A-Z of Islam 2

A-Z of Islam 2

Dr. Bilal Philips

Definition

The word ISLAM has a two-fold meaning: peace, and submission to God. This submission requires a fully conscious

and willing effort to submit to the one Almighty God. One must consciously and conscientiously give oneself to the

service of Allah. This means to act on what Allah enjoins all of us to do (in the Qur'an) and what His beloved

Prophet, Muhammad (pbuh) encouraged us to do in his Sunnah (his lifestyle and sayings personifying the Qur'an).

Once we humble ourselves, rid ourselves of our egoism and submit totally to Allah, and to Him exclusively, in faith

and in action, we will surely feel peace in our hearts. Establishing peace in our hearts will bring about peace in our

external conduct as well.

Islam is careful to remind us that it not a religion to be paid mere lip service; rather it is an all-encompassing way

of life that must be practiced continuously for it to be Islam. The Muslim must practice the five pillars of the

religion: the declaration of faith in the oneness of Allah and the prophet hood of Muhammad (pbuh), prayer,

fasting the month of Ramadan, alms-tax, and the pilgrimage to Makkah; and believe in the six articles of faith:

belief in God, the Holy Books, the prophets, the angels, the Day of Judgment and God's decree, whether for good

or ill.

There are other injunctions and commandments which concern virtually all facets of one's personal, family and

civic life. These include such matters as diet, clothing, personal hygiene, interpersonal relations, business ethics,

responsibilities towards parents, spouse and children, marriage, divorce and inheritance, civil and criminal law,

fighting in defense of Islam, relations with non-Muslims, and so much more.

Human Rights

Islam has been from its inception very concerned with issues of human rights. Privacy, freedom, dignity and

equality are guaranteed in Islam. The holy Qur'an states clearly:

"There is no compulsion in religion."

And there are no reliable reports to confirm the old accusations that when the Muslim armies were expanding into

Asia, Africa and Europe the people were put to the sword if they failed to convert to Islam. The best proof is that

not only did the Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians and Hindus in those areas not perish or otherwise disappear, they

actually flourished as protected minority communities, and many individuals rose to prominent positions in the arts,

sciences, even in government.

The lives, property and privacy of all citizens in an Islamic state are considered sacred, whether or not the person

is Muslim. Non-Muslims have freedom of worship and the practice of their religions, including their own family law

and religious courts. They are obliged to pay a different tax (Jizyah) instead of the Zakah, and the state is

obligated to provide both protection and government services. Before the modern era it was extremely rare to find

a state or government anywhere in the world that was as solicitous of its minorities and their civil rights as the

Islamic states.

In no other religion did women receive such a degree of legal and moral equality and personal respect. Moreover,

racism and tribalism are incompatible with Islam, for the Qur'an speaks of human equality in the following terms:

"Mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you

may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God's sight is the greatest of you in piety."

Jesus

Islam honors all the prophets who were sent to mankind. Muslims respect all prophets in general, but Jesus in

particular, because he was one of the prophets who foretold the coming of Muhammad. Muslims, too, await the

second coming of Jesus. They consider him one of the greatest of Allah's prophets to mankind. A Muslim does not

refer to him simply as "Jesus," but normally adds the phrase "peace be upon him" as a sign of respect.

No other religion in the world respects and dignifies Jesus as Islam does. The Qur'an confirms his virgin birth (a

chapter of the Qur'an is entitled "Mary"), and Mary is considered to have been one of the purest women in all

creation. The Qur'an describes Jesus' birth as follows:

"Behold!' the Angel said, God has chosen you, and purified you, and chosen you above the women of all nations.

Mary, God gives you good news of a word from Him, whose name shall be the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, honored

in this world and in the Hereafter, and one of those brought near to God. He shall speak to the people from his

cradle and in maturity, and he shall be of the righteous. She said: "My Lord! How shall I have a son when no man

has touched me?' He said: "Even so; God creates what He will. When He decrees a thing, He says to it, 'Be!' and

it is." [3:42-47]

Muslims believe that Jesus was born immaculately, and through the same power which had brought Eve to life and

Adam into being without a father or a mother.

"Truly, the likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam. He created him of dust, and then said to him,

'Be!' and he was." [3:59]

During his prophetic mission, Jesus performed many miracles. The Qur'an tells us that he said:

"I have come to you with a sign from your Lord: I make for you out of clay, as it were, the figure of a bird, and

breathe into it and it becomes a bird by God's leave. And I heal the blind, and the lepers, and I raise the dead by

God's leave." [3:49]

Muhammad and Jesus, as well as the other prophets, were sent to confirm the belief in one God. This is referred

to in the Qur'an where Jesus is reported as saying that he came:

"To attest the law which was before me, and to make lawful to you part of what was forbidden you; I have come

to you with a sign from your Lord, so fear God and obey me." [3:50]

Prophet Muhammad emphasized the importance of Jesus by saying:

"Whoever believes there is no god but Allah, alone without partner, that Muhammad is His messenger, that Jesus

is a servant and messenger of God, His word breathed into Mary and a spirit emanating from Him, and that

Paradise and Hell are true, shall be received by God into Heaven. [Bukhari]

Knowledge

Islam urges people to read and learn on every occasion. The verses of the Qur'an command, advise, warn, and

encourage people to observe the phenomena of nature, the succession of day and night, the movements of stars,

the sun, moon, and other heavenly bodies. Muslims are urged to look into everything in the universe, to travel,

investigate, explore and understand them, the better to appreciate and be thankful for all the wonders and

beauty of God's creations. The first revelation to Muhammad showed how much Islam cares about knowledge.

"Read, in the name of your Lord, Who created..." [96:1]

Learning is obligatory for both men and women. Moreover, education is not restricted to religious issues; it

includes all fields of knowledge, including biology, physics, and technology. Scholars have the highest status in

Islam, second only to that accorded to prophets.

Almost from the very beginnings of the Islamic state Muslims began to study and to master a number of fields of

so-called secular learning, beginning with linguistics and architecture, but very quickly extending to mathematics,

physics, astronomy, geography, medicine, chemistry and philosophy. They translated and synthesized the known

works of the ancient world, from Greece, Persia, India, even China. Before long they were criticizing, improving

and expanding on that knowledge. Centuries before the European Renaissance there were Muslim ³Rennaissance²

men, men who were simultaneously explorers, scientists, philosophers, physicians and poets, like Ibn Sina

(Avicenna), Umar Khayyam, and others.

Main Pillars

1. Shahadah

The first pillar of Islam is that a Muslim believe and declare his faith by saying the Shahadah (lit. 'witness'), also

known as the Kalimah:

La ilaha ila Allah; Muhammadur-rasul Allah. 'There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.'

This declaration contains two parts. The first part refers to God Almighty, the Creator of everything, the Lord of

the Worlds; the second part refers to the Messenger, Muhammad (pbuh) a prophet and a human being, who

received the revelation through the Archangel Gabriel, and taught it to mankind.

By sincerely uttering the Shahadah the Muslim acknowledges Allah as the sole Creator of all, and the Supreme

Authority over everything and everyone in the universe. Consequently the Muslim closes his/her heart and mind to

loyalty, devotion and obedience to, trust in, reliance on, and worship of anything or anyone other than Allah. This

rejection is not confined merely to pagan gods and goddesses of wood and stone and created by human hands

and imaginations; this rejection must extend to all other conceptions, superstitions, ideologies, ways of life, and

authority figures that claim supreme devotion, loyalty, trust, love, obedience or worship. This entails, for example,

the rejection of belief in such common things as astrology, palm reading, good luck charms, fortune-telling and

psychic readings, in addition to praying at shrines or graves of "saints", asking the dead souls to intercede for

them with Allah. There are no intercessors in Islam, nor any class of clergy as such; a Muslim prays directly and

exclusively to Allah.

Belief in the prophet hood of Muhammad (pbuh) entails belief in the guidance brought by him and contained in his

Sunnah (traditions of his sayings and actions), and demands of the Muslim the intention to follow his guidance

faithfully. Muhammad (pbuh) was also a human being, a man with feelings and emotions, who ate, drank and slept,

and was born and died, like other men. He had a pure and upright nature, extraordinary righteousness, and an

unwavering faith in Allah and commitment to Islam, but he was not divine. Muslims do not pray to him, not even

as an intercessor, and Muslims abhor the terms "Mohamedan" and "Mohamedanism".

2. Salah (Prayer)

Prayer (Salah), in the sense of worship, is the second pillar of Islam. Prayer is obligatory and must be performed

five times a day. These five times are dawn (Fajr), immediately after noon (Dhuhr), mid-afternoon ('Asr), sunset

(Maghrib), and early night (Isha'). Ritual cleanliness and ablution are required before prayer, as are clean clothes

and location, and the removal of shoes. One may pray individually or communally, at home, outside, virtually any

clean place, as well as in a mosque, though the latter is preferred. Special is the Friday noon prayer, called

Jum'ah. It, too, is obligatory and is to be done in a mosque, in congregation. It is accompanied by a sermon

(Khutbah), and it replaces the normal Dhuhr prayer.

There is no hierarchical clerical authority in Islam, no priests or ministers. Prayers are led by any learned person

who knows the Qur'an and is chosen by the congregation. He (or she, if the congregation is all women) is called

the imam. There is also no minimum number of congregates required to hold communal prayers. Prayer consists of

verses from the Qur'an and other prayers, accompanied by various bodily postures - standing, bowing, prostrating

and sitting. They are said in Arabic, the language of the revelation, though personal supplications (Du'ah) can be

offered in one's own language. Worshippers face the Qiblah, the direction of the Ka'bah in the city of Makkah.

The significance of prayer lies in one's maintaining a continuous link to God five times a day, which helps the

worshipper avoid misdeeds if he/she performs the prayers sincerely. In addition it promotes discipline,

God-consciousness and placing one's trust in Allah alone, and the importance of striving for the Hereafter. When

performed in congregation it also provides a strong sense of community, equality and brotherhood/sisterhood.

3. Sawm (Fasting)

The fourth pillar of Islam is fasting. Allah prescribes daily fasting for all able, adult Muslims during the whole of the

month of Ramadan, the ninth month of the lunar calendar, beginning with the sighting of the new moon. Exempted

from the fast are the very old and the insane. On the physical side, fasting is from first light of dawn until

sundown, abstaining from food, drink, and sexual relations. On the moral, behavioral side, one must abstain from

lying, malicious gossip, quarreling and trivial nonsense.

Those who are sick, elderly, or on a journey, and women who are menstruating, pregnant, or nursing are permitted

to break the fast, but must make up an equal number of days later in the year. If physically unable to do so, they

must feed a needy person for each day missed. Children begin to fast (and to observe the prayers) from puberty,

although many start earlier.

Although fasting is beneficial to the health, it is regarded principally as a method of self-purification. By cutting

oneself off from worldly pleasures and comforts, even for a short time, the fasting person gains true sympathy for

those who go hungry regularly, and achieves growth in his spiritual life, learning discipline, self-restraint, patience

and flexibility.

In addition to the fast proper, one is encouraged to read the entire Qur'an. In addition, special prayers, called

Tarawih, are held in the mosque every night of the month, during which a whole section of the Qur'an (Juz') is

recited, so that by the end of the month the entire Qur'an has been completed. These are done in remembrance

of the fact that the revelation of the Qur'an to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was begun during Ramadan.

During the last ten days - though the exact day is never known and may not even be the same every year -

occurs the Night of Power (Laylat al-Qadr). To spend that night in worship is equivalent to a thousand months of

worship, i.e. Allah's reward for it is very great.

On the first day of the following month, after another new moon has been sighted, a special celebration is made,

called 'Id al-Fitr. A quantity of staple food is donated to the poor (Zakat al-Fitr), everyone has bathed and put on

their best, preferably new, clothes, and communal prayers are held in the early morning, followed by feasting and

visiting relatives and friends.

There are other fast days throughout the year. Muslims are encouraged to fast six days in Shawwal, the month

following Ramadan, Mondays and Thursdays, and the ninth and tenth, or tenth and eleventh of Muharram, the

first month of the year. The tenth day, called Ashurah, is also a fast day for the Jews (Yom Kippur), and Allah

commanded the Muslims to fast two days to distinguish themselves from the People of the Book.

While fasting per se is encouraged, constant fasting, as well as monasticism, celibacy, and otherwise retreating

from the real world, are condemned in Islam. Fasting on the two festival days, 'Id al-Fitr and 'Id al-Adha, the feast

of the Hajj, is strictly forbidden.

4. Zakah

The third pillar of Islam is the alms-tax (Zakah). It is a tax on wealth, payable on various categories of property,

notably savings and investments, produce, inventory of goods, salable crops and cattle, and precious metals, and

is to be used for the various categories of distribution specified by Islamic law. It is also an act of purification

through sharing what one has with others.

The rationale behind this is that Muslims believe that everything belongs to God, and wealth is held by man as a

trust. This trust must be discharged, moreover, as instructed by God, as that portion of our wealth legally belongs

to other people and must be given to them. If we refuse and hoard this wealth, it is considered impure and

unclean. If, for example one were to use that wealth for charity or to finance one's pilgrimage to Makkah, those

acts would also be impure, invalid, and of course unrewarded. Allah says:

"Of their wealth, take alms so you may purify and sanctify them." [9:103]

The word Zakah means purification and growth. Our possessions are purified by setting aside that portion of it for

those in need. Each Muslim calculates his or her own Zakah individually.

For most purposes this involves the payment each year of 2.5% of one's capital, provided that this capital

reaches a certain minimum amount that which is not consumed by its owner. A generous person can pay more

than this amount, though it is treated and rewarded as voluntary charity (Sadaqah). This amount of money is

provided to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, and can be used in many useful projects for the

welfare of the community.

Historically the pillar of Zakah became mandatory on Muslims form the second year after the Hijrah, 622 C.E. It is

mentioned more than thirty times in the Qur'an, usually in the same breath as Salah. So important is this pillar that

one is not considered a part of the Islamic brotherhood if one ignores this obligation.

5. Hajj

The fifth pillar of Islam is to make a pilgrimage (Hajj) to Makkah, in Saudi Arabia, at least once in one's lifetime.

This pillar is obligatory for every Muslim, male or female, provided that he/she is physically and financially able to

do so. Prerequisites for performing the Hajj are to be a Muslim, to be free, to be an adult or mature enough, to be

of sound mind, and to have the ability to afford the journey and maintain one's dependents back home for the

duration. The reward for the Hajj is nothing less than Paradise.

The Hajj is the ultimate form of worship, as it involves the spirit of all the other rituals and demands of the

believer great sacrifice. On this unique occasion, nearly two million Muslims from all over the globe meet one

another in a given year. Regardless of the season, pilgrims wear special clothes (Ihram) - two, very simple,

unsewn white garments - which strips away all distinctions of wealth, status, class and culture; all stand together

and equal before Allah (God).

The rites of Hajj, which go back to the time of Prophet Abraham who built the Ka'bah, are observed over five or

six days, beginning on the eighth day of the last month of the year, named Dhul-Hijjah (pilgrimage). These rites

include circumambulating the Ka'bah (Tawwaf), and going between the mountains of Safa and Marwah, as Hajjar

(Abraham's wife) did during her search for water for her son Isma'il. Then the pilgrims stand together on the wide

plain of Arafah and join in prayers for God's forgiveness, in what is often thought of as a preview of the Last

Judgment. The pilgrims also cast stones at a stone pillar which represents Satan. The pilgrimage ends with a

festival, called 'Id al-Adha, which is celebrated with prayers, the sacrifice of an animal, and the exchange of

greetings and gifts in Muslim communities everywhere.

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