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{ أَمْ خُلِقُوا مِنْ غَيْرِ شَيْءٍ أَمْ هُمُ الْخَالِقُونَ أَمْ خَلَقُوا السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضَ بَل لَا يُوقِنُونَ }
Have they been created from nothing or are they themselves their own creators?
Or did they create the heavens and the earth? Nay! they have no certainty. Sura Ṭūr 52-35--36
At the heart of Islam stands the reality of God, the One.
Compassion, Love, Peace, Justice, Truth and Beauty are some of the Divine Qualities, which humans should emulate.fn1
Man got a choice: to submit to God (so as to accept and know Allah) or go his/ her own way (the way of the self, ego — nafs ).
Everything animal, plant, mineral and atom knows how to submit, only man doesn't, so the message of Islam is the means by which inner & outer peace is attainable.
Necessary is the effort of man and the grace of God - Allah.fn2
The Sum of Islam, Ali bin Abi Tālib
[more]
- to witness no one but Allah worthy of worship
- to perform the ritual prayer five times a day
- to give 'Zakat' of one's wealth
- to fast in the month of Ramadan
- to perform Hajj if possible once in life
Then there is Iman (faith) and Ihsan (Excellence):
- explained here Islam Q & A
- also: Islam - Iman - Ihsan
- Islam - A Way of Life - a Religion
This is a religion that has an open invitation to humanity.
Sh. Hamza Yusuf
”Indifference towards truth and towards God borders on presumption and is not free from hypocrisy; its seeming harmlessness is full of complacency and arrogance; in this state of soul, the individual is contented with himself, even if he accuses himself of minor faults and appears modest, which in fact commits him to nothing but on the contrary reinforces his illusion of being virtuous.”
Indifference - The Most Widespread Of Faults
Claims by the uninformed that Islam is not a religion but an ideology and that therefore the Quran is a political manifesto are plain wrong. Less than 3% of the Quran's 6236 verses deal with politics. And how would one define "political"? A frequently cited figure is about 500 verses being "legally relevant.”
Since the Bible is more violent than the Quran, one should address one's own flock! And tell them that those 500 'legally relevant' verses primarily deal with acts of worship, prayer, purification, dietary guidelines with a small percentage dealing with questions of war and peace.
Imam al-Māwardi wrote, "If a person has the ability to express his faith in a country whose majority are not Muslim (land of disbelief), then residence there is better than migration because there is hope (with her/his presence) that others will accept Islām."
وقال الماوردي: إذا قدر على إظهار الدين في بلد من بلاد الكفر، فالإقامة فيها أفضل من الرحلة منها؛ لما يترجى من دخول غيره في الإسلام.
From a 13th century copy of "al-Maqāmāt al-Ḥarīriyah"
For further clarification on this, see Ibn Hajar's Fatwā al-Kubrā where he notes that "residence" is the relied opinion of the Imām al-Shāfi's school. Al-Haythami wrote, "Because it accomplishes the greatest goal: spreading faith."
Imam Suhaib Webb 2015, 2017
Articles reexamining apostacy laws are being laid out, encouraging respect for places of worship & expressions of faith.
But of concern is the desire by some that before an American Muslim can be seen as human: as a non-militarized threat, he/she must denounce terror, explain problems occurring in other countries and societies and show that he/she are "domesticated."
Isn't our innocence as citizens, our breath as humans enough? Why do I have to address someone's fears before he can see me as human?
The presumption of humanity is our right, just as it is yours. But to be suspect before we are known is privilege & bigotry used by some Christians & some Whites, embolding them to trample on the object of white fear.
That said all criminal acts have certainly to be persecuted by law enforcement and judiciary, irrespective of the perpetrators.
NN
In general a religion has to include three essential elements, without which it does not fulfil its function. These three elements are the following:
- a doctrine (the teachings - intellectual component),
- a rite (the ritual component) and
- a moral, i.e. an ethic, (the social component)
Not any ethical system based on human, rational thought but deriving from the super-human level.
Furthermore religion always includes a moral and a sentimental element because man himself is a being with sentiments. The problem (of religions degenerating) start when this sentimental element takes over, dimming the original teachings of the religion.
What Is A Religion?
From this follows that any religion which lacks one or more of these basic elements has to be rejected. The fact that Islam has preserved all three elements is proof of its authenticity and when it is claimed that Islam reigns supreme, it means that Islam is the summit and summary of the earlier divines messages.
While confirming the original messages of the earlier world religions, Islam remains the only effective way for the spiritual ascent of man, because man is one and the Truth is One.
{ الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا }
{ This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion… }
Sura 5-3
