Islam a Way of Life

There are many standards to assess a society’s level of equality. First, the ontological equality means that all the people are equal in the eyes of God. Second, the equality of opportunity means that all people should have the same opportunities for advancement, and it is judged into the same standards. Third, the equality of condition means to be equal under the conditions that can help the people to achieve their goals. Forth, equality of outcome is the idea about that everyone in a society should end up with the same “rewards” regardless of his or her starting point, opportunities, or contributions.

Islam, meaning submission or submitting oneself fully to God, is one of the world’s largely practiced religions. Those that participate and practice the Islamic religion

Chapter 14 in the book Traditions and Encounters: A Global Perspective of the Past by Herrry H. Bentley and Herbert F. Ziegler is mainly about Muhammad, the prophet, and his world, the expansion of Islam, economy and society of the early Islamic world, and its values and cultural exchanges.

According to Smith, the world Islam is “derived from the root s-l-m, which means primarily “peace” but in a secondary sense “surrender,” its full connotation is “the peace that comes when one’s life is surrendered to God” (Smith 222). Therefore, Islam is a religion, like Buddhism, is attributed to seeking cultivation, and its followers, also known as Muslims, lives being totally surrendered to God.

Islam appears to be like a perfect work of architecture. All its parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other, nothing lacking, with the result of an absolute balance and solid composure. Everything in the teaching and postulate of Islam is in its proper place.

Islam is a way of life, as well as a religion. Those who follow Islam are very dedicated, for they live their whole life submitting themselves to Allah. As a matter of fact, the word Islam means submission to Allah.

The basic message of Islam was that there was one God who ruled over the other Gods and whose name was Allah. Muslim Prophet Muhammad was the last and greatest prophet of Allah. He believed that Allah had exposed himself in Moses and Jesus and thru the Hebrew and Christian traditions (203). The last revelations were given to him. These revelations were written down in a holy book that became the Qur 'an. The teachings of Muhammad formed the foundation for the religion of Islam. Islam means, "submission to the will of Allah". Allah was the almighty who created the world and everything in it (203). His worshipper 's were called Muslims. Islam was a way to set religious beliefs as well as a way of life. The Islamic society had a certain way in which they behave. They had their morals recorded in the Qur 'an and this served as their code of ethics and law (203). They has to followed a basic righteous code that was compose of the Five Pillars of Islam. These first pillar, was that there is no other God but Allah and Muhammad is the prophet. The second pillar is that regular prayers to worship Allah are required 5 times a day and a public prayer on Friday at midday. The third pillar was that money must be given to the poor and needy. The fourth pillar was the observance of the Holy month of Ramadan with fasting from dawn to sunset. The fifth pillar was to make a pilgrimage to Mecca

The region of the Middle East and its inhabitants have always been a wonder to the Europeans, dating back to the years before the advent of Islam and the years following the Arab conquest. Today, the Islamic world spreads from the corners of the Philippines to the far edges of Spain and Central Africa. Various cultures have adopted the Islamic faith, and this blending of many different cultures has strengthened the universal Islamic culture. The religion of Islam has provided a new meaning to the lives of many people around the world. In the Islamic world, the religion defines and enriches culture and as a result the culture gives meaning to the individual. Islam is not only a religion, it is in its own way a culture. It may be this very

As "primal," Islam is the authentic religion of Adam, of Abraham, and of human nature. Islam is not younger than Judaism and Christianity; it preceded both. Not only is it the religion of the "Spoken Book" (the Qur'an), it is as well the religion of the "Created Book" (the fabric of the universe itself). According to the Muslim faith, every person is born a Muslim, and distortions of one's environment lead a person astray to become a Christian, a Jew, or an unbeliever. To be human means to be Muslim.

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

In his book What is Islam?, Shahab Ahmed seeks to explain how one should conceptualize Islam in order to provide better understanding of Islam in regards to the human experience. He feels that our definition of Islam is a very narrow and limited view that is not coherent with the idea of Islam being a theoretical object yet also as real historical phenomenon. Ahmed conceptualizes Islam by posing six questions, analyzing others’ conceptualizations, and offering his own conceptualization.

The holy Quran is a collection of the divinely inspired utterances and discourses (Ahmed, 16). It is composed of some 300 pages which are divided into 114 Surahs (chapters). The general tone of the holy Quran is sombre and meditative. It is a dialogue between God and humanity. At the core is a moral earnestness (Ahmed, 16). The Quran also teaches that humanity is created by God and therefore God understands its weaknesses and in Allah humans find the source of peace. Islam’s appeal lay – and – lies in the simplicity: one God, one Book, one Prophet (Ahmed, 17). Islam is a religion of balance, equilibrium, and compassion. The Islamic virtues are courage, generosity, cleanliness, and piety: and in his life the Prophet exemplifies them (Ahmed, 17).

Islam is one of the oldest religions in history dating back to about 600 AD. It began when a man named Muhammad heard a voice from the heavens instructing him to proclaim the word of god. Currently there are over 800 million followers of the Muslim religion. The main text of the religion is the Quran which is said to be the word of God, or Allah as called in Muslim. Within the Quran, The five pillars of Islam are proclaimed along with many other concepts very unique to the Muslim religion. Prayer is a very important aspect of Islam as well. Islam has a long history of invention, heritage, and world imperialism that must be understood to completely identify with the concepts of the religion and culture.

          The fundamental principle of Islam is Tauhid - the unity of the human race under the sovereignty of the One and Only, Universal Divine Allah. Islam's message of peace affirms the equality of all human beings, and rejects all discrimination on the basis of race, class

Islam is not a new religion but the final culmination and fulfillment of the same basic truth that God revealed through all His prophets to every people. For a fifth of the world's population, Islam is not just a personal religion but a complete way of living. Over a billion people from all races, nationalities and cultures across the globe are Muslim--from the rice farms of Indonesia to the deserts in the heart of Africa; from the skyscrapers of New York to the Bedouin tents in Arabia.