Islam for Non-Muslims

• RELIGIOUS FAITHS VS IRRELIGIOUS IDEAS
• 1 The Present State of the World Religions
• 2 Religious System as a Historical Reality
• 3 The Evidences of God across the Universe
• 4 The Absolute Oneness of God
• 5 The Reality of the Afterlife
• 6 The Growth of Irreligious Ideas
• 7 Worshipping Natural Elements
• 8 Worshipping Imaginary Idols
• 9 Worshipping Human Beings
• 10 Inventing Relationship to God
• 11 Inventing the Idea of Reincarnation
• 12 Inventing the Theory of Evolution (Darwinism)
• 13 Inventing ‘Nature’ as the Creator of the Universe
• 14 Importance of Religion in this Secular World
• ISLAM AS A RELIGION
• 15 Addressing the Criticisms of Islam
• 16 Islam as a Magnet for the Non-Muslims
• 17 The Quran as the Original Divine Book
• 18 The Quranic Reality in Archeological Findings
• 19 Muhammad (pbuh) as the Great Prophet
• 20 Islam as the True Religion
• 21 Islam as the Universal Religion
• 22 Islam as the Eternal Religion
• 23 Islam as a Practicable Religion
• 24 Islam as an Enjoyable Religion
• 25 Islam as the Peaceful & Savior Religion
• 26 Islam as the Progressive & Rational Religion
• 27 Islam in Health & Hygiene
• 28 Islam in Promotion of Science
• 29 Muslims in Practices of Science
• 30 Islam & Other Monotheisms: Similarities & Differences
• 31 Islamic Tolerance for Other Religions
• 32 Islamic Rights for Non-Muslim Citizens
• ISLAM AS A WAY OF LIFE
• 33 Islamic System vs. Human Ideologies
• 34 Moral & Social Impacts of Islamic Rituals
• 35 Moral Discipline in Islam
• 36 Sinning of 3 W’s: Women, Wine and Wealth
• 37 Dignity & Equality of Man in Islam
• 38 Human Rights in Islam
• 39 Social Duties in Islam
• 40 Dignity & Rights of Labor in Islam
• 41 Dignity of Women in Islam
• 42 Rights of Women in Islam
• 43 Marriage & Family Life in Islam
• 44 Political Philosophy in Islam
• 45 Economic Principles in Islam
• 46 Islamic Economy vs. Capitalism & Communism
• 47 Patriotism & Internationalism in Islam
• 48 Understanding Controversial Issues in Islam
• 49 Conversion to Islam: Problems & Prospects
• 50 Conclusive Message to the Non-Muslims

2:  RELIGIOUS SYSTEM AS A HISTORICAL REALITY

Introduction:  The religion is a time-honored social institution.  Social scientists have very little details (if any) about the origin of religion on the historical time line.  They do not have exact knowledge about when it came, how it came and why it came.  This is because people have no way to learn any divine secrets or mysteries of creations beyond what God volunteered to share. For example, as He stopped short of revealing if any human life exists beyond our planet, mankind are off-limit to such knowledge, obviously forever. However, the Eternal, Omniscient and the Creator God revealed the secrets or “unseen stories” of the true historical background of religion such as follows (11:49).

Background:  God unveiled the fact of having started the process of “sending messengers (prophets)” “to their (respective) peoples” on earth (16:36; 30:47).  The purpose was to “give warning” to their people about the consequences of sins, so there can be “no plea against God” on the Day of Judgment (4:165).  This process started from the very dawn of human existence on this planet, with the first man Adam being the first Prophet and continued through the last Prophet Muhammad (pbut). These prophets (estimated to be tens of thousands), one after another, appeared and then disappeared but the basic theme of their religious system featured as monotheism (or belief in one God) remains the same.

Proofs of Originality:  Indications (like below) abound suggesting the reality that the religious system originated from the real God and not from His human creations. At this point you need to put aside any man-made cults which are not religion by definition.

(1) Countless Disconnected Prophets Had Common Messages:

Thousands of ancient prophets assigned to preach monotheism spanning over thousands of years were mostly disconnected from one other through barriers of time and space. “Nobody knows them (in full) except God” (14:9).They did not have any chances to meet or communicate with one other except in rare cases like Moses and his brother Aaron; David and his son Solomon; Abraham and his two sons and neighbor Lot (pbut) and so on. Despite this fact, religion as a divine entity enjoyed a never-ending life, off and on reinforced or reintroduced by fellow prophets. They came one after another at different times and places as links in the chain of prophets. As they came from the same God with the same mission, you can see remarkable similarity in their messages, as God did not “send a Messenger before you” without the Message that “there is no God but Me” (21:25).

If the religions were ever made by human hands, not only would the messages be different, but would also be short-lived, suffering a natural death along with their sponsors (messengers).  For example, the artificial religion named Din-e-Elahi invented by the Indian emperor Akbar the Great in 1582 (by combining the teachings of different religions) for his political advantage also joined him in the grave after his death. By contrast, God’s religion still continues to be a progressively powerful institution in the society despite its emergence in the remote past.  Careful thinking about the uniform messages of physically disconnected but divinely coordinated thousands of prophets appeals to our sense that the system of religion as we see today is nothing but the product of divine plan. 

(2)  Selfless Endurance by the Prophets:  The prophets devoted their lives to the cause of religion, bearing “rejections and troubles” of their people “with patience and constancy" (6:34). They never did desire any earthly reward like fame, money etc. as they expected their “reward only from God" (12:104; 10:72).  It, therefore, sounds reasonable to believe that they were true messengers of God as they totally devoted themselves to preaching His messages, inspired by reward in the Hereafter.

(3)  Honesty and Truthfulness of the Prophets:  The prophets were among the best people in their society and absolutely “sincere and trustworthy adviser” (7:68). It was quite out of their nature to introduce anything but the true religion of God.

Conclusion: It, therefore, may be reasonably concluded from historical investigation of facts that the religion is not a making of man but it is the genuine provision from God.