ISLAM began as something strange, and it will become thus again, as it was at the beginning.
Blessed, therefore, are the strangers.
(He was asked who the strangers are).
The strangers are those who restore what the people have corrupted of my law,
As well as those who revive what has been destroyed of it.
But this is not the only reason why we need to speak about Islam. Islam expresses the ethics of the attitude of man to God in laconic and methodologically true form.
Moreover, the attitude to God, which was taught by Jesus Christ, was realized in Islam and not in mass Christianity.
This is why it are in the field of Islam's activity that there are many sound spiritual schools on the Earth now.
The Quran — the main holy book of Islam — contains their sayings and description of their acts. The narration in the Quran is communicated through the Prophet Muhammad (SAW) from Allah SWT God, Who gives Muhammad SAW
What is the newness of Islam? Why God did not spread Christianity in the regions that are covered nowadays by Islam?
The matter is that many people calling themselves Christians strayed from the Teaching of Jesus Christ even at that time. And the modern mass Christianity has lost God and its followers can be called Christians only relatively — only because they continue to observe the ancient Christian rites.
… Let us compare it to India. The people of India have Bhagavad-Gita where there is a detailed description of what is God (in Sanskrit — Ishvara) and what man has to do in relation to this. But in India too the majority of people are unable to accept the concept of monotheism (due to the fact that in any region of the Earth the people of the early stages of psychogenetic development are in majority). So, nowadays, the followers of the mass Hinduism and Buddhism of Mahayana worship not Ishvara,
Who is so vividly represented in Bhagavad-Gita, but the pagan fictitious "gods": Ganesha, Kali etc., with corresponding iconography? And in some degenerated branches Of the Buddhism this tendency has gone so far that for God there was left no room and He is denied completely.
But people relying on the Judaic and Christian Bible turned out to be in even a worse situation since these books do not contain any description of God which can satisfy
The inquiries of man on the intellectual search: there God is depicted so that He becomes an object of belief and not an object of knowledge.
Therefore, return to the pagan form of religious outlook, which is more convenient for young souls, was even easier among people involved in Christianity.
The loss of God in the mass Christianity manifested in the fact that God preached by the Judaic prophets and Jesus as the main object of attention, aspiration, and love, was superseded by the pagan cults of Nicholas the Wonder-worker and others "patron saints", by the cult of the earthly mother of Jesus, who was, undoubtedly, a Remarkable and virtuous woman, but could not understand and accept what her Son taught; once she even counted Him insane (Mark 3:21,31-35). And the main essence Of the Teaching of Jesus about aspiration to cognition God-the-Father was superseded… by prayerful panhandling.
It is important to note, that the pagan tendency was legalized by the Orthodoxy already in the liturgical tradition where very good, but not divine woman Maria, the mother of Jesus, is called "my all-blessing Queen", "Our Lady", and we are her slaves, with no hope to receive help from anyone, only she can help (God, as one can
See, in this case is of no importance).
And, seeing the beginning of this tendency, God once again repeated through the prophet Muhammad (SAW) that people have to concentrate attention on the Total
Universal God-Creator and devote their lives to Him.
Whoever obeys the Messenger, he indeed obeys Allah, and whoever turns back, so we have not sent you as a keeper over them. (Surah An-Nisa, 80)
The point one needs to pay attention in the verses is that they emphasize on the concept of "obeying the Messenger". This point shows us that following the Messenger, in other words following His commands and rules is a worship that Allah brought as an obligation. When we look at the verses, we again see that our prophet has the Authority to enjoin and forbid things. For example, the verse ".... and whatever the Messenger gives you, accept it, and from whatever he forbids you, keep back, and be Careful of (your duty to) Allah.
(Surah Al-Hashr, 7) shows that the prophet may forbid certain things for His ummah, apart from those things that are forbidden in the Quran. Besides, it is again informed in the verses that the believers took the matters that they did not understand to the prophet and the prophet judged for them.
The Quran is the last divine book, which was revealed from Allah as a declaration and guidance to mankind. It is an explanation of all things and means for men to be rightly guided. In many verses of the Quran, it is commanded to obey the prophet of Allah. This is quite a significant point because understanding the Quran fully can only be possible with following the Sunnah of the prophet.
The Sunnah is the explanation of the Quran. It is the creed of ahl-i Sunnah, which has been constituted with collecting true hadiths of the prophet Muhammad (Sallal lahu `Alaihi wa salaam), and interpretation of these hadiths by great scholars in later times.
It's worth dwelling upon a point here. The Sunnah is not a concept that can be dealt with separately from the Quran. In the Quran, it has been mentioned that the Prophet removes heavy burdens, makes rules, and teaches the ummah (society) the open and hidden meanings of the Quran. As a matter of fact, when we look at the Practices of Sunnah, we see that the prophet of Allah gave His companions a lot of information about numerous subjects. This information was then interpreted by Scholars of the time continued to be practiced in daily lives and has passed on to us generations to generations.
Allah has informed in the Surah Al-e Imran that the Prophet had the characteristic of teaching the Quran and purifying mankind:
Certainly Allah conferred a benefit upon the believers when He raised among them a Messenger from among themselves, reciting to them His communications and purifying them and teaching them the Book and the wisdom, although before that they were surely in manifest error. (Surah Al-e Imran, 164).
It would be useful to attract attention to the phrase "teaching the book and the wisdom". Because, It is not possible to understand the Quran fully and practice its Commands without following the Sunnah of the prophet of Allah. Our religion is a whole only with the Quran and the Sunnah. At that times when the Quran was revealed, the people around the prophet learned and practiced the commands of our religion as required by looking at the examples of the prophet. Indeed, the prophet has been an important example with His life, where he practiced the commands of the religion, for us to understand the Quran.
We can give "Salat" (ritual prayers) as a clear example to understanding the commands of the religion. As well known, in Islam, performing Salat 5 times a day is an
Obligation and there are verses giving general information about how to perform it, how to perform ablution (wash). However, we can understand how exactly we should perform prayers only by looking at Sunnah. Because there is no detailed information in the verses about the way of praying, what to say in prayer, the way of man and Woman’s performing the prayer, the degree of importance of the prayers, the details of ablution, what nullifies ablution. We can learn such details only by looking at Sunnah of the prophet.
As another example, we can mention the suggestions of the prophet about Friday and the things He said about Friday prayer. Beside the subjects such as speaking that which is best, cleanness, foods, modesty, there are verses in the Quran about obligations such as fasting, ablution and hajj (pilgrimage). However, there is no detailed information about those worships in the verses. We learn the detail information about how to perform these worships from the interpretations of the scholars about the words and habits of the prophet.
Sunnah has acted the lives of Muslims throughout the history, of all past scholars of Islam, shaping their worships. Since the era of our prophet, which has been hundreds of years, the Muslims have worshipped in compliance with the Sunnah. Worships like praying five times a day, fasting, giving charity and sacrificing have not changed until today as they have been always performed according to the Sunnah. For this reason, starting discussions upon the worships, which have been practiced for hundreds of years without change, and speculating about the subjects like time of the prayers, the numbers of the rakaats (units) are completely unnecessary. All of them are Obligatory worships, whose details are described in the Sunnah. As a matter of fact, when we look at the Quran, we see many verses in the Quran about following the Messenger. In a verse, for example, Allah commands us to obey the Messenger as follows:
Surely we have sent you as a witness and as a bearer of good news and as a Warner, That you may believe in Allah and His Messenger and may aid him and revere him; and (that) you may declare His glory, morning and evening. Surely those who swear allegiance to you do but swear allegiance to Allah; the hand of Allah is above their hands. Therefore whoever breaks (his faith), he breaks it only to the injury of his own soul, and whoever fulfils what he has covenanted with Allah, He will grant him a Mighty reward. (Surah Al-Fath, 8-10)
Imam Malik (R.A,) one of the greatest Islam scholars, compared the Sunnah of the prophet to the ark of Noah and said: The Sunnah of the Prophet Mohammad (Sallal lahu `Alaihi wa salaam) is like the Ark of Noah. Whoever embarks upon it reaches salvation and whoever refuses is drowned.” The true salvation will be realized only when the creed of ahl-i Sunnah is understood by everybody and prevails in the society
And in conclusion let us cite one more hadith in which Allah (God) outlines the steps of one's approaching to Him and Merging with Him.
We should comment that death in it should be understood not as the death of man's body, but as the death of egocentrism in man and his isolation from God. For one can unite with his God-Beloved only by sinking into Him.
He who searches for Me — will find Me.
He who found Me — will cognize Me.
He who cognized Me — will fall in love with Me.
He who fell in love with Me — will conceive passion to Me.
To him who conceived passion to Me — I too will conceive passion.
Him who is in love with Me I will kill,
And to him whom I killed I will pay a ransom for the blood.
I myself am the ransom for his blood.
You will not enter paradise until you believe,
And you will not believe until you love one another.
Let me guide you to something in the doing of which you will love one another.
Give a greeting to everyone among you.
Inscribed on the prophet's sword:
Forgive him who wrongs you; join him who cuts you off;
Do good to him who does evil to you;
And speak the truth even if it be against your self.
How many people carry the Quran in the hearts but it curses them from inside their hearts!
If the bearer of Quran disobeys his Lord, the Quran calls him from inside his chest saying, "By Allah, you have not carried me (memorized me) for this! Will you not be shy from your Lord?"
-Ibn Mubarak.
Have fun praying and getting ready for the Day of Judgment coz that day will NOT be fun :) P.S.: don’t forget to make dua for me. !!
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