Compiled by:
Professor Jim Roane Ph.D.
Professor Jim Roane Ph.D.
The Basics of Islam
Islam is the
second-largest religion in the world, with over 1 billion followers. It is a
monotheistic faith founded by a man named Muhammad in 7th-century Saudi Arabia.
"Allah. There is no god but He, the Living, the
Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him nor sleep. His are all
things in the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in His presence
except as He permitteth? ...
What is Allah like?
Muslims believe that God is the all-powerful Creator of a perfect, orderly universe. He is transcendent and not a part of his creation, and is most often referred to in terms and with names that emphasize his majesty and superiority. Among the 99 Beautiful Names of God (Asma al-Husna) in the Qur'an are: the Creator, the Fashioner, the Life-Giver, the Provider, the Opener, the Bestower, the Prevailer, the Reckoner, the Recorder, the King of Kingship and the Lord of the Worlds. His Throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and He feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for He is the Most High, the Supreme in glory." [1]
What can Muslims know about Allah?
Although the God of Islam has revealed his will through the
prophets, his actual nature remains ultimately unknowable. According to one
Islamic scholar, God's will "is all we have, and we have it in perfection
in the Qur'an. But Islam does not equate the Qur'an with the nature or essence
of God. It is the Word of God, the Commandment of God, the Will of God. But God
does not reveal Himself to anyone."[2] In the
words of another writer, "only adjectival descriptions are attributed to
the divine being, and these merely as they bear on the revelation of God's will
for man. The rest remains mysterious."[3]
Despite God's transcendence and ultimate unknowability, however, the
Qur'an does not teach that God does not know us, nor that he remains aloof
in some distant heaven. Quite the contrary: He is present everywhere[4] and "as close to a man as the vein
in his neck." [5]
The one thing that is made abundantly clear, however, is that Allah
is One. He is unique and indivisible. The Qur'an repeatedly emphasizes strict
monotheism, explicitly rejecting both polytheism and the Christian concept of
the Trinity.[6]
Characteristics of Allah
Along with Judaism and Christianity, Islam belongs to the religious
category of "ethical monotheism." Allah is a God of justice, who
expects righteous behavior and submission to the divine will (the
word Islam means "submission," and a Muslim is
literally "one who submits") and punishes unrighteousness.
·
"If ye love Allah, follow me; Allah will love and forgive you
your sins." (Qur'an 3:31)
·
"Allah loves not transgressors" (2:190)
·
"He loves not creatures ungrateful or wicked"
(2:276)
·
"Allah loves not those who do wrong" (3:57, 140)
·
"Allah loves not the arrogant, the vainglorious" (4:36).
Yet divine mercy is not absent from the Qur'an. It teaches
that God will respond to anyone who cries out to him in distress and that he
mercifully provides guidance to humanity so they can follow "the straight
path."[7] The
primary way God has done this is through his prophets or messengers, the
last and most important of which is the Prophet Muhammad.
The single most important belief in Islam,
and arguably the central theme of Islam, is that there is one God. The
Muslim name for God is Allah, which is simply Arabic for "the
(al) God (Ilah)." The term is related to Elohim, the Hebrew word for
God.
In the article on Islam for the Encyclopædia Britannica, Fazlur Rahman notes how the Muslim concept of God relates to the religious context in which the faith arose:
This picture of God-wherein
the attributes of power, justice, and mercy interpenetrate-is related
to the Judeo-Christian tradition, whence it is derived with certain
modifications, and also to the concepts of pagan Arabia, to which it provided an
effective answer. The pagan Arabs believed in a blind and inexorable fate
over which man had no control. For this powerful but insensible fate the Qur'an
substituted a powerful but provident and merciful God.[8]
Finally, to conclude with a description of the God of Islam in the
words of Muslims themselves, this is an excerpt from the same text on God found
on several Islamic websites:
Allah is the proper name applied to the true God Who exists necessarily by Himself comprising all the excellent Divine names and attributes of perfection. Allah is One and Unique. He has no son, partner, or equal. He is the sole Creator and Sustainer of the universe. Every creature bears witness to His Oneness, Divinity, and Ruboobiyyah, and to the uniqueness of His attributes and names. His essence does not resemble any other essences. He does not exist in anything, nor does anything exist in Him. There is none like unto Him.
He is the One, the Sole, the Indivisible. He is the Rubb who accomplishes all affairs, Allah is the Omnipotent and the Omniscient. His knowledge comprehends in perfect manner all things, hidden or manifest. He is greater than can be encompassed by the knowledge of His creatures. He knows everything, and He is aware of all that take place in the earth or in the heavens. Allah, the Supreme, is the Rubb of everything and has a free hand in the disposal of all affairs. Allah-exalted be He is the One Who manages the things that take place. No affair occurs in the visible or the invisible world without His determination, His decree, His will and His decision, so that what He wills takes place, and what He does not will does not take place. No one who can ever resist His command or change His decision.
He is the Merciful One, and His mercy encompasses everything. He is far removed from injustice and tyranny. He is wise in all His actions, just in all His decrees. His justice ensures order in the universe, in which nothing is out of order. There is no one to share His dominion, nor does He take an aide or supporter from His creatures. He is the Rubb of the worlds. He is nearer to man than man's own jugular vein. Whenever a believer is in need or distress calls on Him, He responds.
He is above the Seven Heavens, mounting His throne in the manner that suits His grandeur and majesty. Allah has revealed His final Scripture, the Qur'an, to the last of His Messengers, Muhammad, peace be upon him, who was responsible for conveying the Message of Islam to mankind. He is the Exalted Allah. Glory is due to Him. He is far removed from every imperfection.[9]
Muhammad
According to Muslim belief, the
angel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad, a camel driver, in a mountain
cave and delivered a message from the one true God.
The Prophet Muhammad dedicated the remainder of his life to
spreading a message of monotheism in a polytheistic world. His life's work is
recorded in the Qur'an, the sacred text of Islam.
In 622 AD, the Prophet fled north to the city of Medina to escape growing persecution. This event is celebrated by Muslims
as the hijira ("flight") and marks the beginning of the
Islamic calendar (622 AD = 1 AH).
Eight years later, Muhammad returned to Mecca with an army and defeated it easily. By Muhammad's death, 50
years later, the entire Arabian Peninsula had come under Muslim control.
The word "Islam" means "submission," reflecting
the religion's central tenet of submitting to the will of God. Islamic practices center on the
Five Pillars of Islam: confession of faith, daily prayer, fasting during Ramadan, pilgrimage and charity.
The Quran
The sacred text of Islam, the Qur'an, was written in Arabic within 30 years of Muhammad's
death. Muslims believe it contains the literal word of God as gradually
revealed to Muhammad by the Angel Gabriel over
the course of 20 years. Also important is the tradition of the
sayings and actions of the Prophet and his Companions, collected in
the hadith.
Islam and the West have had a rocky relationship for centuries, and
in recent years the tension has only seemed to escalate. The ongoing conflict
between Israel and Palestine is religiously charged, Western involvement in
Middle Eastern affairs is resented, and various hijackers, suicide bombers and
terrorists base their actions on their Muslim faith.
Many Muslims, however, have denounced this radical minority as
violating both true Islam and the true meaning of jihad, and Islam continues to
be the fastest-growing religion in the world.
What do Muslims believe about the afterlife?
Like Christianity, Islam teaches the continued existence of the soul
and a transformed physical existence after death. Muslims believe there will be
a day of judgment when all humans will be divided between the eternal
destinations of Paradise and Hell.
Resurrection and the Day of
Judgment
A central doctrine of the Qur'an is the Last Day, on which the world
will be destroyed and Allah will raise all people and jinn from the dead to be
judged.
The Last Day is also called the Day of Standing Up, Day of
Separation, Day of Reckoning, Day of Awakening, Day of Judgment, The
Encompassing Day or The Hour.
Until the Day of Judgment, deceased souls remain in their graves
awaiting the resurrection. However, they begin to feel immediately a taste of
their destiny to come. Those bound for hell will suffer in their graves, while
those bound for heaven will be in peace until that time.
The resurrection that will take place on the Last Day is physical,
and is explained by suggesting that God will re-create the decayed body
(17:100: "Could they not see that God who created the heavens and the
earth is able to create the like of them"?).
On the Last Day, resurrected humans and jinn will be judged by Allah
according to their deeds. One's eternal destination depends on balance of good
to bad deeds in life. They are either granted admission to Paradise, where they
will enjoy spiritual and physical pleasures forever, or condemned to Hell to suffer
spiritual and physical torment for eternity. The Day of Judgment is described
as passing over Hell on a narrow bridge in order to enter Paradise. Those who
fall, weighted by their bad deeds, will remain in Hell forever.
The Qur'an specifies two
exceptions to this general rule:
1.
Warriors who die fighting in the cause of God are ushered
immediately to God's presence (2:159 and 3:169); and
2.
"Enemies of Islam" are sentenced immediately to Hell upon
death.
Paradise
"O soul who is at rest, return to thy Lord , well-pleased with
Him, well-pleasing Him. So enter among My servants, and enter My garden."
(89:27-30)
Paradise (firdaws), also called "The Garden" (Janna), is a
place of physical and spiritual pleasure, with lofty mansions (39:20,
29:58-59), delicious food and drink (52:22, 52:19, 38:51), and virgin
companions called houris (56:17-19, 52:24-25, 76:19, 56:35-38, 37:48-49,
38:52-54, 44:51-56, 52:20-21). There are seven heavens (17:46, 23:88, 41:11,
65:12).
Hell
Hell, or Jahannam (Greek Gehenna), is mentioned frequently in the
Qur'an and the Sunnah using a variety of imagery. It has seven doors (Qur'an
39:71; 15:43) leading to a fiery crater of various levels, the lowest of which
contains the tree Zaqqum and a cauldron of boiling pitch. The level of hell
depends on the degree of offenses. Suffering is both physical and spiritual.
Being a Muslim does not keep one out of Hell, but it is not clear
whether Muslims remain in Hell forever. Non-Muslims (kafir), however, will be
punished eternally. A Muslim author on http://www.IslamOnline.net explains it this way:
"Ultimately, God will remove from Hell those believers whose sins were not forgiven nor atoned for by good deeds in their lifetimes, and they will then enter Paradise. The remaining inhabitants of Hell will stay there eternally."
Other Muslim commentators, noting that Allah can rescue people from
hell as he chooses, and that he is merciful and compassionate, have
hypothesized that eventually hell will be empty. Alternatively, Hell can be
seen as a place of progress where souls are instructed until they are fit to go
to heaven:
"Life after death is actually the starting-point of further
progress for man. Those in paradise are advancing to higher and higher stages
in knowledge and perfection of faith. Hell is meant to purify those in it of
the effects of their bad deeds, and so make them fit for further advancement.
Its punishment is, therefore, not everlasting." (Muslim.org, an Ahmadiyya
website)
More on Muslim beliefs
Collateral
reading—
(What makes the jihadists tick?)
By Jim M. Roane, Ph.D.
A Strawberry Roan Publication
© 2014 by JMR
[1]
Qur'an 2:255
[2]
al-Faruqi, Christian Mission and Islamic Da`wah: Proceedings of the Chambèsy
Dialogue Consultation(Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 1982), 47-48.
[3]
Shabbir Akhtar, A Faith For All Seasons (Chicago: Ivan R. Dee Publisher, 1990),
180.
[4]
"To Allah belong the east and the West: Whithersoever ye turn, there is
the presence of Allah. For Allah is all-Pervading, all-Knowing." (Qur'an
2:115)
[5]
"It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul
makes to him: for We are nearer to him than his jugular vein. (Qur'an 50:16.
See also 2:186; 34:50; 56:85; 57:4.)
[6]
"Believe in God and the Apostles and say not 'Three.'" (Qur'an 4:169)
[7]
Qur'an 27:62.
[8]
In "Islam." Encyclopædia
Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica Premium Service, 2004).
[9]
IslamMessage.com and IslamCall.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment