 56 countries. Many people are amazed that the majority of Muslims are not Arabs. Although most Arabs are Muslims, there are also Arabs who are Christians, Jews, and atheists. Only 20% of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims come from Arab countries. There are significant Muslim populations in India, China, Central Asia, Russia, Europe and America. If you just take a look at the different races, living in the Muslim world – from Nigeria to Bosnia and from Morocco to Indonesia – it is easy to see that there are Muslims of all races, ethnic groups, cultures and nationalities. Islam has always been a universal message for all peoples. Islam is the second largest religion in the world and will soon become the second largest religion in America. But few people know what Islam is.
Footnotes:
[1] The city of Mecca is located in Saudi Arabia.
Source: https://www.islamland.com/deu/articles/was-ist-islam