A Handbook of Islam > Title Page > List of Contents

Next (1. The Holy Quran)

Introduction

Significance of the name Islām

Among the great religions of the world Islam enjoys the distinction of bearing a significant name, a name that points to its very essence. Muhammad was the name of the Holy Prophet through whom this religion was revealed, but its name as stated in the Quran is Islām,1 and the one who follows it is called a Muslim.2 So far from the system being named after its founder, as in the case of Christianity, Buddhism, Confucianism etc., the Prophet Muhammad is himself called a Muslim.3 In fact, earlier prophets of God are spoken of in the Quran as being “submitting ones” (literally, “Muslims”),4 thus showing that what is called “Islam” is the true religion for the whole of humanity, the various prophets being the preachers of that religion among different nations in different times and the Holy Prophet Muhammad its last and most perfect exponent.

The root-meaning of the word Islām is to enter into peace, and a Muslim is one who makes his peace with God and man. Peace with God implies complete submission to His will, and peace with man is not only to refrain from evil or injury to another but also to do good to him; and both these ideas find expression in the Holy Quran itself as the true essence of the religion of Islam:

“No, whoever submits himself entirely to Allah and he is the doer of good [to others], he has his reward from his Lord, and there is no fear for such nor shall they grieve.” — 2:112

Islam is thus, in its very inception, the religion of peace, and its two basic doctrines, the unity of God and the unity or brotherhood of the human race, afford positive proof of its being true to its name. Not only is Islam stated to be the true religion of all the prophets of God, as pointed out above, but even the involuntary but complete submission to Divine laws which is witnessed in nature, is indicated by the same word aslama. This wider significance is also retained in the strictly legal usage of the word, for, in law, Islam has a two-fold significance: a simple profession of faith — a declaration that “there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah” (the Kalimah) — and a complete submission to the Divine will which is only attainable through spiritual perfection. Thus, the person who simply accepts the religion of Islam, the mere novice, is a Muslim, as well as the one who completely submits himself to the Divine will and practises all the Divine command­ments.

Place of Islam among world religions

Islam is the last of the great religions — those mighty movements which have revolutionized the world and changed the destinies of nations. But it is not only the last, it is an all-inclusive religion which contains within itself all religions which came before it. One of its most striking characteristics is that it requires its follo­wers to believe that all the great religions of the world that preceded it have been revealed by God:

“And [Muslims are those] who believe in what has been revealed to you [O Muhammad] and what was revealed before you…” — 2:4

“Say: We believe in Allah and in what has been revealed to us, and in what was revealed to Abraham, and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and in what was given to Moses and Jesus, and in what was given to the pro­phets from their Lord, we make no distinction between any of them…” — 2:136

“The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and [so do] the believers. They all believe in Allah and His angels and His Books and His messengers. We make no distinction between any of His messengers.” — 2:285

Thus a Muslim believes not only in the Prophet Muhammad but in all other prophets as well. And pro­phets were, according to the express teachings of the Holy Quran, raised up among all the nations:

“And there is not a people but a warner has gone among them.” — 35:24

Similarly, its sacred Book, the Holy Quran, is spoken of as a combination of all the sacred scriptures of the world:

“Pure pages in which are all the right books.” — 98:2–3

In addition to being the last and an all-inclusive religion, it is the perfect expression of the Divine will. Thus Allah says in the Holy Quran:

“This day have I perfected for you your religion and com­pleted My favour on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion.” — 5:3

Like every other form of consciousness, the religious con­sciousness of man has developed slowly and gradually down the ages, and the revelation of the great Truth from on high was thus brought to perfection in Islam. It is to this great truth that the words of Jesus Christ allude:

“I still have many things to say to you but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the spirit of truth, has come, he will guide you into all truth.” 5

Thus it is the great mission of Islam to bring about peace in the world by establishing a brotherhood of all the religions, to bring together all the religious truths contained in previous religions, to correct their errors and to sift the true from the false, to preach the eternal verities which had not been preached before on account of the special circumstances of any race or society in the early stages of its development, and, last of all, to meet all the moral and spiritual requirements of an ever-advancing humanity.

New meaning introduced into religion

With the advent of Islam, religion has received a new significance. Firstly, it is to be treated not as a dogma, which one must accept in order to escape everlasting damnation, but as a science based on the universal experience of humanity. It is not a particular nation that becomes the favourite of God and the recipient of Divine revelation; on the contrary, revelation is recognized as a necessary factor in the evolution of man; hence while in its crudest form it is the universal experience of humanity, in its highest, that of pro­phetical revelation, it has been a Divine gift bestowed upon all nations of the world. And the idea of the scientific in religion has been further strengthened by presenting its doctrines as principles of human conduct and action. There is not a single religious doctrine which is not made the basis of action for the development of man to higher and yet higher stages of life.

Secondly, the sphere of religion is not confined to the next world; its primary concern is rather with this life: that man, through a righteous life here on earth, may attain to the conscious­ness of a higher existence. And so it is that the Holy Quran deals with a vast variety of subjects which affect man’s life in this world. It deals not only with the ways of devotion, the forms of worship, and the means which make man attain communion with God, but also, and in richer detail, with the problems of the world around us, with questions of relations between human beings, their social and political life, institutions of marriage, divorce and inheritance, division of wealth and relations of labour and capital, administration of justice, military organi­zation, peace and war, national finance, debts and contracts, rules for the service of humanity and even treatment of animals, laws for the help of the poor, the orphan and the widow, and hundreds of other questions the proper understanding of which enables a person to lead a happy life.

It lays down rules not only for individual progress but also for the advancement of society as a whole, of the nation and even of humanity. It throws light on problems regarding relations not only between individuals but also among the different tribes and nations into which humanity is divided. And all these rules and laws are made effective by a faith in God. It prepares man for another life, it is true, but only through making him capable of holding his own in the present one.

Religion is a force in the moral development of man

A cursory glance at the history of human civilization will show that religion has been the supreme force in the development of mankind to its present condition. It is through the teachings of this or that prophet that man has been able to conquer his lower nature and to set before himself the noblest ideals of selflessness and the service of humanity. A study of the noble senti­ments that inspire man today will show their origin in the teachings and example of some great sage who had a deep faith in God and through whom was sown the seed of faith in other human hearts. The moral and ethical development of man to his present state, if due to any one cause, is due to religion. Humanity has yet to find out whether the lofty emotions which inspire man today will survive after a generation or two of Godlessness, and what sentiments materialism will bring in its train.

It is often said that religion is responsible for much of the hatred and bloodshed in the world, but a cursory glance at the history of religion will show that this is a monstrous misconception. Love, concord, sympathy, kindness to one’s fellow human beings, have been the message of every religion, and every nation has learnt these essential lessons in their true purity only through the spirit of selflessness and service which a faith in God has inspired. If there have been selfish­ness and hatred and bloodshed, those have been there in spite of religion, not as a consequence of the message of love which religion has brought. They have been there because human nature is too prone to these things; and their presence only shows that a still greater religious awakening is required, that a truer faith in God is yet the crying need of humanity. That man sometimes turns to low and unworthy things does not show that the nobler sentiments are worthless, but only that their development has become a more urgent necessity.

Islam as the greatest unifying force in the world

Islam is undoubtedly the greatest civilizing force the world has ever known. In the seventh century C.E. it was Islam that saved it from crashing into an abyss of savagery, that came to the help of a civilization whose very foundations had collapsed, and that set about laying a new foundation and rearing an entirely new edifice of culture and ethics. A new idea of the unity of the human race as a whole, not of the unity of this or that nation, was introduced into the world — an idea so mighty that it welded together nations which had warred with one another since the world began. It not only cemented together the warring tribes of one country but also estab­lished a brotherhood of all nations of the world, even uniting those which had nothing in common except their common humanity. It obliterated differences of colour, race, language, geographical boundaries and even of culture. It united man with man as such, and the hearts of those in the far east began to beat in unison with the hearts of those in the farthest west. Indeed, it proved to be not only the greatest but the only force unifying man, because, where­as other religions had succeeded merely in unifying the different elements of a single race, Islam actually achieved the unification of many races, and harmonized the jarring and discordant elements of humanity.

Islam laid the basis of a unity of the human race beyond which human conception cannot go. It recognized the equality not only of the civil and political rights of people, but also of their spiritual rights. “Mankind is a single nation” 6 is the fundamental doctrine of Islam, and for that reason every nation is recognized as having received the spiritual gift of revelation.

Islam as the greatest spiritual force of the world

Equally great is the unparalleled transformation which Islam has brought about in the world; for it has proved itself to be a spiritual force the equal of which the human race has never known. Its miraculous transfor­mation of world conditions was brought about in an incredibly short time. It swept away the vilest superstitions, the crassest ignorance, the rank immorality, the old evil habits of centuries over centuries in less than a quarter of a century. That its spiritual conquests are without parallel in history is an undeniable fact, and it is because of the unparalleled spiritual transformation effected by him that the Holy Prophet Muhammad is admitted to be the “most successful of all prophets and religious personalities.” 7

Islam offers a solution of the great world problems

Islam is not only the most civilizing and the greatest spiritual force of the world but also offers a solution of the most baffling problems which con­front mankind today. Materialism, which has become humanity’s ideal in modern times, can never bring about peace and mutual trust among the nations of the world. Islam is the only force which has already succeeded in blotting out race and colour distinctions and it is through Islam only that this great problem of the modern world can be solved.

Islam is, first and foremost, an international religion, and it is only before its grand international ideal — the ideal of the equality of all races and of the unity of the human race — that the curse of nationalism, which has been and is responsible for the troubles of the ancient and the modern worlds, can be swept away. But even within the boundaries of a nation or a country there can be no peace as long as a just solution of the two great problems of wealth and sex cannot be found.

Modern nations have gone to two extremes on the wealth question: capitalism and communism. There is either the tendency to concentrate wealth among the great capitalists, or, by community of wealth, to bring the indolent and the industrious to one level. Islam offers the true solution by ensuring to the worker the reward of his work, great or small, in accordance with the merit of the work, and also by allotting to the poor a share in the wealth of the rich. Thus, while the rights of property are maintained in their true sense, arrangements are made for equalizing con­ditions by taking a part of the wealth of the rich and distributing it among the poor.

Similarly, Islam’s solution of the sex question is the only one that can ensure ultimate peace to the family. There is neither the free-love which would loosen all ties of social relations, nor the indissoluble binding of man and woman which turns many a home into a veri­table hell. And, by solving these and a hundred other problems, Islam — as its very name indicates — can bring true happiness to the human race.

Misconceptions underlying criticism of religion

Three chief objections to religion are raised by modern anti-religious movements:

1. That religion helps in the maintenance of the present social system, which has borne the fruit of capitalism with the consequent crushing of the aspirations of the poor.

2. That it keeps the people subject to superstition and thus hinders the advance of sciences.

3. That it teaches people to pray for their needs instead of wor­king for them and thus it makes them indolent.

So far as Islam is concerned, the facts are entirely contrary to these allegations. Islam came as the friend of the poor and the destitute, and as a matter of fact it has accomplished an upliftment of the poor to which his­tory affords no parallel. It raised people from the lowest rung of the social ladder to the highest positions of life, it made of slaves not only leaders in thought and intellect but actual rulers of state. Its social system is one of an equality which is quite unthinkable in any other nation or society. It lays down as one of the fundamental principles of religion that the poor have a right in the wealth of the rich, a right exercised through the state which collects annually a fortieth of the wealth amassed by the rich, to be distributed among the poor.8

The second allegation, that religion discourages the advancement of science and learning, is equally devoid of truth. Islam gave an impetus to learning in a country which had never been a seat of learning and was sunk in the depths of superstition. Even as far back as the caliphate of Umar,9 the Islamic state undertook the education of the masses, while the Muslims carried the torch of learning to every country where they gained political ascendancy; schools, colleges and universi­ties sprang up everywhere as a result of the Muslim conquest. It is no exaggeration to say that it was through Islam that the Renaissance came about in Europe.

The third allegation that religion makes people idle by teaching them to pray is also belied by the history of Islam. Not only does the Quran teach people to work hard for success in life, and lays down in plain words that “man can have nothing but what he strives for”,10 but it actu­ally made the Arabs — the then most backward nation in the world — a nation of great leaders in all phases of life. And this great revolution was brought about only by awakening in them a desire for work and a zest for hard striving. Islam does teach man to pray, but prayer, instead of making him idle, is intended to fit him for a still harder struggle, and to carry on that struggle in the face of failure and disappointment, by turning to God Who is the Source of all strength. Thus prayer in Islam is only an incentive to work, and not a hindrance.

Go to: List of Contents   •   Next (1. The Holy Quran)

Notes to the Introduction

1. “This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favour on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion” (5:3). “Surely the (true) religion with Allah is Islam” (3:19).

2. “He named you Muslims before and in this” (22:78), where before refers to prophecies of earlier prophets about Muslims, and this refers to the Quran.

3. “And I am the first of those who submit” (6:163).

Editor’s Note: The word translated as “those who submit” is muslimīn in the original, which is the plural of muslim. By “first” is meant that the Holy Prophet Muhammad is the foremost, and ahead of all, in submitting.

4. “And the same did Abraham enjoin on his sons and so did Jacob: O my sons, surely Allah has chosen for you (this) religion, so die not unless you are submitting ones” (2:132). “We revealed the Torah, in which was guidance and light; with it the prophets who submitted them­selves (aslamū) judged matters for those who were Jews” (5:44).

Editor’s Note: In 2:132 the word translated as “submitting ones” is muslimūn in the original, which is the plural of muslim. As the prophets submitted themselves to God through the revelation which had come to them, they were “Muslims” of their time.

5. Gospel of John, 16:12–13.

6. The Quran, 2:213.

7. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition, Art. ‘Koran’, opening paragraph. It is stated in this paragraph: “…it has been truly described as the most widely-read book in existence. This circumstance alone is sufficient to give it an urgent claim on our attention, whether it suit our taste and fall in with our religious and philosophical views or not. Besides, it is the work of Mahomet, and as such is fitted to afford a clue to the spiritual development of that most successful of all prophets and religious personalities.”

8. Editor’s Note: In addition to this tax on the wealth of the rich for the benefit of the poor, Islam has declared it as the second most important duty of Muslims, after prayer, to spend out of what they possess to help the destitute by money and all other means.

9. The period 634–644 C.E.

10. The Quran, 53:39.