The True Religion

By Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips
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THE RELIGION OF ISLAM



The first thing that one should know and clearly

understand about Islam is what the word


"Islam" itself means. The religion of Islam is not named

after a person as in the case of

Christianity which was named after Jesus Christ,

Buddhism after Gotama Buddha,


Confucianism after Confucius, and Marxism after Karl

Marx. Nor was it named after a tribe

like Judaism after the tribe of Judah and Hinduism after

the Hindus. Islam is the true religion

of "Allah" and as such, its name represents the central

principle of Allah's "God's" religion;

the total submission to the will of Allah "God". The

Arabic word "Islam" means the

submission or surrender of one's will to the only true

god worthy of worship "Allah" and

anyone who does so is termed a "Muslim", The word

also implies "peace" which is the

natural consequence of total submission to the will of

Allah. Hence, it was not a new religion

brought by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) I in Arabia in

the seventh century, but only the true

religion of Allah re-expressed in its final form.

Islam is the religion which was given to Adam, the first

man and the first prophet of Allah,

and it was the religion of all the prophets sent by Allah

to mankind. The name of God's

religion lslam was not decided upon by later

generations of man. It was chosen by Allah

Himself and clearly mentioned in His final revelation to

man. In the final book of divine

revelation, the Qur'aan, Allah states the following:

"This day have I perfected your religion for you,

completed My favour upon you, and have chosen

for you Islam as your religion". (Soorah Al-Maa'idah

5:3)
"If anyone desires a religion other than Islam

(submission to Allah (God) never will It be accepted


of Him" (Soorah Aal'imraan 3:85)

"Abraham was not a Jew nor Christian; but an upright

Muslim." (Soorah Aal'imraan 3:67)

Nowhere in the Bible will you find Allah saying to

Prophet Moses' people or their

descendants that their religion is Judaism, nor to the

followers of Christ that their religion is

Christianity. In fact, Christ was not even his name, nor

was it Jesus! The name "Christ"

comes from the Greek word Christos which means the

annointed. That is, Christ is a Greek

translation of the Hebrew title "Messiah". The

name "Jesus" on the other hand, is a latinized

version of the Hebrew name Esau.

For simplicity's sake, I will however continue to refer to

Prophet Esau (PBUH) as Jesus. As

for his religion, it was what he called his followers to.

Like the prophets before him, he called

the people to surrender their will to the will of Allah;


(which is Islam) and he warned them to

stay away from the false gods of human imagination.

According to the New Testament, he taught his

followers to pray as follows: "Yours will be

done on earth as it is in Heaven".

THE MESSAGE OF ISLAM

Since the total submission of one's will to Allah

represents the essence of worship, the basic

message of Allah's divine religion, Islam is the worship

of Allah alone and the avoidance of

worship directed to any person, place or thing other

than Allah.Since everything other than

Allah, the Creator of all things, is Allah's creation; it

may be said that Islam, in essence calls

man away from the worship of creation and invites him

to worship only its Creator. He is the

only one deserving man's worship as it is only by His

will that prayers are answered. If man

prays to a tree and his prayers are answered, it was not

the tree which answered his prayers

but Allah who allowed the circumstances prayed for to

take place. One might say, "That is

obvious," however, to tree-worshippers it might not be.

Similarly, prayers to Jesus, Buddha,

or Krishna, to Saint Christopher, or Saint Jude or even

to Muhammad, are not answered by

them but are answered by Allah. Jesus did nottell his

followers to worship him but to worship


Allah. As the Qur'aan states:


"And behold Allah will say: "O Jesus the son of Mary

Did you say to men, Worship me and my

mother as gods besides Allah He will say-"Glory to you

I could never say what I had no right (to

say')" (Soorah Al-Maa'idah- 5:116)

Nor did he worship himself when he worshipped but

rather he worshipped Allah. This basic

principle is enshrined in the opening chapter of the

Qur'aan, known asSoorah Al-Faatihah, verse 4:

"You alone do we worship and from you alone do we

seek help".

Elsewhere, in the final book of revelation, the Qur'aan,

Allah also said:

"And your Lord says:"Call on Me and I will answer your

(prayer)."(Soorsh Mu'min 40:60)

it is worth noting that the basic message of Islam is

that Allah and His creation are distinctly

different entities. Neither is Allah His creation or a part

of it, nor is His creation Him or a part
of Him.
This might seem obvious, but, man's worship of

creation instead of the Creator is to a large

degree based on ignorance of this concept. It is the

belief that the essence of Allah is

everywhere in His creation or that His divine being is or

was present in some aspects of His

creation, which has provided justification for the

worship of creation though such worship

maybecalled the worship of Allah through his creation.

How ever, the message of Islam as

brought by the prophets of Allah is to worship only

Allah and to avoid the worship of his

creation either directly or indirectly. In the Our'aan

Allah clearlystates:

"For We assuredly sent amongst every people a prophet,

(with the command) worship meand

avoid false gods " (Soorsh Al-Nahl 16:36)

When the idol worshipper is questioned as to why he or

she bows down to idols created by

men, the invariable reply is that they are not actually

worshipping the stone image, but Allah

who is present within it. They claim that the stone idol

is only a focal point for Allah's

essence and is not in itself Allah! One who has accepted

the concept of the presence of God's

being within His creation in any way will be obliged to

accept this argument of idolatry.

Whereas, one who understands the basic message of

Islam and its implications would never

concede to idolatry no matter how it is rationalized.


Those who have claimed divinity for

themselves down through the ages have often based

their claims on the mistaken belief that

Allah is present in man. They merely had to assert that

although Allah according to their false

beliefs, is in all of us, He is more present in them than

in the rest of us. Hence, they claim, we

should submit our will to them and worship them as

they are either God in person or God

concentrated within the person.

Similarly, those who have asserted the godhood of

others after their passing have found

fertile ground among those who accept the false belief

of God's presence in man. One who

has grasped the basic message of Islam and its

implications could never agree to worship

another human being under any circumstances. God's

religion in essence is a clear call to the

worship of the Creator and the rejection of creation-

worship in any form. This is the meaning

of the motto of Islam:

"Laa Elaaha lllallaah" (There is no god but Allah)

Its repetition automatically brings one within the fold of

Islam and sincere belief in it

guarantees one Paradise.

Thus, the final Prophet of Islam is reported to have

said, "Any one who says: There is no god but Allah

and dies holding that (belief) will enter paradise".

(Reported by Abu Dharr and collected by Al-

Bukhaaree and Muslim).

It consists in the submission to Allah as one God,

yielding to Him by obeying His

commandments, and the denial of polytheism and

polytheists.

THE MESSAGE OF FALSE RELIGION

There are so many sects, cults, religions, philosophies,

and movements in the world, all of


which claim to be the right way or the only true path to

Allah. How can one determine which

one is correct or if, in fact, all are correct? The method

by which the answer can be found is

to clear away the superficial differences in the

teachings of the various claimants to the

ultimate truth, and identify the central object of

worship to which they call, directly or

indirectly. False religions all have in common one basic

concept with regards to Allah. They

either claim that all men are gods or that specific men


were Allah or that nature is Allah or

that Allah is a figment of man's imagination.

Thus, it may be stated that the basic message of false

religion is that Allah may be

worshipped in the form of His creation. False religion


invites man to the worship of creation

by calling the creation or some aspect of it God. For

example, prophet Jesus invited his

followers to worship Allah but those who claim to be

his followers today call people to

worship Jesus, claiming that he was Allah!

Buddha was a reformer who introduced a number of

humanistic principles to the religion of

India. He did not claim to be God nor did he suggest to

his followers that he be an object of

worship. Yet, today most Buddhists who are to be

found outside of India have taken him to

be God and prostrate to idols made in their perception

of his likeness.

By using the principle of identifying the object of

worship, false religion becomes very

obvious and the contrived nature of their origin clear.

As God said in the Our'aan:

That which you worship besides Him are only names

you and your forefathers have invented

for which Allah has sent down no authority: The

command belongs only to Allah:


He has commanded that you only worship Him; that is

the right religion, but most men do not
understand ". (Soorah Yoosuf 12:40)

It may be argued that all religions teach good things so

why should it matter which one we

follow. The reply is that all false religions teach the

Creation-worship is the greatest sin that man can

commit because it contradicts the very

purpose of his creation. Man was created to worship

Allah alone as Allah has explicitly stated

in the Our'aan:

"I have only created Jlnns and men, that they may

worship me"(Soorah Zaareeyaat 51:56)

Consequently, the worship of creation, which is the

essence of idolatry, is the only


unforgivable sin. One who dies in this state of idolatry

has sealed his fate in the next life. This

is not an opinion, but a revealed fact stated by Allah in

his final revelation to man:

"Verily Allah will not forgive the joining of partners

with Him, but He may forgive (sins) less than

that for whom so ever He wishes"(Soorah An- Nisaa
4:48 and 116)
THE UNIVERSALITY OF ISLAM

Since the consequences of false religion are so grave,

the true religion of Allah must be

universally understandable and attainable, not confined

to any people, place or time. There can

not be conditions like baptism, belief in a man, as a

saviour etc., for a believer to enter paradise.

. Within the central principle of Islam and in its

definition, (the surrender of one's will to

God) lies the roots of lslam's universality. Whenever

man comes to the realization that Allah


is one and distinct from His creation, and submits

himself to Allah, he becomes a Muslim in


body and spirit and is eligible for paradise. Thus,

anyone at anytime in the most remote

region of the world can become a Muslim, a follower of

God's religion, Islam, by merely

rejecting the worship of creation and by turning to

Allah (God) alone-It should be noted

however, that the recognition of and submission to


Allah requires that one chooses between

right and wrong and such a choice implies

accountability. Man will be held responsible for

his choices, and, as such, he should try his utmost to

do good and avoid evil. The ultimate

good being the worship of Allah alone and the ultimate

evil being the worship of His creation


along with or instead of Allah. This fact is expressed in

the final revelation as follows:

"
Verily those who believe, those who follow the Jewish

(Scriptures), the Christians and the Sabians

any who believe In Allah and the last day, and work

righteousness *hall have their reward with

their Lord;They will not be overcome by fear nor grief

(Soorah Al-Baqarah 2:62).

If only they had stood by the law, the Gospel, and all

the revelation that was sent to them from

their Lord, they would have enjoyed happiness from

every side. There Is from among them a party

on the right course; but many of them follow a course

that Is evil.". (Soorah Al-.Maa'idah 5:66)

RECOGNITION OF ALLAH
The question which arises here is, "How can all people

be expected to believe in Allah given

their varying- backgrounds, societies and cultures? For

people to be responsible for

worshipping Allah they all have to have access to

knowledge of Allah. The final revelation

teaches that all mankind have the recognition of Allah

imprinted on their souls, a part of their


very nature with which they are created.


In Soorah Al-A'raaf, Verses 172-173; Allah explained

that when He created Adam, He

caused all of Adam's descendants to come into



existence and took a pledge from them saying,

Am I not your Lord? To which they all replied, " Yes,

we testify to It:'
Allah then explained why He had all of mankind bear

witness that He is their creator and

only true God worthy of worship. He said, "That was In

case you (mankind) should say on

the day of Resurrection, "Verily we were unaware of all

this." That is to say, we had no idea

that You Allah, were our God. No one told us that we

were only supposed to worship You


alone. Allah went on to explain That it was also In case

you should say, "Certainly It was our

ancestors who made partners (With Allah) and we are

only their descendants; will You then

destroy us for what those liars did?" Thus, every child


is born with a natural belief in Allah



and an inborn inclination to worship Him alone called in

Arabic the "Fitrah".

If the child were left alone, he would worship Allah in

his own way, but all children are

affected by those things around them, seen or unseen.

The Prophet (PBUH) reported that Allah said, "I created

my servants in the right religion but devils

made them go astray". The Prophet (PBUH) also

said, "Each child is born in a state of "Fitrah", then

his parents make him a Jew, Christian or a Zoroastrian,

the way an animal gives birth to a normal

offspring. Have you noticed any that were born


mutilated?" (Collected by Al-Bukhaaree and Muslim).


So, just as the child submits to the physical laws which

Allah has put in nature, his soul also submits

naturally to the fact that Allah is his Lord and Creator.

But, his parents try to make him follow their


own way and the child is not strong enough in the early

stages of his life to resist or oppose the will

of his parents. The religion which the child follows at

this stage is one of custom and upbringing and

Allah does not hold him to account or punish him for

this religion.
Throughout people's lives from childhood until the time

they die, signs are shown to them in

all regions of the earth and in their own souls, until it

becomes clear that there is only one true
God
(Allah). If the people are honest with themselves,

reject their false gods and seek Allah,


the way will be made easy for them but if they

continually reject Allah's signs and continue to

worship creation, the more difficult it will be for them

to escape. For example, in the South

Eastern region of the Amazon jungle in Brazil, South

America, a primitive tribe erected a

new hut to house their main idol Skwatch, representing

the supreme God of all creation. The


homage to the God, and while he was in prostration to

what he had been taught was his

Creator and Sustainer, a mangy old flea-ridden dog

walked into the hut, The young man

looked up in time to see the dog lift its hind leg and

pass urine on the idol. Outraged, the

youth chased the dog out of the temple, but when his

rage died down he realized that the idol

could not be the Lordof the universe. Allah must be

elsewhere. he now had a choice to act on

his knowledge and seek Allah, or to dishonestly go

along with the false beliefs of his tribe.

As strange as it may seem, that was a sign from Allah

for that young man. It contained within


it divine guidance that what he was worshipping was

false.
Prophets were sent, as was earlier mentioned, to every

nation and tribe to support man's

natural belief in Allah and man's inborn inclination to

worship Him as well as to reinforce the

divine truth in the daily signs revealed by Allah.

Although, in most cases, much of the

prophets' teachings became distorted, portions

remained which point out right and wrong. For


example, the ten commandments of the Torah, their

confirmation in the Gospels and the


existence of laws against murder, stealing and adultery

in most societies. Consequently, every
soul will be held to account for its belief in Allah and its

acceptance of the religion of Islam;

the total submission to the will of Allah.

We pray to Allah, the exalted, to keep us on the right

path to which He has guided us, and to


bestow on us a blessing from Him, He is indeed the

Most Merciful. Praise and gratitude be to

Allah,the Lord of the worlds, and peace and blessings

be on prophet Muhammed, his Family,

his companions, and those who rightly follow them.