10-25-2004, 05:04 PM
THE SIMPLE MEANING OF ISLAM
If you were to ask a Muslim child, 'Who do you love the most?' The answer would most likely be, 'Allah!' And if you were to ask them the reason for their response, they might look at you, wonderingly and say, 'because Allah gave us everything.' They might go on to explain how everything we eat, wear and have is from Allah and that the sky, the earth, the stars above, the flowers, the animals and just everything is from Him.
Allah says in the Qur'an,
"He has created the heavens and the earth with truth. He makes the night to go in the day and makes the day to go in the night. And He has subjected the sun and the moon. Each running (on a fixed course) for an appointed term. Verily, He is the All-Mighty, the Oft-Forgiving."
(Sura Az Zumar 39:5)
A Muslim child is taught to say 'Bismillah' before they eat, drink or do anything. It means 'In the name of Allah.' By doing so they acknowledge that the existence of that thing, or the ability to do that thing is a gift from Allah and it makes them humble before Allah's creation. Even before killing an animal for food the Muslim must say 'Bismillah' as an acknowledgement that it belongs to Allah and respect for that living thing.
As everything in Creation runs on a harmonious course according to the laws that govern nature, so too, do human beings who submit to the Will and Laws of Allah and are therefore named Muslims. In His Infinite Mercy, Allah, the Creator of all, turned to this Creation on the Earth and provided mankind with Guidance from Himself. Guidance, which if followed, would lead to success in this life and the next.
Allah says in the Qu'ran,
"Are you more difficult to create, or is the heaven that He constructed?
He raised its height, and He has equally ordered it,
Its night He covers with darkness, and its forenoon He brings out (with light).
And after that He spread the earth;
And brought forth therefrom its water and its pasture;
And the mountains He fixed firmly;
To be a provision and benefit for you and your cattle."
(Sura An-Naziat 79:27-33)