From: ahmed@dsg.cs.tcd.ie
Subject: Re: Confusion about "Islam"
Originator: zeeshan@occs.cs.oberlin.edu (Zeeshan Hasan -Moderator)
Organization: Oberlin College Computer Science
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 1993 15:37:45 GMT
X-Posted-From: occs.cs.oberlin.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: sol.ctr.columbia.edu

In soc.religion.islam you write:

>  I have a request that I'm hoping I'll be able to get answered here.

>  What this request comes from is that I occasionally run into those who,
>for one reason or another, cry out that I must convert to Islam. There
>is within this cry a place that has causes a lot of confussion for me.

>  See, I have come to a place in my life where I have committed myself to 
>my longing of, and affirming too the One Reality, Allah. For me, there is 
>no other. Period! As a result of this I have found myself doing prayers 
>numerious times a day. I'm cleansing and doing various purifications 
>practices so that I may be a clear and clean when I present my self to my 
>Beloved God. 

>  So where the confussion has come into place is that, to me, I have 
>already converted to Islam. But I'm getting the feeling that those who
>cry out that I have to convert to Islam are talking more about converting
>to the Muslim "religion" with its dogmas, beliefs and traditions than 
>actually turning towards the One Source. And that only through the avenue 
>of the Muslim "religion" may one truly come to be a true lover of God.
>I feel like I'm hearing two different things and I'm just wanting to 
>sort out what the general Muslim community is saying when they wish 
>others to convert to Islam.
>  I suppose the real question I'm asking is: What is Islam?

Islam is the full submission to Allah. A simple example of how Prophets
understood this submission is the example of Abraham (pbuh), when he
was ordered (in a dream vision) to slaughter his son. Abraham (pbuh)
told his son what he saw in his dream, and his son told him please do,
Then Abraham (pbuh) and his son went to perform the killing operation,
and perhaps you know the rest of the story. This was a test for Abraham
and his son (pbu-them), and they passed the test as being submissive, or
in another word Muslim.

To be a Muslim you have to believe in Allah, and in his message of
Islam, and you have to submit to Allah.  To submit to Allah you have to
follow His orders if you know what His orders are.

People differ in their submission:

1- Some people design their own set of rules to follow, and perhaps want
some others to follow with them. This kind of people are not submitting
to Allah, rather they are giving themselves the authority of being gods,
and definately, they cannot be Muslims (in the pure meaning).

2- Some people think that they can follow the other religions, I mean
other than the last message (Islam). This means that either they don't
bother to know the latest and the last code described by Allah, 
or they simply cannot submitt to Him, because they are already
submitting to something else.

3- Another kind of people think that Islam is only a social system and
that they can improve it, and that they can find different alternatives.
It is true that Islam considers the society to a great extent, but also
Islam considers the submission to be purely to Allah at the level of 
individuals  as well as the level of the whole society. 

Any submission to any thing other than Allah, be it your desires, your
community, your work, etc. is deviation from Islam. It is the test as
set by Allah that we should try to pass, and not any other tests,
otherwise any success that we may think that we are achieving could be
nothing but failure. A muslim should follow the message of Islam and should
resort to other muslims to help one another to pass the test. It is an
open book test, but it is not so easy, and many people fail, not only in
passing the test, but also in understanding what Islam is. The sources
of Islam are clear; the Quran and the life of Muhammed (saw), but many
people know very little about them, and many of the people who know may
not follow. It is a simple test that requires a mild sort of submission
(as compared to the submission of Abraham(pbuh)), but the failure rate
is very high.

However, as long as one is still alife, and as long as he is doing his
best to follow the exact code of Allah, then his chance of success is
higher. People are competing in this short life, mainly for the material
aspects, perhaps to get a higher status in the society, but few who
compete to have a higher status in the hereafter, in the everlasting
life.

>  I suppose the real question I'm asking is: What is Islam?

>  I give my thanks in advance for any responsed I receive.

>  May Allah be with you.



> 	David Hatcher
>        Network Services
>        davidh@cascade.ens.tek.com
>        (503) 627-2167

May Allah be with you.

Ahmed
Ahmed I. El-Habbash,
Department of Computer Science, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.