format_quote Originally Posted by
ayan333
Salamu Alaykum.
I have to do a project on Islam.I wanted to do Misconception of Islam but he wants me to do general Islam.So how can i make this presentation exciting and mind blowing!?
I know Islam is wonderful but how do i present it in a matter that will be informative and interesting at the same time
JazakALLAH Khair in advance
WaSalamu Alaykum
Asalaamu Alaikum Wr Wb, do a project on the following amazing article "What Does Islam Have to Offer The World?" Which is an article on general Islam and not a specific topic. It is brilliant for dawah to!
What does Islam have to offer the world?
Why is it that we believe that Islam is such a tremendous bounty from Allah? Because
there is nothing like Islam on earth:
It is Islam that has taught human beings that the Lord their God is One and Only. That
He has no partners, no wife, and no son, and that there can be no compromise on the
unity of God.
It is Islam that has taught human beings that they are all equal and that no Arab is
superior to non-Arab, nor a non-Arab is superior to an Arab and that the best of all of
us is the one who is most righteous.
It is Islam that has taught human beings that they are all brothers and sisters created
from a single pair of a male and a female. Therefore, Islam, unlike Hinduism, neither
recognizes nor condones the idea of a caste system. Islam is a war on caste systems,
on aristocracies, and hereditary social groups of all kinds.
It is Islam that has taught humanity the value of the intellect, the importance of
reflection, and the role of the mind in attaining faith. Christians teach that one can
never become a believer except when the Holy Spirit mysteriously occupies one's
heart. Islam teaches that faith is the fruit of reason and it is through continuous
reflection on the wonders of creation that faith can be obtained, maintained, and
nurtured.
It is Islam that has has taught humanity that people of all races, all colors, all
ethnicities are perfectly capable of attaining faith in the One and Only God. Hindus
believe that Hinduism is just for those privileged to be born in the faith and therefore
they do not invite the
"less privileged" to embrace their faith. Jews believe that they
are the chosen race and even when they accept others to embrace Judaism, those
converts are always lower in rank than those born as Jews. Islam rejects all that and
calls upon all people of all backgrounds to submit themselves to their Creator. Once
they do, they automatically become members of the community of Islam with the
same rights and duties as any other Muslim. Islam is not, and can never be, the
monopoly of one race or a certain linguistic group.
It is Islam that has taught humanity that God is absolutely Just and Merciful and that
He will never punish one person for the sins of others. Christianity teaches that Adam
and Eve had bequeathed their sin to all their descendants and thus all humans are born
in this
"Original Sin" and therefore Jesus Christ had to be sacrificed on the cross to
redeem humanity of its
'original sin.' Islam says, NO. Humans are not born in sin. No
person will be held accountable for another's mistakes. Every soul will pay for its own
deeds, only. Divine justice is absolute.
It is Islam that has taught humanity that righteous deeds are necessary for salvation.
Faith is indispensable, but not sufficient. Humans will be admitted to Paradise by their
faith and their righteous acts. They have to go together, hand in hand. Many Christian
denominations teach that faith in Jesus is enough for salvations. If you accept Jesus
sacrifice on the cross, then you are saved regardless of what you may do afterwards
because Jesus has already paid for all your sins. Islam totally disagrees. No one can
pay for your sins. Faith, doing righteousness, avoiding evil, and continuous
repentance are the only ways for salvation. Islam does not accept, nor condone the
corrupting influence on the individual as well as the society that can be caused by the
idea of a
"guaranteed" salvation.
It is Islam that has taught humanity how to balance the needs of this life and the next.
Islam does not accept the idea that renunciation of this world is the best means to get
salvation in the next. Catholicism and Buddhism teach that by living a reclusive life,
one can attain higher spirituality. Buddhism even taught the recluse must make his
living by begging. Islam rejects the whole notion of the alleged goodness of
renouncing the world. Islam teaches that best means for advancement in the next life
is by getting involved in the affairs of this world by commanding good and forbidding
evil; by helping one another in righteousness and piety; by doing Jihad, by struggling
against all forms of evil, injustice, tyranny, intolerance...Islam does not teach rejection
of the world, it teaches involvement, struggle, and change.
It is Islam that has taught humanity that kindness to parents, to kin, to neighbors, and
to fellow humans is an essential part of faith and righteousness. Christianity claims
that Jesus has taught that one cannot come closer to God unless one hates one's father,
mother, wife, children,...
(Luke 14:26) Islam teaches the opposite. One cannot come
closer to God unless one acts so kindly towards one's mother, father, family,
neighbors, etc.
It is Islam that has taught humanity that God is very close to them and that He is with
them wherever they are and that He hears their prayers and respond to them. Islam
teaches that God is so close that He needs no intermediaries to mediate between Him
and His servants. Islam does not accept the concept of priesthood and clergy acting as
mediators between God and humans. Islam teaches that one does not have to confess
one's sins to a priest in order to get forgiveness. One can simply confess one's sins to
God without any human intervention, seek forgiveness, and God will grant it. Many
Jews today still believe that prayers cannot reach God and get a response from Him
unless the prayer is made at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. Some even fax their
prayers or send it via the Internet to Jerusalem so that someone there would take it and
put it on the Wailing Wall to reach God. Islam teaches that wherever one maybe, one
can pray to God, confess to God, seek God's help and forgiveness, and God will
certainly respond. No human intervention is needed, no special place or time is
necessary. God is always very close.
It is Islam that has taught humans to accept and respect their human nature. Islam
recognizes the strengths, the weaknesses, and the needs of humans. Islam never
requires humans to behave as angels or to ignore their physical and emotional needs.
Christianity does not allow divorce. Islam recognizes it as a human reality.
Catholicism considers celibacy an ideal. Islam does not. The Anglican Church frowns
upon second marriages. Prince Charles in order to become King of England has to
behave as a practicing Anglican. Therefore, he can commit adultery openly with his
famous mistress but he cannot marry her or else he will lose the throne for violating
the rules of the Church of England. Islam never engages in such irrationality and
moral contradictions.
There is nothing like Islam on earth. There is no faith, no religion, no ideology, no
system of belief that can rival Islam in its clarity and simplicity ; in its submission to
God, the One and Only; in its rationality and intellectual depth; in its egalitarianism
and equality; in its spirituality; in its code of ethics; in its unparalleled balance
between the needs of this life and the demands of the hereafter. Islam has elevated the
human soul, body, and mind to heights that have never been reached by any other
faith or tradition. Islam is the only religion that has truly enabled human beings to
fulfill their humanity.
Islam is like a perfect piece of art at which the human eye can keep looking and
scrutinizing for days, weeks, years on end and still can find no flaws, no defects, and
no contradictions. All the human eye can do is to keep wondering at the amazing
beauty and coherence of this faith of ours: Islam. Leopold Wiess, the Austrian Jew
who embraced Islam in 1926 and became one of the greatest Muslim intellects of the
twentieth century has expressed the same level of astonishment at the overwhelming
beauty and coherence of Islam, "I was asked, time and again:
'Why did you embrace
Islam ? What was it that attracted you particularly ?' -- and I must confess: I don't
know of any satisfactory answer. It was not any particular teaching that attracted me,
but the whole wonderful, inexplicably coherent structure of moral teaching and
practical life programme. I could not say, even now, which aspect of it appeals to me
more than any other. Islam appears to me like a perfect work of architecture. All its
parts are harmoniously conceived to complement and support each other: nothing is
superfluous and nothing lacking, with the result of an absolute balance and solid
composure. Probably this feeling that everything in the teachings and postulates of
Islam is
'in its proper place,' has created the strongest impression on me."
In a nutshell, Islam is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
It is important to note that Islam is not just a set of ideals, it is a tremendous force
capable of transforming and regenerating individuals as well societies and whole
nations. The influence of Islam upon the first society that embraced it, the Arabian
peninsula, was nothing short of a revolution. Islam has revolutionized Arabia in all
aspects of life: politically, economically, socially, and above all morally:
It was Islam that transformed the fiercely independent-minded Arabs who knew no
government, obeyed no authority, recognized no state into a nation with a
government, a capital, and a respected authority.
It was Islam that taught the anarchic Arabs how to elect a head of state from among
themselves and how to run their government upon principles of mutual consultation.
It was Islam that taught the Arabs who never agreed on any form of law to build a
nation based on the rule of one sacred, just, and merciful law. Islam also taught them
that they were all equals before the law and no one even the daughter of the Prophet
was above the law.
It was Islam that transformed the intensely militant Arabs from a group of tribes
massacring each other all the time -- to the extent that they had to agree on four
months of peace every year to prevent their whole race from extinction due to the
incessant wars -- into one nation with united tribal armies able to confront and defeat
the armies of the surrounding superpowers: the Byzantines and the Sassanids.
It was Islam that abolished usury from Arabia and taught the Arabs how to make
business transactions justly and fairly without exploitation or abuse.
It was Islam that abolished the gruesome habit of female infanticide from Arabia.
It was Islam that taught the Arabs that women were full human beings, not mere
chattel, and that they were their sisters in humanity and in faith. It was Islam that
guaranteed for Arabian women their rights to: inheritance, property, divorce, and
independent legal personality.
It was Islam that eradicated Alcohol, with all its evils, from Arabia.
It was Islam that ended all forms of prostitution, gambling, and intoxicants from the
Arabian society. And it was Islam that opened all doors for freeing slaves.
It was Islam that uprooted racism from the Arab mind completely to the extent that
the deeply racist and arrogant Arabs would accept to be soldiers in armies whose
leaders were black Africans.
And above all, it was Islam that transformed the idolatrous and superstitious Arabs
into believers in the One and Only God. It was Islam that transformed them from idol
worshippers into a people who stand together in one line in prayer and prostrate their
heads to the Almighty.
Arabia before Islam was a society bound by tradition and precedent. Whatever was
customary was right and proper. Whatever the forefathers had done deserved to be
imitated. Islam rejected this blind faith in tradition. Islam challenged all the customs
of the society. Islam questioned all the mores and manners of the Arabs. Islam
introduced to them the standards of morality and the fundamentals of right and wrong.
Islam taught them how to think critically of everything around them and how to reject
the bad habits and keep the good ones. Islam showed them the proper way for peace
and happiness in this life and felicity in the next. This was the essence of the
revolution that Islam was.
The question that irresistibly comes to the mind is this: that was the past, what about
now? Can Islam revolutionize the world today as it did to seventh century Arabia? Is
Islam relevant today? Does Islam have anything to offer today's world? Yes, a great
deal.
For us, Muslims living in the West, it would be reasonable to focus on what Islam has
to offer to our Western society at the dawn of a new millennium. The West, as the
seventh century Arabia and as any other society for that matter, has its own virtues as
well as vices. Islam can improve and enhance all the virtues while eliminating -- or, at
least, minimizing -- the vices.
In a society where alcohol is the number one cause of criminal death and injury;
where alcohol costs billions of dollars each year in medical expenses and property
damage; where alcohol consumption causes the death of hundreds of thousands of
people annually; where alcohol is a major cause of rape and domestic violence -- Is
there any faith more able than Islam to prevent all the ills of alcohol?
In a society still tormented by racial strife; where
"black" churches are continuously
fire-bombed by bigots of all kinds; where one rarely sees a black person in a
"white"
church or a white person in a
"black" church -- Islam has so much to offer because
Islam does not tolerate the very idea of a "
black" mosque or a
"white" mosque; Islam
obliges believers to stand together in one line, shoulder to shoulder and foot to foot,
and prostrate their foreheads to God so that they learn they are all humble servants of
the Almighty.
In a society where violence against women has risen to alarming proportions, where it
is not safe for women to walk alone in the dark, where even institutions of higher
learning have to provide
'walk home service' to protect women on campus at night -
Islam has much more to contribute than escort services or karate lessons. Islam does
implant modesty and sense of propriety in the minds of the believers, Islam eradicates
vulgarity, Islam eliminates any possibility that men view women as sex objects.
In a society as violent as the United States where some 25000 lives are taken every
year by handguns alone; where 5% of the world population consume 50% of the
world's illegal drugs despite the arrest of some 700,000 drug dealers every year;
where a car is stolen every few seconds; where a woman is raped every few minutes -
Islam has a lot more to offer than merely putting more cops in the streets. Islam
teaches that prevention is better than cure and that crime can best be reduced by
taking care of the family, the community, and the neighborhood. Islam attaches great
esteem and honor to the role of the mother because when she takes proper care of her
children, the whole society benefits. Islam reminds the fathers of their duties,
encourages the neighbors to take care of each other's needs, strengthen community
bonds, advocates commanding what is right and forbidding what is wrong instead of
apathy and individualism. Islam always eliminates problems from their roots.
In a society afflicted with intense individualism, excessive materialism, fierce
consumerism, and unabashed sensualism; Islam has the intellectual and the spiritual
power required to rectify all the excesses of the society because Islam preaches
moderation and balance in all worldly and other-worldly affairs.
The influence of Islam is not limited to the social and moral domains, it extends to the
political, economic, legal, cultural, and educational realms as well. Two examples
should suffice.
In the realm of politics: the egalitarian nature of Islam requires major reforms in the
way democracy is practiced in the society today. As it stands, the existing democracy
is elitist and lopsided in favor of the wealthy, the powerful, and the special
interests.The average person almost has no meaningful say in how things are run by
the elite. This state of affairs falls far short of the ideal of mutual consultation in all
affairs advocated by Islam.
In the realm of economics: capitalism left unregulated has a tendency to make the rich
richer and the poor poorer. In a period of ten years only (1978-1987) the poorest fifth
of the American population got 8% poorer while the richest fifth got 13% richer. This
is the nature of capitalism; wealth breeds more wealth, sometimes even without any
effort or creativity. Islam obliges all rich people to pay part of their wealth annually to
the poor so that the wealth gets redistributed in the society in order to protect the poor
from perpetual poverty and give them a fair chance to compete in a world dominated
by the tyranny of capital.
There is so much in Islam that can truly make the West, and indeed the whole world,
a safer, better, and more decent place to live in. Islam is a formidable force with
potential great enough to revolutionize the world and radically change the course of
history as it once did some 1400 years ago.