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Learning Islam: What is Islam?

Praise be to Allah (The Glorified and Exalted).

What is Islam and who are Muslims? Islam is not mere beliefs, but it is a complete way of life. Islam means submission to Allah. This is accomplished by humbling oneself, obeying commands, heeding prohibitions without objection, sincerely worshiping Allah alone, believing what He tells us, and having faith in Him. Muslims are those who have submitted to the Will of Allah, by living the Islamic way of life.

Why is this religion called Islam? All the religions on Earth are called by various names, either the name of a specific man or a specific nation. So Christianity takes its name from Christ; Buddhism takes its name from its founder, the Buddha; the Zoroastrians became well known by this name because their founder Zoroaster. Similarly, Judaism took its name from a tribe known as Yehudah (Judah), so it became known as Judaism, and so forth. Except for Islam, because the religion is not attributed to any specific man or to any specific nation, rather its name refers to the meaning of the word Islam. What this name indicates is that the establishment and founding of this religion was not the work of one particular man and that it is not only for one particular nation to the exclusion of all others. The religion of Islam is open to the entire mankind regardless of race, nationality, and socioeconomic class.

The religion of Allah was purified and completed with all of its injunctions (laws) by the final prophet, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), who was given the final revelation, The Qur’an. A brief list of some of the major beliefs Muslims have include: belief in the Oneness of Allah, that Allah created Adam and Hawwa (peace be upon them), that the entire creation are slaves of Allah, belief in all of the Prophets [Ibrahim, Musa, Yahya, Isa, etc. (peace be upon them)], that the previous revelations (Taurat, Zabur, Injil, etc.) were given by Allah in their original forms, that the previous revelations have been corrupted by men, belief in all of the Angels (Jabriel, Mikael, etc.), belief that the final prophet is Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), that the Qur’an is the final revelation and therefore protected by Allah from becoming corrupt, belief in the Resurrection and the Day of Judgment, belief in the Divine Decree, and belief in Heaven and Hell.

The prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was an Arab from modern-day Saudi Arabia. Considering this fact, the religion of Islam is dominated by the Arabic ********. The revelation of the Qur’an is also in Arabic. Although, numerous translations have been made of the Qur’an in various ********s, the Arabic text is truly the Qur’an because it is in the original ********. The translations are looked upon more on the level of commentary because they do not duplicate the original beauty of the Arabic, nor do the translations embody the profound meanings of the verses. English speakers will benefit best by first reading the Abdullah Yusuf Ali translation of the Qur’an, followed by the Mohsin Khan translation. Yusuf Ali has been more successful at conveying the meanings of the verses in a more fluid manner in his translation. However, he does at times translate and comment incorrectly. Therefore, it is best to also read the Mohsin Khan translation.

And Allah (The Glorified and Exalted) Knows Best.