Overall Analysis of Various Aspects of Islam - Research Paper Example

An Overall Analysis of Various Aspects of Islam Introduction Islam, one of the monotheistic religions of the world, crucially pivots on the oneness of God or Allah. This Islamic belief in the oneness of God essentially evolves from the Holy Scripture, Quran, which the Muslim, the followers of Islam, believes to be directly descended from God or Allah upon Prophet Muhammad. Indeed the term “Islam” has derived from the word ‘salaam’ or ‘s-l-m’ that literally means peace or happiness ‘wholeness and completion’. But the majority of the Islamic scholars agree that Islam as a religion connotes a more ambiguous meaning, “submission to the will of God”. (Waines 92) This ambiguity of the meaning of Islam ultimately evolves from the concept that one’s submission to the will of God will bring peace in this worldly life. A fundamental Muslim thinks that submission to God and peace are the two sides of the same coin. Conventionally it is often believed that Islam was founded by Muhammad, in the 640 AD, who claimed himself to be the messenger of God. But referring to the Quranic evidences, some scholars claim that the origin of Islam dates back to Adam, the first man as well as the first prophet of Islam. This is how, all of the Abrahamic religions and few others were the ancient versions, of Islam, which have now been annulled by God Himself. (Nasr 45) But other scholars argue that since the ancient versions of Islam such Christianity (the religion of Prophet Zesu, one of the most revered prophets in Islam), Judaism (the religion of Prophet Moses, another revered prophet in Islam) and other religions have been repealed by God because the distortions of these religions by men, the true Islam for modern people is the one that Muhammad founded in the Seventh Century. Articles of Faith in Islam Institutional Islam, to a great extent, can be viewed as the summation of some seven beliefs and actions according to these beliefs. A follower of Muhammad or a believer of Islam needs to believes in: a. one God (Allah), b. prophets starting from Adam to Muhammad including Noah, Moses, Jesus, Abraham, etc. c. divine scriptures (Qutub) such as the Torah (the divine message of David or Da’ud), the Zabur (the divine message of Moses or Musa), the Bible of Zesu or Isaac (the Ingile as the Muslim calls it), the Quran (Muhammad), other unnamed minor religious scripts that were descended upon the prophets, d. the angels as the servants of God, e. belief in the “Day of Judgment” () and f. belief in fate. The summation of these beliefs is known as Islamic Belief, in Arabic ‘Iman’ or ‘Aqidah’. ‘Iman’ or ‘Aqidah’ essentially means to have beliefs in these six articles. Indeed five of these Articles of Faiths are supported by the textual evidences from the Quran. For an example, the verse 136 of chapter “An-Nisa” says, “Whoever disbelieveth in God and His angels and His scriptures and His messengers and the Last Day, he verily wandered far astray.” (4:136) Again the verse 285 of Chapter ‘Baqarah’ tells about the four of the main articles of faith in Islam: “believers have believed in God and His angels and His scriptures and His messengers” (2:285). Tawhid: Islamic Belief in the Oneness of God Islamic belief in God is both confirmation of one’s belief in one God and denial of many. In this sense, belief in Islamic God is a rigorous monotheism. In Arabic, this monotheism is called Tawhid or the oneness of God. This ‘Tawhid’ is the most fundamental concept of Islam. Indeed the Islamic belief in the existence of one God is essentially the denial of many gods. According to the Quran, the fact that God is one is self-evident and therefore, the concept of many gods is simply false. God as well as His oneness, in Islam, often sides with transcendentalism. Though the transcendentalism has not directly been affirmed in Islam. The description of God, in a round about way, infers that God is transcendental. The Chapter, “Al-Ikhlas” asserts this transcendentalism of God as following: “Say: He is God, the One and Only; God, the Eternal, Absolute; He begetteth not, nor is He begotten; and there is none like unto Him.” (Sura 112:1-4) A Muslim’s Worldview and Denial of Polytheism and the Concept of Shirk The Islamic belief in the oneness of God is essentially the denial of the belief many gods. For the same reason, it opposes the Christian concept of “Trinity” arguing that it is a sort of polytheism, even though Islam emphasizes a Muslim’s belief in Jesus as one of the respected prophets of God. Referring to the monist image of God in Islam Vincent J. Cornell comments that God in which the Muslims believe is an unitary reality or a unified whole: “God is the First and the Last, the Outward and the Inward; God is the Knower of everything, Sura 57:3” (Vincent 98) Yet some Muslim scholars strongly opposes this monist image of God arguing that such monist image of God fails to distinguish between the creator and the creator, and thus commits the most violent sin of “Shirk” an abominable act of comparing God with others or an act of assuming multiple worldly objects as gods. God in Islam is indivisible. Therefore this indivisibility of His existence refers to the indivisibility of his sovereignty. Indeed this indivisible sovereignty of God also leads to the conception of a coherent physical and moral universe instead of a chaotic one. (Vincent 56) This unitary existence of God also rejects any binary mode of thinking about the existence of beings in this universe. Since God is the one and only creator of this universe, and since both “good and evil” are the result of God’s creativity, evil forces will never be victorious over God. Angels, Revelations of God and the Judgment Day A Muslim must believe in angels as the servants, of God, who are assigned with different duties and perform various tasks according to the orders of God. For example, Jibrail or Gabriel brings message to the prophets from God, while Azrael is the angel of death and Israfil is assigned to bring the final destruction, called Qiamah, on earth. According to the Muslim scholars, though the belief in Angels is no so important, it is necessary to believe in them. Unlike man and Jiin’s will power, the angels cannot perform on their own. The Muslims believe in the Holy Quran as well as other Holy Scripts as the revelations or signs of God. (Waines 78-79) Since other revelations or holy books have been distorted by men, the latest and only undistorted revelation of God is the Quran. The Quran and other holy Books were brought to the prophets as the divine guidance of God for men’s peace and happiness. According to Islamic belief, if God’s guidance and orders are violated, men will suffer both in this life and in the hereafter life. In this worldly life, people will suffer from chaos, disorder and anarchy, such as murder, hunger, injustice, etc, in both personal and social life. Again in the hereafter life, men will be thrown as the Hell, a place of eternal miseries and sufferings as the punishment for violating God’s commands. (Turner 76-8) Therefore, belief in the Judgment Day is an indispensable part of Islamic faith. This life before death is a transient one; so one should prepare oneself for the Day of Resurrection (Yaum Al Qyamah) for facing the Grand Judgment that is supposed to be held by God himself on the Judgment Day. Salaat, Sauum, Hajj, Zakat and Shahadah: Institutional Aspects of Islam Apart from the dogmatic aspects, Islam depends on some institutional basics. At the very beginning, every Muslim needs to recite a specific statement of Testimony or ‘Shahadah’: “I testify there are no deities other than God alone and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of God.” (Farah 37) By uttering Shahdah or Testimony, a Muslim enters into institutional Islam. Upon entrance into Islam, he or she needs to perform four other crucial religious activities. First he or she needs to pray (to perform Salah) five times a day. Islam emphasizes on praying collectively in the Mosque or in Jammah. Fasting or performing ‘Saum’ is another institutional aspect of Islam. It requires one to starve from the Morning Prayer to evening prayer. The Muslims believe that the sole target of Saum is to attain God’s mercy and pity. But scholars argue that the Sauum teaches the Muslim to parsimony and perseverance (Turner 46-8). Alms-giving or Zakaat is considered as one of the five pillars of Islam. Islam requires that only the rich compulsorily will give a certain portion of their wealth to the poor people of the society. Pilgrimage or Hajj is another duty of the rich people of the society. Conclusion A Muslim’s daily religious activities revolve around his or her sole target to attain God’s mercy and salvation on the Judgment Day. Therefore, Islamic religiosity necessarily includes both the institutional religious activities and worldly activities according the guidance of God. When worldly activities are performed without going against the orders of God and without doing any harm to himself or herself or to others, these activities are counted as permissibly informal religious activities. But when there are clear evidences of God’s opposition to certain activities, a Muslim cannot do these activities. (Weiss 23-8) In Islamic tradition, God’s orders and guidance are to considered as laws. A Muslim is strictly required to lead his or her individual and social life according to these laws. If he goes against the orders of God, he must face the Islamic Jurisdiction arranged by the Islamic social authority. Indeed Islamic Laws focus on almost all aspects of life. The delineation of crimes and punishments is primarily defined by the Quranic evidences. Yet Islam yields several classifications of punishable crimes committed by men. Broadly Islam views crimes in two ways: violation of the rights of man (Haq Al Aebad) and violation of the rights of God (Haq Allah). The baseline of Islamic Laws and jurisdiction is that though both violations are subject to punishment in the hereafter life, crimes against the rights of man are to be punished by social judicial system (Weiss 57-58). Works Cited Farah, Caesar. Islam: Beliefs and Observances (5th ed.) Barron's Educational Series. 2003 Nasr, Seyed Muhammad. Our Religions: The Seven World Religions Introduced by Preeminent Scholars from Each Tradition (Chapter 7). HarperCollins, 1994. The Quran, available at Turner, Colin. Islam: the Basics. Routledge (UK). Vincent J. Cornell, Encyclopedia of Religion, Vol 5, pp.3561-3562 Waines, David. An Introduction to Islam. Cambridge University Press. 2003 Weiss, Bernard G. Studies in Islamic Legal Theory. Boston: Brill Academic publishers. 2002 Read More