Jamaal al Din M. Zarabozo
Language: English | Format: PDF | Pages: 178 | Size: 2.4 MB
This book explains basic introduction to the fundamental beliefs and
practices of the Islamic faith. An attempt has been made to be as
concise as possible, but with the hope that the reader will be
encouraged to study Islam in more depth.
Introduction
The Goal and Motivation for Writing this Book
The Goal and Motivation for Writing this
Book This is a very important time for the publishing of clear and
concise material about Islam. Today, Islam is often pictured in a very
unflattering manner in many parts of the world—not much different than
it was in the not-so-distant past. A Western author writing about the
life of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) wrote.
When the war blazed up between Islam and
Christianity, lasting for ages, animosity grew severe between the two
sides; and each side misunderstood the other one. It should be admitted,
however, that the basic misunderstanding was more on the part of the
westerners than the easterners. In fact, immediately after such violent
intellectual disputes — in which argumentative debaters overloaded Islam
with vices, degradation and abasement without taking the trouble to
study it — mercenary writers and paid-poets set out to attack the Arabs,
but their attack was a merely false, contradictory accusation.
There is no need to go into details but
today such misunderstandings concerning Islam have continued from all
sorts, including some public and church leaders in the West.
Unfortunately, since many of the masses
are unfamiliar with Islam beyond what they see in the mass media—which
of course recently has been filled with a terrorist taint—it is not
surprising that such misrepresentations of Islam resonate with the
public as a whole.1 The easiest and probably the most productive cure
for this situation is by reaching out to those people and allowing them
to hear what Islam is truly all about. One must go beyond the hype and
get to the true authentic teachings of the religion. (Unfortunately, it
is also a sad state of affairs that today one must also go beyond the
picture that the Muslims themselves give non-Muslims of Islam. Although,
in general, Christianity or Judaism is not blamed for the misdeeds of
Christians or Jews, today Islam is still often blamed for the misdeeds
of Muslims, even when the practices of such Muslims clearly violate the
tenets of Islam.)
Unfortunately, today the negative views
and misrepresentations of Islam are not simply an issue of one’s
personal religious beliefs. The ramifications have gone far beyond that
and touch upon the security and politics of the world as a whole. Most
harmful though is that as Islam is misunderstood and continually painted
as the “other” and a source of evil, many are closed off to its beauty
and its priceless truths that it has to offer to humankind. In reality,
in these troubled times, there is a great need to turn to the guidance
from God, which is exactly what Islam is all about.
The goal here is not to deal with the
misinformation that is being spread about Islam. The goal here is simply
to present what Islam truly is, based on the original and universally
recognized sources of Islam:The Quran—or, in other words, the book
revealed from Allah (God) to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him)—as well as the words and guidance of the Prophet
himself.
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