Seeking God's Guidance and Forgiveness

Hopefully, the previous articles have been read to gain a better understanding of this column and its purpose . After explaining the world according to Muslims , and religious history according to Muslims, God according to Muslims , and Jesus according to Muslims , now we can delve into who exactly are the Muslims? One thing that needs to be clarified is the pronunciation of the word, Muslim. Many people pronounce it as muzlim (as in muzzle), or moozelim. A more accurate saying would be "moose-slim", with no "Z" sound whatsoever. The basic tenets of the religion of Islam were the same message that Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus brought; to worship God, one god, solely; without ascribing partners or any associates with Him. But along with this foundation of monotheism was a book; the Quran. Within this Quran were verses that dealt with the history of mankind, the present condition of mankind and the future of mankind. It contained instructions of cleanliness, family life, neighborhood life, marriage, birth, death, criminal justice, war and other issues. This book is a criterion, a fully comprehensive book for all of mankind to follow. Many will say, 'the Holy Bible contains the same thing'. And, for the most part, this is true. The Holy Bible does indeed contain many passages that instruct on these same aspects of the individual's life as well as the society-at-large. The Bible also stresses on monotheism, strict monotheism. However, as was lightly discussed in "So what happened with the arrival of Jesus?", the separation between Judaism and Christianity created a chasm between the "book" and the "belief". Jews, who had the book and the law, did not accept Jesus. Christians left off many of the rules of the "Old Testament" to pursue the "Spirit of the Message", instead of just the law. Jews were never going to accept a "Son of God". Christians were not going to abandon the "Son of God". Out of the deserts of Arabia, come the Arabs with a "new" religion, but it claimed to confirm the "old" religion. It accepted Jesus' miraculous birth and all of his miracles, but negated the "Son of God" ideology. It spoke of spirituality, asceticism, heaven, hell, abstinence, charity, but included concrete laws, such as "eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth" and fighting wars, just like the "Old Testament". Along with a sacred text, there was an embodiment of the example for Muslims to follow, the Prophet Muhammad. So a Muslim does not look at his religion as something new, but rather the continuation of the religion of Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. The actual "religion" of Islam is no more than a continuation and completion of the message God sent for mankind since Adam appeared on this Earth. The covenant was first given to the descendants of one son of Abraham, and it was transferred to the descendants of the other son. It is important, if one wants to understand the Muslim and the Muslim world, to fully grasp how important the religion is to the Muslim. He awakens before sunrise to prayer and before he retires to bed, he ends his day in prayer, every day from the time he is seven

years old. It is this connection between the history of mankind and his daily life that every Muslim is to cherish in his worship of God. More About: Islam Muslims Quran Muhammad Prophets Jesus