Islam The Religion of Innate Nature, Reason and Happiness

Islam

The Religion of Innate Nature, Reason and Happiness

In the Name of Allah, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Have you ever wondered?

Who created the heavens and the earth and the great creatures in them? And who devised this precise and elaborate system that governs them?

How is this vast universe structured and maintained by its perfectly calibrated laws that have existed since the beginning of time?

Did this universe create itself? Or did it emerge from nothingness? Or was it found by coincidence?

Who created you?

Who installed this precise system in the organs of your body and the bodies of living beings?

No one will accept the narrative that a house came into being without someone constructing it! Or that a mansion just appeared out of nothing! How come some people believe the assertion that there is no creator for this vast cosmos?! How does a reasonable person accept the idea that this fine-tuned cosmos came into being by coincidence?

Certainly, there is a supreme God who is the Creator and Master of this universe and what is in it, and He is Allah, the Almighty.

The Lord, Exalted be He, sent Messengers to us and sent down to them the Divine Books (revelation), the last of which is the Holy Quran, which Allah revealed to Muhammad, the last Messenger of Allah. Through His scriptures and messengers, Allah:

⦁ Introduced to us Himself, His Attributes, and his right over us, and explained our rights over him.

⦁ Guided us to know that He is the Lord Who created all creations and that He is alive and does not die. All of creation exists within His grasp, under His dominion, and subject to His control.

⦁ Informed us that one of his attributes is knowledge. He encompasses everything with knowledge, and He is All-Hearing and All-Seeing, with nothing concealed from Him neither on earth nor in heaven.

The Lord is the Ever-Living, the Self-Sustaining, from Whom alone every creature derives its life, Glory be to Him. He is the Sustainer, by Whom the life of every creature is established, Exalted be He. Allah says,﴿اللَّهُ لا إِلَهَ إِلَّا هُوَ الْحَيُّ الْقَيُّومُ لا تَأْخُذُهُ سِنَةٌ وَلا نَوْمٌ لَهُ مَا فِي السَّمَوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الأَرْضِ مَنْ ذَا الَّذِي يَشْفَعُ عِنْدَهُ إِلَّا بِإِذْنِهِ يَعْلَمُ مَا بَيْنَ أَيْدِيهِمْ وَمَا خَلْفَهُمْ وَلا يُحِيطُونَ بِشَيْءٍ مِنْ عِلْمِهِ إِلَّا بِمَا شَاءَ وَسِعَ كُرْسِيُّهُ السَّمَوَاتِ وَالأَرْضَ وَلا يَئُودُهُ حِفْظُهُمَا وَهُوَ الْعَلِيُّ الْعَظِيمُ﴾ "Allah: none has the right to be worshiped except Him, the Ever-Living, All-Sustaining. Neither drowsiness overtakes Him nor sleep. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth. Who is there that can intercede with Him except with His permission? He knows what was before them and what will be after them, while they encompass nothing of His knowledge, except what He wills. His Kursī [i.e., footstool] extends over the heavens and earth, and safeguarding of both does not weary Him, for He is the Most High, the Most Great."[Surat al-Baqarah: 255].

⦁ He revealed Himself as the Lord attributed with qualities of perfection. He bestowed upon us minds and senses to comprehend the marvels of His creation and His omnipotence, thereby revealing His greatness, power, and the perfection of His attributes. He ingrained within us an innate disposition that signifies His perfection, ensuring that no form of imperfection could be ascribed to Him.

⦁ He taught us that the Lord, above His heavens, is not a part of the world, nor does the world reside within Him.

⦁ He instructed us to submit to Him, for He is our Creator as well as the Creator and Ruler of the universe.

The Creator possesses the attributes of greatness and can never be associated with need or imperfection, for the Lord does not forget, sleep, nor eat food, and He cannot have a wife or a child. Therefore, all scriptures contrary to the greatness of the Creator are not of the true revelation brought by the Messengers of God (peace be upon them).

Allah says in the Holy Qur'an:﴿قُلۡ هُوَ ٱللَّهُ أَحَدٌ * "Say, "He is Allāh, [who is] One, (1)ٱللَّهُ ٱلصَّمَدُ * Allāh, the Eternal Refuge. (2)لَمۡ یَلِدۡ وَلَمۡ یُولَدۡ * He neither begets nor is He begotten, (3)وَلَمۡ یَكُن لَّهُۥ كُفُوًا أَحَدُۢ﴾ Nor is there to Him any equivalent. (4)"[Surat al-Ikhlās: 1-4].

If you believe in the Creator God, have you ever wondered about the purpose of your creation? And what does Allah require from us, and what is the purpose of our existence?

Could it be that Allah created us and then left us neglected? Could it be that Allah created all these creatures without reason or purpose?

The truth is that the Lord, the Great Creator, informed us about the purpose of creating us and what He requires from us, which is to worship Him alone. He told us that He alone is worthy of worship, and He showed us through His Messengers (peace be upon them) how to worship Him, how we can draw closer to Him by following His commands and abandoning His prohibitions, how to attain His satisfaction and be wary of His punishment. He also told us about our fate after death.

He told us that this worldly life is a mere test, and that the true and complete life will be in the afterlife, following death.

He told us that whoever worships Allah as He has commanded, and refrains from what He forbade, he shall have the good life in this world and the lasting bliss in the Hereafter. Conversely, whoever disobeys Him and disbelieves in Him, shall have misery in this world, and eternal torment in the Hereafter.

And because we know that we cannot go on in this life without each of us receiving retribution for what we have done of good or evil, would there not be punishment for the wrongdoers and reward for the doers of good?

Our Lord has told us that attaining His satisfaction and salvation from His punishment is only achievable by embracing the religion of Islam. This entails surrendering to Him and worshipping Him alone without a partner, submitting to Him with obedience, and voluntarily abiding by His law. He has clarified that He does not accept from people a religion other than Islam. Allah, the Almighty, says,(وَمَن يَبۡتَغِ غَيۡرَ ٱلۡإِسۡلَٰمِ دِينا فَلَن يُقۡبَلَ مِنۡهُ وَهُوَ فِي ٱلۡأٓخِرَةِ مِنَ ٱلۡخَٰسِرِينَ) "And whoever desires other than Islām as religion - never will it be accepted from him, and he, in the Hereafter, will be among the losers."[Surat Āl-'Imrān:85].

Whoever looks at what most people worship today, will find that someone worshiping a human being, another worshiping an idol, a third worshiping a planet, and so on. A rational person should not worship anyone but the Lord of the worlds Who is perfect in His attributes. So, how can one worship a creature like him or lower than him?! The deity cannot be a human being, an idol, a tree, or an animal!

All the religions that people worship today—except Islam—are not accepted by God, as they are religions fabricated by humans, or religions that were divine and then tampered with by human hands. In contrast, Islam is the religion of the Lord of the worlds; it remains unchanged and unaltered. The book of this religion is the Holy Qur'an. It is preserved as God revealed it and is still in the hands of Muslims to this day in the language in which it was originally revealed to the last Messenger (ﷺ).

It is one of the fundamental tenets of Islam to believe in all the Messengers sent by Allah, recognizing them as human beings whom Allah supported with signs and miracles, and sent them to call for worshiping Him alone without a partner.The last of the Messengers is the Messenger Muhammad (ﷺ) whom Allah sent with the divine law that superseded the laws of the Messengers before him, and supported him with great signs, the greatest of which is the Holy Qur'an. It is the words of the Lord of the worlds, the greatest book known to mankind, miraculous in its content, wording, prose, and rulings. It contains guidance to the truth that leads to happiness in this world and the hereafter, and it was revealed in the Arabic language.

There is numerous rational and scientific evidence that proves without a doubt that this Qur'an is the word of the Creator, Glory be to Him, and that it could not have been made by humans.

Furthermore, among the foundations of Islam is the belief in angels as well as the Last Day, where Allah will resurrect people from their graves on the Day of Resurrection to hold them accountable for their deeds. Whoever does righteous deeds while he is a believer will have eternal bliss in Paradise, and whoever disbelieves and does evil deeds will have great punishment in Hell. Among the foundations of Islam is that you believe in what Allah has ordained of good or evil.

The religion of Islam is a holistic approach to life that aligns with innate nature, common sense, and reason and is accepted by undistorted souls. It was legislated by the Great Creator for His creation. It is a religion of goodness and happiness for all people in this world and the Hereafter. It does not discriminate based on race or color; rather, it upholds the equality of all people. In Islam, individuals are distinguished solely by their righteous deeds.

Allah Almighty says,(مَنۡ عَمِلَ صَٰلِحا مِّن ذَكَرٍ أَوۡ أُنثَىٰ وَهُوَ مُؤۡمِن فَلَنُحۡيِيَنَّهُۥ حَيَوٰة طَيِّبَة وَلَنَجۡزِيَنَّهُمۡ أَجۡرَهُم بِأَحۡسَنِ مَا كَانُواْ يَعۡمَلُونَ) "Whoever does righteousness, whether male or female, while he is a believer - We will surely cause him to live a good life, and We will surely give them their reward [in the Hereafter] according to the best of what they used to do."[Surat an-Nahl:97].

One of the reiterated affirmations in the Holy Qur'an is that accepting Islam and believing in Allah as the Lord and God, in Islam as the true religion, and in Muhammad as the Messenger, is a necessary matter over which humans have no choice. On the Day of Resurrection, there will be a reckoning and a reward. Whoever is a true believer will attain victory and immense success, and whoever is an unbeliever will have a sheer loss.

The Most High says,(... وَمَن يُطِعِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ يُدۡخِلۡهُ جَنَّٰت تَجۡرِي مِن تَحۡتِهَا ٱلۡأَنۡهَٰرُ خَٰلِدِينَ فِيهَاۚ وَذَٰلِكَ ٱلۡفَوۡزُ ٱلۡعَظِيمُ، "…and whoever obeys Allāh and His Messenger will be admitted by Him to gardens [in Paradise] under which rivers flow, abiding eternally therein; and that is the great attainment. (13)وَمَن يَعۡصِ ٱللَّهَ وَرَسُولَهُۥ وَيَتَعَدَّ حُدُودَهُۥ يُدۡخِلۡهُ نَارًا خَٰلِدا فِيهَا وَلَهُۥ عَذَاب مُّهِين) And whoever disobeys Allāh and His Messenger and transgresses His limits - He will put him into the Fire to abide eternally therein, and he will have a humiliating punishment." (14)[Surat an-Nisā':13-14].

Whoever wants to enter Islam must say: (I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah), knowing its meaning and believing in it. By doing so, one becomes a Muslim. Subsequently, he gradually learns the remaining laws of Islam to fulfill what Allah has enjoined upon him.

Islam..............................................................................................................................................

The Religion of Innate Nature, Reason and Happiness......................................................................

Who created you?........................................................................................................................

Could it be that Allah created us and then left us neglected? Could it be that Allah created all these creatures without reason or purpose?......................................................................................................................

And because we know that we cannot go on in this life without each of us receiving retribution for what we have done of good or evil, would there not be punishment for the wrongdoers and reward for the doers of good?