The Divine Religion or
Deen of Islam as defined by the
Qur'an and taught by the last of Prophets of
God, Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace).
The Holy Qur'an Says:
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"Surely the (true) religion with God is
Islam,"...
(19/3) |
A
beautiful name of God is 'Al-Hadi' meaning 'Guide'-
leading
mankind to the right path.
It was but, Magnanimous Mercy of 'Al-Hadi' that He made His Last
Prophet, Muhammad (God bless him and give him peace) to define His
Religion or Deen in the form of a dialogue between himself
and Gabriel (Jibril-peace be upon him), the most outstanding
amongst the angles.
The dialogue was narrated by no less than a person like Omer-al-FarooqueRZ
in a Hadith (tradition) reported by Sahih Muslim. Abu-Hurairah RZ
a well known companion of the ProphetPbuh too, has
narrated the same event with a little variance in description.
This hadith is reported by Muslim, Bukhari
and also finds place in Sunan Abu- Dawood and Tirmizi.
This Hadith
is known as “Hadith of
Jibril” and its
translation is
given below:
Umer
bin Khattab (Allah be pleased with him) said:
“One day as we were sitting in the company of Allah’s
MessengerPbuh, all of a sudden, there appeared before
us, a man dressed in very white clothes with very black hair.
There was no sign of fatigue on him because of journey and none
amongst us ever knew him. He sat close to the ProphetPbuh
and placed his knees against the Prophets knees and his palms upon
thighs and said:
‘Muhammad inform me about Islam?’
The
ProphetPbuh said:
‘Al-Islam implies that you testify that there is no God but
Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger and that you establish prayer
(Salath) and pay Zakat, Observe Fast of Ramzan and perform
Pilgrimage (Hajj) to the House (Ka-ba) in case you have means.’
The
stranger said: ‘you have told the truth.’
It was amazing for us about him that he would ask the
question and then he would himself testify the answer to be true.
The
Stranger then asked:
‘Inform
me about Iman (Faith)?’
The
ProphetPbuh said that:
‘You
affirm your faith in Allah, His Angels, His books, His Messengers,
in the Hereafter, in the Divine Decree to good and evil of
life.’
Again the Stranger said:
‘You
have told the truth.’
He
then asked:
‘Inform
me about Al-Ihsan?’
ProphetPbuh
said:
‘You
worship God as if you are seeing Him, and if you are not seeing
Him (believe that) He is in-fact seeing you.’
Again
the Stranger said:
‘You
have told the truth.’
The
Stranger asked:
‘Inform
me about the Last Hour?’
The
ProphetPbuh
Said:
‘The
one who is inquired knows no more than the one who is
inquiring.’
The Stranger asked:
‘Tell me some of its signs?’
The ProphetPbuh said:
‘The slave girl would give birth to her mistress
and that you find bare-footed, destitute shepherds joyfully
compete in constructing buildings.'
Umer
bin Khattab RZ
said:
‘Then
the stranger went away but I stayed with the ProphetPbuh
for a long time.’
The ProphetPbuh asked me:
‘Umer,
do you know this stranger?’
I
said:
‘Allah and His MessengerPbuh know best’.
The ProphetPbuh Said:
‘He
was Gabriel (Jibril), he came to you, to teach you your
religion.’’’
(Muslim)
The Divine Religion, named in the Qur'anic verse cited above as
Al-Islam comprises of three factors defined by the Prophetpbuh
1.Islam
2.Iman
3.Ihsan
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"The composite of all the three factors is however
called 'Islam.' It
is also important to note here that Iman is common to
both Islam and Ihsan."
(Tauzeehat:42) |
The
very first thing required to enter into Islam is to have belief in
one God (Iman) and to bear witness to the truth of this (Tauheed).
Similarly to worship the one God as if you are seeing Him also
require a deep and most perfect belief (Iman) in Him is called
Ihsan.
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