Islam is the religion of 1/4 of the World’s population today yet people know more about sports or science fiction than the people that they would most probably meet every day. Filipinos share the Philippines with Muslim countrymen whose ancestry is usually from Mindanao. The Philippines itself belongs to Southeast Asia which is home to Muslims countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Brunei. Millions of Filipinos work in the Middle East as well. So these are some information that is good to know.
THE MEANING OF ISLAM
Islam came from the Arabic root word aslama which means ‘to surrender’ and another word salam which means ‘peace’. Followers of Islam are called Muslims. Islam is not a new religion founded by Prophet Muhammad according to many misconceptions. Rather, it is a monotheistic religion which is the continuation of the message of the Prophets and Messengers from Adam, the first prophet up to Muhammad, the last and final Prophet. Islam is not a new religion. It is the same message brought forth by David, Solomon, Jesus and all the other prophets. They may have lived in different times but they were sent for the same purpose – to teach us to worship the one true God – Allah – and avoid worshipping false deities.
Islam teaches that humans are created to worship Allah alone. If this is not met by any human, by worshipping other gods other than Allah, he will be held accountable after his death to be thrown in the Hellfire residing therein forever. The believers who do good deeds will enter Paradise on the other hand but sinning believers may still face punishment in Hellfire. The believers who have bad deeds which they were not able to repent for while living will be in the Hellfire for a period of time until Allah finally forgives him and make him enter Paradise.
Islam is the Submission to Allah by the virtue of His oneness, by obeying Him and avoiding that which is contradictory to monotheism. Allah is the personal name of God as he has introduced himself in the Quran – the words of Allah which is available today in book form. Allah is the creator and sustainer of all that exists. Allah has names and characteristics which are unique to Him which is relative to His greatness and majesty.
Islam has five pillars: Testifying that there is no god worthy of being worshipped except Allah, establishing Salah, paying Zakah, fasting on Ramadhan and Hajj. Islam enjoins all good deeds which are upheld by humans to be morally upright but the most moral of good deeds is the worship of the one true god. While the greatest sin is that we associate partners to Allah by worshipping others other than him. All these are strictly enforced as Islam prohibit vice and other immoralities such as cheating, fornication, and terrorism.
WHO ARE THE MUSLIMS?
You may have heard of people saying that he is Islam and his religion is Muslim. Grammatically, this is wrong and you should say that he is Muslim and his religion is Islam.
The followers of Islam are called Muslims. Muslims are composed of many different people of different ethnicities. Although Muslims may be known to be the religion of some tribes, nations or ethnic affiliations, a person born and raised by a Non-Muslim family may revert to Islam. That is why in the Philippines, you could find Muslim who have surnames which are of Northern or Christian origin such as Palma, Rivera, and others because they or their ancestors may have been formerly Christians who reverted to the faith. Every year more and more people are reverting back to Islam from different religions as soon as they hear the message of this great religion in spite of the negative publicity given to it by the media and even in movies and video games.
It is also correct to conclude that not everyone born and raised from a Muslim family is automatically a Muslim by practice. Rather he is a Muslim by affiliation.
A Muslim is a person who surrendered himself to Allah by acknowledging His oneness. He is also subservient to Allah by being obedient to Him and avoiding what He prohibited he avoids any form of cooperation or having to do with worshipping anything or anyone other than Allah. Being a Muslim is living by the guidance of the Quran and Sunnah, the way of the Prophet, according to the understanding of Prophet Muhammad, his companions, and the scholars. The best Muslim is the one who is the best in following this guidance. Mere words or claiming faith does not make one a REAL MUSLIM although he may be a NOMINAL MUSLIM or MUSLIM BY NAME OR AFFILIATION.
A Muslim’s faith is exhibited through the speech of the tongue, belief of the heart and the righteous actions of the body. A person becomes a Muslim by verbally pronouncing the Shahadah or testimony of faith which is by saying ‘Ashhadu An La Ilaha Illallah wa Ashhadu Anna Muhammadan Rasulullah – I bear witness that there is no god worthy of being worshipped except Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger. His testimony should be accompanied by a firm belief in his heart which is free from doubt. Ultimately, his testimony and belief must manifest through his actions by performing the acts of worship legislated in Islam.
A Muslim may be perfectly devout yet involve himself in productive worldly matters such as business and others
A Muslim’s good deeds will only be accepted by Allah if it meets two important conditions which are sincerity in acting upon the good deed that it is not done out of showing off, rather it is done only to please Allah. The second condition is for his actions to be in accordance with the Sunnah or the methodology of Prophet Muhammad.
This is our article for today. If you want to know more about Islam, watch Mensahe TV via Cignal channel 184 or visit www.mensahetv.com. If you have questions feel free to email me at mujahidnavarra@gmail.com.
Have a nice day.
