ISLAM
THE TRUE RELIGION
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. May Allah raise the rank of our master Muhammad and his Al and Companions and protect his nation from that which he fears for it.
ALLAH
Everything that exists, except Allah the Creator, is created by Him. Allah has full power over every bit of His creation. Allah is not created; He existed always, having His attributes. Allah will never perish, nor will His attributes diminish. Among His attributes is that He has knowledge of all His creation, that He sees the seeable things and that He hears the hearable things, and His knowing, seeing and hearing are in no way similar to ours. Allah’s Kalam (Speech) is not made up of language or sound, nor does it resemble the speech of man in any way. Allah does not need any of His creation for His existence and He does not resemble any of His creation in any way. This means that Allah is not a man or a woman; He is not “a Father” or “a Mother”. Allah does not have a wife, a mother, a father, a son, or a daughter; He has no equal or partner. Allah does not divide into parts. No creation, ha “a part of Allah” in him, nor can any creation become like Allah. He is the only God.
Allah existed eternally before He created any of the places, such as Paradise, the skies, earth, or the planets. Hence, we know Allah is now as He was before He created all these places; He does not need any place to exist in. Allah has always known about every part of His creation; there is no thing in His creation which escapes or defeats Him. No thing goes against the will of Allah. Both good and evil occur by Allah’s will. However, Allah orders humans to do only the good; humans make the choice to obey or disobey Allah. Our ability to do good or evil is given to us by Allah, the Exalted.
HUMANITY
Men and women are one of the creations of Allah. They are distinct from plants, animals, jinn, and angels. They were created after angels and jinn; the first man was created from clay. Allah orders the angel to put a soul, which He created, in the human being, but in no way is man’s soul Allah, or “a part of Allah”. The first man was Adam and all human beings come from his family. Adam had no mother or father; he was created and given life by Allah. Allah created a wife for Adam who bore his children. Allah created the human beings to order them to believe, profess the truth about Allah and His messengers, worship Allah only, and follow His orders during life
on earth. Some of mankind have and do worship Allah correctly, obey His orders, and will be rewarded beyond imagination. Some of mankind have not and will not worship Allah correctly and will be punished by Allah with severity in Hellfire.
JINN
Jinn are a distinct creation of Allah, who are invisible to humans. The ancestor of all of them is Satan. He was first a believer, then he blasphemed. Allah created him from the pure flame of fire. The jinn are male and female and have offspring. They exist here on earth and out of it. Like the humans, some jinn worship Allah, but some do not. The ones who do not are known as the devils, whose head is Satan.
ANGELS
Angels are another distinct creation of Allah. They are not male or female and have no children. Allah created them from light. They never sin, obeying Allah in every matter. Humans have angels near them that record all they do. Some angels have appeared to people in the form of men, but they never take a woman’s shape. Some angels protect people form jinn by Allah’s will. Usually, the angel who conveyed the Revelations to the prophets was Gabriel (Jibril).
PROPHETS
Prophets are the greatest men that ever lived. Prophets received Revelation from Allah and conveyed it to people. The prophets received the Revelations and conveyed them in the language Allah ordered. The language of the scriptures is created, but Allah’s Kalam (Speech) is not. A messenger is a prophet who comes with abrogating some of the laws brought by the previous messenger or receives a new set of laws. Prophets were intelligent, trustworthy, truthful, did not commit major sins and never left their Religion. Many prophets have lived in the past. Muhammad, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon him, who lived some 1400 years ago, was the last and greatest prophet.
Other prophets before him include: Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Joseph (son of Jacob), David, Solomon, Moses, and Jesus, may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon all of them.
The true scriptures were Revelations received by prophets. Moses and Jesus both received scriptures, but what are now called the Torah and the Bible have been tampered with by man and are not the true Revelations received by the great messengers Moses and Jesus. The only scripture which is unchanged and will never be changed is the Qur’an, which is the scripture Allah revealed to Muhammad, His last prophet, in clear and eloquent Arabic. Allah has promised to protect the Qur’an from any changes by man. Hence, it has remained unchanged since it was received some 1400 years ago. Unlike the prophets before him who were sent to a particular people, Muhammad was sent to all people who lived at his time and all people who live after him until the Day of Judgment.
THE DAY OF JUDGMENT
On a day which only Allah knows (not even the angels or prophets know it), Allah will make all the creatures who are still living on earth and in the skies die (including angels, Satan, and other devils) and then He will resurrect them all and judge humans and jinn on what they did during their lives. They will be rewarded or punished, by Allah’s will, for what they believed, said, and did by their own choice.
PARADISE
Those of mankind and jinn who believe correctly in Allah, and believe in the Messenger sent to them, and profess their belief (i.e., becoming followers of the true Religion) and die with that status will dwell forever in Paradise, which Allah has created for them. The life in Paradise is better than what any human living on earth can imagine. Those in Paradise will experience it in body and soul, but the body will be a new body with no defects. Paradise is not allegorical. It is a very real and actual place. There will be wonderful riches, foods, joys, and peace. People will be married and have interaction with one another. Those in Paradise will be in various ranks according to their piety. Those who are rewarded with Paradise will never be sent out of it.
HELL
Hell, another creation of Allah, is the everlasting dwelling place for those of humans and jinn who rejected the revelations of the prophets. Hence, they disbelieved in Allah and His messengers. Hell is also a particular place and its torture, on the Day of Judgment, will not cease. The suffering will also be in body and soul. Some humans who were followers of the true Religion will suffer in Hell for some time, because they had sinned and did not repent of their sins during their lifetime. Being believers of the true Religion, they will get out of Hell after a time which Allah wills. Then they will enter Paradise and dwell there forever and receive no further punishment. Some believers of the true Religion who die as sinners will be forgiven by Allah on the Day of Judgment and will not go to Hell before entering Paradise.
LIFE AND DEATH
This life of a human or jinn always ends with death and there is no exception. Humans do not choose their race, sex, parents, or birthplace, and will not be held accountable for those aspects of their life on the Day of Judgment. No human is doomed to Hell because he was born as a certain sex or race. Allah, the Merciful, has promised that any human or jinn who dies as a follower of the true Religion will receive Paradise forever. Those people who truly never heard about the correct belief in Allah and any of the messengers during their entire lifetime and died in that state will not go to Hellfire. But those sane and pubescent people who have heard of the correct belief in Allah and His Messenger and die without embracing this true Religion will dwell in Hell forever.
The correct belief in Allah has never changed and every prophet and messengers has said the same concerning belief in Allah: No one is God but Allah and mankind is to believe in Him only. The prophet for the people on earth at present is Muhammad, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, and the laws for the present population are the laws that Prophet Muhammad was given by Allah for mankind. There will be no new laws given, for there will be no new messenger or prophet.
This life has significance. So one is wise to live this life correctly. No matter how appealing it is some people, they will not “reincarnate” after they die. This and other false beliefs about mankind and Allah are whispered into human’s minds by Satan and the devils, and some men are fooled into believing them.
SATAN
Satan, the first jinn, was present with the angels when Allah ordered him and the angels to bow down in respect before Adam. Satan did not bow down in respect. He objected to Allah and said he was better than Adam, because he was made from fire Whereas Adam was made from clay. Because of this objection, Allah damned Satan and banished him. Satan vowed that he would try to persuade humans to accept false belief and to perform false worship and shameful conduct. Allah promised that Satan and those who follow him will be the inhabitants of Hell on the Day of Judgment.
Satan is man’s accursed enemy and his vow to ruin many of mankind is not to be taken lightly. He attempts to confuse and ruin man by his prompting and making bad deeds seem good. A person is not sinful when Satan whispers to him; he is sinful if he believes and/ or acts on the prompting. Although humans must believe that Satan exists and take the warning about him very seriously, we must remember that Allah has full power over Satan. Satan can do nothing against the will of Allah. When a believer of the true Religion strives to follow Allah’s orders and asks Allah for protection form Satan, he must not doubt Allah’s great protection and mercy.
RELIGION
There is only one true Religion, that of holding the correct belief in Allah and His messengers, worshipping Allah only, and loving, respecting, and following the prophet of the time and loving and respecting other prophets. Every prophet and messenger followed and called people to the same Religion; this Religion is called ISLAM. A believer in ISLAM is called a MUSLIM. The meaning of Islam is “to submit to Allah”. the meaning of the word Muslim is “one who submits to Allah”. The name Allah is the name of the only true God. It means the one who is attributed with the power to create things. Although prophets and messengers spoke different languages, what they called people to was the same Religion. A person can declare that he believes and follows the true Religion, Islam, in any language. Belief is known to Allah regardless of the language. Those who say they are Muslim, yet deny the true belief in their heart, with their tongue, or by some actions, are surely not Muslim. Allah knows fully who are the ones who truly believe in Islam. Both messengers Moses and Jesus called their people to the true Religion, Islam, which is clearly described in Qur’an, the last and preserved scripture for all of mankind on earth.
JESUS
Jesus, may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him, is dearly loved by Muslims, for he is one of the greatest messengers and he is one of the most loved creations to Allah. Jesus has no father; he was created within his mother, Virgin Mary. Muslims believe that she is the best of all women.
By Allah’s will, Prophet Jesus performed many miracles and was obedient to Allah in every way. Jesus spoke only the truth and his and his followers were Muslim. Never did Jesus say he was Allah, “the son of Allah”, or that his followers should pray to him or to anyone other than Allah. Jesus is a man, but had no father; Adam was a man but had neither a father nor a mother. The Qur’an tells us that the Jews did not crucify Jesus as some believe. He was not crucified at all. By Allah’s will, Jesus was raised from the earth. Jesus is alive. Allah will send Jesus back to earth before the Day of Judgment. Jesus will attest that Islam is the true faith and that Prophet Muhammad is the last messenger. He will follow the laws that Allah gave to Muhammad, and slay the one-eyed impostor.
SINS
When a person goes against Allah’s orders (which are conveyed by His messenger), he sins. The worst sin is blasphemy, which is caused by any belief, saying, or action that contradicts Islam. When a person becomes Muslim he leaves all blasphemy. A Muslim must learn about all the types of blasphemy to avoid committing any of them as he proceeds through life. If a Muslim commits blasphemy, he becomes non-Muslim (apostate) and must become Muslim again. If he dies without becoming a Muslim, he will be in Hell forever in the Hereafter. If a Muslim commits a sin which is less than blasphemy and dies without repenting to Allah of the sin, then this sin is counted against him on the Day of Judgment unless Allah, the exalted, forgives it for him. On the other hand, if a Muslim follows Allah’s orders, in obedience to Him, this is counted in his favor. All of this is known by Allah and no thing escapes Him.
When a Muslim commits sins, he must repent of them immediately. To repent of blasphemy, one must utter the Testification of Faith, clearing oneself of the committed blasphemy. The Testification of Faith (Shahadah) can be stated as follows:
“I testify that no one is God but Allah,and I testify that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”.
Any statement equivalent to the Testification of Faith is also accepted.
REPENTANCE
For a sin less than blasphemy, one must stop doing the sin, regret having done it, and have the intention not to commit the same sin again. If the sin is stealing from a person, for example, then the stolen goods must be returned as well. Allah is ever-merciful to the Muslim. No matter how many times he sins in his life, if he stops it, regrets having done it, and intends not to do it again, he will be forgiven by Allah. However, for those who are non-Muslim, no matter what good things they do, these deeds would not be to their credit in the Hereafter; they must first become Muslim.
A few examples of blasphemy are: believing that Allah has a son, worshiping an idol, and saying that Allah does not know everything. Some examples of sins less than blasphemy are: killing a person unjustly, adultery, drinking alcohol, and stealing. When a Muslim makes sincere repentance as was described, it is as if he did not sin, in that he will not be punished for what he repented of, for Allah is ever-merciful to the Muslims. Also, when a person becomes a Muslim for the first time, Allah forgives all his past sins.
PRAYER
Upon the order of Allah, the Prophet Muhammad commanded the Muslims to pray five times a day. This order applies from the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad until the Day of Judgment. The prayers have a specific format with the one praying, praising and thanking Allah, asking for His help and guidance, and asking Him to bless the prophets and the pious Muslims. A Muslim knows that at any moment of his life he can ask Allah for help and guidance, and he is encouraged to do, but this does not replace the five prescribed prayers, which have a specific format to be followed.
BECOMING A MUSLIM: A person becomes a Muslim by leaving all that contradicts the meaning of the following Testification of Faith, believing in the heart and declaring with the tongue:
“No one is God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”
Believing in all this implies that: Allah, the Creator, has perfect attributes; only Allah must be worshipped; Prophet Muhammad the last prophet, was truthful in all that he conveyed from Allah; all the prophets before him (the first of whom was Adam) conveyed the same message of belief to their people; they are to be loved and respected, yet in no way do prophets (or any creation) have Allah’s attributes.
A person can become Muslim, as aforementioned in the solitude of a forest or in a crowded subway; he does not need to go to a mosque or have Muslims witness his Testification (profession). Allah knows the hearts of His creation. However, when he becomes Muslim he may declare his belief to some fellow Muslims so he will be known as a Muslim among the people.
Note: Anyone who has read this booklet must know that if he is not already Muslim he must become Muslim immediately, for he does not know when he will die. To anyone who becomes Muslim while reading this booklet, we advise you to seek knowledge as to the practice of Islam from a trustworthy Muslim teacher. As people go to college to be taught by those knowledgeable about the different subjects, one must go to a learned Muslim to learn about the practice of Islam. For a devoted Muslim, there will always be more to learn and more ways to improve; so arrogance is not a part of a good Muslim’s life.
All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of the heavens and earth. Allah knows best.
