The Introduction

Islam is a complete way of life. It is the guidance provided by Allah, the Creator of the Universe, for all mankind. It covers all the things people do in their lifetime. Islam tells us the purpose of our creation, our final destiny and our place among other creatures. It shows us the best way to conduct our private, social, political, economic, moral and spiritual affairs of life.

"I have not created jinn and mankind (for any other purpose) except to worship me" (Qur'an 51:56)

Islam is an Arabic word which means submission and obedience. Submission is acceptance of Allah's commands. Allah,. another Arabic word, is the proper name of God. Muslims should use the word Allah rather than the word God. Obedience means putting Allah's commands into practice. Submission and obedience to Allah bring peace. That is why Islam also means peace.

A person who accepts the Islamic way of life and acts upon it is a Muslim.

Islam is the way of peace and harmony. If we look around, we see that everything including the sun, the moon and the stars, the high hills and the mighty oceans are obeying a Law - the Law of Allah. We find no disorder or chaos in them. A superb harmony and perfect order is evident in the system of nature. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West and there has been no change to this rule. The moon and the stars shine at night. Day passes and night comes, so the process goes on. Flowers blossom and the trees have green leaves in the spring.

Everything has a set course and nothing can violate it. Have we ever noticed any violation of the Law of Allah by these objects of Nature? NO, of course not. Why? Simply because they are made to obey Allah. They have no choice, but to obey. This is why we find eternal peace in the system of Nature. But, in the case of human beings, it is different. Allah has given us the knowledge and will to choose between right and wrong. Not only this, He has, also sent messengers and books for our guidance.

Yet, He does not force us to obey Him. He has given us the will to either obey or disobey Him. Why is this so? It is because He wants to test us After this test there will be a day of reward and punishment. This is the Day of judgement. Those of us who have passed the test will be rewarded with permanent happiness and peace in Paradise and those who have failed will suffer a terrible punishment in Hell. We can get this reward and escape punishment by obeying and worshipping Allah.

We already know that there is peace and harmony among other objects of Nature, because those things never disobey Allah. So, if we follow the guidance given to us through prophets and messengers, we are sure to have peace in the world we live in.

All human beings, by their very nature, like good things and dislike bad ones. For instance, everyone of us approves and likes truthfulness and hates falsehood. Even a liar does not like to be called a liar. Why? Because telling lies is a bad thing. In the same way, helping others, showing kindness, politeness, respect for parents and teachers, honesty and all other forms of good conduct are always liked and appreciated; but rudeness, cruelty, falsehood, hurting someone, disobedience to parents and teachers, using bad names and other bad conduct are despised and disliked by everyone. So, we can say that human nature likes the Right and dislikes the Wrong. Right is Ma'ruf and wrong is Munkar in the language of the Qur'an.

Human nature also loves peace and hates disorder. Peace is the result of obedience to Allah's Law and disorder is the outcome of disobedience. Islam establishes this peace which is part of man's nature and hence, Islam is called the Religion of Nature which in Arabic is Dinul Fitrah.

In order to achieve peace in society, Islam urges Muslims to work together towards what is right and away from what is evil. This united effort to root out evil and establish the truth is called Jihad which means to try one's utmost to to see Truth prevail and Falsehood vanish from the society. The aim of Jihad is to achieve the pleasure of Allah.

"This day I have perfected your religion for you, completed my favour upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your way of life." (Qur'an 5:3)

Go back to Reverts in Islam main page...