2. The Essence of Islam
Main > The Essence of Islam
[HR][/HR]
The second Caliph (successor to Prophet Muhammad, as leader of the Muslims), Umar, related in a hadith:
"One day when we were sitting with the Messenger of God, there came to us a man whose clothes were of exceeding whiteness and whose hair was of exceeding blackness, and there were no signs of travel upon him, although none of us knew him.
- He sat down knee to knee opposite the Prophet, upon whose thighs he placed the palms of his hands, saying: ‘O Muhammad; tell me what is the surrender (In Arabic: Islam)’. The Messenger of God answered him saying: ‘The surrender (Islam) is to testify that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is God’s Messenger, to perform the prayer, bestow the alms-giving, fast Ramadan and make if possible, the pilgrimage to the Holy House.’
- He said, ‘You have spoken truly,’ and we were amazed that having questioned him he should corroborate him. Then he said: ‘Tell me what is faith (Iman)’. He answered: ‘To believe in God and His Angels and his Books and His Messengers and the Last Day, and to believe that no good or evil comes but by His Providence.’
-‘You have spoken truly,’ he said, and then: ‘Tell me what is excellence (Ihsan).’ He answered: ‘To worship God as if you saw Him, for if you don't see him, He sees you.’
‘You have spoken truly,’ he said...
-Then the stranger went away, and I stayed a while after he had gone; and the Prophet said to me: ‘O ‘Umar, do you know who the questioner was?’ I said, ‘God and His Messenger know best.’ He said, ‘It was Gabriel [the Archangel]. He came unto you to teach you your religion...’" (Hadith: Bukhari, Muslim)
Thus, the 3 principles making up the essence of the Islamic religion are:
Islam (Islamic practice/worship), which consists of 5 pillars:
-1. The 2 testimonies of faith (inward meaning: acknowledgement of God).
-2. The 5 daily prayers (inward meaning: attachment to God).
-3. Giving alms or Zakat— 2,5% of one’s annual disposable wealth/savings to the poor (inward meaning: detachment from the world).
-4. Fasting each month of Ramadan (inward meaning: detachment from body and ego).
-5. Making the Hajj (inner meaning: to return to one’s true inner heart - the mysterious square, black-shrouded Ka’ba in Mecca being the outward symbol of this heart).
Iman (Islamic belief/faith), which consists of belief in all the essential doctrines of religion (and the inner meaning of this is that one should not go through the motions of religion and of the 5 pillars of Islam blindly or robotically, but rather have real faith and certainty in one’s heart).
see more...
Ihsan (Islamic Spirituality / excellence in worship and in social interactions), which is believing that God always sees us, and therefore that one must be virtuous and sincere in all one’s actions. In this regard the Prophet said:
"By Him in whose Hand my life is, none of you believes till he loves for his brother what he loves for himself". (Hadith: Bukhari, Muslim)
In summary, we could say that the essence of Islam is exactly the Two Commandments upon which Jesus said hangs all the Law and the Prophets:
"And Jesus answered him, The first of all commandments is…the Lord our God is one Lord; And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy understanding, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second commandment is like it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." (Mathew 22, 34:40)
Adapted from RISSC publications.
