How do you percieve Islam?

For me, the simplest way to describe it is like having a warm blanket wrapped around my shoulders, as I sit by a log fire, in a wooden hut, on an immensely freezing cold and rainy day.

It is wonderful, safe, and secure where I am. In my Lords embrace.

Scimi

format_quote Originally Posted by tearrow

I'm not sure if this is the right section, but here I go! I'm doing a school project on Islam to see if i can understand it better and develop what I feel and think about. The problem is that I'm not quite there yet! I just wanted to ask you guys if you would be willing to let me hear how you perceive God and Islam.

Welcome to the forum. I hope you have a beneficial stay

What do you think Islam stands for?

I believe that Islam is the way of life that God intends mankind to live by. Islam includes proper beliefs, worship that is acceptable to God, and guidance for how to live our lives down to the most mundane aspect.

what do you think the purpose of faith is?

Faith is a guiding light to put our lives in proper perspective. It keeps us from becoming too elated and arrogant with our achievments and success and it keeps from becoming despondent with our trials, losses and failures we encounter in life.

Is it a source of personal and spiritual development?

Islam is like life in that it is a journey; however, as our earthly lives end with our death it is only the next step in the journey to our eternal abode. Islam is the means by which Muslims hope to achieve eternal success, but ultimately we are dependent on the mercy and forgiveness of God for our salvation.

What does Islam mean to you?

As Brother Scimi mentioned, Islam is like my security blanket that I hold on to for questions that I have no other answer. Islam gives meaning to my life in the worship of my Creator. I know that all else will ultimately fail me, but from God I came into being and to Him I will return.

Any sort of answer will help me so please contribute!

Hope our replies will be helpful to you.

You know how at a fancy dinner the forks and spoon are always in their proper place? The same can be said about all that exists. We all have our proper place. Our place as creations is to serve our Creator and we do that through Islam.

Keep in mind that the benefits are for us.

Greetings tearrow and welcome to the forum.

format_quote Originally Posted by tearrow

how you perceive God

Allah* is our Creator, Sustainer, Cherisher, Lord and Master. He is Most Merciful, Loving and Forgiving, and where necessary, stern in punishment. He is the Most Just, and Perfectly Just.

*The proper name of God in Arabic is Allah. It has no grammatical derivations, so cannot be turned into gods, goddesses etc.

Our beliefs regarding Him are as follows:

There is only One God. He alone should be worshipped.
He does not beget, nor is He begotten. He has no sons, daughters, siblings, parents, cousins, nor relatives of any sort.
He is eternal and does not die.
There is nothing like Him. He is all Hearing, all Seeing, all Knowing, all Powerful, the Creator of the Universe.
He does not depend on anyone/anything yet we all depend on Him.
He does not/has never dwelt in human/animal bodies or other created beings/objects.
He is not composed of persons, nor a trinity. There are no secondary, lesser, greater, equal, or multiple gods, no intermediaries, and no denying of God's existence either.
There are no sharers or associates or parts whatsoever in His exclusive Divinity. Simply, He is One, in every sense.

He has sent a succession of Prophets to people throughout the ages, with guidance to show us how He wants us to live and worship Him.
After our death, we will all be resurrected on the Day of Judgement and called to account for our deeds.

format_quote Originally Posted by tearrow

and Islam.

Islam is the way of life and faith that is and has always been, the original and only message and way of life ordained by God, and the true and natural religion. We believe that all the Prophets sent by God taught people to worship One God alone, without any associates in His Divinity, and to obey the Prophet He sent, and that no prophet ever claimed divinity. Thus, Islam is not a new faith but is the same Ultimate Truth that God revealed to all prophets, including Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus (peace be upon them all). Since the time of prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), that message is available unchanged and unadulterated. He is the last, not first, prophet of Islam; a messenger to all mankind, to be followed until the end of time.

All the Prophets of God are accepted, believed in, loved and honoured.

Islam is a religion for all people, all times, and all places. Thus you'll find that it is not named after a specific person (like Christianity, Buddhism), nor after a certain race (like Judaism, Hinduism), but is named by God Himself, and the meaning loosely translates as 'submission to God'. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) was not sent as prophet for a specific group of people and specific time, but he was sent for all the world, until the Day of Judgement. Thus the scripture God sent down to him, God's final scripture, the Qur'an, is preserved and unchanged with no word coming from any human.

Each messenger is only for the period until the next messenger is sent by God, after which God requires that allegiance be given to the new prophet, who does not come with any new/changed core beliefs, but confirming the truth of what came before, clearing misconceptions that have crept in, reinforcing the key beliefs that have always been, with possible small changes in ancillary rules/regulations.

Moses (peace be upon him) was the messenger for the Children of Israel until Allah sent Jesus (peace be upon him), at which point it became incumbent on the Children of Israel to follow Jesus. Jesus was messenger for the Children of Israel until Allah sent the last and final messenger, prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and since he was sent, he is the Prophet for all mankind, with Gods scripture sent to him and his preserved teachings to be followed until the Day of Judgement.

Islam is a means for our own personal and spiritual growth as well as the means of success in this world, and also in the hereafter, with Allah's Mercy. It is a complete way of life for all the people of the world.

format_quote Originally Posted by Scimitar

For me, the simplest way to describe it is like having a warm blanket wrapped around my shoulders, as I sit by a log fire, in a wooden hut, on an immensely freezing cold and rainy day.

It is wonderful, safe, and secure where I am. In my Lords embrace.

Scimi

This reminds me of the quote by Imam Shafi'ee when he said, "If the non-Muslim kings of the world new of the delight that a (Muslim) believer feels in his heart, they would exhaust all their wealth to take it from us for themselves."

Brother, yr profile states you are a christian. One of the differences between us is that we do not believe in the trinity.
We believe that Mohammed(pbuh) is the last prophet mentioned in the new and old testament.
Islam in it's original form is an observance of the abrahamic tradition as proclaimed by every prophet all the way from adam(pbuh) to Jesus (pbuh). We are learnt to believe to that all these prophets came with the the same message fom God but that mankind changed it and didn't follow the commandments Gods.