Goal of your Religion

We believe Islam (literally meaning submission to God) is actually the natural way of life, revealed by God through his messengers to humanity to be in submission to him, just as the rest of universe is. We believe it as a path to follow, a lifestyle to adopt- individually and communally- to live a life of contentment, compassion and service while being God- loving and God-conscious.. The ultimate goal of Islam is to help us reach back to our creator after passing the test of life successfully by living a life that is pleasing to him.. It is not to change our afterlife from hellfire to paradise. But to attain our abode in paradise that is already prepared for us and meet our creator, and to avoid the place that has been prepared for us in hellfire, if we live a life of disobedience.. This is not a comprehensive reply, as you know the goal of a religion is very deep topic and cannot be contained in few words...

 

And how does one find out how to live a Godly life in Islam?

 

Catholic Christianity (Greek word Katholic) meaning Universal

God created all things including free will
Man fell apart from God through sin
Sin equals physical death and damnation.
God humbled himself and became man.
For our sake he was crucified, died, and buried as the perfect sacrifice for mans sin.
God/Christ rose from the dead and assessed into heaven triumphing over death.
He will come again to judge who amoung us will be with him for eternity.
He is physically present in the Eucharist body and blood and we must consume him physically, bread of life, to attain internal conversion to his supieror will. For further technicalities we defer to the Pope seat of Peter whom Christ granted the Authority to execute his Church’s mission.

Forgive the simplicity but there is 2000 years worth of stuff to study on this.

 

God revealed Islam through his prophets to humanity- From Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus to the last among them- Muhammad (Peace be upon them all). He revealed his scriptures- among them are- Torah( to Moses), Zabur (to David) , Injil (to Jesus), and finally The Noble Qur'an to Muhammad (pbuh). So, apart from giving a life on earth, God intended to show human beings the way they should live on earth. So, we follow his revelations and the teachings of his prophets. We believe God send the Qur'an as the last and final revelation to human kind until the day of Judgment. (The previous scriptures were corrupted by men.)

God created us and everything in the universe and beyond. He is free from his own creation including time and space. He can't be compared or simulated in any way, because there is nothing equal or even comparable to him. (that's it's forbidden to create Images of God in Islam). But he is aware every atom in the universe and is in control of everything. He is the most merciful and the most compassionate, the most loving and the most forgiving, the most just and the ultimate truth.

He has given us free will- but he is the creator of all things. Which means he creates what we will through our free will.
We don't believe in the concept of Original Sin- Every person is accountable for himself/herself and no one is burdened with the sin of someone else. Adam and Eve ate from the tree, following the whisperings of the Devil (Iblees). When they asked for forgiveness, they were forgiven. Because the lord of the earth and the skies is the most merciful and the most forgiving. Then he sent them to earth to live and die here, ensuring them that he will send them guidance to live. (He sent his guidance through his prophets.)

There is devil and his companions unseen to us and they are capable of whispering into our minds. And we have our animalistic self- our Nafs which has desires. The success of a human being is when he limits such desires and overcomes the whisperings of the devil to do good deeds and keep himself away from those things that are hated by God, the most pure.

Sin is disobedience to God and wronging our own selves. So, God has made rules and commandments for us for our own good. So if someone sins, it is in fact wronging our own selves. We believe human beings have a natural predisposition which is inclined towards good, truth, justice, etc. That is why we have our conscience. Our faith in God and his revelations serve as guidance to help ourselves to navigate this world keeping ourselves in that natural disposition. (Worshipping God is not for God, but for our own selves- it's the food for our soul, because we were created in such a way)

If a human being sincerely repents and commit himself/ herself not to return to it, God can forgive any sin (Say, ‘[God says], My servants who have transgressed against yourselves by your own excess, do not despair of God’s mercy. Indeed, God forgives all sins: He is truly the Most Forgiving, the Most Merciful. [Qur'an 39:53]). He may forgive anything even without asking for it, except associating partners with him- which is considered as the greatest of all sins since it is against the very purpose of our creation which is to worship and be in unconditional obedience to him.

We earn God's pleasure through steadfastness in our faith and our own actions. Believe in him, and trust him. And do what you are commanded to do and avoid what you are forbidden to do (haram). There is no superiority for one person over the other in front of God, except through piety.

Since there is no original sin, all the other things you mentioned become irrelevant, in our belief. We believe The Messiah Jesus the son of Mary to be among the mightiest of messengers of God. We revere both of them as among the best of people who walked on the surface of earth. Qur'an tells us some of their stories in detail. There is a chapter in the Qur'an named 'Mary' (Surah Maryam). We don't believe Jesus was crucified on a cross, rather we believe that he was raised to God before that happened.

In essence, the basic foundation of Islam is on strict monotheism- There is no God worthy of worship or unconditional obedience but God (in Arabic - Allah).

Our faith (Iman) is rooted in six things : Faith is to believe in Allah, His angels, His books, His messengers, the Last Day, and to believe in providence. No one becomes a Muslim except by believing in this six tenets and acting upon the five pillars of Islam.

The Five Pillars of Islam are five basic acts in Islam, considered mandatory for believers and are the foundation of Muslim life. These tenets are obligatory for someone who is a Muslim.

• Shahaada : It's a verbal, mindful and sincere declaration of belief in the Oneness of God and Muhammad is the servant and the Messenger of God.
• Salaah : Establishment of 5 daily prayers;(Before Sunrise, Noon, Early evening, After Sunset and after dusk)
• Zakaat : It's an obligatory Alms tax - a portion of your wealth has to be given to the poor and needy annually. (Zakat is based on income and the value of all of one's possessions. It is customarily 2.5% (or 1/40th) of a Muslim's total savings and wealth above a minimum amount known as nisab . 5% of agricultural harvest if there was expenditure for cultivation and 10% if no money was spend for cultivation)
• Sawm : Fasting during day time in the month of Ramadan. This is intended for self purification and for increasing God consciousness.S
• Hajj : Once in a lifetime the one who is financially and physically capable should conduct a pilgrimage to Makkah.

Apart from obligatory acts of worship there are voluntary acts of worship as well. We consider every good deed an act of worship if done with the sincere intention.

Please don't take anything offensively. Let's discuss our faith to understand each other and respect each other. We may differ each other. But that's how world works. Peace and Respect.

 

Shukran! I applaud your response and thoroughness. I’m not offended at all by anything you have stated. I studied Islam (mostly Sunni perspectives) for about a year. I was doing my capstone paper for school on why Islam and the West are constantly at odds. My professor gave me a C ,by the way, she didn’t like the topic...

The issues I found with Islam were when I started diving deeper into the structure, logic, and historical aspects of the faith.

Granted many people from the East are not familiar with the West’s formality of theory super cession. For example. If I discover that 2 + 2 equals 4 and my answer is found to be fact someone cannot come later and say 2+2 equals 2.5 and give no explanation.

This is the position Islam is in compared to Judaism and Christianity to a Western thinker who is used to these kinds of reasoning principles.

The Torah was written and Christ fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament thus Christianity was born under the unveiling of the Messiah who was historically killed on a cross.

My Jewish friends would get off the boat here.

Pagan Roman Governmental Documentation confirmed Jesus’s death. People who had nothing to do with the faith stated he died, on a Cross, at the hands of the Roman Government, Pontius Pilot.

Approximately 500 years later, your prophet Muhammad states his testimony is the final revelation (and most correct) denying the Crucifixion of Christ.

This is a very hard sell to anyone who has had any exposure to history. If I were an atheist, Islam would honestly still be in third place based on that alone.

The Surah’s Are strikingly similar to stories in the Torah and New Testimate Gospels. But they are newer. In order for them to have any authority to a Western thinker, even an Atheist, Islam must first refute both the Torah and the Gospels. Islam as a collective has not done that.

Islam uses circular reasoning with Muhammad at the center. Qur’an declares Muhammad the final and most correct prophet. The revelations from the Qur’an are given to Muhammad who states that Muhammad is the final and most correct prophet. It’s a delicate cover up and confusing way for Muhammad to say “Because I said so.”

The Qur’an insists upon itself whereas the Torah and Gospels do not. That’s a big problem for anyone who is eagerly seeking authentic Truth.

This biggest issue I found though was what my heart felt when I began digging into the Bukhari Hadith (oral traditions of situations the prophet was in.)

The Qur’an states that the best thing to do in order to be a humble servant of Allah is to emulate the prophet Muhammad.

In one of the Hadith’s he tells a group of women at a well that they are inferior religiously and intellectually because they get menstruation cycles which limits their ability to pray in Mosques. And they are inferior in intellect because their testimony is worth half of a mans.

These regulations and customs were created by Islam and Arab culture and Muhammad uses that as his argument for why the women are deficient in religion and intellect. He created part of it and then threw it in their face when they asked him why?

That is not a prophet nor a man worth emulating for a healthy religious society. It is oppression.

Other Hadiths Muhammad comes off as pro life by stating his troops should not use the pull out method when having sex with their captive women. In the Western law having sex with a party who cannot freely consent is considered rape a horrible crime physically and emotionally.

I know the majority of the Islamic faith are not versed in the Hadiths and are simply following the way to God that they know and are taught.

Again I do appreciate your openness to discussing faith matters. It’s the most important discussion one can have. I have a duty to be honest with you. And do not take my word for it. Continue to question ESPECIALLY when told not to and the stakes are at their highest.

Ah Salam Alekum

Shukran

 

Debating the fundamental principles and individuals of a religion is a key part of discovering what a religion’s goal is. That isn’t a deviation from the topic.

Please pray for me as I will pray for you during times of struggle. We have that in common.

 

Prayers for you as well.. We in fact have so many things in common. We can be both human beings on earth trying to live our lives in a way that is pleasing to our creator. May God help us in this journey and guide us all to his mercy..

 

I'm catholic, and we feel very similarly. It's a shame there is not more peace and unity between two faiths worshiping the same creator