The clear, sincere and
concordant statements made by people belonging to various races, countries and
professions on why they had accepted Islam reflect their personal convictions concerning
Islam’s difference from and superiority to the other religions. They can be
summed up as follows:
-The Islamic religion recognizes one creator,
one being worthy of being worshipped. The name of this ma’bűd (being worthy of
being worshipped) is Allâhu ta’âlâ. Men’s common sense inspires into them that there is one
Allah. A reasonable person cannot accept the concept of polytheism, which is a
common basis for many other religions.
- The Islamic religion not only
equips them with spiritual knowledge, but also teaches them what they should do
for their lives in this world and in the Hereafter, and guides them.
- Whereas Christians propound
that man is born sinful and that his stay in the world is intended to expiate
and to suffer, the Islamic religion states that human beings are innocent
creatures when they are born, that they are beloved born slaves of Allâhu ta’âlâ, that they are responsible for
their behaviour by the time they reach the age of puberty and discretion, and
that they shall enjoy the infinite blessings of the Hereafter if they manage to
abide by the right way.
- Islam does not allow a third
person between the born slave and Allâhu ta’âlâ in matters pertaining to worship, praying and penance. These
practices do not require a priestly intermediation.
- Islam states that all Muslims
are brothers, wherein differences of race, colour, language or country have no
place. The Islamic religion holds everybody equal in the view of Allâhu ta’âlâ. During the performance of
namâz, a person of the highest rank stands beside another, who may be of the
lowest rank, a richest one beside another who, perhaps, is the poorest member
of the society, and a white Muslim next to a black one, and with one accord
they prostrate themselves before Allâhu ta’âlâ.
- According to Islam, Prophets
‘alaihim-us-salâm’ are human
beings like us. They are the most superior human beings in all
respects. Their duty is to convey to us the commandments of Allâhu ta’âlâ. On account of their noble
moral qualities and high natures, Allâhu ta’âlâ has chosen them and given them this duty. The Islamic religion
acknowledges all the past Prophets ‘alaihim-us-salawâtu wa-t-taslîmât’ and pays
them due respect.
- Islam is a perfectly logical
religion. The Qur’ân al-kerîm does not contain a single principle that cannot be understood or
which is contradictory to living conditions or scientific knowledge. All the
commandments it dictates are extremely useful. The Islamic religion does not
embody any superstitions. Preposterous tenets like worshipping idols, images,
icons, which can be accepted only by primitive tribes and idolaters and which
still exist in Christianity, cannot have access into Islam.
- Christianity represents Allâhu ta’âlâ only as a source of fear.
Islam, in contrast, makes one love Allâhu ta’âlâ. What a Muslim fears for is lest he should incur the hatred of Allâhu ta’âlâ.
- No one can force another
person to become a Muslim. The two hundred and fifty-sixth âyat of Baqara Sűra
of the Qur’ân al-kerîm purports
the injunction, “Conversion to Islam should not be done through compulsion.” On the other hand, Christian missionaries are trying to
Christianize people by coersion or by promising advantages.
- The Islamic acts of worship are intended
only to express gratitude to Allâhu ta’âlâ and
to attain His love. The prescribed prayer times drill people in orderliness and
punctuality, and the yearly one-month fasting trains them to have command of
their corporeal tendencies.
-Islam puts a special emphasis on
cleanliness. Islam is the only religion which commands to do a certain type of
physical cleaning before an act of worship. This strictness is totally missing
from the other religions. The brevity of daily prayers rules out the
possibility of their being a handicap to the daily chores.
- Formation of good habits such
as tenderness, charity, and compassion, which are the dominant topics of the
sermons given by Christian clergymen, but which are never put into practice by
their preachers, let alone by the preached, are peculiar to Muslims.
- On the economic platform,
Islam jettisons both the capitalistic materialism and the communistic utopia.
It protects
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the poor, without censuring the rich. It commands the rich to pay
zakât to the poor. Furthermore, bringing together Muslims belonging to the
sundry nations and races of the world, it establishes the most perfect social
system of the world [Hajj].
- Islam prohibits consumption of
alcohol, gambling, and drugs. The most disastrous vices of the world originate
from these three pestilences.
- No Christian clergyman can
explain what will become of people after death, or life and situations in the
Hereafter. Islam provides the best and most detailed explanation on this
subject.
- Islam is the only religion
that commands to help the poor, the destitute and the forlorn travellers, no
matter what their religion is.
- Islam does not force any person
to believe in something he cannot understand. Unlike other religions, it does
not comprehend any mysterious abstractions in the name of credo.
- In Islam, the procedure to be
followed for the solution of a canonical problem is first to consult the Qur’ân al-kerîm, then, if a clear
answer cannot be found there, to look the matter up in the Sunnat of the
Messenger of Allah ‘alaihis-salâm’, and finally, concerning matters of which
clear solutions cannot be found in the Sunnat, for the common-sensed experts of
the matter to employ ijtihâd, [to explain the matter after painstaking
lucubrations.][1]
- Islam is the newest religion.
From its first day up to our time, the Qur’ân
al-kerîm has preserved
its pristine purity without undergoing an infinitesimal diacritical
interpolation. Its regulation system is comprehensive enough to meet all sorts
of needs. This fact is palpable enough to reveal that no other religion will
come, that all sorts of religious matters have been solved, and that Islam is
the true religion of Allah.
- The Islamic acts of worship
can be performed anywhere. It is not compulsory to go to a mosque for worship.
A Muslim does not intrude into others’ temples, and it is permissible to
perform namâz in a church when it is inevitable.
- Islam cherishes women highly
and gives them the greatest
---------------------------------
[1] Please see The Sunni Path;
Endless Bliss, first
fascicle, 5th, 6th, 26th and 27th
chapters; and Endless Bliss, second fascicle, 33rd chapter.
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rights. The Islamic religion does not enjoin to marry more than
one women. Islam’s polygamy is a permission which is limited with a certain
number and regulated with certain stipulations. By the time Islam appeared, it
had been an Arabic custom that a man could cohabit with as many women as he
liked and with no degree of responsibility as to their rights. Islam rescued
womankind from this horrible situation and protected their rights. By stating, “Paradise is beneath
the mother’s feet,” Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’ granted
a distinguished status to women. This privilege does not exist in any other
religion.
Islam
invites people to work, to study and learn useful knowledge, and to ask for
help from Allâhu ta’âlâ after putting his mental
and physical capacity to work. No other religion has the maxim, “One hour spent
meditating or doing something useful is equal to one year spent doing
supererogatory worship.”
Islam
is spiritual and physical cleanliness. It holds these two kinds of cleanliness
equal. Islam comprises only love, sweet smiles, soft words, integrity, and
charity.
Islam
expresses Allâhu ta’âlâ as the Rabb-ul-’âlemîn,
i.e. Allah of all classes of beings. Unlike in other religions, He is not
considered as Allah for the votaries of the religion concerned.
The Qur’ân al-kerîm is the only source where a wretched
person can find consolation. The Qur’ân al-kerîm
contains numerous pieces of consolatory, soothing, and instructive advice,
depending on the kind of the need.
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When you read these lovely,
open-hearted and cordial statements made about the Islamic religion by people
of various nationalites, countries, professions and classes who accepted Islam
willingly, not under coercion of any sort, but in consequence of their own
decisions and comparative study of religions, you feel so happy and so proud
about having been a Muslim! When you see that things that are quite familiar
and matter-of-fact to you are admired by others, you feel a certain amazement.
Owing to its pulchritudinous habit-injections, such as belief in one Allah,
brotherhood, geniality, honesty, compassion, hospitality, charity, an
unflinching sense of self-sacrifice for the good of one’s homeland, and a
readiness to protect one’s religion, îmân and chastity at the sacrifice of
one’s life, Islam is preferred to the other religions without any propagation
or handfuls of monetary expenditures, which are routine practices of the
wealthy organizations buttressing the Christian missionaries.
Islam does not allow any evil
thoughts or bad behaviours. There are hypocrites and heretics who try to
exploit Islam for their personal advantages, subversive policies, and blunting
ideologies. A true Muslim belonging to the group called Ahl-as-sunnat, which is the only group with the correct belief, will never serve
as their tool. Nor will he fall for their deceits and let his belief be
corrupted. A Muslim will not infringe on someone else’s rights, whatsoever the
latter’s religious belief. A person belonging to one of the seventy-two groups,
which our Prophet ‘alaihis-salâm’ stated
to be wrong, is a heretic. A true Muslim holding the belief of Ahl-as-sunnat is
an extremely pure person who does his five daily prayers of namâz regularly.
Islam has prohibited to point a gun toward your Muslim brother, even for a
jocular purpose.
Our country, Turkey, which
enjoys all the blessings of Allâhu ta’âlâ and which is peerless in the world owing to its good climate,
abundant water and rich metal resources, needs true Muslims holding the belief
of Ahl-as-sunnat. Only these true Muslims can improve this sacred country to
the level worthy of it, by cooperating with one another, by respecting, loving
and protecting one another, by rejecting the asinine and aberrant publications
of the people of bid’at carrying Muslim names and of the enemies of Islam, by
working incessantly, by catching up with, and even excelling, the science and
technology of the twentieth
century. This country, (or any other Muslim country on the earth),
will reap no benefit from people who do not know Allâhu
ta’âlâ as He is described by the scholars of Ahl-as-sunnat,
who flout Islam’s commandments and prohibitions, and who feel enmity towards
their Muslim brothers with the effect of foreign ideas they have been
indoctrinated with. Their souls are unhealthy. Like machines or beasts, they
give service to anyone who gets possession of them. They are the most harmful
viruses of society. May Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us against the vices of these pestilential people!
Scientists and politicians who have chosen Islam state that “If a man’s soul is
vacant, it is good for nothing. This vacuum can be filled only with a true
religion.” A person who has purified his soul with Islam and who avoids Islam’s
prohibitions, will not fall for any subversive propaganda; but he will follow
the right path written in the books of Ahl-as-sunnat, establish a hand-in-hand
cooperation with his Muslim brothers, and thus serve his religion and country.
Thereby, he will attain the blessing and grace of Allâhu ta’âlâ in both worlds.
Of old, the unilaterally
opinionated people would take any occasion to vituperate Islam, and to attempt
to defile the essentials of this true religion; in short, doing injustice was their
favourite occupation. Most of the books written by such miscreants were
published by Christians and by heretical groups lurking behind Muslim names. In
Europe there are subversive books that were written without any actual study of
Islam. These books represent cruel and lying heathens who worship the devil,
who legitimize all sorts of iniquity, and who consider women as mere
possessions. Books of the same sort were published with mischievous motives in
the orient as well. Today, as people understand one another better and read one
another’s books, correct books spread widely, and thus the old hatred gradually
leaves its place to admiration. The divisive and subversive ideas that at one
time instigated wars between Christians and Muslims, and between the aberrant
groups of Muslims and true Muslims holding the belief of Ahl-as-sunnat, are on
the decrease.
Today Christians realize the
shortcomings of their religion and try to ameliorate them. As we were preparing
this book we received a letter from India. Enclosed was a message headlined
‘Explanation’ and distributed by the Christians living there. It said: “Because
Allah created us, we are all Allah’s sons and daughters. You, too, are a son or
daughter of Allah. The expression ‘the son of God’, which you read in the
Bible, means,
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‘the born slave (creature) of God’. In other words, to saythat Îsâ
(Jesus) ‘alaihis-salâm’ is the son of Allah means to say that Allah created
him, as He created you and me. He does not have any other relation to Allah. As
for the Holy Spirit; it meansthe great power endowed on Îsâ ‘alaihis-salâm’. It
would be a mistake to take it as another godhead. The Bible does not contain
something in the name of Trinity. Allah is one. It is wrong to believe in three
gods. The dogma that men are born sinful, which you have been taught until now,
is wrong, too. Everybody is responsible before Allâhu
ta’âlâ only for his or her own actions.”
As is seen, even Christian
priests realize that trinity is something quite wrong, and they attempt to
correct it. And this, in its turn, shows that people are gathering around the
belief in one ma’bűd (Allah). This reversal means a closer proximity to Islam.
We hope that one day Islam will cover the entire world. Otherwise, humanity
will become altogether irreligious, which in turn means doom for humanity.
We terminate this part of our
book with a quotation of the Nasr Sűra of Qur’ân
al-kerîm, which purports: “When comes the Help of Allâhu ta’âlâ, and victory, and thou
dost see the people enter Allâhu ta’âlâ’s religion in crowds,
celebratethe praises of thy Lord, and pray for His forgiveness: for He is
Oft-Returning (in Grace and Mercy).”
Come, O man, who is captivated in forlorn lands,
Come, O man, who is snoozing in earthly ruins!
Open your eyes’n look around, so many lords passed by,
So mad it is to give your heart to this fleeting lie!
Cage is not for the philomel, be it fed with candy,
Alas! Why should one prefer this dungeon so gloomy?
How disconsolate it would be from sleep so sound,
To wake up, when death came to end your earthly round!
So darkened is your heart that advice would do you no good;
To a heart as hard as rocks counsels would be dry food!
Come to your senses, before it is too late;
Eternal torment awaits those who flout this fate!
O my ego, it is you who needs this advice most;
That day, obedience, alone, shall bear a cost!
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