Ramadhan Message For All

What is the purpose of religion (Islam)

Religion is thought by many ppl to be something that is other worldly, either divinely inspired or evil…

What is Islam, is it also one of the most evil belief systems, as the atheists would have us believe.

Islam is other than a man  made set of beliefs and a code for living by man made rules or laws…

Islam isn’t like other religions, but Islam is the only true religion. Therefore, when Muslims say that

only Islam is the true religion, they mean that Muhammad was a true prophet and that he spoke what Allah taught him to speak… Angel Gabriel was an intermediary between man (prophet) and God (Allah).

In that sense, Islam is a continuation of the guidance sent to all human civilization throughout history.

It is not inspired by either Judaism or Christianity but its principles are the same as the original teachings of Moses and Jesus, namely the Oneness of God, and the commandment to worship only Him and to follow the guidance of the true prophet of Islam…

All prophets are brothers, and they are not better than each other, but God gave some unique titles, unique miracles, and so forth, which made them stand out or gave them signs by which they could impress upon the people the truth of what was bestowed upon them of guidance and wisdom, because to worship other than God or to follow other than God’s commands is not guidance of true wisdom. If they performed miracles by Allah’s permission, or brought a book of complete wisdom, they must be prophets or messengers of the One true God.

But prophets are human beings, and so are all believers. No one among people is without sin.

Also, no one religion is without its historical baggage. There is also the previous cultural norms, superstitions, and prevailing attitude of the generation before Islam to deal with. So Moses had struggles with his ppl, Jesus had struggles with his ppl and Muhammad had struggles with his ppl. This doesn’t prove their message was wrong or that rejection of the prophets means they were not really sent by the One true God.

Any religion, even any ideology, can have its good and bad, when viewed from a subjective lens; but the Creator of all the Worlds is objective. Therefore, He does not hate anyone, or prefer one race to the detriment of others. He does not hate men or women, but has created them equal partners. They are helpful and kind to one another. It isn’t the true nature of man to raise a fist to his female companion, be it a wife, mother or daughter… nor is it the nature of women to oppose the husband, son or father in their home over trifling matters… when problems such as poverty or sickness arise, or even when the death of a loved one occurs; rather it is the true nature of men and women to comfort and console each other. They should be help mates and friends to one another. The married ones should raise their children to be good, upright and strong in mind, spirit and body. Children should receive love and attention as well as education, including the important manners and customs of their peers. There is a different opinion about what is expected and what is obligatory, but in general children can follow the advice – religion, manners and customs of their parents, community and what is permitted or prohibited by the people in general.

Communities likewise benefit and reap the rewards of good families. The basic unit, the family has its  members, each is like a brick reinforcing the others, and these units further make a strong foundation for the neighbourhood, community and state… A strong world community is not possible without the good growth of the others – individual, family, neighbourhood, community, state.

A revealed scripture is not biased against some individuals, but it teaches ethics, morals, and problem solving.

You may not agree with Islam, but it is also true that you probably don’t understand Islam either. The message is there to read, the Quran is a book which can be studied, and Islam is a way of life that many people around the world claim as their own.

But a true religion has never been something that focused only on the other world, or has other worldly objectives, such as purification of the soul – the final goal being Paradise. No, a true religion, while it has the ultimate goal (Paradise) it is practical to humans who must make their way on earth, sometimes alone, sometimes with families, and live according to the guidance God sends (in any given time or place, such as brought by Noah, Moses,  Abraham, Isaac, Jesus, and also Muhammad, the final Messenger) There would be complete chaos on Earth if there had never been any revealed guidance.

While  men did ponder upon life’s many questions and make other ideologies they thought were satisfactory, nay even superior to religions, they didn’t succeed in world wide change or even a single utopian society, and indeed they caused much harm and hysteria, murder and destruction was evident everywhere they took their revolutions.

Religion does not have as its goal the perfection of human beings, which is an impossibility, because God has created humankind weak, fallible and given the human being free will. This does not mean its unlikely people can ever create a great civilization or produce any good but that they struggle without the true guidance to distinguish between what is highly admirable from what is less than that. Or what is natural from what is unnatural. While people may disagree that humans will one day be accountable to an omnipotent God, but they also cannot decide what are the true morals and values which should govern society, therefore they quarrel and attempt to suppress or overpower others they deem to be heretics, wrong thinking, sinful, or dangerous… but its not only religions that have a history of violence or oppression but human societies have always been at war with the “other”, adhering or supporting what they know or have been taught, what they believe to be correct through a process of elimination or rationalization, or what they have come to believe through indoctrination, propaganda, and so forth…

Humans are not perfect, nor does the true religion anywhere claim “perfection” as the highest standard. Even the prophets and messengers of God were not perfect, because they were prone to mistakes occasionally; Moses even murdered a man, before God spoke to him on the mountain, and Noah and Abraham, had both asked God for something which they had no right (to save his son, and to forgive his father, respectively; both were admonished for these minor mistakes, which they did out of human love or a sense of duty only, not because they were weak or inclined to evil.

Religion is not for the angels, and angels are not tested as the other creatures (humans and jinns) being completely without free will. They only do as they are commanded! They do not even flinch from executing eternal punishments on the non believers, as is the role of the punishing Angels of the Hellfire. Nor do they suffer a conscience, but they perform their duties diligently and unwaveringly whereas humans were never made for such work.

The word perfect doesn’t come up. God says, in the Quran, He has given human beings the “best form”, in overall beauty, symmetry of the body, wellness of the mind, completeness of the soul, which can be uplifted or destroyed, depending on life experience and the human’s own choices, thoughts and behaviours. His thoughts and decisions influence his actions and his actions further encourage him to either good or bad. Bad decisions can become compulsive, just as good morals, behaviour or choices lead to more beneficial results, in life and all personal relationships. Sometimes, it happens that the human will feel remorse and cease to follow his base desires. They want to be happy, not just have momentary bliss followed by regrets or sorrows, which often follow careless adventures into hedonism.

If life isn’t always “perfect” is logical and humans largely accept the ups and downs, as “part of life”, because they also accept that they themselves are sometimes Good and sometimes Bad, and why should circumstances also not follow similar ‘laws’ to what is expected in science; a machine is not a perfect machine, it eventually fails, and nature is not without its problems, the fields wither and die, new life emerges out of the ashes; the human also grows strong, then eventually grows old and weak, or even reaches a stage of utter helplessness, ill health and senility.

The Quran reminds us of these facts, which are merely the normal struggles of ordinary people, and some extraordinary experiences, which occasionally illuminate what we know – that its possible to surpass our own expectations (and those of others) – there are really people we call “greats”, but there are also the “monsters”.

Modern times and circumstances create different good, or what we think are good, and different evil or what we think are evil. But God in His complete knowledge and Wisdom knows all. Therefore, He demands that we follow His guidance, which He sent, and that is the real challenge today, to understand what is that guidance, or what the Quran really wants us to know. Because the human isn’t a machine, but neither are they alone in the Universe… Allah is everywhere in his knowledge. He has sent the MESSAGE – the revelation and the teachings of Islam – so that they may “read” and find answers to questions, an oasis of learning in a  desert of ignorance.