The Qur’an uses din, usually translated as “religion,” in
different contexts with various meanings, of which the most important and common
are: judging, rewarding, punishing (1:4, 51:6, 82:18-19, 37:53, 56:86); way,
law, constitution (12:76); penal law (24:2); the collection of moral, spiritual,
and worldly principles, system, way of conduct (33:5, 40:26); servanthood,
obedience (16:52); and peace and order (8:39).
General Islamic Beliefs
With Islam, God completed the religion He revealed and chose
for humanity (5:3). Literally, Islam means submission, peace, and salvation. In
its most fundamental aspect, Islam is epitomized in the most frequently recited
of all Qur’anic phrases, the Basmala—In the name of God, the Merciful (al-Rahman),
the Compassionate (al-Rahim). Both words are related to the quality of rahma
(mercy and compassion). God manifests Himself through His absolute,
all-inclusive Mercy and Compassion, and Islam is founded upon that affirmation.
The Qur’an calls Prophet Muhammad’s mission a mercy for all the worlds, for God
sent him to spread Islam to all of humanity.
Monotheism
Islam is uncompromisingly monotheistic, for its theology
begins and ends with God’s Unity (tawhid). Given this, the universe is seen as
an integral whole of interrelated and cooperative parts in which a splendid
coordination, harmony, and order is displayed both throughout the universe and
within each living organism. This harmony and order come from the Unity of the
One Who created them and Who is absolute, without partner, peer, or like. The
universe operates according to the laws God established for it, and therefore is
literally muslim—absolutely submitted to God. Thus its operations are stable,
orderly, and harmonious.
Humanity
God created the universe so that He could be known and
recognized in all His Names and Attributes, and so His creation includes one
creature with free will: humanity. Of all creatures, only humanity can manifest
the Divine Names the All-Willing, All-Knowing, and All-Speaking. God then
endowed us with the knowledge of things (“names”), and made us His vice-gerent
to rule on Earth according to His laws. As having free will means that one must
choose, each person’s life consists of choosing between what is right and wrong.
God endowed humanity with three principal faculties
fundamental to our survival and carrying out our function as His vice-gerent: an
appetite for such things as the opposite sex, offspring, livelihood, and
possessions; anger or forcefulness in defense and struggle; and reason or
intellect. Since we are tested in this worldly life and are free to choose, God
did not restrict these faculties.
According to Islam, our individual and collective happiness
lies in disciplining our faculties so that we may produce a harmonious and
peaceful individual and social life. If they remain undisciplined, they may
drive people to immorality, illicit sexual relationships, unlawful livelihoods,
tyranny, injustice, deception, falsehood, and other vices. To prevent the
ensuing chaos and suffering, we must submit to an authority that guides and
regulates our collective affairs. Since one person will not accept the authority
of another, humanity needs a universal intellect, a guidance from beyond human
reason and experience, to whose authority all may assent freely. That guidance
is the religion revealed and perfected by God through His Prophets: Islam.
Prophets
All Prophets came with the same essentials of belief: belief
in God’s Existence and Unity, the world’s final destruction, Resurrection and
Judgment, Prophethood and all Prophets without distinction, all Divine
Scriptures, angels, and Divine Destiny and Decree (including human free will).
They called people to worship the One God, preached and promoted moral virtue,
and condemned vice. Differences in particular rules and injunctions were
connected with the economic and political relationships existing at that time,
and because all Prophets prior to Prophet Muhammad were sent to their own people
and for their own time. Prophet Muhammad, however, was sent to humanity
regardless of time or place. Thus to be a Muslim means believing in all previous
Prophets and the original previous Scriptures.
A Prophet, one purified of sin and vice and having a deep
relation with God, guides people to truth and sets a perfect example for them to
follow. Such people have the following essential characteristics: absolute and
complete truthfulness, trustworthiness, and communication of the Divine Message;
the highest intellectual capacity, wisdom, and profound insight; sinlessness;
and no mental or physical defects. Just as the sun attracts the planets by the
invisible force of gravitation, Prophets attract people by the force of their
profound relation with God, certain miracles, and the sheer nobility of their
person, purpose, and character.
Faith
or belief
Faith or belief, the essence of religion, is not just a
simple brief affirmation based on imitation. Rather, it has degrees and stages
of expansion or development, just as a tree’s seed gradually is transformed into
a fully grown, fruit-bearing tree. Belief contains so many truths pertaining to
God’s 1,001 Names and the realities contained in the universe that the most
perfect human science, knowledge, and virtue is belief as well as knowledge of
God originating in belief based on argument and investigation. Such belief has
as many degrees and grades of manifestation as the number of Divine Names. Those
who attain the degree of certainty of belief coming from direct observation of
the truths on which belief is based can study the universe as a kind of Divine
Scripture.
The Qur’an, the universe, and humanity are three
manifestations of one truth. Therefore, in principle, there can be no
contradiction or incompatibility between Qur’anic truths (from the Divine
Attribute of Speech) and truths derived from the objective study of its
counterpart, the created universe (from the Divine Attributes of Power and
Will). An Islamic civilization true to its authentic, original impulse contains
no contradiction between science (the objective study of the natural world) and
religion (the personal and collective effort to seek God’s good pleasure). True
belief is not based on blind imitation, but rather should appeal to our reason
and heart, and combine reason’s affirmation and the heart’s inward experience
and submission.
Another degree of belief is known as certainty coming from
the direct experience of its truths. This depends on regular worship and
reflection, and those who possess it can challenge the world. So, the Muslims’
foremost duty is to acquire this degree of belief and try, in full sincerity and
purely to please God, to communicate it to others.
The highest aim of creation and its most sublime result is
belief in God. The most exalted rank of humanity is the knowledge of God. The
most radiant happiness and sweetest bounty is the love of God contained within
the knowledge of God; the purest joy for the human spirit and the purest delight
for a person’s heart is the spiritual ecstasy contained within the love of God.
Worship
Belief engenders different kinds of worship, such as
responding to explicit injunctions (e.g., the prescribed prayers, fasting,
alms-giving, and pilgrimage) and obeying prohibitions (e.g., avoiding all
intoxicants, gambling, usury, killing, and deception). Those seeking to
strengthen their belief and attain higher ranks of perfection should be careful
of their heart’s and intellect’s “acts” (e.g., contemplation, reflection,
invocation, recitation of God’s Names, self-criticism, perseverance, patience,
thankfulness, self-discipline, and perfect reliance upon God). Moral virtues are
the fruits of religious life. As Prophet Muhammad said: “I have been sent to
perfect virtue.”
Islam
also regulates our collective life
By means of belief and worship, as well as its intellectual,
moral, and spiritual principles, Islam educates us in the best possible way. In
addition, it uses its socioeconomic principles to establish an ideal society
free of dissension, corruption, anarchy, and terror, one that allows everyone to
obtain happiness both in this world and in the hereafter.
