Do you know what Islam is about

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Do you know what Islam is about?

By Dr. Gilani – Los Angeles, California October 2004

Islam is based on the belief in One God, the creator of all.
Just as nothing is made without a maker and no movement is without a mover,
the entire universe with all the heavens and earth and whatever in between
is made by One creator with infinite Might,
Knowledge and Wisdom, who made, manages and controls,
harmonizes, and coordinates all.
The One creator in the Arabic language is called: Allah = God.
God created space, matter, time, energy, life and our spirits
(the energy and intellect in our bodies).
God also created energy that we cannot see but we see their effects,
such as the winds or gravity and also intelligent energy beings
such as angels and extraterrestrials called Jinn, whom we are unable to see.
All energy and power belongs to God, just as the universes and the earth belong to God.
God creates everything, does not produce children, is not born, does not die,
but creates all and every thing with His Might.
Sex and children, sons or daughters apply to material beings such as humans.
God is The Creator of all that and not one of them.
God is our Creator, not our father or mother.
God has no shape and is invisible (since shape and visibility apply to material beings only).
God is Ever-present and All-aware of all.
In his limitless Wisdom and Mercy, God decided to create us,
humans and gifted us with mind, souls,
spirit and the ability to perceive and understand His Presence and to gain knowledge
by conclusions from known facts.
By the intelligence He gave us, we have lots of important questions,
such as why and how we came to be here on earth and what will happen to us after our death,
questions we cannot easily answer, but The Creator knows the answer,
since God designed and made us what we are and has planned a course for our life and death.
So why God would not let us know why we came here
and what will happen to us after our death?
The fact is that throughout human history,
God did send us messages of explanation via numerous messengers and prophets such as
Adam, Noah, Abraham, Solomon, David, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad.
History tells us that many of the messages (scriptures) were translated
and mistranslated and to some extent, throughout centuries lost, changed, reduced,
or added to the original messages of God*, except the Book; Quran,
which is exactly the same Arabic text as it was written down after many gradual revelations
to Muhammad and collected into one Book: The Quran.
It is very important to read all the available scriptures,
such as the Hindu and Buddhist writings, the Zoroastrian Avesta, the Bible,
the Quran, and others without any bias or prejudice
and to compare the contents for yourselves.
When it comes to choosing to buy a suit or a dress, we are picky,
so why shouldn’t we be choosy in our beliefs,
which could affect our entire future and the future generations?
The Quran encourages that we should listen and study different sayings
and then choose and follow the best, with our intellect,
and not have blind faith in what our forefathers believed, as they might have been wrong.
The Quran teaches that we should be aware of God’s presence
wherever we are and learn to be good people and honest to ourselves and kind to others
and to stand up for justice and fairness everywhere and be leaders to goodness and to forbid
and stop wrong doings, so as to cause peace and harmony in our human societies.
In fact, Islam means Peace and also Submission to one Almighty God only.
If you see instances of terrorist acts by some people with Muslim names,
what they do is not according to Islamic teachings, but tribal vengeance,
similar to the way they themselves were gravely wronged and harmed by others
and their acts have nothing to do with true Islam,
since the Quran explains and teaches that Muslims should always be prepared
and defend themselves against all attackers, but not to first attack or harm innocent people.
Suicide is also a sin in Islam.
God teaches us in the Quran that we should improve and educate ourselves to the best
of our abilities during our life on this earth and be sincere to God,
our Creator and to our fellow human beings,
so as to be worthy of eternal happy life in God’s mercy, after our death.
God is just and fair and rewards all good people for all their good acts
and makes the evil acts of bad people become hellish reflections upon themselves
causing them great sorrow and suffering in the permanent life,
after the Judgment Day, as promised by God in the Quran.
Each person is responsible for his or her own actions
and he or she shall reap in the Afterlife what he or she sows during this lifetime.
Since God is just but there is not much justice on this earth,
there must be a place and time for reckoning;
the good will be rewarded and the evil shall be punished.
God is most Kind and Merciful and pardons our sins,
if we truly ask for His Forgiveness and decide
to return back to follow His Commandments, during our life on earth,
as explained in detail in the Quran.
By coming to know by way of reasoning and wholeheartedly believing in One God,
we have the Best to trust and lean onto: God’s Majesty and Mercy,
that encompasses everything and anywhere in all the heavens and earth and we gradually
learn to free ourselves from our own unwarranted and harmful desires and to dedicate
our life and existence to God, by service to humanity.
That way, we find immense peace calm and stability
when we live all moments of our life with God’s Presence in our mind.
First Chapter of the Quran:

(Say:)
In the Name of God, Most Gracious, and Most Merciful.
All praise is to God,
the Creator and Nurturer of the worlds,
Most Gracious and Merciful!
Ruler of the Day of Judgment;
You alone do we worship and You alone do we ask for help,
to guide us in the correct and straight path (towards You), the path of those,
whom You have greatly blessed, not of those subjected to anger,
nor of those who deviated and strayed (into the wrong directions).

* Refer to the book: “The Bible, the Quran and the Science” by Dr. Maurice Bucaille
and “Who wrote the Bible” by Richard Elliott Friedman.

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"Quran Verse 25 chapter 57"
"We sent Our messengers with explanations, and sent down along with them the Book and the set of guidelines so that people will rise up for justice and fairness"