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Welcome
to our non-Muslim visitors.
[What
is Islam?] [What is
Dawa?] [What's the Conspiracy?]
As our non-Muslim guests,
you may want to gain a more basic understanding
of the true essence of ISLAM both from a religious
and political point of view. There may also be
others who have shown interest in Islam
and are looking for additional information or
have a particular question. What wed like
to explain here is why Muslims follow Islam, and
some of the rationale behind their adherence to
their religion. Unfortunately, Islam is an oft-misunderstood
religion and Islamic beliefs are so frequently
distorted.
Firstly, Islam is not simply a religion, it is
an ideology from which stems a political system
that encompases a social, political, economic,
judicial and penal systems. Reducing
Islam to the level of a religion is incorrect
and is insulting to millions of Muslims who hold
firm to the political system encompased in ISLAM.
How otherwise could the Islamic civilisation have
lasted for more than 1400 years? The ideology
bonded the people together regardless of race,
colour or ethnic origin. It overtakes western
democracy and capitalism on a scale that makes
it the best ideology ever brought to mankind.
Within this website the word "Religon"
is synonymous with the word "ideology".
Also, when reference is
made to the Muslim Ummah
(Nation) we refer to a state that is administered
by Muslims, implimenting the systems of Islam
over all poeples regardless of religious/faith
denomination.We hope this will help correct
some misconceptions and
increase understanding of this fast-growing ideology
which is followed by over 1.7 billion people.
Muslims
believe that there is an absolute truth and that
we do not necessarily act on "imperfect knowledge",
as some believe.
Our logic necessitates
that one of the following options must be correct:
There is only one god, or There are many gods,
or There is no god. We likely believe that one
of these three views must be correct, and the
other two necessarily false. This could be a logical
explanation why Muslims are of the view that not
all systems of belief are correct. While Islam
teaches that "there is no
compulsion in religion" (the meaning of
a verse in the Qur'an, 2:256), it also teaches
that the Truth is distinct from errors. The Qur'an,
a Scripture revealed to the final Prophet Muhammad,
peace be upon him, in many verses invites people
to reason and critically analyze its teachings,
so that they may believe that such a Book is a
Revelation, and that it could not have been produced
by someone who had never read or written (since
Muhammad, peace be upon him, was illiterate).
The Qur'an says that "Whosoever
wills let him believe, and whosoever wills let
him disbelieve" [18:29], as one's believing
or not believing does not benefit or harm the
Creator of the universe in any way. One's belief
is for one's own benefit. That belief should be
based on knowledge and clear proofs, rather than
on blind faith and it should also not contradict
our reasoning, for why would God create reason
and religion that fundamentally contradict each
other? One could ask, are there really any rational
criteria at our disposal, based on which we can
judge various claims of knowing the Truth? There
are certainly rational criteria at our disposal,
and one's emotional commitment to religion should
be preceded by an intellectual commitment to it.
Reason, in fact, is our primary means for finding
the Truth. We can put any religion or system of
beliefs to test by examining whether it is rational,
universal, applicable at all times, in all places,
and by people of all colors and languages, and
whether the religion's Scripture is free of alteration,
internal and external inconsistencies. A scripture
is internally inconsistent if it contains discrepancies
and contradictions within its text, and externally
inconsistent if it contradicts facts (not theories)
from science and nature as we know them. For it
is impossible that God does not know His creation
or that which He creates. We say "He", but it
should be noted that Muslims believe that God
is distinct from His creation and there is nothing
like unto Him. We humans cannot describe and attain
to the utmost of His greatness, which is as He
described Himself in the Qur'an.
Muslims believe in pure
monotheism and they reject views of those who
give human characteristics of weakness and imperfection
to the Divine (for example, the belief of some
that God wrestled with a human, or that He was
in a woman's womb for nine months, that he ate
food, fulfilled his needs, was dead for a period
of time, or has partners - we say, far above is
God from such imperfections), or those who attribute
Divine characteristics of perfection to humans
or to any of God's creation. Muslims also believe
that this world neither created itself, nor that
it came from nothing - and we believe that it
is a product of Intelligence, rather than chance.
We also believe in all prophets sent from God,
including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and
Muhammad, peace be upon them all. We believe that
all of them called to the same religion, submission
to the Creator, alone with no partner. Our experience
tells us that a few minutes of reasoning can usually
leave us persuaded in the truth of God's absolute
Oneness and Uniqueness, so what remains to be
studied is which religion is truly monotheistic
in its nature.
One of the major criteria
for distinguishing the Truth from errors, that
we would like to stress, is the authenticity of
the religious scripture. In
reality, Muslims are the only ones who even claim
to have an authentic scripture from God, in its
original form, of which not a single letter has
been changed. We say Muslims are the only
ones because, for example, many Jewish and Christian
scholars dispute the authenticity of their books.
Most other religions admit that their scriptures
are in fact human writings. And if we say that
there is a Truth and God, we are likely to believe
that God wants us to do certain things and abstain
from others. Muslims believe that God communicates
with His creation through His chosen Prophets.
If we are of the view that God would not leave
us without a reliable Revelation, then the mere
fact that Muslims are the only ones who even claim
to have an authentic revelation could attest to
the truthfulness of their claim.
However, as mentioned earlier,
the Qur'an invites us to reason and to accept
faith based on knowledge, rather than the blind
following of our traditions. "Do they not then
consider the Quran carefully? Had it been
from other than Allah, they would surely have
found therein much contradiction." [4:82] This
is only an introduction in which we wanted to
raise a few issues regarding the criteria for
knowing the Truth. We have by no means given an
exhaustive list (of these criteria), and we encourage
you to visit the following links to gain more
knowledge and a better understanding of Islam.
[What
is Islam?] [What is
Dawa?] [What's the Conspiracy?]
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