Islamic Thoughts

• ANALYSES
• 1 Behavior code of Muslims toward non-Muslims
• 2 September 11 (2001) attacks on America not compatible with Islam
• 3 Ways To Defuse Religious Tensions
• 4 The Value Of The Ten Commandments
• 5 Bright Spot Of The Us Constitution: Religious Freedom
• 6 Lessons from the prophet's hudaibiah treaty.
• 7 Rulers' roles in promotion of christianity.
• 8 Exploring a model definition of 'religion'
• 9 Where islam stands as a civilized religion?
• 10 Proving god's existence through experimental science.
• 11 Roles of man as necessary & God as sufficient condition.
• 12 Human kindness is a shadow of god's kindness.
• 13 Why islam is the best choice for the Africans?
• 14 In Old Age, All Roads Lead To Death.
• 15 No Creations Are Without Purposes & Uses.
• 16 Prayer Prevents People From Bad Actions.
• 17 When Haram May Be Excusable: Five-Step Conditions.
• 18 Islamization Of Some Un-Islamic Cultures.
• 19 Greater The Faith, Tougher The Test.
• 20 How Science Can Make A Difference For Muslims?
• 21 The Time Gap Reality Between Sin & Punishment.
• 22 Good & Bad Days Alternate In Cyclic Order.
• 23 Let Moon-Sighting Unite & Not Divide The Muslims.
• 24 Faith Crisis Among Some Intellectuals.
• 25 Islamic Policy Toward Animals.
• 26 Improving The Muslim Performance (Aamal) Standard.
• ARGUMENTS
• 27 How Middle Course Better Than Conservative And Liberal Extremes?
• 28 Why God Is The Best One To Be Worshipped?
• 29 Costs And Benefits Of Belief In The Afterlife
• 30 Bible Is Similar To Hadith But Different From Quran
• 31 Defaming Islam: Freedom Of Speech Or Violation Of Rights?
• 32 How Islam Compares With Democracy?
• 33 Who Is Responsible For '0' Small Pox Since 1980?
• 34 Timeliness Is The Leading Condition For Prayer.
• 35 Ten Arguments For Women's Education.
• 36 Why Physical Fitness Matters For The Muslims?
• 37 Homosexuality Vs Adultery: Which Is Worse And How?
• 38 Countering Abortionist Argument
• 39 Which Is Better: Open Or Secret Prayer?
• 40 Small Or Large Recitation: Which Is Better In Prayer?
• 41 Personal Or Social Suffering: Which Is More Painful & Why?
• 42 Cultural Slavery Vs Cultural Diffusion.
• 43 Why Should America Ban Religious Defamation?
• ASSORTMENTS
• 44 Visible Action Of Invisible God: From Author's Diary.
• 45 Optional Good Deeds Are Like Bodyguards For Compulsory Ones.
• 46 The Gravitation Law Of Performance (Not One Of Newton).
• 47 The Theory Of Relativity (Not That Of Einstein).
• 48 In Good Deeds
• 49 "Rob Peter to pay Paul" is not for islam
• 50 Muslims Cannot Be "Penny Wise And Pound Foolish".
• 51 Islam Endorses Salad Bowl & Not Melting Pot Theory.
• 52 100% Homosexuality Means Prospect Of 'O' World Population.
• 53 Sinning In Teens To 40's & Suffering From 50's To Death.
• 54 Revenge May Be Lower But Not Greater Than Harm.
• 55 Why Karl Marx Is Irrelevant Forever?
• 56 Is God The Same One For All Religions?
• 57 How God Controls Economy And Livelihood?
• 58 How Muslim Repression In Myanmar Violates Buddhist Principles?
• MISCELLANEOUS
• 59 Grim Reality of Death: Unfailing Lesson for Everyone

8. EXPLORING A MODEL DEFINITION OF 'RELIGION'

Sociologists come up with different definitions of religion, bearing signs of their dissimilar ideas and experiences. From the Islamic point of view, however, there is very little room for disagreement on the core elements of the definition of religion. Based on the contents of the Quran and Hadith (Prophet's tradition), it may be suggested that:

religion is (a) carrying out the orders of God (covering both beliefs and actions/rituals) (b) with sole intention to please Him and (c) properly following His approved method. Fulfillment of these 3 conditions will lead us to a perfect definition of religion and religious activities. Now follows an analysis.

(i) Carrying out the Orders of God: Doing exactly what God wants us to do (in the form of faith or action) is central to the definition of religion. For example, when God asked Iblis (a 'satan') to prostrate before the newly created man Adam, then doing that was the right religion for him. Nowadays, such prostration of man before another man is against our religion, for God labels this action as the worst of sins called 'shirk'. One prime element of religion is therefore the act of following orders of God specific to a particular time and society. In this way, religion after religion came from God and now finally Islam. As per this definition, any code of behavior or system of ethics coming from any other sources including a philosopher (like Aristotle or Confucius) or any priest, saint or cultist is anything but religion.

Proper religious behavior also suggests that while carrying out the orders of God, adverse personal feelings should be kept aside. For example, being forced to use dust (Tayammum) for shortage of water required for ablution may give you an uneasy feeling, but you must convince your mind about the legality of such action under divine approval.

(ii) Satisfaction of God also requires to be intended while practicing God's orders. Numerous verses of the Quran promoting good actions like salah, hajj, zakat, fasting etc. are paired with clauses like "in the satisfaction of God" ()or "in the way of God"() etc. The Prophet also affirmed that "success of your good actions depend on your intention". While performing some good deeds, the intention of divine pleasure must be clean from any mix like public show, boasting, gaining praise etc. Otherwise good actions cannot stay good any more and they will risk partnership sin.

If, on the other hand, if you perform even a tiny bit of earthly action solidly for the pleasure of God, then that will count toward your credit or 'soab'. For example, if you spend 6 hours in school or 8 hours on the job with a feeling in your mind that such actions directly or indirectly help you with honest living (one form of essential good deeds), then the whole time spent for the above purposes will amount to a creditable achievement. Similarly, if you do any petty things like brushing teeth, cleaning clothes or houses or clearing road of thorns with a sense in mind that such actions matched the tradition of the Prophet, then such actions will also be weighed for reward in the Afterlife.

(iii) Approved Method: Another requirement for good actions is that you must perform them exactly according to the method described in the Quran and Hadith. You are not allowed to twist or bend these prescribed methods to suit your own advantage. For example, temporary marriage ('muta') was legal during early period of our Prophet but later he clearly banned under divine inspiration. Now you cannot revive this dead culture for your personal enjoyment by ignoring the Prophet's decisive and eternal ban on this. Similarly, your overmuch piety does not allow you to overdo certain pre-fixed prayers. For example, regular 4 units (rakah) of compulsory prayer during 'juhr', 'asr' and 'isha' prayer times are shortened to 2 units during your specially defined traveler status. You must enjoy this God-given relaxation and would not violate this rule by completing 4 units even if your travel brings no hardship to justify shortened prayer. So the point is that since all religious practices are from and for God, you have to follow His method and not yours.