Islam and Muslims
Most philosophical or religious doctrines are called based on their supposed founder or principal object of veneration. Thus we have a number of names of religions and philosophical doctrines: Buddha-Buddhism, Judaism Judah, Marx, Marxism, etc.
Islam, however, received its name directly from God in the Quran: “Today I have perfected your religion for you, completed My favor upon you and have chosen for you Islam as your form of worship. [1]” (5: 3)
Another important aspect is that the Arabic word “Islam” is a word that comes from a verb: “aslama” which is the act of surrender and submit voluntarily and peacefully. This means that Islam is more than an abstract ideal or track a leader, is a concrete action voluntarily surrender to God by obeying His commandments and subjecting our actions to His will, ensuring that these are in line with what He commands and worship according to the form of worship that we appointed time.
Muslims: the Spanish word comes from the Arabic Muslim: muslim, which means a person who is voluntarily submitted to God. Accordingly, any person who truly comes to the will of God the Creator and Ruler of the Universe can be called “Muslim” without equivocation. In this respect, sincere followers of Moses, Jesus or any other messenger of God, if you practice its teachings rightly Muslims are like the followers of Muhammad.
The Muslim Creed: the belief of the Muslims is based on six pillars that we quote below:
1. Faith in God alone: no parents or children, or partners. God is the Creator, the Sovereign over His creatures, the Ruler over His creatures and the sublime perfect in all His names and attributes. Only God is to worship, to anyone else.
2. Belief in angels, believing that God created the angels and they will serve without disobedience.
3. Belief in the messengers, believing that God has chosen some human beings of strength and character to preach to others the word of God and remind them of the place of God and man’s place in the universe, as well as guide them to salvation. To worship or not worship the messenger, are mere human beings. Should love and respect all the messengers, they all share the honor and responsibility that God imposed on them and they provide guidance for mankind. Jesus son of Mary, later called “The Christ” is a messenger of God, miraculously born of a virgin and pure. The last messenger of God on earth was Muhammad.
4. Faith in God’s messages: the word of God revealed God’s messengers and prophets were written down by some of his disciples and followers. This forms several “holy books.” We know several holy books: The Torah of Moses (Pentateuch), the Zabur of David (Psalms), the Gospel of Christ and the Last Testament of God to mankind is the Qur’an revealed to Muhammad.
5. Faith in the resurrection and the Last Judgement, God will decree the end of all life on earth and then it will raise the dead before Him so that He will judge them and a good home (Paradise) or an evil place ( Hell).
6. Faith in Fate, God knows everything that happens and will happen and with infinite wisdom has decreed from the beginning. Man must comply with what is in their hands and accept what God spent on the rest. [2]
Who is Allah?
Allah is an Arabic noun meaning “The Adored, The Divine.” This word is preferred by Muslims to refer to God that does not lend itself to confusion since this word has no plural, neither male nor female or upper or lower case as in the case of the Latin word “God, God, god or goddess.
Some Christians claim to Muslims by the use of the word Allah, say it is another god or even the moon. They are in a grave mistake because these Arab Christians use the word Allah to mention God. Jesus himself used a similar word in Aramaic dialect: Al-laha, which in Aramaic also means the One God.
The word Allah is believed to come from Al Ilah, meaning “The beloved, the divine.” The word ilah coincides with the words “the”, “Eloh” and its plural “Elohim.”
They tell Christians that when Jesus on the cross, surprisingly says, Lord! Lord! Why have you forsaken me? In Aramaic it is said: Ilahi (or Ilai) sabachthani file? Note that the word Allah is present throughout the Old Testament in its original language and even the words of Jesus himself So why wonder that Muslims use today?
The person credited to these six things as certain in his heart shares, then, the Muslim creed. However, Islam is dynamic and shown that it is not doing enough to believe. Faith in Islam goes beyond that.
Faith is believing in something with heart, talk with your mouth and do it with the rest of the body. This coincides perfectly with what the Apostle Santiago (James) said: “As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead” (James 2:26).
That is why God says the same practical five pillars above the six pillars of faith. These pillars are:
* The testimony of faith, the Shahada.
* The formal prayer, salat.
* The compulsory charity, zakat.
* The Fast of Ramadan: Sauma.
* The pilgrimage to Mecca, the Hajj.
