There is no denying how large a role and influence the religion of Islam has in the world today. But what exactly are the teachings of Islam?
In today’s day and age, where knowledge and inquiry are such cherished values, it is quite strange that there is so little information – especially from genuine primary sources – about the actual teachings and philosophy of this global faith that holds sway over one fourth of humanity.
The concept that Islam teaches about God and His relationship with mankind, is that in the same way that God has provided every physical and material thing needed for the nourishment and development of man, so too has God provided for the spiritual development of man. From the very first moment man was ready to receive divine revelation and guidance, God has been raising messengers among mankind, through whom God has been sending divine guidance on how to live and advance spiritually, and as a society.
According to Islam, after thousands of years of religions gradually evolving to successively more complete and refined stages, Islam is the apex of those thousands of years of spiritual evolution. Although it is now the fastest growing religion in the world, its origins are traced back to the desolate sands of Arabia, where a humble man was made to stand in God’s name for the restoration of belief in God.
The struggle of one hundred and twenty-four thousands prophets, from Adam to Noah, and from Moses to Jesus, was revived and taken forward by a man named Muhammadsa, who God had commissioned to fulfill the mission of all the prophets of the past and bring the long-foretold culmination of religion. God tells the Prophet Muhammadsa in the Holy Qur’an:
‘And we have not sent you except as a mercy to all of mankind’ (21:108)
Islam means peace and submission. It requires man to remove his ego and carnal desires in pursuit of God’s love, and the service of his fellow beings. A Muslim is taught to love Allah like a child loves his mother, and with this passion in his heart, he serves his fellow beings.
Muslims believe in one God, who refers to himself in the Holy Qur’an as ‘Allah’. The name Allah is the culmination of all the attributes of Allah; He Who is the Creator of the world, and who has furnished the universe with everything the creatures within it need for physical and spiritual development. Muslims believe in all Holy Scriptures and Prophets before Islam. Being a Muslim entails believing in the scriptures originally from God. Surely we don’t believe in the Bible, the Quran mentions the Anjeel, Zaboor, and Torah which are not synonymous to the current day Bible, and/ or Torah, and furthermore Islam requires Muslims to believe in all the prophets of God, including Moses, Jesus, Adam, Noah, Jacob, Abraham, Buddha, Krishna, and many more. All were spiritual children of God, chosen to communicate God’s teachings in accordance to the need of the time and the stage of spiritual development of the time.