ISLAM: Islam is a religion which is free of superstitions and silly tales; it rejects fallacious miracles; it accepts man not as a sinner, but as Allâhu ta’âlâ’s created slave; it provides them with an industrious and prosperous life; and it commands physical and spiritual cleanliness. Islam’s essence is the belief in one Allah and His Prophet, Hadrat Muhammad (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallâm) who is, like us, a human being and a slave of Allâhu ta’âlâ. In Islam, a prophet is a man, but innocent and perfect. Allâhu ta’âlâ has chosen him as His messenger to communicate His commandments to humanity. Islam recognizes all the Prophets (’alaihi-mus-salâm), loves them all, and mentions their names with reverence. Essentially, the advent of the latest Prophet is written in ancient religious books as well as in the original Torah and Bible. Hadrat Muhammad (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallâm) is the latest (final) Prophet, and no other Prophet will succeed him.
To believe that Hadrat Muhammad (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) is Allâhu ta’âlâ’s Prophet means to believe that all the commandments and prohibitions written in the Qur’ân al-kerîm, which he communicated, are Allâhu ta’âlâ’s commandments and prohibitions. If a person who so believes does not obey some of these commandments, he does not lose his îman (belief); that is, he does not become a non-Muslim. However, if he does not feel sorrow over disobeying even one of them, but instead boasts about this state of his, he will not have believed in the Prophet; he will lose his îmân and become a kâfir (disbeliever). If his head hangs in shame and his heart feels broken for his improper actions against Allâhu ta’âlâ’s commandments, it becomes clear that his îman (faith) is firm.
The following gives an account of the fundamentals of Islam: Various rites, reforms and numerous feasts have no place in Islam and holy days are very few. Islam holds it essential for people to lead an honest and chaste life, but to enjoy life at the same time. It allots only a short time for worship. Committing one’s heart completely to Allâhu ta’âlâ while worshipping is essential. Worships are done not as customs, but for entering the presence of Allâhu ta’âlâ, for thanking and calling upon Him with all one’s heart and soul. Allâhu ta’âlâ does not accept a worship done for ostentation. In the Sûra Mâ’ûn, the Qur’ân al-kerîm states: “O! My Messenger! Have you seen someone who denies the Judgement, puts the orphan aside with harshness, does not promote feeding the needy? There will be a very severe torment for worshippers who are heedless of their prayers, who like to be seen at worship, and who do not give the right of the poor (zakât).”
Islam’s holy book is the QUR’ÂN AL KERÎM. The Qur’ân al- kerîm was revealed by Allâhu ta’âlâ to Hadrat Muhammad (sall- Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam) and was communicated to the Sahâbat al-kirâm by him. While the Qur’ân al-kerîm was being revealed, it was also being recorded with great care, and survives even today; none of its words has been defiled. No other religious book is as eloquent as the Qur’ân al-kerîm. It has the same clarity and eloquence today that it had fourteen centuries ago.
Goethe (1749-1832), one of the world’s most famous literary men, writes about the Qur’ân al-kerîm in his work West-East Divan:[1] “The Qur’ân contains many iterations, and we feel as if these iterations will bore us, but when we read on, gradually the book begins to attract us. Then it carries us to admiration and eventually to reverence.”
Besides Goethe, many other famous thinkers have felt admiration for the Qur’ân al-kerîm. Let’s quote some of them.
Prof. Edouard Monté says: “The Qur’ân al-kerîm is the book that tells of Allah’s oneness in the most clear, most sublime, most sacred and most convincing language, which can be surpassed by no other religious book.”
Dr. Maurice, who translated the Qur’ân al-kerîm into French, says: “The Qur’ân al-kerîm is the most beautiful of the religious books bestowed upon mankind.”
Gaston Karr says: “The Qur’ân al-kerîm which is the source of Islam, contains all the principles of modern civilization. This is such a clear fact that, today, we have to believe that our civilization is established on the fundamental principles of the Qur’ân.”
Islam is founded on the basis of physical and spiritual cleanliness. It accumulates in itself all the overt and covert merits of all the former religions.
There are five principles, religious precepts, which those who have been converted to Islam, that is, all Muslims have to do: The first is to believe in one Allâhu ta’âlâ and that Hadrat Muhammad (sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallâm) is His Prophet and created slave; the second is to perform salât (prayer), as prescribed by Islam; the third is to fast; the fourth is to go on hajj (pilgrimage); the last one is to pay zakât, a special kind of yearly charity paid by the rich to poor Muslims.
Performing prayer (salât) is a religious rite done five times a day in their prescribed times. Before beginning the prayer it is necessary to make an ablution, which mainly consists of washing the hands, the face, the arms, and the feet. Several prayers can be performed with one ablution, the ablution has been broken for one of the reasons, (which, too, are prescribed by Islam). Praying five times a day does not hinder one’s normal daily work. In fact, the prayer, requiring little time, can be performed anywhere as well as in a mosque. Also there is the method of “masah” (wiping) mests (leather socks) which saves one from the obligation of washing the feet when making an ablution anew. For those who are at places without water or who are ill; it is possible for them to make an ablution with soil, a method which is called “tayammum.” In cases of strong necessity, such as when there is the danger of thieves on a journey or the danger of being killed, prayers can be omitted and left to qadâ; that is, those prayers can be performed one right after another some other time.
Fasting is to abstain from doing anything that breaks one’s fast only during the day for one month a year, i.e., in the month of Ramadân. One of its worldly values is in that it teaches people the meaning of hunger and thirst. A sated person will never know hunger or sympathize with the hungry. Fasting teaches a sated person the sufferings of a hungry person. At the same time it drills us in self-discipline. Because fasting dates are determined according to Arabic months, each year’s fast begins ten days earlier than the previous year’s. Therefore, it coincides with summer months as well as with winter months. People not well enough to endure a summer fast can make qadâ of them (perform them later) in winter, and those who are too old to fast can pay their debts by giving special alms termed “fidya” in lieu of fasting.
No force or torture takes place in Islam. Allâhu ta’âlâ has never required one to worship at the cost of one’s health, that is, to worship so much that one will get ill. Allâhu ta’âlâ is very magnanimous, forgiving and compassionate. In other words, He is so merciful, He will forgive those who do penance.
Zakât means that the Muslims who are wealthy and who possess zakât property in excess of the amount necessary to live on, i.e., above the amount termed “nisâb” will give two-and-a- half percent, or one-fortieth, of all their property to poor Muslims once a year. People with earnings sufficient for only a basic living standard do not pay zakât. In other words, this fard (precept) is valid only for wealthy Muslims.
As for Hajj, it is again only for wealthy Muslims who have no debts and who are able to leave enough household subsistence for their families, left behind, during the journey. Hajj means to go to Mecca once in a lifetime, to visit the Ka’ba, and to pray to Allâhu ta’âlâ in the open space of Arafat. This fard (obligation) is also only for the Muslims who have the conditions stated above. In case there is the danger of death or illness on the way to and from Mecca, or if there is trouble beyond your capacity, you do not have to go on hajj. Instead, you send someone else who is capable.
To learn the details of these worships, their conditions, and how they are to be performed correctly, each of the four madhhabs has a certain book called, “Ilm-i hâl.”[1] It is necessary for a Muslim to read and learn how to worship from the books of his madhhab, which he preferred because it seemed to be easy for him to follow.
Islam’s worship remains between Allâhu ta’âlâ and the slave. Allâhu ta’âlâ alone forgives or punishes those who are negligent or guilty. Those who are to be punished will be put in the vehement fire of retribution, which we term “Hell.”
Who will remain eternally in Hell? Will it be those who do not perform their prayers? Will it be those who commit sins? No! Those who will be burned eternally in Hell are Allâhu ta’âlâ’s enemies. Sinners are not Allâhu ta’âlâ’s enemies. They are like a naughty, guilty child. Do parents become hostile to their disobedient child? Of course, they do not. They only scold him a little, but they keep loving him.
Muslims have belief principally in six things, they are: in Allâhu ta’âlâ, in His Prophets (alaihimussalawâtu wattaslîmat), in His holy books, in His angels, in the fact that good and evil come from Allah, and in the Rising after death. Actually all the religions we have spoken of are based on these fundamentals.
Above we have said that worships remain between Allâhu ta’âlâ and man. But those who cheat others, those who appropriate others’ rights, liars, the fraudulent, the tyrants, those who practice injustice and dishonesty, those who disobey their parents or superiors, those who rebel against authorities and their government, in brief, those against the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ and those who deprive others of their rights or deceive others for their own advantages will never be forgiven unless they are forgiven by the owners of those rights. In short, Allâhu ta’âlâ will never forgive those who unjustly appropriate other people’s or animals’ rights, and they will go to Hell and receive their punishment, no matter how much they worship.
One of the human rights is “to pay the mahr” immediately to the woman whom one has divorced. If it is not paid, the retribution, punishment in this world and the torment in the next world will be dreadful.
The most important among human rights, of which the torment will be the most dreadful, is that of not doing “amr-u ma’rûf’ to relatives and to the people under one’s authority. This means to discontinue teaching the Islamic religion to them.
It is understood that a man who prevents them or any other Muslim from learning their religion and from worshipping by the use of torture or deceit, is an enemy of Islam, a kafir (disbeliever)! A Muslim who does not follow one of the four madhhabs is called a “heretic.” Muslims are in great peril in the face of heretics’ attempts to change the creed of Ahl as-sunna and to defile Islam and belief.
While in the world, such people should repent as early as possible, then return the wronged person’s right, get themselves forgiven and consign themselves to Allâhu ta’âlâ’s mercy by abstaining from doing such evil acts again. They should also try to get their sins pardoned by doing a lot of good deeds. Then, Allâhu ta’âlâ will forgive them for their sins.
It is believed that those who have worked and left behind them useful information and efforts with a view to serving humanity, even if they are considered to have been in another religion, may have attained Allâhu ta’âlâ’s guidance towards the end of their lives. Of old, Muslims called such people “the secret pious.” If it is not known for certain that such doers of good acts had been holding non-Muslim beliefs, we do not know, either, in what belief they were when they died. If they had used well the weapon of mind, which Allâhu ta’âlâ had conferred upon them; if they had worked with the idea of serving all human beings without harming anyone; if they had studied the fundamentals of all the religions, it should be expected that they attained Allâhu ta’âlâ’s guidance and as a result were Muslims.
For example, Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), a famous contemporary literary man, states in one of his articles: “Islam is the only religion which can be adapted to every century. I predict that Islam will be the religion which will be accepted by tomorrow’s Europe.” This reveals that he has accepted Islam in his heart.
The German thinker and writer Emil Ludwig (1881-1948) wrote in one of his works: “I visited Egypt. One evening as I was having a walk along the Red Sea shore, in the midst of silence, I heard the sudden call of the adhân, and my whole body trembled with the fear of the Creator. All of a sudden, there arose within me a desire to throw myself into the water, to make an ablution, to prostrate and to entreat Allah as Muslims do.” Does this not show that there shone a light of “hidâya,” though temporarily, in that famous writer’s heart?
Lord Headley, who felt a similar light of “hidâya” in his heart, said, “After seeing the plain but bright greatness of Islam, shining like a halo, you feel as if you have come out of a dark corridor into the sunlight.” He later embraced Islam.[1] If such people should die without îmân (faith) and be punished in the next world by Allâhu ta’âlâ, He will certainly diminish their punishments on account of the favours they have done for humanity. It is declared in the seventh and eighth verses of sûra Zilzâl in the Qur’ân al- kerîm: “He who did the tiniest bit of good will face it, and he who did the tiniest bit of evil will face it, too.” A Muslim will receive rewards for his good deeds both here and in the Hereafter. However, a disbeliever will receive his reward only in this world. Therefore, being a disbeliever is the worst possible thing. That is why a person who has worked with the pure intention of only serving humanity and as a result has brought about developments that are beneficial for humanity, while they were accomplished under the most difficult conditions of risking his health and life, but who has not been converted to Islam and died in the state of “disbelief” (kufr) will not be exempted from the punishment for disbelief despite his good deeds. Nonetheless, in Allâhu ta’âlâ’s view, the punishment for those hypocrites who committed every sort of evil and fraud and who pretended to worship, will be much worse. Their pretending to be Muslims will not protect them from the torment which they deserve because of the disbelief in their hearts.
Ottoman history gives a record of many commanders, many men of knowledge and science who had formerly been Christians and who eventually accepted Islam and subsequently performed many services to the religion.
Ismâil Hakkı Effendi (rahima-hullahu ta’âlâ) passed away in Bursa in the year 1137 [1725]. His explanation of the Qur’ân al- kerîm, namely Rûh-al-bayân, which consists of ten volumes, is esteemed highly by Islamic savants (rahima-humullâhu ta’âlâ) all over the world. He said after finishing the interpretation of the sixth juz:[2] “My shaikh [master, teacher] was the allâma [most deeply learned] of his time. When he was told that some Jews and Christians behaved honestly and truely and did favours for everybody, he responded, “Being so is a sign which is peculiar to those who will be given eternal felicity. It is hoped that those who have such qualities will attain îman (faith) and tawhîd and that their end will be salvation.” This quotation from a book of explanation is another proof for our words above.