The very first thing to do in term of understanding what Islam is, I suggest, we start our conversation this time by, focusing on the definition of Islam. Islam (in Arabic : الإسلام) means "submission (to God)" and a monotheistic faith. This can be described as a ad-Din, meaning " a way of life" and/or "religion." Etymologically, it is derived from the same root as, for example, Salam meaning "peace" (also a common salutation). The word Muslim is also related to the word Islam and means "one who surrenders" or "submits" to God, or a "vassal" of God.
Followers of Islam, who are known as Muslims, believe that God (or, in Arabic, Allah) revealed His Will to Muhammad (c. 570–632) and other prophets, including Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. However, that which was revealed to Muhammad was considered to be the final and ultimate revelation, and corrective of Jewish and Christian traditions. The Muslims hold that the main written record of revelation to mankind is the Qur'an.
Allah is the personal name of the One true God. Nothing else can be called Allah. The term has no plural or gender. This shows its uniqueness when compared with the word "god," which can be made plural, as in "gods," or made feminine, as in "goddess." It is interesting to notice that Allah is also the personal name of God in Aramaic, the language of Jesus and a at the same time is a sister language of Arabic (both are Semitic languages[1]).
The One true God is a reflection of the unique concept that Islam refers to Allah. To a Muslim, Allah is the Almighty Creator and Sustainer of the universe, Who is similar to nothing, and nothing is comparable to Him. The Prophet Muhammad was asked by his contemporaries about Allah; the answer came directly from Allah Himself in the form of a short chapter of the Qur'an, which is considered to be the essence of the unity or the motto of monotheism. Allah says :
“ In the name of Allah, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Say (O Muhammad), He is God, the One God, the Everlasting Refuge, who has not begotten, nor has been begotten, and equal to Him is not anyone”.
QS : 112 : 1-4
Everything and every phenomenon in the world, other than man is administered TOTALLY by Allah-made laws (Sunnatullah), they are obedient to Allah and submissive to His laws and they are in the STATE OF ISLAM. Man possesses the quality of intelligence and choice, thus he is invited to submit to the good will of Allah and obey His law by becoming a Muslim. Submission to the good will of Allah, together with obedience to His beneficial law, and becoming a Muslim is the best safeguard for man's peace and harmony. And if you ask me, if there is another option or alternative to seek such comprehensive system and way of life ? I’m afraid I have to say it clearly that there’s none, other than Islam. Why is it so? I can’t give you any satisfying answers to this question now. But my sincere advise, in order to love Islam, one will have to know, understand and open to it with full heart not only mind.
Wallahua’lam.
[1] The Semitic languages are a group of related languages whose living representatives are spoken by more than 467 million people across much of the Middle East, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. They constitute a branch of the Afro-asiatic language family. The most widely spoken Semitic language by far today is Arabic (206 million native speakers). It is followed by Amharic (27 million), Tigrinya (5.8 million), and Hebrew (about 5 million).
No comments:
Post a Comment