ABOUT ISLAM

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF ISLAM
Question:
What is Islam?
Answer:
Islam is a faith which assumes upon itself all the needs of man in all phases of life.
Question:
Who founded and shaped Islam?
Answer:
Islam is not the creation of man’s imagination. On the contrary, it has been sent down by God Almighty as something perfect and complete, and without any flaws or deficiencies.
Question:
Does Islam have the capability to survive? And does it have the ability to lead in all times, in all places and in all nations?
Answer:
God Almighty has sent down Islam in such a manner that it should be the eternal and everlasting faith of man, in all times and places, and for all nations.
Question:
On whom was Islam sent down?
Answer:
God Almighty sent down Islam upon his last Prophet Mohammad.
Question:
What age did the Prophet of Islam live in?
Answer:
He lived fourteen centuries ago i.e. nearly five centuries after christ, and this year which is 1387 AH equivalent to 1967 AD, one thousand and four hundred years have passed from the life of Islam.
Question:
What is the difference between the Islamic faith, and Christian, Jewish and other faiths?
Answer:
Religions that have been sent down by God Almighty are many, and each of them was suitable for its own time, and when a new religion would come the older faith would be abolished. So is the case with Islam which is the last religion sent down for the guidance and leadership of mankind. It can be said that the difference between religions is similar to the difference between today’s educational institutions: elementary school, secondary school and university.
In this manner, according to the degree to which man would progress and develop, a more complete faith commensurate to his advancement would be sent down… till the time that Islam was sent down as the eternal faith. In their true essence all religions have no difference between them, and their only difference lies in some distinctions and specialities which have evolved in accordance to the different stages of the transformation of man’s life.
ETERNAL LAW
Question:
Is there transformation and evolution in Islam or not?
Answer:
Islam has two aspects:
1-The fixed and unchanging aspect of Islam in which transformation finds no place, and if change took place in it, it would be the cause of decay and confusion. Like being good, telling the truth, trustworthiness, repugnance of oppression and miserliness, prohibitation and forbiddance of hoaring and murder, mandatoriness of prayers and fasting, obligatoriness of the willingness of both parties in sale and purchase etc.
2-The other aspect of Islam has the capability of changing and altering – In this aspect Islam has enunciated overall principles that conform to new discoveries and transformations. For example, if means of transport have evolved from four-legged animals to carriages and from that to cars and trains, and after that to aeroplanes and missiles… and if the means of light and lighting have gone from candle to oil lamps and from that to electricity and then to atom… Islam accepts all these transformations and evolutions and in fact it highly recommends and enjoins that efforts be made to perfect all means and necessities of life.
CONSTITUTION FOR THE LEADERSHIP OF THE WORLD
Question:
Is Islam enough for all needs of man? And how are those needs fulfilled?
Answer:
Islam is enough for all needs of man because it is a faith that God has sent down in such a manner that it gives an opinion for all aspects of life.
But how can Islam be all sufficient? For the reason that Quran, and sunna1 have enunciated two types of descriptive laws:
1-Descriptive laws of a specific nature which pronounce the ordainments relating to specific and minor issues e.g. forbiddance of drinking wine.
2-Descriptive laws e.g. a general nature which articulate overall and universal principles of forbiddance of partaking anything which intoxicates.
In this way, all the needs and requirements of man will be in conformance to either the first body of laws or the second group of laws. Consequently, Islam has articulated complete laws which encompass all affairs of man and society.
Question:
How can you say that Islam is sufficient for fulfilling all needs and requirements of people’s lives, considering that now we are seeing phenomenon of recent manifestation which receive no mention in the Quran or Sunna e.g. banks or insurance, as there was no sign of such things at the time of the advent Islam?
Answer:
Just as mentioned before, Islam is a faith sent down by God for the guidance and leadership of man for all times, and God is wise over all things. Therefore he has formulated Islam in such a manner that it undertakes all affairs of man, even those of recent manifestation… and these two examples that you have set forth are also covered by the general and specific descriptive laws of Islam.
Banking operations consist of various transactions the orders for all of which have been enunciated in Islamic laws, like orders for loans and transference of money, personal surety and guarantee etc. Insurance too is covered by one of the Quranic verses which states:
“… except that it be trading by your mutual consent”.(4:29)
and in another place it is stated:
“… fulfil the obligations”.(5:1) Of course these orders depend upon conditions which have been described in the books of Islamic jurisprudence.
FAITH AND RELIGION
Question:
What is the need and requirement for Islam?
Answer:
Islam, as mentioned before, is a faith and shariah.
Islamic faith is the first unchanging reality, and one who does not believe in it has believed in something that is rediculous, vain and void. Secondly, a great loss in the hereafter will be the lot of one who is not bound by the Islamic faith.
Moreover, if one is not bound by the Islamic shariah, he has undoubtedly dragged his worldly life to destruction, what to say of the torments of the hereafter. It is from this that it should be said that the Islamic shariah is the best and most complete of all laws and codifications whose objective is the batterment of social conditions, and its guidance is in all phases of life. In summary, the welfare and prosperity of man in this world and the hereafter is related to Islam.
Question:
Firstly, how do we know that after this world there is another world called the Hereafter, and the welfare of man in it is tied to this belief in Islam and acting upon it?
Moreover, what argument do you have to prove that Islamic shariah is the best of all laws and codifications, and as such is more capable of leading mankind, while other religions do not possess such capability?
Answer:
Proof of the existence of the Hereafter after this world can be obtained from the strong, academic arguments set forth in the books of logic or Islamic philosophy. Just as modern psychological fields of knowledge like hypnotism, spiritism (recalling the spirits of the dead) etc. prove that even after death the spirit remains eternal.1
Moreover, proof of the superiority of the Islamic shariah and its being better than all other laws and codifications can be obtained by comparing Islamic laws with other formulated laws, in all places of man’s life.
CONFESSIONS OF OUTSIDERS CONCERNING ISLAM
It is suitable to include some of the confessions of western scholars and learned men about the same topic:
Bernard Shaw says “If the European world would appoint a man such as Mohammad as its leader, undoubtedly he would solve all their problems and afflictions… he should be considered the deliverer of mankind”.
“I am of the belief that Mohammad’s faith is the only faith that has all the necessary conditions and is consistent with all phases of life.
Without any doubt I predict that in the near future Mohammad’s faith will be accepted. In fact even now there are indications that it has been accepted… yes… today’s world has a need for a man like Mohammad, so that he may solve its problems”.
Dr. Greens French, who is a member of the House of representatives says that “I have read, examined and analyzed all the Quranic verses relating to natural sciences, health and medicine, for I myself was involved with these fields since childhood, and in the end found that all these verses are congruent with our modern concepts. Therefore, I became a Muslim because I developed the firm belief that Mohammad, more than a thousand years ago and without having a human teacher or instructor, has brought the true and factual faith.
And if every scholar and wise man compares all the Quranic verses relating to his field of knowledge in the way that I compared them, and if he is wise and unselfish, he will undoubtedly embrace Islam. Marx, who himself has a doctorate in philosophy says that “Mohammad is the first Prophet whose sayings have all been written and recorded, and it is from here that the mature and distinctive human personality of Mohammad becomes known, and it is proved that his hadiths1 enjoy immense exactitude and correctness. It is an undeniable fact that his Prophethood is a constant direction for guidance for the world – Today’s minds accept all that Mohammad has brought”.
Cheryl, Head of the faculty of law, University of Venn says:
“Mankind is proud that a great man like Mohammad is related to it. For even though he was uneducated and illiterate, was able to bring a Shariah more than ten and a bit centuries ago, which if we Europeans can reach to the peak of it in the next two thousand years, we will be amongst the luckiest of men”.
Dr. Vereteen the historian says:
“Mohammad’s faith, from the first hours of its appearance in the Prophet’s life, proved that it is a general and universal faith. Thus is it has competency for every nation, undoubtedly it should also have competency for every intellect and for every stage from among the stages of civilization”.
The famous philosopher Karl Lolas says:
“In the East there exists a law which has been designed and established by the Arabian philosopher Mohammad. If the world, with all its nations and races, follows the method and the plan of the Arabian philosopher, and all pay obedience to his laws, no longer in the world would there be found two governments, instead the whole world become one country. No longer would there arise any difference between two people, nor would any person have need or want for another”.
Other clear confessions of European philosophers and thinkers also exist, but this booklet does not have the space for them.
UNIVERSAL CONSTITUTION
Question:
What is the number of Muslims today in the world?
Answer:
The exact figure is not known, but some of the statistics which are there in some of the books and periodicals have placed this figure at as high as “800 million”.1
Question:
Where do muslims live?
Answer:
There are muslims in nearly all the countries of the world, and the majority of them live in the continents of Asia and Africa.
Question:
Are there muslims of the belief that their religion will finally become the religion of all the people on earth?
Answer:
Yes… Muslims are of the belief that their religion will become the religion of all those on earth and the time will come that there will no longer be even one non-muslim. Quran has also promised the same and proclaims “that He may make it (Islam) prevail over all the religions”. (48:28)
In several hadiths that have been quoted from the Prophet and the pious imams, it has been made clear that at the end of time a man from the Prophet’s descendants by the name of “Mahdi” will appear and will consequently spread Islam on the face of the earth.
THE WORLD AND THE HEREAFTER
Question:
What is Islam’s view about the world and life? And is Islam a religion for the material life or for spiritual life or both?
Answer:
The Islamic viewpoint about life, materialism and spirit are summarized in the Almighty’s words in the Quran, where it says that:
“And of them is he who says: “O Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the Fire”.(2:201)
Prophet Mohammad says: “One who renounces his worldly affairs for the life of the hereafter is not from among us, and one who renounces the life of the hereafter for his worldly affairs is also not from among us”.
He also says: “Strive for your world in such a manner as if you will live for ever and for the life of the hereafter act in such a way as if you will die tomorrow”.
Question:
What were the boundaries of the Islamic countries in the bygone centuries, and what are they in the present century? And as a principle how did Islam spread?
Answer:
Information about these two topics requires extensive study of various books, but the summary of these two topics can be obtained by the study of two books “Map of the Islamic World” and “Invitation towards Islam”.
1 sunna: Statements, deeds and approvals of Prophet Mohammad and his true caliphs.
1 Refer to other books of the compiler namely “Islamic Beliefs” “God - The Unique Creator of the Universe” and “Fundamentals of Islam”.
1 Hadiths: The statements of the Prophet.
1 This was

The Definition of Trinity

So what is the correct definition of the Trinity? To our Muslim friends we say that from the Scriptures we find revealed a divine unity of three Characters: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. These make up the Trinity.

Muslims, ask where in the Scriptures the word trinity appears. We must say from the outset that the word “Trinity” never appears in the Bible. Not once! It is a word which did not even exist at that time.

The word trinity is in fact a theological term adopted later by Christians to define what the Bible teaches concerning God. The word “trinity” in the early church simply meant “three”, but was always undergirded with the unity of God.

To correspond with Biblical revelation, the Christian must equally emphasize that God is one and three. Today the church has adapted the word to mean three in unity (or tri-unity). Though God is immensely complex, and cannot be exhaustively known, He has so revealed Himself in scripture that He can be truly known. The early church theologians wrestled with the difficulty of defining God from what is revealed in scripture with the limitations of the human language which had no word to express the reality of one God, who is three (even this definition in English seems illogical, and illustrates the point).

For centuries theologians adopted many words to try to express God's revelation of Himself as three in one (for instance, words such as three 'prosopon', 'hupostasis', and 'trias'), yet they were all inadequate. As an example of the difficulty which concepts like these engendered, the early church theologian, Tertullian (145-220 A.D.) created 590 new nouns, 284 new adjectives, and 161 new verbs to help explain this and other theological ideas found in the Scriptures; ideas which because of their sophistication needed new terminology for us to understand them. It was Tertullian who came up with the word “trinity” over five hundred years before the writing of the Qur'an, where its validity is disputed. Over the years “trinity” became the accepted word for this concept.

It is impossible to fully define the mystery of God as “triune.” That there is only one God, yet that the One God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit is the most basic Christian belief. All Christian beliefs depend upon the truth of that single statement.


The word trinity is simply used to express what the Scriptures delineates as God comprised of three, who are infinite, personal, in complete unity of will, purpose, action and love, yet cannot be separated though they have different functions.

The Scriptures speak of 'God the Father' who is the co-Creator with God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He blesses (Ephesians 1:3-4), initiates (John 17:2-9) and sends (John 17:3,18).

The Scriptures also speak about 'God the Son', who speaks-out the creation (John 1:1), and acts in history, both during the time of the prophets (Genesis 32:25-30; Exodus 3:2-5; 13:21; 33:9-11; Judges 2:1), and later when he was physically incarnated as the Saviour, the historical Jesus Christ (John 1:14).

And finally, the Scriptures speak of 'God the Holy Spirit', who is resident within the disciples of Jesus Christ, who guides, instructs and empowers them (John 14:16-17), and who mediates Jesus Christ and his atoning work (John 15:26).

Jesus referred to this 'Trinity in Unity' when He commanded His apostles to go everywhere and to persuade men to become His disciples, and to baptise them “...in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).

A Christian Response: Belief in One God

From the outset, the Islamic misconception that Christians believe in and worship three separate gods is blasphemous to Christians. Obviously, it is this “polytheism” (“shirk”) which disturbs Muslims the most.
How can God be both THREE and ONE? Isn't this illogical? Yet God is beyond all human reason. Too often humans have tried to reduce God to their level of understanding. They try to make God like themselves. We must reject such thoughts as quite ungodly.
God is beyond all human understanding, therefore we should expect to find aspects of Him that seem strange to us. Any explanation of God which is fully clear to the human understanding must be wrong because He is far more than our little minds can grasp.
Christians and Muslims alike worship the God of Abraham. Furthermore, both are monotheistic, believing in only one righteous and transcendent creator God.
The key verse of the Torah of the Prophet Moses states that: “The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:4) God is one and He commands us to love Him with all our heart.
In Genesis 11:7 and 1:26 we find a plural verb used to describe the action of the One God (“Let us go down”, “Let us make”). One of the Hebrew words for God isELOHIM (normally translated “God”). The significant thing about this word is that it is a plural word, although it is never translated “Gods”. The Muslims say that this is a case of the royal “we”, although linguists do not acknowledge the royal “we” in either Arabic or Hebrew. In Deuteronomy 6:4 we read that “the Lord ELOHIM, the Lord is One.”
Jesus Christ, speaking more than one-thousand years after the Prophet Moses says: “The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.” (Mark 12:28-30 and Matthew 22:37). Remember that it is Jesus, the man who claimed to have equality with God, who is speaking.
All Christians strongly believe that there is but ONE God, and he alone must be the object of our worship and service. The Bible, in both the Old and New Testaments repeatedly tells us that there is only ONE God (Deuteronomy 6:4; Mark 12:29; Romans 3:30; 1 Timothy 1:17; James 2:19). Perhaps 1 Corinthians 8:4 says it best, “There is no God but ONE”
Thus, both the Torah and the Gospel (Injil) agree that God is one. We are commanded to love one God. Only He has the right to require our ultimate loyalty. All other gods which man invents are totally false (Hosea 13:2,3).

The Muslim View

According to Islam the first and greatest teaching is proclaimed by the Shahada: “La Ilaha illa-l-lah, Muhammadun rasulu-l-lah.” (“There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the apostle of Allah.”) To be a true Muslim one must sincerely confess this phrase, especially those who are newly converted to Islam.

Allah, for a Muslim, is one “Wahid,” and has no partners, no equals. In the Qur'an, Sura 28:88, we read: “And cry not unto any other god along with Allah. There is no god save Him.” Thus, Allah is totally other, totally distinct, totally unique. Since He is unique, no one else can share even an atom of His Divine power and authority. The Qur'an makes it clear that Allah has no son, no father, no relative, and no associates.

A survey administered amongst North American converts to Islam cited monotheism, in opposition to the doctrine of trinity, as their greatest attraction to Islam. Of great concern to the converts is the relationship of Jesus to God, because it associates a human with God. They ask, “How would God ever lower Himself by associating Himself with a human, how would He allow that human to be killed?”

Obviously, this kind of belief in the uniqueness of God, i.e. a totally transcendent God entails a rejection of Jesus as the Son of God.