What is Islam? (İngilizce Makale)

Can you claim that this universe came into existence by chance or fortuitously? We live in a wonderful universe which is admirably maintained in a tremendous arrangement and disposition. As you examine the sky visually, you will surely gape at the wonder of lustrous stars, mysterious planets, asteroids and meteoroids. All these luminous spheres and fireballs glitter and scatter their lights on the earth which offers a satisfactory livable residence and habitation for all living beings who maintain their life and come through the natural disasters and catastrophes for millions of years. If anyone realizes that the structure of the universe is arranged and maintained systematically, he will perceive and comprehend that such a wonderful universe, which houses all the matter and supplies subsistence for all the living creatures, is in fact created by only the Great Creator, who is called “Allah” in the religion of Islam.

Conscientiously, everyone realizes that a human being could only be a small portion of this wonderful and tremendous universe. Even so, when you examine the unique build of a human body, you witness that it is maintained and arranged in the most wonderful way. In this respect, we can also assure that human beings are the most intelligent of all the creatures, which are created and maintained by the Great Creator, Allah. However, some people cannot perceive the wonderful disposition of the universe, perfect creation of the human beings, and deny the presence of the Almighty Creator.

For ages, Allah sent his messages through his prophets so as to reveal his orders, teachings and guidance especially against those agnostic disbelievers. All the messengers of three religions such as Noah, Moses, Jesus and Muhammed were the prophets of Allah, who sent them to warn all the human beings, especially the disbelievers. From all these prophets, Muhammed is the last and final messenger of the Almighty Creator. Islam, which can be described as the exact acceptance of the teachings and guidance of God “Allah”, was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad, the Last Messenger. Today, millions of people from various races and nations believe and follow the Holy Quran sent by God.

In fact, Islam is not a new religion. Islam begins from the time of Adam, who was the first human being created by God, and it always continues through the ages of Noah, Abraham, Ismael, David, Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. It is the complete and final form of God’s messages by the last prophet Muhammed. And the Quran, which is the basic source of Islam, is the last revealed holy word of Allah. The Quran deals with a wide range of subjects such as God’s relationship with mankind, the basis of creeds, morality, history of humanity, worship, knowledge and wisdom. Allah addresses the human beings directly in the Quran. From past to day, the Quran is the only holy book which has remained unchanged to even a letter. The Sunnah, which contains the sayings, actions and manners of Muhammed, is also an important example for the believers of Islam.

The Fundamentals of Faith in Islam:
1. A Muslim believes in the presence of only One God, “Allah”.
2. A Muslim believes in the presense of the angels of Allah.
3. A Muslim believes in the revelations and holy books of Allah.
The Quran mentions the revelations of Allah to the prophets such as Abraham, David, Moses and Jesus. However, these previous revelations were corrupted by human beings before Muhammad; therefore, the Quran has been revealed as the complete form of religion of Allah, and remained unchanged since that time of revelation.
4. A Muslim believes in all messengers of Allah.
According to Islam, every nation had a warner or messenger throught the history, but the Quran mentions only the twenty-five of those messengers. Among them, Muhammad is the last messenger.
5. A Muslim believes the Last Day, Hereafter and the Judgement Day.
6. A Muslim believes the Destiny.
All Muslims accept that Allah has a timeless knowledge and nothing can happen against Allah’s will. And Allah knows everything before. All Muslims should accept the destiny whether good or bad.

Five Pillars of Islam:
1. Saying and believing that there is nothing worthy of worship except Allah, and Muhammad is the last messenger.
2. Performing the daily and weekly prayers. There are five prayers a day.
3. Paying the Zakat (Zakkah) yearly. It is an annual amount of coin which should be distributed to the poor people.
4. Fasting the month of Ramadan.
5. Hajj which is the pilgrimage to the sacred house Mecca.

If you have any questions related to the religion of Islam, please ask us by using the comment form below. Be sure that we can help you answer the questions in your mind.

Written by
Abdurrahman
07.02.2012