UNIQUE FEATURES OF ISLAM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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UNIQUE FEATURES OF ISLAM

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Unique Features of Islam
Uniqueness of the Name
The name for the religion of Islam is much more than just a name
because it expresses a deep spiritual meaning as well as an overall
outlook on life and concept of worship. The word "Islam" is an Arabic
word which means "complete submission to the will of Almighty God".

Other religions are named after their founders, such as Christianity
and Buddhism; after a tribe or ethnic group, such as Judaism; or after
a specific geographical region, such as Hinduism. Islam, however, is
unique because its name represents its outlook on life and reflects
its universal nature. Additionally, the name "Islam" was not thought
up by its followers or applied by other people, as is the case with
the names of other religions, but was revealed by Almighty God. This
name expressed nothing new, because submission to the will of God,
i.e. "Islam", has always been the true religion of God. Due to this
fact, and since the teachings of Islam are straightforward, profound
and logical, Islam is the "Natural Religion" of all human beings. The
name of no other religion carries any significant message, or conveys
the true sense of its outlook on life, as does the name "Islam".
Universality & Continuity of the Message
The command to worship none other than Almighty God and to submit to
His will has been revealed by God to all of His prophets throughout
mankind’s long history. The pure essence of the beliefs and teachings
that were revealed by God to the Prophet Muhammad are the same as God
taught to Abraham, who was one of the earliest and greatest prophets.
So actually, Muhammad is the final prophet of Islam — not the first.
Additionally, Islam is the true "religion of Abraham", because Abraham
completely submitted himself to the revealed will of Almighty God.
Islam is truly unique among the religions of the world because it is
addressed to all of mankind. The scripture of Islam, called the
Qur’an, repeatedly addresses all human beings by saying: "O mankind!"
Additionally, in the Qur’an, Almighty God is never addressed as the
God of a particular people or nation. From the very beginning of the
mission of Prophet Muhammad, his followers came from a wide spectrum
of individuals — there was Bilal, the African slave; Suhaib, the
Byzantine Roman; Ibn Sailam, the Jewish Rabbi; and Salman, the
Persian. Since religious truth is eternal and unchanging, and mankind
is one universal brotherhood, God’s revelations to man have always
been consistent and universal. Submission to the will of God, and
worshipping Him alone without intermediaries, has always been the only
religion acceptable to Almighty God.
A Straightforward Concept of God
Unique among the religions of the world, the concept of God in Islam
is completely based upon Divine Revelation. Not only is the concept of
God in Islam characterized by purity and clarity, but it is also not
marred by myths, superstitions or man-made philosophical ideas. In the
pure and straightforward teachings of Islam, Almighty God has clearly
revealed His unique nature and qualities to man in the way which He
wants them to be understood. While other religions have either mixed
man-made doctrines with divine revelation, or ignored the divine
revelation almost completely, Islam’s concept of God is based totally
on what God has said about Himself. Islam’s concept of God can be
called pure and straightforward because there is a clear distinction
made between the Creator and the created. As such, there is no
ambiguity in divinity — it is made clear that there is nothing divine
or worthy of being worshipped except for Almighty God. In Islam,
calling someone other than Almighty God "Lord" or "Savior" is
completely prohibited because such terms compromise God’s uniqueness
and because all of our trust should be put in Almighty God — who is
the Most Merciful and the Controller of all affairs. The only Creator
— Almighty God — is Unique, Eternal and Transcendent above His
Creation. Everything else besides Almighty God — meaning anything that
you can see or even imagine — is part of God’s creation, and thus not
worthy of worship. Almighty God, as He has described Himself in the
Qur’an, is Absolutely One and "the Most Merciful of those who show
mercy". Even though God is transcendent above His creation, due to His
infinite Mercy He is constantly involved with the affairs of His
creatures. Even though God is infinite, unique and incomprehensible,
in the Holy Qur’an He has revealed Himself in a way suitable to the
finite and limited human mind. By reaching out to man and sending
revelations through all of His prophets, God has allowed Himself to be
known through His unique and most-beautiful attributes. Because the
concept of God in Islam was sent by God specifically for mankind, it
appeals to the innate nature of the human being. Due to this fact,
Islam does not ask man to accept irrational, ludicrous or man-made
doctrines about God. The Islamic concept of God strikes a unique
balance between various religions an because is avoids reducing God to
just being some remote and impersonal "First Cause" or "Higher Power",
while on the other hand it also teaches that a direct and personal
relationship with God can be maintained without believing God to be
like His creation or incarnate in it.
Direct Relationship with God
In other religions, even the ones which claim belief in "One God",
people often approach God through an intermediary, such as a saint, an
angel, the Virgin Mary or Jesus. However, it is only in Islam that a
person is required only to pray to God. Some people also nullify a
truly proper and direct relationship with Almighty God by mistakenly
believing that they have a special relationship with Him simply
because they are members of a certain ethnic group, tribe or "chosen
people". Additionally, in Islam there are no priests or clergy — each
worshipper, man or woman, has a direct relationship with their
Merciful Creator — Almighty God. Since God is the Owner and Sustainer
of everything, as well as the only one who can provide true and
complete forgiveness, it is completely futile to try to approach Him
through anyone else. According to the teachings of Islam, praying to
or worshipping anything or anyone besides Almighty God is the greatest
sin a person can commit. Even though other religions believe in God,
they nullify this belief by making the grave mistake of not always
approaching Him directly. Some religions even go so far as to say that
human beings, due to their sinfulness, cannot approach God without an
intermediary — which mistakenly implies that God is unable or
unwilling to forgive human-beings directly. Islam teaches that
Almighty God has the power to do all things and that no one should
ever despair of His mercy. According to the teachings of Islam, God is
always ready to bestow His abundant Grace and Mercy on anyone who
turns to Him in repentance. Even people who used to commit the worst
sin of worshipping others besides God will be forgiven if they realize
what they are doing is wrong and repent. Having a direct relationship
with God, and understanding that He alone deserves worship and praise,
goes hand-in-hand with the Islamic concept of God. This is because
once a proper concept of God is established in the heart and mind,
submission to God and complete reliance on Him alone comes naturally.
Unique Concept of Worship
According to the teachings of Islam, everything that a human being
does with the pure intention of pleasing God is an act of worship. Due
to this, Islam has an all encompassing concept of worship unlike any
other religion. Almighty God has revealed in the Holy Qur’an that His
purpose for creating human beings was to worship Him and Him alone.
Like other religions, Islam has required acts of worship, however
worship in Islam is not limited to rituals. Since Islam is an all-
encompassing religion with guidance for all aspects of life. almost
every action in a Muslim’s life becomes an act of worship if it is
done to build a better relationship with God. Since man’s purpose in
life is to worship and submit to God, worship in Islam has been
defined by God Himself in an all-encompassing way. This is special
uniqueness can also be seen in the fact that most other religions only
require formal worship once per week, while Islam requires it five
times a day. Even more importantly, all rites of formal worship in
Islam are based on Divine revelation, while the modes of worship in
other religions are a mixture of Divine revelation, man-made
traditions, opinions of clergymen and religious councils.
Additionally, in Islam acts of worship such as prayer and fasting have
been described by God and His Prophet in such detail that it gives
human beings a feeling of assurance that the way they are worshipping
God is pleasing to Him.
Based on Authentic Sources
The preservation of the scripture of Islam — the Holy Qur’an — is
unique among world religions. No other religion has a scripture which
is both as old and as well-preserved as the one possessed by Muslims
today. Even scholars who are hostile to Islam admit that the Qur’an
that exists today is exactly the same as the one that existed in the
time of the Prophet Muhammad. Even though many people mistakenly
assume that the Qu’ran was written by Muhammad, it is actually the
literal Word of God. Not only was Muhammad known by his people to be
unable to read and write, but the Holy Qur’an clearly and repeatedly
exclaims that it is from Almighty God – the Lord of the Universe.
Unlike other religions, the followers of Islam have always considered
their scripture to be the Word of God in toto. The scriptures of other
religions are made up of writings that were not considered to be
scripture until many years after they were written – the letters of
(St.) Paul are a good example of this. Additionally, the Holy Qur’an
has always been in the possession of the common believer, and as such
was circulated very widely. In this way, Muslims know that their
scripture is authentic, unlike other so-called "scriptures" which are
still claimed to be scripture even though their authors are unknown.
The Qur’an also remained pure and authentic because unlike other
scriptures, it was written down and memorized in the lifetime of the
prophet that it was revealed to. Also, its wide circulation prevented
scholars, clergy and religious councils from deciding what should and
should not be part of the scripture — since it was already in the
hands of the people in its complete form. It has always amazed people
to find out that the entire Qur’an was not only memorized word-for-
word by hundreds of the companions of Prophet Muhammad, but that it
has been memorized verbatim by thousands upon thousands of people
until this very day in its original language of Arabic. It was only
natural for Almighty God to preserve the scripture revealed to Prophet
Muhammad, because he was the last Prophet and Final Messenger of God.
In short, the Qu’ran is a unique scripture that has come down to us in
its original form and unique language. Due to its pristine teachings
and unquestionable authenticity, the Qur’an removes the need for man
to wonder for himself how to worship and please God, since God Himself
has clearly described these things.
An Eternal Message
Islam has just as much meaning and is just as applicable to people
living in today’s "modern world" as it did for people living 1400
years ago. Since the message of Islam is eternally true it is also
very robust, and as such still has a strong spiritual impact on
millions of people living in the world today. The Pure Monotheism of
Islam, as well as its universal brotherhood, strong morals and
positive outlook on life, is still very relevant and meaningful to
modern man. The continued relevance and applicability to both the
spiritual and worldly life of human beings from all around the word is
just one of the many proofs of the Divine origin of the message of
Islam. Unlike the teachings of other religions, the teachings of Islam
don’t need to be updated or watered-down in order to appeal to a human
being living in today’s troubled world. Since the teachings of Islam
are both spiritually true and eternally practical, they can be lived
and implemented in the daily life of a person in order to make their
life more fulfilling. In short, unique among world religions, Islam
has not had to sacrifice its integrity in order to be both applicable
to "modern life" and to have enough spiritual impact to change
people’s lives.
A Complete Way of Life
Islam not just a "religion" in the traditional sense, because it is
not just confined to acts of worship, morality and other aspects of
personal piety. The teachings of Islam, even though they do cover
religious rituals and morality, also encompass all other aspects of
life. The Prophet Muhammad’s mission encompassed not only spiritual
and religious teachings, but also included guidance for such things as
social reform, economics, politics, warfare and family life. Thus due
to the diversity and success of Muhammad’s mission, Muslims have clear
guidance from God and His Final Prophet on all aspects of life. This
goes hand-in-hand with the Islamic belief that Almighty God does not
leave human beings without guidance in their daily lives — thus His
guidance is all-encompassing. Due to God’s wisdom, and because Islam
is the final revealed religion, the guidance that God has sent is
applicable for all times and for all places. This can be seen in the
fact that the guidance for some aspects of life is much more broad and
flexible than others. Additionally, in the Qur’an, Almighty God has
revealed to mankind that the purpose of our creation is to worship and
remember God in all aspects of our life, and to follow His guidance in
everything that we do. Thus Islam does not accept a secular view of
government and society, but only one based on the Law of God. Nor does
Islam leave it to human beings to decide what is right and wrong, good
and bad, moral and immoral based on their whims, desires or man-made
idea. In short, Islam does not teach people to "Render unto Caesar the
things which are Caesar’s" because, according to Islam, everything
belongs to God. Like all of its other teachings, Islam’s view of other
religions is balanced, realistic and moderate. Islam doesn’t view
other religions as being either completely true nor completely false,
but believes that all true religions were at one time divinely
revealed. However, over time the teachings of the various religions,
due to a variety of reasons, have become distorted and mixed with made-
man ideas. But nonetheless, Muslims are required to be tolerant of
other revealed religions since the Qur’an clearly says: "Let there be
no compulsion in religion".
Moderation
The teachings of Islam, since they are divinely revealed, are balanced
in all of their aspects. Even though Islam is an all-encompassing way
of life, it preaches moderation and rejects extremism. On the one
hand, Islam does not preach complete rejection of all worldly
pleasures in view of the life hereafter; and on the other hand it does
not teach that earthly life is just for pleasure and enjoyment. In
Islam, wealth and worldly pleasures can be partaken of in this life as
long as they are enjoyed in a way that is in obedience to God.
However, Muslims are taught to keep in mind that the life hereafter is
their ultimate goal, and therefore one should be charitable and not
become too attached to worldly things. By maintaining a balance
between man’s spiritual and physical needs, the teachings of Islam are
best suited for the needs of human beings in particular and society in
general. Since Islam is based on clear guidance from God, it rejects
all man-made religious excesses, such as certain forms of monasticism
where people try to completely "reject the world" and other forms of
extreme self-denial. Islam teaches that human beings have
responsibilities at all levels — to other individuals, to their
families and to society as a whole. By maintaining a unique balance
between the physical and spiritual, and between the individual and
society, Islam maintains a balance in all directions.
A Positive Outlook
Most people will agree that having a strong self-esteem and a positive
outlook on life is conducive to achieving happiness and success.
Unique among the religions of the world, Islam’s view of both the
nature of the human being and the purpose of life are extremely
positive. Islam’s view of the nature of the human being is balanced.
On the one hand they are not viewed as being inherently evil, but on
the other they are not considered to be perfect – nor are they
expected to be so. According to the teachings of Islam, every human
being, man or woman, is born with a clean slate and is equally capable
of both good and evil. Since God has bestowed limited free-will on
human beings, they will ultimately be held responsible for their
actions. Believing that "salvation" is based on "faith alone" reduces
human life to a near meaningless and fatalistic existence. The
teachings of Islam make it clear that human beings, since their nature
is basically good, are capable of positive action in this life, and
that the best way to achieve a balanced, happy and fulfilled life is
complete submission to Almighty God. Certainly, no person can
completely submit to God by simply wanting to do so, but by first
realizing that none has a right to be worshipped and obeyed except for
Almighty God, and then making a reasonable effort to follow God’s
commands, all human beings can fulfill their reason for existence –
which is to worship God alone. . The Holy Qur’an tells us that "man
was created weak" and thus falls into sin often. On the other hand,
man is not to think of himself as so evil and corrupt so as to despair
of God’s mercy. As a recourse to this, and since Islam condemns self-
righteousness, a pious life can only be lived by trusting in God —
since there is no power or strength except through God. As such,
spiritual felicity is achieved by a combination of both faith and
action. As such, the most righteous person is not one who thinks that
repentance is unnecessary, but the one who admits and realizes his
mistakes – and then repents. According to the word of Almighty God as
revealed in the Holy Qur’an, mankind is God’s trustee on earth; and as
such the life of this world is a test, not a punishment. Even before
God created the first man, He knew that he would sin, however God
created man in spite of this. According to the Qur’an, God has
bestowed on human beings a great trust and given them dignity. It is
only by worshipping Almighty God, directly and without intermediaries,
that a human being can fulfull their true innate nature and purpose of
existence. In short, Islam is realistic. It portrays human beings just
as they are and the life of the world just as it is. Since the outlook
of Islam is divinely revealed is not based on wishful or negative
thinking, but simply on reality. Islam also has a positive view of
mankind in general, since it teaches that the best person in the sight
of God is the one who is most God-conscious. In this way the truth of
Islam and the universality of God’s message transcends all of the
barriers of race, nationality, ethnic group and economic status.
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For more information about Islam

http://www.islam-guide.com

http://www.islamhouse.com/s/9661

http://www.thisistruth.org

http://www.quran-m.com/firas/en1

http://kaheel7.com/eng

http://www.knowmuhammad.com

http://www.rasoulallah.net/v2/index.aspx?lang=e

 http://imanway1.com/eng

http://www.todayislam.com

http://www.thekeytoislam.com

http://www.islamland.com

http://www.discoverislam.com

http://www.thetruereligion.org

http://www.beconvinced.com

http://islamtomorrow.com

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran

http://www.quranforall.org

http://www.quranexplorer.com/quran

http://www.prophetmuhammed.org

http://chatislamonline.org/en/

http://www.dar-us-salam.com

http://youtubeislam.com