realization. Thus realization of truth is the door to Islam. When one discovers that Islam is truly God’s religion and that it is the same truth one has been seeking all along, one undergoes a unique experience

why, whatever its form, it must have God as its object. Any gesture in the nature of adulation is not permissible except when meant for God. When an individual makes God the object of his worship, he bows

one who makes a non-God the object of his worship, bows before something which has no actual existence, even although he may have set up before him some material image of his ‘god.’ While the former has

superstitious notions, which have no basis in logic. God’s worshippers are graced with eternal blessings; the worshippers of things other than God can expect nothing but eternal deprivation.JANUARY 5

belly and its back. “Fear God in your treatment of these dumb animals,” he said. “Ride them properly and feed them properly.” (ABU DAWUD, SUNAN) How a preacher of the word of God should act Hearing that

al-Murrah, I am God’s messenger to all mankind. I call on all men to submit to God, 1 teach them to refrain from shedding one another’s blood, to give kinsfolk their due, to worship One God, to forsake idols

idols, to perform a pilgrimage to the House of God and to fast

blessings of God really are. Overwhelmed with this experience, he expresses his gratitude to God from the innermost recesses of his heart. This inculcates the spirit of thanksgiving in a fasting person

as a grateful servant of God. The second benefit is that person becomes deserving of receiving further blessings from God Almighty. According to a tradition of the Prophet, God says: “O people, all of

any other means. That is why if a person keeps fasts in the month of Ramadan and is thankful for God’s blessings, he proves himself deserving of receiving the food grown in the soil for the rest of the

would be to unfold the rest of the infinite ‘words of God’ to produce a superior and divine civilization. According to chapter 2 of the Quran, when God created Adam, the first man, there were two other creatures

creatures already in existence: the jinn and the angels. God commanded the jinn and the angels to bow down to Adam. In obeyance to God’s commands, the angels immediately bowed down. But Iblis (Satan),

actual fact, when God created the Earth, He gave its charge to the jinn who were created from fire. But they caused mischief therein, shedding blood and killing one another. Therefore, God created man and

strength, is to condemn oneself to destruction. Such conduct can never lead to success in this world of God. The Prophet achieved success by pursuing a policy of non-confrontation; how, then, can his followers

the threat of financial loss, which prevented them from accepting the message of Islam. The House of God at Makkah had been turned into a house of idol worship before the coming of the Prophet. People of

served save God, and that Muhammad was His servant and Prophet.9 The Prophet’s numerous marriages were also part of this policy. Prime importance was attached in the tribal system to relationships through

words of the Quran in such a strange manner that ‘Umar was unable to make out what part of the Book of God he was reading. The Prophet once spoke to a visiting delegation of some Arab tribe in their own dialect

benefit of Islam is that it gives man a spiritual centre to focus on; it tells man how to worship God. Kashmiris did benefit from Islam in this respect, but in another respect they remained largely deprived