Al-Islam

Al-Islam

Islam is first the religion of peace. God says to us in our Holy Book that God prefers the religion of Islam. Let it be our religion, Islam for us is the blueprint for our whole life. Islam is a way of life; Islam is also our guidance. God says He gave the Qur'an to us for guidance, for the God fearing or the regardful. We also know that Muhammed the Prophet of Islam is the model leader for us. He has been described by his wife, the Lady A'isha (May God be pleased with her) as the Qur'an living among us, our Bible our Holy Book living among us.

God Most High, in saying that He has preferred the religion Islam for us and also giving the description to the religion Islam as the "religion of guidance," this tells me that Islam is our leader. Muhammed and the Qur'an are the focus for that leadership. The Qur'an is the most valid and the most forceful leader in our life. Second to the Qur'an is our Prophet. Without him, we would not know how to do our prayers. We would not know many things in our religion. It is only through him that we were able to know that. God made him our leader and our example to show us how to practice Islam and how to live Islam.

Our Prophet is pictured by different authors, non-Muslims and also some Muslims in facets of h is total life or his total character. This may cause us to mistake him for the wrong kind of person or the wrong kind of leader. If we focus on the Prophet as a military leader responsible for the army of Islam during his lifetime (May God grant him all the blessings, prayers and peace be on him), if we focus on that particular role we may miss the real Muhammed. If we focus on him as a man trying to regulate the material interest of his people, again we may miss the total man.

It is said of him, our Prophet, and he himself has said that he was sent to us expressly to guide us to good character. We believe, the followers of the Prophet, that he is the model of excellence in terms of human character for all of us. Not only that, we believe that ho is the total person, the complete man. A family man, a preacher of the religion, responsible for the government, a businessman, he is seen in all the important roles for man in his society. God says that he is the most excellent model for any who believe in God and the Last Day.