Islam: Who is a Muslim?

(Six parts)

                                          By DR. Abdul Ruff

                                    (A tribute to my teachers)

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The answer to this question as to who is a Muslim will also simultaneously explain who is not a Muslim. Since Islam is the truth, Muslims cannot but be the parts of it.

In a simple sentence one can say a Muslim is a devoted believer of Allah Almighty, and who constantly looks for God’s laws in their own life.

A Muslim is one who is engaged in practicing Islamic way of life and Islamic way of thinking. Islamic practices like prayers in mosques, observing self-purification efforts in the Holy Ramadan month, Holy Hajj, Zakat to help the less privileged ones, among other such good things that in fact make a Muslims a better human being first.

Obviously, a Muslim, therefore,  is a human who loves righteousness, truth, equal justice who loves fellow humans, all living beings.

However, a Muslim is a person who is gifted with the most important virtue of faith in practicing of complete and voluntary surrender to God.

This ability or quality is known as Iimaan in Islamic faith which a human obtains only if he or she is endowed with God’s blessings.

Basis of Iimaan is kalmia which all Muslims possess, making them real and purposeful humans or Muslims.

Muslims are distinguished from other s by Islamic Kalima: “Laailaaha Illallah Muhammadar Rasoolallah” which means there is no god other than God (Allah) and Muhammad (SAS) is the holy prophet of Allah.

That is w those who possess and believe in Kalmia are Muslims and others are not.

Muslims believe there is also life after death and there are heaven and hell they are accountable for their actions.

God sees everything and He knows everything even we may not know.

Is it enough for Muslims to have the Kalima learnt by heart?

First of all, Muslims need to have complete faith in the Kalima and its meaning and message.

When one says he or she is a Muslim they also automatically declare that they know the meaning and message of the Kalima and they try their level best to practice it in life. That is to say Kalima needs to be both in their heart and deeds.

Muslims worship only Allah, the Arab world for God Almighty, Who controls and sustains everything on earth and beyond. And they also believe and declare Prophet Muhammad (SAS) is Allah’s final messenger sent down to give good tidings to humanity.

Many non-Muslims also know the Kalima because they keep hearing it from the Mosques where call for prayers are given five times a day.

Hearing and listening to Kalima from mosques or from people is a good thing because they do may get benefits from knowing it. However, knowing or pronouncing Kalima does not make those people Muslims. They need to actualize the Kalima in practice. Whether non-Muslims who actualize the Kalima would entail Muslimhood or God would treat them at par with Muslims who also practice true Islam according to Kalima cannot even be debated by humans as that is wholly God’s prerogative and will.

Islam does not encourage falsehood, adultery, idolatry, dishonesty, deceptions, cheating, breaking agreements, betrayal, double standards, hypocrisy and other such mischievous matters. A Muslim is not expected to take part in any manner in practicing or propagating them.

No Muslim can claim to be a god because Muslims did not create this universe along with the balancing system. Only God could create all this. No Muslim can claim to be a Prophet because world has already seen the last and final Prophet in Muhammad SAS. Whether a Muslims can reach up to the level of Aulia by virtues, deeds, genuine concern for Islam is a good thought but humans without the ability to reason spiritually cannot become Aulias either.  Aulias are the most obedient believers whom Allah and Prophet would appreciate much for their righteousness. Muslims should understand where exactly they stand now!

Muslims could become true humans by following footsteps of Prophet Muhammad (SAS) the most sincere and honest ways.

The world and societies in which Muslims live should say Muslims are the best humans on earth and the credit obviously for this goes to their Prophet (SAS) for generating such great humans.

Islam: Who is a Muslim? -2

All Muslims who say and believe they follow the Holy Prophet and Holy Quran have a responsibility to practice them in life and become modals for others to follow. Our Prophet did not do only the talking or preaching, but He showed human virtues in his own deeds. Muhammad

(SAS) is the best human on earth and His disciples followed Him with devotion an dedication and, therefore, all Muslims also have to practice the same.

It is one thing that some Muslims perform Hajj every year and go for Umrah as many times as it is possible for them year after year but it’s another thing that they remained unchanged in their mindset, thinking capacity, commitment to Islam and fellow Muslims. But Islam expects a fundamental change in their behavior and life patterns. Does that happen?

When we use all our brains in expanding our businesses and profits we make, we do not make the same effort in improving our faith and that is the root cause of our weak faith in Islam. Muslims are supposed to develop the self check skills to make their faith strong.  They are

expected to check at each point if what they have done   or doing are

correct, and if not, they must make amendments in accordance with what they believe as Islam.  These self check practices would go a long way in making us true Muslims. And this way they can surely create Islamic societies in future.

It is wrong to be arrogant and stubborn about one’s wrong pretexts and premises.  The self check mindset can help Muslims to recognize what is wrong and what therefore could be right and also save themselves from opting for wrong paths to God and protect themselves from punishments in the Afterlife.

True, the practice of reading, listening and knowing about Islam and Prophet Muhammad (SAS) is indeed the most encouraging phenomenon among Muslims. However this act can also be accomplished by non-Muslims as well. But Muslims require doing more than that to be able claim to be Muslims. They have to be the best possible humans first.  Since Muslim swear by the Holy Prophet’s life  they must also follow and practice what He had done to help  Muslims move from mere Muslim names to be the best possible humans.

Our Prophet sought to make Muslims the best model humans for the humanity to emulate and become genuine humans - the real Muslims.

Muhammad (SAS) went beyond ordinary formalities in faith but genuine submission to God Almighty.

The holy Prophet of Islam showered His blessings on humans by revealing the best way of worship to God in order to enable themselves to be the best humans in real life.  Worship is not for the sake of worship by a few formalities and stop at that.  Not many Muslims have gone beyond the mere formalities in I life to honor our holy Prophet and his teachings.

Almighty Allah, who created the universe and everything in it, has nothing to gain from our worship and prayers, Zakat, Hajj.  All these good deed Muslims do in order only to improve their own lives here and life Hereafter.

You don’t become a true Muslim just by directly worshiping our Holy Prophet, our greatest teacher.  This short cut is indeed anti-Islamic because it goes against what the holy Prophet taught us.

All praises to Allah.

Islam: Who is a Muslim? -3

Islam is the best religion the humanity has seen and so Muslims need to be the best humans for others to take note of and follow sincerely to become genuine humans worthy of life.

Muslims live not just for the sake of their own families but for the best possible next generation of true believer, real Muslims.

Islam did not set in to help people to make more wealth and profits.

Not at all!  Wealth and profit making are the work of humans.

Exploitation and fascist trends are work of human minds.  God has no role here.  Truly speaking, Allah cannot offer too much of wealth to some and deny the same to others, making them starve and suffer. The greedy human lords have done the inequality offences to suit their interests. Do the corporates and ruling elites really fear God?

It is the duty of governments to provide equal justice to all in the country.  This genuine equality is the base of Islam.  Muslims have to appreciate this, promote this notion to make Islam worthy of praise.

True, governments in non-Muslim countries deny Muslims practice truly Islamic faith; they play dirty tricks with Muslims, making their faith treacherous. Far of God and true worshipers before the oneness of God could be the reason for this state misbehavior toward Islam and Muslims.  Governments and their officials deny Muslims their genuine share in development, openly and covertly stating:  “if you believe in Allah, then go to Allah for help!”

This is indeed the arrogant authority that fearlessly disobeys the divine authority, challenges God. True believers can do literally nothing here.

Such manner of misbehavior from government’s side can ruin the life of “unprotected” and helpless Muslims.

Taking cue from the state’s misbehavior towards Muslims, even groups and individuals, media lords think they have the opportunity to squeeze the Muslims the way they would like and the manner the state would prefer.

Muslims are helpless and they are always made to feel that.

Islam: Who is a Muslim?-4

Islam is not a new religion, but the same truth that God revealed through all His prophets to every people. For a fifth of the world's population, Islam is both a religion and a complete way of life.

Muslims follow a religion of peace, mercy, and forgiveness, and the majority have nothing to do with the extremely grave events which have come to be associated with their faith.

Islam means truth and light.

I know a Muslim in my home town, who most of the time sits in a mosque and prays. He is generally seen either in mosques or in Islam related places.  I was told he was a fisherman who was well disposed to Muslims and sympathetic to Islam. He has a small business to sustain himself and his family who had converted from Christianity into Islam recently.  He prays more than others in the locality. He talks very little, only when it is absolutely necessary. No Muslim seems to have advised him to be in mosques all the time but he has chosen the path himself.

Most probably he had observed the life of Muslims for a long time before deciding to choose Islamic faith.  Possibly he also had read Holy Quran and learned about the life of Holy Prophet that helped him view his life with a new perspective and opt for Islam.

The most important aspect of his new life is that he is convinced about Islam being the best way of life and hence he is committed.  He is totally committed to Islam. His approach shows that he realized about the importance of Islam a bit late in his life.  It is like he attained enlightenment.  I prayed to Allah to help him to be the same always and even more than that.

The point is without commitment to Islam, Muslims are in fact wasting their life.

I happened to meet another young Muslim by name Muhammad during one of my visits to my home town. Being knowledgeable about Islam and Prophet

(SAS) and with essential oratory skills, he is now a part of Islamic debates and conferences in the district and possibly in the state. He is committed to the cause of Islam he chose in his early life.

Earlier, he was a practicing Christian with thorough knowledge about the Bible. He studied Old and New Testaments as well as Holy Quran. As a result, his earlier perception about Islam changed drastically and embraced Islam on his own will. Muhammad says he found both testaments mutilated by humans and hence corrupted, while the Holy Quran is a serious spiritual text which is indeed unique and he chose the path Prophet (SAS) towards Allah.

Obviously, this Muhammad’s arrival in Islam is a good thing to have happened in his life and a plus point for Islam as a true religion.

Both have benefited.

A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God...Islam means making one's religion and faith God's alone.

In fact, our Prophet was very generous and courageous and He encouraged His followers to be kind to others for the sake of Allah.

"Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians...and (all) who believe in God and the last day and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve."  (The Qur'an, 2:62) Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans, like the followers of Christ are called Christians. Although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative, Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God.

Islam: Who is a Muslim? -5

Muslims consider the Quran to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts called hadith. "Muslim" is an Arabic word meaning "one who submits (to God)"

Most Muslims accept as a Muslim anyone who has publicly pronounced the Shahadah (declaration of faith) which states: There is no god but God; Muhammad is the messenger of God

Islamic beliefs commonly held by Muslims include: that God (Arabic:

Allah) is eternal, transcendent and absolutely one (monotheism); that God is incomparable, self-sustaining and neither begets nor was begotten.

Islam is the complete and universal version of a primordial faith that has been revealed before through many prophets including Abraham, Moses, Ishmael and Jesus; that these previous messages and revelations have been partially changed or corrupted over time and that the Qur'an is the final unaltered revelation from God (The Final Testament) The religious practices of Muslims are enumerated in the Five Pillars of Islam, which, in addition to Shahadah, consist of daily prayers (Salat), fasting during Ramadan (Sawm), almsgiving (Zakat), and the pilgrimage to Mecca (Hajj) at least once in a lifetime

Muslims at times claim they would love to die for the honour of Prophet Muhammad (SAS) any day but strangely they are not willing to make an effort to live like their Prophet for a single day. This is because we are not sincere or honest enough.

When some Muslims say they can sacrifice their lives in the name of the Holy Prophet, they still are undecided about becoming true followers of Islam to practice Islam as he did. This amounts to practicing hypocrisy which is alien to Islamic faith.

What Muslims require is a firm commitment to Holy Prophet’s path to Islam. A commitment to do away with all negative approaches and feelings in search of truth!

For the West and other anti-Islamic nations, a Muslim is a terrorist.

In fact for them all Muslims, irrespective of where they live and work, are terrorists.

Muslims decorate Islam and protect it from enemies. Christianity is currently the largest religion in the world. It is followed by about 33% of all people -- a percentage that has remained stable for many decades. About 23% of all people on Earth follow Islam. The religion is currently in a period of rapid growth. If current trends continue, Islam will become the most popular world religion sometime in the mid-21st century.

Islam was born in Saudi Arabia. The country with the highest proportion of self-described Muslims as a proportion of its total population is Morocco. The first spreaders of Islam in India were individuals who saw in spreading Islam a holy precept. They began coming to India from the 11th century. They arrived in India from Bukhara, Turkey, Iran, Yemen and Afghanistan. The most famous preacher of Islam in India was Khwaja Chishti, who arrived from Iran and his sect is called Sufism. The different Muslim rulers of India also brought to their kingdoms Muslim mercenaries, businessmen and slaves from different parts of the world like Russia; Afghanistan; Turkey; Arab countries and Africa. These people remained in India. The Muslims are about 15% of India's population.

Today, about 13% of Muslims live in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country, 25% in South Asia, 20% in the Middle East and North Africa, 2% in Central Asia, 4% in the remaining South East Asian countries, and 15% in Sub-saharan Africa. Sizable communities are also found in China and Russia, and parts of the Caribbean. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world. The majority of Muslims are Sunni, being over 75–90% of all Muslims. The second and third largest sects, Shiia and Ahmadiyya, make up 10–20%, and 1% respectively.

All of the major religions of the world have split into many different parts, called traditions, denominations, branches, sects, faith groups, etc. Within Islam, the two main divisions are Sunni and Shia.

The split occurred after the death of the Prophet Muhammad (SAS) who died unexpectedly in 632. He had not specified a successor and the closest infallible companion was chosen to lead Islam and Muslims.

However, the inner conflict developed over how to choose a leader. The split remains to the present time and continues to cause much strife among Muslims, particularly in the Middle East.

In general the Muslims of India like the entire Muslim world is divided into two main sects, Sunni and Shia. And just like in the whole Muslim world there is tension between these two sects. Each sect has many different schools. There are also Muslims who claim to be the descendants from the daughter of Prophet Muhammad and the men in this community add the title Syed before their names. Others claim to be the descendants from the first Muslims and add the title Sheik.

Different communities who adopted Islam in different ways have different community names. In west India the Bohra and Khoja are Muslim communities who adopted Islam influenced by different Muslim preachers. The Khojas also split into different communities. The leader of the Khoja (Nizari) community is Aga Khan. The Nawait are descendants of Arab and Persian immigrants. In south India in the state of Kerala, the Mophilla community is descendants from Arab merchants. A well known Indian Muslim community is Pathan. The Pathan are Muslims who arrived from Afghanistan. They normally have their surname as Khan. The Pathan have an image of being brave, honest and righteous. Many Indians who adopted Islam adopted the surname Khan and they claim that they are Pathans, which is not always true. The original Pathans claim that they originate from the Tribes of Israel.

However, all these titles have no meaning in Islam as they all are Muslims. They can be distinguished from the way they lead Islamic way.

Muslims are judged not by their titles but how much committed they are to Islam and fellow Muslims.

In the beginning of the 20th century, some reformist Muslims organizations evolved in India who wanted to adjust Islamic philosophy to suit the modern wealthy world but with hollow faith.

Islam: Who is a Muslim? -6

Islam: Who is a Muslim? -6Most of us today live like passive Muslims without any real concern for Islamic faith and Islamic way of living.

Many of us believe by performing a few formalities we become true Muslims and they decline to go beyond those formalities. Like Saudi rulers mint money from visits of global Muslims for religious or picnic purposes, most Muslims elsewhere try their tricks to make maximum profits from Muslims and Islam.

True Muslims should have some knowledge about their predicament in today’s globalized and essentially anti-Islamic world. Enemies of Islam are using Islamophobia to terrorize world populations and block the growth of Islam. Islamophobia is rampant and very strong thanks to the media role in terrorizing the humanity.

Islam, according to mongers of Islamophobia, means Terrorism. Muslims are tortured everywhere especially in USA. So much so, when some Muslims think of Christianity in America, they think of Pastor Terry Jones of Dove World Outreach Center in Florida as a typical Christian who advocates burning copies of the Qur'an. When some Christians think of Islam in the Middle East, they think first of Osama Bin Laden, or Musab al-Zarqawi as typical Muslims. Both were leaders of Al-Qaeda, and are now deceased. But they continue to be used by enemies of Islam.

In India, the new government of the Hindutva parties has begun reconverting a few Muslims into Hinduism which is in fact a cluster of castes and subcastes. Those who assumed Hinduism would only amuse true Muslims because the now new Hindu converts were never true Muslims in the first place. There are so many Muslims in India who just have Muslim names but do not practice real Islam and ignore Islamic faith.

Similarly, no Islamic organization anywhere in the world should ever attempt to convert people from other faiths without convictions. These converts in fact harm Islamic faith. If, however, they come on their own will without convictions, only Allah is enough to deal with the situation. Islam would help Muslims better if the converts also  have the conviction about  their new religion.

People confuse the beliefs or practices of an individual or a small minority of believers for the entire religion. As one example, in the minds of some Americans, responsibility for  9/11 terrorist attack on New York City and Washington has spread from 19 radical, violent, fundamentalist Muslims and their Al-Qaeda handlers to all 1.6 billion followers of Islam.

Islam is not a political or social organization - it is indeed the most authentic way of life. Muslims are responsible for its enlightened path.

A Muslim is one who constantly remembers that he is a follower of Holy Prophet Muhammad (SAS) and he needs to enlive that truth in example.

There are obviously no justifications in Islam for liquor, smoking, robbery, cheating, betrayal, and all immoral and illegal deals the modern folks prefer. Muslims would do better choosing non vegetarian food items prepared only through Islamic method known as halaal.

Anything Is not good for the believers. Muslims need to shun all these wrong doings because Allah and our beloved Prophet (SAS) have a warned us against them.

                                          By DR. Abdul Ruff