What Does Islam Mean To YOU???...2

 

The Islamic Way of Life:

Islam provides specific guidelines for all people to follow in their daily lives. Its guidance is comprehensive and includes the social, economic, political, moral, and spiritual aspects of life. The Quran reminds man of the purpose of his life, of his duties and obligations toward himself, his family and relatives, his community, his fellow human beings, and his Creator.

Man is given fundamental guidelines toward a purposeful life and then confronted with the challenges of human existence so that he may put these high ideals into practice. In Islam, a person's life is regarded as a holistic and integrated unity, not a collection of fragmented and competitive parts. There are no separate "sacred" and "secular" realms, for all are united within the nature of the individual.

Historical perspective:

 

The present moral condition of the Muslims today is a result of what occurred in the past. Similarly, their future state will emerge from their present situation. Therefore, in order to examine the current attitudes of the Muslims towards Islam, we must analyze their past attitudes towards it.

Muhammad the Prophet of Islam (Peace Be Upon Him) was born to a noble family in the year 570 AC in Mecca, a trading center located in the Arabian Peninsula. He received the first revelation when he was forty years old.

As soon as he started calling his people to Islam, he and his followers were persecuted and forced to undergo severe hardship. After a time, God commanded him to migrate to the nearby city of Medina. Over the next twenty-three years he completed his mission of prophet hood. He died at the age of 63. He led a perfect life, as he was the physical substantiate of all that the Quran teaches and thus, set a model for all human beings.

But if we take a look to "Muslims condition" on the twentieth century, it was a crisis of values and belief that the way out of the human mess lies in the construction of a new social order. The real need is not to seek concessions here and there, or to effect a few changes in the institutional superstructures. What is needed is searching for a reexamination of the foundations on which the entire structure of society is built and of the ideals, which the culture aspires to achieve. The crisis in economic and political relations is the natural outcome of the ideals, values and institutions that characterize modern civilization. Islam, therefore, suggests that it is only through summoning mankind towards a new vision of man and society that its house can be set in order.

 

This calls for a basic change in man's approach. It is only through an understanding of the social ideals and values of religion and a realistic assessment of their socio-economic situation — resources, problems and constraints — that faith oriented communities can develop a creative and innovative approach to the challenges faces humanity today. This approach must be ideological. The real objective which inspires the Muslims is not a package of economic and political concessions nor even certain changes in the economic superstructure, but the construction of a new world order, with its own framework of ideals, values and foundations.

 

The uniqueness of Islamic culture lies in its values and principles.

When Muslims, after an illustrious historical career, became oblivious of this fact and became obsessed with the manifestations of their culture, as against its sources, they could not even fully protect the house they had built. The strength of Islam lies in its ideals, values and principles, and their relevance to mankind is as great today as it has ever been in history.

 

Some people say that the passage of time itself is a sufficient ground for the need of new guidance, and a religion, which was revealed some thirteen centuries ago, must necessarily grow obsolete and become a thing of the past. The objection is totally unfounded. The reasons may be briefly stated as follows:

 

(a) Islam's teachings are eternal, because they have been revealed by Allah Who knows all the past, present and future and Who Himself is eternal. It is the human knowledge that is limited. It is the human eve, which cannot see into the dim vista of the future, not God whose knowledge is above all the limitations of time and space.

 

(b) Islam is based on human nature, and the nature of man has remained the same in all times and epochs. All men are cast in the moulds of the earliest men and fundamental human nature remains unchanged.

 

(c) In human life there is a beautiful balance between permanence and change. Neither is everything permanent, nor is everything changeable. The fundamental principles, the basic values, do not invite change. It is the outward forms which change with the passage of time and which are changed while keeping in view certain principles, which are to be observed. Islam is the only religion, which has established machinery for the perennial evolution of human society in accordance with the fundamental principles and permanent values of life.

 

(d) Scientifically, the human race is living in the age, which was inaugurated by the advent of man on earth, and no fundamental evolutionary change has occurred in this phase of existence. Civilizations have arisen and died, cultures have grown and Withered, empires have emerged and disintegrated. But the age in the great chain of cosmic evolution remains the same. Therefore the view that guidance given some Centuries back automatically becomes obsolete with the passage of time is unfounded and superficial.

 

Lastly, the Message of Muhammad (blessings of Allah and peace be upon him) was not meant for any particular people, place or period. He was raised as the World Prophet —the messenger of truth for the whole of mankind. The Qur'an has commanded Muhammad (Blessings of Allah and Peace Be Upon Him) to declare:

 "0 mankind. I am God's Messenger to all of you."

 He has been described as "a blessing for all (the people) of the world" and his approach has been universal and human. That is why after him there remains no need for new Prophet hood and he, has been described by the Qur'an as" Khatam-an-Nabiyyin"- (the last of the chain of the true prophets14.)-. The Qur'an and the Hadith are very explicit on this point. The Qur'an says:

"Muhammad is the Messenger of God and the last of the Prophets".

The Holy Prophet himself has said: "There will be no prophet after me."

"On another occasion he said: “My relation to the (long chain of the) Prophets can be understood by the parable of a palace: the palace was most beautifully built. Everything was complete therein except the place for one brick. I have filled in that place and now the castle has been completed" (ride Bukhari and Muslim).

Islam's Rational Appeal:

Islam, with its clear and direct expression of truth, has a great appeal to anyone seeking knowledge. It has a solution for all problems that arise during the course of one's life. It is a guide toward a better and complete life.

Islam... The solution For Modern Problems:

 

·         The Brotherhood of Man: A major problem facing mankind today is racism. The developed world can send a man to the moon but cannot stop man from hating and fighting his fellow man. Ever since the days of the Prophet Muhammad fourteen centuries ago, Islam has given a vivid example of how racism can be ended: the annual pilgrimage to Mecca reveals the Islamic miracle of the real brotherhood of all races and nations.

 

·         The Family: The family, which is the basic unit of civilization, is disintegrating in all western countries. Islam's family system brings the rights of the husband, wife, children, and relatives into a fine equilibrium. It nourishes human unselfishness, generosity, and love in the framework of a well-organized family system.

 

Defragmented View of Life:

Human beings live according to their view of life. The tragedy of secular societies is that they fail to connect the different aspects of life. The secular and the religious, as well as the scientific and the spiritual, seem to be in conflict with each other. Islam puts an end to this conflict and brings harmony to man vision of life.

Islam message is timeless and the principles Islam embodies are of universal application. In search for a new world order today, Islam emphasizes that we must aspire to a new system of life through which to approach human problems from a different perspective, not merely from the perspective of limited national or regional interest, but from the perspective of what is right and wrong, and how best we can strive to evolve a just and a humane world order at different levels of our existence, individual, national and international. That the present order is characterized by injustice and exploitation is proved beyond any shadow of doubt. But Islam suggests that the present order fails because it is based upon a wrong concept of man and of his relationship with other human beings, with society, with nature, and with the world.

 

The search for a new order brings us to the need for a new concept of man and his role. From the viewpoint of world religions in general, and of Islam in particular, the focus of the discussion must be shifted to a new vision of man and society, to an effort to bring about change at the level of human consciousness, of values, leading to new cultural transformation…

Now there may be many questions pop up on your mind. To answer theses questions be with us and you will know more about Human and Islam.

 By Somaia Mohamed Badry

 

References:

·         Introducing Islam: by Ahmad Sakr.

·         Islam today – Sayyid Abu Aala Mawdudi .

·         Towards understanding Islam – Sayyid Abu Aala Mawdudi