The starting point of understanding Islam is to know the meaning of the word “Islam” itself. The word Islam is derived from the Arabic root word SLM (pronounced silm), which literally means to surrender, to submit, to yield, or to give one’s self up. The figurative meaning that this word entails is to achieve peace – peace within oneself – by surrendering one’s will to the will of God. In the Arabic grammar, there are a lot of words that can be derived from the root word SLM. One such word is “ASLAMA”, the past tense verb of the root word SLM, which means a person who has submitted, or he resigned himself into something. Similarly, Arabic language rules uses the prefix mu to denote someone performing an action, when combine with the root word SLM, it will turn out the word “MUSLIM”, which literally means a person who is doing the act of submission or an individual who gives himself up. And from this same root word SLM, a noun from verb can be derived from it, or the verbal noun of it is “ISLAM”.

Thus, by definition, the comprehensive meaning that the word Islam implies is that it is a verbal noun, or the name of an action word indicating submission to the will of God or an act of resignation to God, and by doing so man achieves a state of tranquility, calmness or peace to himself. And a Muslim is someone who is the doer of that action. He is someone who submits to the will of God and is enjoying peace within his self. Because peace of mind, contentment of the heart, and real happiness can only be achieve when a person submits his will to God’s will. That is why the term used for a person who has accepted or embraced the religion of Islam is called Aslama, or somebody who has submitted himself to the will of God. Defining the meaning of Islam is best described by using both its literal and figurative sense: the natural consequence of this act of submission to God is that man achieves peace to his own self as the end result of his action. An inner peace that can only be realized when a person has submitted his will to the will of God in the way taught by the prophets that He has sent.

As such, the religion of Islam teaches that one must submit to the will of God and live according to the teachings of the prophets. A Muslim therefore believes in all the prophets starting with Adam and together with Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, etc. He also believes that God had sent His prophets to all corners of the earth to preach only one religion and to guide man to the right path. But mankind not only strayed away from the right path again and again, they also lost or distorted the code of guidance that the prophets had brought. That is why prophets were sent to re-state the original message and guide man back to the right path. The message of God was brought to this world by a succession of prophets in different times of history, but His message stopped coming after He sent down the last revelation to the last prophet, and that the message received by the last prophet is the most comprehensive and final form of God’s message to man.

This last revelation is known as the Qur’an. It is a complete record of the exact words revealed by God to the last prophet thru through an angel named Gabriel. The Qur’an was memorized by the last prophet and the majority of his followers, dictated it to his companions, and written down by scribes, who cross-checked it during the prophet’s lifetime. So in contrast to previously revealed scriptures, the Qur’an has been perfectly preserved since it’s revelation both orally and in writing. Even today, there are hundred of thousands of Muslims from around the world who can recite the entire text of the Qur’an from memory – just as it was memorized in the time of the last prophet. Not one word of it has been changed over the centuries. The Qur’an is the principal source of every Muslim’s faith and practice, and it is in every detail the same unique and miraculous text that was revealed to the last prophet over fourteen centuries ago. The message of the Qur’an and the mission of the last prophet are very simple and clear: to bring back people to the worship of One God, as well as living by example of God’s message. This Last Prophet is Muhammad, a name which may not sound like a prophet for most people, but when we try to look at the world’s most influential people that had lived in history, here is a man who has touched the lives of billions of people for the last 1400 years and had lived a humble life in the service of God and established one of the world’s most widespread religious faith.

Thus, the Muslim’s beliefs are based on two sources – the Qur’an: the last divine message of God that He revealed to Muhammad, the Last Prophet, and the Sunnah: a collection of recorded words and actions of Prophet Muhammad, it helps explain and clarify the Qur’an and to present practical applications to its message. It is these two sources of guidance, which is now known as Islam: as revealed in the Qur’an and as exemplified by the last prophet. For Muslims throughout the centuries, the message of the Qur’an and the life-example of Prophet Muhammad have constituted the formative and enduring foundation of faith and good deeds. They have served as the basic sources of principles and norms on which daily life is to be patterned. Prophet Muhammad’s life was the best example of the noble lessons and principles set forth in the Qur’an. Because of this, the last prophet’s teachings and practices have become a material source of Muslim creed alongside the Qur’an.

The Qur’an – the last divine revelation – exists in its original text, without a word, syllable or even a letter having been changed. And the Sunnah – the last prophet’s words and actions – is preserved with authenticity and accuracy. Because of the absolutely unique position he occupied as the recipient of revelations from God, every act and detail of his life was of the greatest interest to those around him. His life-example became a guide for Muslims in the understanding of the Qur’an and the practice of their religion. The accounts preserved in the books of Sunnah are a collection of authentic narrative stories about the prophet’s life. Not only do Muslims have the complete text of God’s message that was revealed to Muhammad, the Qur’an, but they have also preserved the entire record of his teachings and practices in what is called as the Sunnah. Thus, the Quran and life-example of Prophet Muhammad together became a reliable source of understanding Islam.

Prophet Muhammad is not the founder of Islam, as many people mistakenly think. He was only a human being commissioned by God to teach His commandments and lead an exemplary life. He stands as the best model for the Muslims in righteousness that is why his life serve as an example in which Muslim’s life is to be patterned. The real founder of Islam was no less than God Himself, and the date of the founding of Islam goes back at the time of Adam, the father of mankind. It was not Muhammad but Adam who first brought Islam to humanity. Then, each prophet and messenger came to exhort their own people to a clear understanding of God’s commandments. They put forward teachings relevant on their time but the essence and core concept of their message was the same, and that is the worship of One God purely and submission to His will.

The Prophet Muhammad himself makes it abundantly clear that Islam, the complete submission of man before God, is the one and only faith consistently revealed by God to mankind from the very beginning. Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus – prophets of the past who appeared at different times and places all brought the same message. They were not founders of religions to be named after them. They have only been messengers of it. They were each reiterating the message of his predecessor. Thus, Islam has had existed in one form or another through a series of divine guidance that God had revealed to different prophets, on separate times and in various places. Prophets were sent to all nations and tribes of the earth to guide people to the straight path of worshipping One God. But, with the passage of time, people went astray and the teachings of the prophets were either changed or lost. That’s why prophets were sent again and again to all corners of the earth until the last prophet came.

For this reason, Islam is not a new religion with a new scripture brought by Prophet Muhammad, but rather to be a re-expression in its complete and final form of the true religion of God, as it was originally revealed to Adam and subsequent prophets. The Qur’an, or the last divine message that was revealed to Prophet Muhammad only represents the original message that was brought by prophets of the past. The Qur’an teaches that the message of God was brought to this world by a succession of prophets since the time of Adam. The essence of Islam, which is the worship of One God and sincere submission to His will, was revealed to Adam who passed it on to his descendants. All following revelations to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and finally Muhammad were in conformity with that message differing only according to the needs of the people to which they were sent. These prophets taught their people the same concept of religion of what is known today as Islam. These prophets called their people to worship only the Creator and to have a complete surrender and obedience to Him, and anyone who does so is called a Muslim.

Absolute Monotheism or the “Oneness of God” is the main teaching of Islam. In Arabic, it is called as Tawheed, which states that there is only One True God and that He alone deserves to be worshipped. It asserts God’s oneness in its simplest, uncomplicated, most probable sense. That there is “One God” in the most basic, simple, and elementary meaning of the word. He has no son, no parents nor any similarity or equal. His nature as a Supreme Being does not resemble in anything and such qualities as The Creator and Provider, Most Gracious, Most Merciful, All-Knower, All-Hearing and Seeing, All-Powerful, etc. only belongs to Him and there’s absolutely no one like Him. Islam teaches that God has a unique nature and that He is free from gender, human weaknesses, and beyond anything which human beings can imagine. There is nothing like Him in this world because the Creator must be distinct and different from the things at He creates. All things that we see are created by God, and He is different from all these, because He is the Creator of them all. He is above all defects and above any similarity to anything in creation. And this Unique and Great God, who has the exclusive right to be worshipped by man, revealed His glorious name in the Qur’an as Allah, and describe Himself as the One and Only True God whom worship is due: {“ Verily, I am Allah! There is no God but I, so worship Me alone”} (Qur’an 20:14). The name “Allah” is something that God Himself who informed us through divine revelation that this is His name. Muslims refer to God as “Allah” because this name is what the Creator calls Himself in the Qur’an. Allah is the proper name of the One True God who exists necessarily by Himself, and who is described with all the excellent divine names and qualified by all attributes of perfection.

The most important teaching of Prophet Muhammad is faith in Tawheed or the Oneness of God. This is expressed in the well-known statement amongst Muslims as: LAA ILAHA ILLALLAH. Which translated in English as “There is no god but Allah”. This statement is the solid foundation upon which Islam has been built. In Arabic, the word ilah means “one who is worshipped”. That is, a being which on account of its greatness and power is considered wothy to be worshipped. Anything or any being possessing power too great that it controls the whole of creation is also called ilah. The concept of ilah also includes the possession of infinite powers and conveys the sense that the whole creation is dependent on ilah and He is not dependent on anyone else. He does not need anything. He does not need His creations. But the whole creation turns to Him for all that they need. Other languages also contain words with a similar meaning, and the word God in English have a similar connotation of the Arabic word ilah. The word Allah, on the other hand, is the personal name of ilah that He revealed thru the Qur’an.

Allah, the One God who is the Creator, created everything. Everything other than Allah is creation. The mere fact that everything is created proves that each and every thing does not possess the slightest trace of divinity and have absolutely nothing to do with it. It just makes no sense to attribute divine status to created beings. This is the meaning of LAA ILAHA (There is no god). That is, the real “God” is no human being, objects made of wood and stones, etc. And since divinity is not vested in human or any element of creation, and that none of them possesses the slightest trace of it, this lead us to the conclusion that there is a Supreme Being, who possess infinite powers, the Creator of each and every thing: He is Allah, who has the Absolute Dominion and Control of the whole of creation, who possess the most Perfect names and Exalted attributes, who shares no one in His Divinity. This is what ILLALLAH (but Allah) means. Therefore, the statement LAA ILAHA ILLALLAH literally means there is no ilah other than the One Great Being known thru divine revelation by the name Allah.

When Prophet Muhammad started to talk about Islam to his people, they asked him who is Allah. The answer didn’t came from the prophet. It came directly from Allah. Allah revealed one chapter in the Qur’an in response to their question: {“Say (tell them Oh Prophet Muhammad): He is Allah, the One (God). Allah, the Everlasting Self-Sufficient (whom all creatures need). He has not given birth and was not born. And no one is comparable to Him.”} (Qur’an 112: 1-4). These verses confirm the Oneness of God, the core of Islam and the message of The Qur’an. But Islam makes it very clear though, that the belief in Allah doesn’t only mean to simply believe that He is the One True God, but it does mean also, and this is the most important point that needs to be emphasized: that the belief in Tawheed means much more than simply believing that there is “One God”, but it strongly emphasize that all kinds of worship should exclusively be devoted to Allah alone and that every care is taken to ensure that this is observed at all times. Tawheed is the belief that Allah is: 1. ONE without partner in His dominion and actions, 2. ONE without similitude in His essence and attributes, and 3. ONE without rival in His divinity and in worship.

The absence of any of the above mentioned aspects of Tawheed is referred to as Shirk, literally means sharing. It refers to the worship of others instead of Allah or along with Allah. It is an act of assigning partners to Allah in whatever form it may take. In Islam, the main objective is to ensure the Oneness of God. It is not enough that people believe that “God is One”, but they must actualize this belief by worshipping that One God alone. This simple concept of Tawheed has to be explained in detail because for some people, even though they believe in “One God”, do not direct all of their worship and prayers to Him alone. They call on numerous saints for every specific need, in statues made of stones, etc. Their argument is that they are not actually worshipping the stone image or the statue, but God who is present within it. They claim that the stone idols and carved images are only the focal point for God’s essence and is not in itself God. They try devising a “rational excuse” of their actions. But these excuses are from Satan. Satan induces this reasoning because most people have the tendency to focus their devotion on something they can visualize, something imaginable. Satan makes the worship of creation seemingly appealing to man by rationalizing for him. And so man is deceived and ended up worshipping stone idols and carved images. But obviously, this is not from God – this is idolatry. This is the worst sin that a man can commit. The Devil does his utmost to get people to turn away from the original teachings of the prophets, enticing mankind to the worship of creation instead of the Creator.

The belief in Tawheed means to deny all forms of association of partners with Allah. It rejects the use of all intermediaries between God and Man, and stresses that people approach God directly and reserve all worship for Him alone. If someone faces an idol or to a stone image and prays, he has associated a partner with Allah, because worship is being shared between Allah and His creation. Likewise if someone prays to a prophet, to so-called saints asking for help from Allah thru them, has also commited Shirk. Shirk can take many forms: facing to idols or statues while praying, calling upon saints for help, believing that God became man, etc. All forms of Shirk must be avoided, no matter what shape, form, or name. Shirk simply means an act of worship for other than Allah, or along with Allah. In other words, it is an act of calling, supplicating, and praying to created beings instead of the Creator. The greatest sin in Islam is to engage in practices which contradict or compromise Tawheed. This direct or indirect association of partners with Allah is referred to as Shirk.

Much emphasis has been placed by Islam on the evils of Shirk because it contradics the very purpose of creation as expressed in Allah’s statement: {“I have not created Jinn and Mankind except for My worship”} (Qur’an 51:56). Allah created humans to worship Him, that’s why Shirk represents the greatest act of rebellion against God because it contradicts the purpose of our creation, and is thus the ultimate sin. It is a sin so great that it virtually cancels out all good a person may do and guarantees its perpetuator eternal damnation in Hell if he does not give it up before his death: {“If you were to join other gods with Allah, (then) surely (all) your deeds will be in vain, and you will surely be among the losers (in the hereafter)”} (Qur’an 39:65). Singling Him out for worship, is in fact the greatest imperative of Allah. Conversely, His greatest prohibition is sharing the worship to other beings along with Him: {“Worship Allah and join none with Him in worship”} (Qur’an 4:36). No one and nothing deserves to be worshipped except Allah. None may share this worship with Him, just as none shares His Perfect attributes and Dominion of the whole of creation. The message of Islam is to call people to turn to God who is ONE without partner in His Dominion and Perfect attributes, and to worship Him sincerely with a pure heart, free from idolatry, polytheism, superstitious and irrational beliefs.

Consequently, all man-made religions in one way or the other invite their followers to the worship of creation. Some people are called upon to pray to a man, a prophet named Jesus, whom they have claim to have been “God-Incarnate”, or “son of God”. They also pray to Mary as the “mother of God”, as well as human saints, etc. They defied Prophet Jesus and directed their prayer to him and his mother. They have saints for every occasion to whom they direct their prayers in the belief that these saints can directly influence the affairs of this world. They also use their priests as intercessors between themselves and God in the mistaken belief that the priests are closer to God due to their celibacy and peity, and thus more likely to be listened to by God. Since the greatest sin in God’s sight is the worship of others besides Him or along with Him, and everything besides Him is creation, the principles of Islam are all either directly or indirectly opposed to the worship of creation. The fundamental tenets of Islam makes a very clear distinction between the Creator and what He has created. Therefore the commandments in Islam concerning worship clearly indicate that Allah is not to be found in created beings, He is totally separate from them, and thus any worship in His creation or thru His creation is the greatest of sins: {“Joining others in worship with Allah is indeed the greatest sin”} (Qur’an 31:13).

The concept of Oneness of God is the single most important concept in Islam. This is the most fundamental principle, it is this concept of Tawheed which is at the core of Islam. It calls humanity away from the worship of any part of creation to the worship of The One and Only True God, The Creator. This is where Islam differs from other religions. Although most religions teach that there is One God, they are not free of some form of idolatry (focusing on carved-images) and polytheism (worshipping multiple gods) with respect to worship. They either instill on their followers to set up other beings besides God (three-in-one god concept), or they instruct their followers to call on other beings as intermediaries between themselves and God (like calling the saints for help). Islam on the other hand teaches the exact opposite of what these religions taught. It teaches that Allah has no partners with Him being God, and He does not need any intermediaries because He hears all our prayers and has complete knowledge of everything. Allah had sent His prophets to prevent people from invoking other than Him in the forms of worship, supplication, and seeking help because worship is of no benefit with the presence of Shirk. Everything besides Allah is part of His creation and therefore cannot hear us, and even if they were to hear, they cannot answer our prayers. All forms of worship must be directed only to Allah because obviously He alone is the One who can grant benefit to man as a result of his worship.

Some religions claim that God cannot forgive man directly therefore He sends His so-called “only begotten son” to save mankind from their sins. Others interpret this concept that God came down to earth and became a human being to save mankind’s sins. By over-emphasizing the burden and penalty of sin, as well as claiming that God cannot forgive humans directly, people turn to false gods for help. These false gods come in different forms, and anyone who is in his right mind can tell that these so-called gods are indeed false because these are created beings like himself. Some religions falsely believe that God has become part of His creation, and this has led people to believe that they can worship something created in order to reach their Creator. They all have common basic concepts with regards to God. They either claim that God became man, or that God may be worshipped in the form of His creation thru carved-images of different idols. Islam on the other hand strongly stresses that God did not became man nor did He sent a so-called “only begotten son” to save the sins of the world because He can forgive man directly anyway. There is no need to shed blood to an innocent person just save mankind from its sins because God is perfectly capable of bestowing His infinite Mercy and Forgiveness to whomever He chooses. Islam commands Man to pray to God directly seeking mercy and forgiveness only to Him. It also forbids man to worship something created like the so-called “son of God” because the One True God has to be the Creator and not a part of creation that He creates. He is neither an idol nor is He a statue of any kind because these things are carved-images made of wood or stone that are themselves crafted by man.

Even though other religious sects have claimed to believe in One God, over time, some corrupted ideas entered into their beliefs and practices leading them away from the pure teachings of the prophets. They carved different images and statues and worshipped them, despite the fact that they know that they are the ones who made these things. They worship something that they made by their own hands that cannot hear or answer them. Some took their prophets and saints as intercessors with God. Some even believed that their prophets were the manifestations of God, or “God-Incarnate” or the “Son of God”. All of these misconceptions lead to the worship of created beings instead of the Creator, and contributed to the idolatrous practice of believing that God may be approached through intermediaries. But divine revelation makes it very clear that: {“Allah has not taken to Himself any son, nor is there any god with Him.”} (Qur’an 23:91). The Qur’an reminds us of the falsity of all alleged gods. And to the worshippers of man-made objects it asks: {“Do you worship what you have carved yourself?”} (Qur’an 37:95).

So other religions who had claimed to believe in One God had nullified this belief by making the grave mistake of not worshipping Him directly. They profess that they pray to and worship others besides God only to get closer to Him. They often approach God through an intermediary, such as a saint, an angel, a human being like Virgin Mary or to a prophet like Jesus – these are all God’s creation. In Islam, there is a clear distinction between the Creator and the created. The Creator of everything must be different from and greater than the things that He creates. There is no confusion in divinity. Anything that is created is not deserving of worship, and only the Creator is worthy of being worshipped. It is made clear that there is nothing divine or worthy of being worshipped except the One True God, the Creator. Everything else besides Allah – meaning anything that you can see or even imagine – is part of His creation, and thus not worthy of worship. Whatever you imagine in your mind, God does not resemble it: {“There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer”} (Qur’an 42:11). Which means God does not resemble any of His creations. Since Allah is the only God, then only He is worthy of worship. Whenever man comes to the realization that God is One who is distinct from His creation, and submits himself to God as taught by the prophets, he becomes a Muslim.

In Islam, there is no such thing as an intercessor or intermediary in all forms of worship. You don’t need to seek help on anyone such as patron saints, or to call upon to so-called “son of God”, or to seek mercy to the supposed “mother of God”, or to go to a priest to confess your sins and ask forgiveness, or to face an idol made of wood and stones when you pray, etc. It is only in Islam that a person is required to pray only to God, direct and without any intermediary. When you pray, you pray directly to God, when you ask, ask God directly, and when you want to repent from your sins, you ask God directly for forgiveness. There is no need to call anyone whether it be a saint, an angel, an idol made wood and stones, or someone who is believed to be the “son of God”, because clearly all these are created beings like ourselves which can neither give us benefit nor inflict harm: {“Do not worship besides Allah that which can not help or harm you”} (Qur’an 21:66). If someone wants something from God, he or she can ask God directly without asking any one to intercede with God for him or her. Because no one has the right to be invoked, supplicated, prayed to, or shown any act of worship but God alone. Whoever worships other being with Allah has worshipped a false god. Therefore it is useless, indeed foolishness, to call, to seek help, or to pray to them. And this is something that Islam is very vigilant about: to single out Allah alone for worship. Man should turn to Him alone in prayer. He should never imagine that prayers can be addressed to anyone but Allah.

It may be argued that all religions teach good things, and it should not matter which one we follow. The reply is that all false religions teach the greatest evil – the worship of creation. We can easily determine if a religion is false by looking at the object of their worship. If they worship anything or anyone besides the Creator, then it must be false. It just makes sense to us that the only one who deserves to be worshipped is the One who created us, and not His creations. By using the principle of identifying the object of worship, we can easily detect false religions and the man-made nature of their origin. False religions invite man to the worship of creation by calling the creation or some aspect of it God or God-incarnate. For example, Prophet Jesus invited his followers to worship God, but those who claim to be his followers today call people to worship Jesus, claiming that he was God, which is the exact opposite of what he said. Likewise, Buddha was a reformer who introduced a number of humanistic principles. He did not claim to be God, nor did he told his followers that he be an object of worship. Yet today most people who claim to be his followers have taken him to be God and they prostrate themselves to idols made in their perception of his likeness.

Due to the allure of Satan, people repeatedly deviated to the worship of created beings instead of the Creator. However, the message of Islam, as brought by the prophets of God, is to worship only God and to avoid the worship of His creation either directly or indirectly, it is a clear call to the worship of the Creator and the rejection of creation-worship in any form. Muslims only worship Allah and will not call to anyone other than Him, not on idols, nor false gods or prophets and saints. The objective of Islam is to call people away from the worship of creation and to direct them toward the worship of the Creator alone. It totally rejects the concept of three-in-one god of the Trinity, polytheism and idolatry. These are the worst kinds of blasphemy in the sight of God. No act of worship or devotion has any meaning or value if the concept of Oneness of God is in any way compromised. The most important truth that God revealed to mankind is that there is nothing divine or worthy of being worshipped except Him. This is the very essence of the divine message brought by all the prophets, and it is what Islam really is all about – to worship One God alone.

The Qur’an teaches that man’s purpose in life is to worship God in His Oneness on its purest possible sense through Tawheed. And not through the Shirk of mysterious, three-in-one god concept of the Trinity, or through saint-intermediary polytheism, nor through carved-images, stone-adulation idolatry of other religions. Islam’s concept of Oneness of God that is Tawheed is very simple and clear, and leaves no room for any type of misconceptions which often lead to the worship of creation that is Shirk. Thus, a person who truly believes in the Oneness of God has to worship Him alone and refrain from associating any partner with Him of any sort. Islam strongly emphasizes the worship of Allah alone without ascribing to Him any partner. The basic and most fundamental teaching of Islam invites man to worship only its Creator and to avoid the worship of creation in any way shape or form. It stresses a direct relationship with Allah avoiding any kind of intermediary or partner. For this reason, Muslims pray to no one except to the One True God who is the sole Creator of everything. In Islam, there is no such thing as “Trinity” because Allah has no partners with Him being God, and He does not share His perfect attributes to anyone. Understanding that Allah is the only Supreme Being means denying the existence of any other god. The concept of Tawheed is straightforward, clear and easy to understand. It is free from irrational, mysterious or confusing ideas. That there is only One God – not in a Trinity or a multitude of gods – is something that any person can understand without difficulty: {“Verily you God is surely One”} (Qur’an 37:4).

Tawheed is to firmly believe in the absolute Oneness of God. That is to believe that the Absolute Dominion of the world, the Creator and Provider of creation with their sustenance, the Overpowering Force in nature that keeps everything in order are all one and the same, and that is the One True God whose name known thru divine revelation to be Allah. He alone has all the most Perfect names and Exalted attributes such as such as the ONE and Only Unique God, the Ever-Living and the Life-giver, the Ultimate Provider and Sustainer, the Most Powerful and the One who is able to do all things, the All-Forgiving and Most Merciful, the Creator and Shaper of all things, the One full of Wisdom and Might, the Most Loving and Compassionate, etc. These and all other perfect attributes of Allah are clearly expressed in the Qur’an, and He is the only One who has these lofty attributes that is why no one deserves to be worshipped but Him: {“Allah! There is no God but He, to Him belongs the most Perfect names and Exalted attributes”} (Qur’an 20:8).

No one shares Allah’s Dominion and His Exalted attributes. He is the one who is singled out in all aspects of perfection such that nothing else shares with Him in these, and we cannot apply them to any other being, no matter who they are. But this belief is not enough. In addition to this belief, one must acknowledge the fact that it is Allah alone who deserves to be worshipped, and thus abstains from worshipping others instead of Allah or along with Allah. Thus, simply believing in “One God” is not enough to become a Muslim because other religions also have this belief. This belief in “One God” needs to be supported with practice by worshipping that “One God” alone and no one else. For a Muslim, the belief of “One God” is in its purest, absolute meaning of the word. He refrains from worshipping anything or anyone besides the “One God”. Allah is absolutely ONE in His self – there is no god other than Him, ONE in His Perfect names and Exalted attributes, and ONE who is single out alone for worship. The man who believes with a firm conviction beyond the least shadow of doubt and unshakeable belief of the Oneness of God in His Dominion and Actions without partner, in His Essence and Atributes without similitude, and in His Divinity and in worship withour rival, is called a Muslim.

In Islam, the worst possible sin is to worship anything or anyone other than God, even if the worshipper intends to draw nearer to God by offering devotions to another being. So even though other religions also claim to believe in One God, they fall short and violate this belief by worshipping others alongside Him, which is, as all of the prophets taught, the greatest sin. Prophet Muhammad was instructed by Allah to tell people what is really forbidden for them: {“Say (tell them Oh Prophet Muhammad): Come, I will recite to you what Allah has really forbidden to you: Do not setup anything (in worship) with Him”} (Qur’an 6:151). In one narrative account from the Sunnah, the last prophet was asked by one his companions about the most horrible sin that a man can commit: Narrated Abdullah (companion of Prophet Muhammad): I asked the Prophet (Muhammad), “What is the greatest sin in the sight of Allah?” He said, “That you set up a partner (in worship) unto Allah though He alone created you.” I said, “That is indeed a great sin” (Sunnah Al-Bukhari vol. 6 no. 4). Due to the grave consequence of worshipping others besides Allah, Muslims are required to maintain a personal, direct relationship with Him, and therefore all intermediaries are absolutely forbidden.

Consequently, the worship of creation is the only unforgivable sin. One who dies in this state of idolatry has doomed his fate in the next life. The idolater will never be granted forgiveness if he has not renounced idolatry before his death. Allah revealed this fact in His last book of revelation to man: {“Verily, Allah will not forgive the joining of partners with Him (in worship), but He may forgive (sins) less than that whomsoever He wishes. And whoever sets up partners with Allah in worship, has indeed commit a horrible sin.”} (Qur’an 4:48). Because of this, Islam considers associating any god or personality with Allah as a deadly sin that He will never forgive, despite the fact that He may forgive all other sins. The act of associating others in worship with Allah is the most sinful act that Prophet Muhammad has informed us. One narration from the Sunnah that emphasize this deadly sin is when Prophet Muhammad said: “Whoever dies while still invoking anything other than Allah as a partner (in worship) to Allah, will enter Hell (fire)” (Sunnah Al-Bukhari vol.6 no.24). In the Qur’an, Prophet Jesus also told his people regarding this very important matter: {“But the Messiah (Jesus) said: Oh children of Israel! Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord. Verily, whosoever sets up partners (in worship) with Allah, then Allah has forbidden Paradise to him, and the Fire will be his abode”} (Qur’an 5:72).

Any person who claims to believe in Jesus has to contemplate about what he said to his own people as mentioned in the Qur’an. Prophet Jesus called his people to worship Allah without partners. He never claimed divinity for himself, nor did he ever ask to be worshipped. Jesus never claimed to be God, or asked his people to worship him. In order to guard against these falsehoods, the last prophet always emphasized his people not to over praise him or to elevate him to a status of being an object of worship because he was only a human being tasked with the preaching of God’s message. As much as we love, honor, and respect Prophet Muhammad, Muslims never worship him. As a matter of fact, that is where people begin to go the wrong way – by over praising something or someone in the creation, as in the case of the Christians who over praised Jesus till they took him as a god or an object of worship besides Allah, something that Jesus never claim for himself or taught to his people during his time. In fact, Jesus told his followers to pray to God alone as he himself did. And our logic would tell us that someone who prays to God cannot possibly be God himself. The two has to be separate entities – one is the worshipper and the other is the object of worship. And this may be a surprise to a lot of people especially amongst Christians, but the Qur’an tells us a lot of wonderful things about Jesus. As a result, believers in the Qur’an love Jesus, honor him, and believe in him. Muslims look at Jesus as a great Prophet of God and love and respect him as much as they love and respect Noah, Abraham, Moses and Muhammad.

The main difference between Islam and Christianity is regarding the nature of Jesus. Islam teaches that there is One God, and that Jesus is His prophet, whereas Christianity teaches that Jesus is one of three components in a Trinity. However, according to Islam such a belief is polytheism – the worst possible sin – because it ascribes divinity to another being besides God: {“Surely, disbelievers are those who said: “Allah is third of the three (in a Trinity).” But there is no God but One God. And if they don’t stop from what they say, verily, a painful torment will befall on the disbelievers among them.”} (Qur’an 5:73). In Islam, the belief in “One God” means that He does not share His divinity to anyone, and so there is no concept of Trinity, or anything else that complicate one’s understanding of “One God”.

Muslims reject the belief that God is in a Trinity, not only because the Qur'an rejects it, but also because if this was God’s true nature, He would have clearly revealed it to Abraham, Noah, Moses, Jesus and all of the other prophets. Muslims negate any connection between God and Jesus as a partnership in divinity, and also rule out the notion of God having any son or other gods along with Him, for there is only One God in its strictest sense of the word – not three-in-one God. On the Day of Judgment, Allah will ask Jesus if he commanded his people to worship him and his mother, and this is what Jesus replied: {“And when Allah will say (on the Day of Resurrection): Oh Jesus, son of Mary! Did you say unto men: Worship me and my mother as two gods besides Allah? He (Jesus) will say: Glory be to you! It was not for me to say what I had no right (to say)... I never told them anything except what You (Allah) commanded me to say: Worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord”} (Qur’an 5:116-117).

The Qur’an tells stories about Jesus and all the great prophets, and Muslims believe in all of them because they brought one and the same religion. Although the Divine Message that Allah revealed to each prophet differed according to the needs of the community to which he was sent, but the core concept of religion was the same – Tawheed or the Oneness of God: {“And verily, We have sent among every nation a Messenger (proclaiming): worship Allah alone and avoid false gods.”} (Qur’an 16:36). These prophets called their people to believe without any doubt that there really is only One True God - Allah, He alone is the One who created us and as such, He alone is the only one worthy of worship and devotion. He will only accept worship that is exclusive for Him alone without any partners. Or to put it in one simple statement, “Worship the Creator and not His creations.” If the rational-thinking individual will reflect on this statement, it will be apparent to him that no one really deserves to be worshipped except the One True God who is the sole Creator of everything. He will then realize that to worship a fellow human being like himself such as a prophet, a so-called saint, or to face an idol such as statues or carved-images is a foolish act, and it is indeed logical to worship only the Creator and not His creations. And if there is a religion out there that teaches to worship only this Great Creator, then that religion must be the true religion of God.

Tawheed is the true understanding of One God, it is a very simple belief, free from complicated concepts and principles, untouched by secrets and mysteries, the knowledge of which God has sent mankind in all ages through His prophets. It was this knowledge with which, in the beginning, Adam was sent down to earth. It was the same knowledge that was revealed to Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. It was the knowledge which Muhammad brought to mankind. It is knowledge, pure and absolute, without the least shade of false concepts and irrational beliefs. Man became guilty of Shirk only because he turned away from the teachings of the prophets and depended on his own faulty reasoning, wrong perceptions and erroneous interpretations. Prophets are there to explain God’s message to man. If man turns away from a prophet, he is bound to fall into error. That is why in God’s last divine revelation, the Qur’an, we have a perfect example on how it is to be lived by following the Sunnah of the last prophet. We don’t need to delve into long discussion as to how to practice God’s message because we have a prophet who explained the message and showed us how to apply it in our lives.

This principle of Tawheed has not change through the passage of time. It is the same as the number one commandment in the Ten Commandments of Prophet Moses, the same faith that Prophet Abraham taught to his descendants, the same message that Prophet Jesus conveyed to his people, and was also the same warning that Prophet Noah called his people so that they may be save from the big flood of water. All prophets gave the same message, they all taught that God is One, free from sharing His divinity with anyone, and that same message that all the prophets have brought is what we call today as Islam. Prophet Muhammad did not bring something new. Islam is not a new religion. It is, in essence, the same eternal message revealed through the ages to all of God’s prophets and messengers. Prophet Muhammad only brought the same message of pure monotheism that was taught by the messengers that came before him: {“And We never sent any messenger before you (Prophet Muhammad), except that we revealed to him that there is no god but Me. Therefore worship Me (alone)”} (Qur’an 21:25). Thus, the religion of Noah, Abraham, David, Solomon, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad and all the other prophets were Islam (submission to the will of God), and they were all Muslims (one who submits his will to God’s will).

Islam teaches that other religions have, in one way or another, distorted and nullified the pure belief of “One God” by neglecting the true teachings of the prophets and mixing them with man-made ideas. This is one of the reasons why we have a chain of divine revelation. Prophets were sent to every nation who had strayed away from the right path of Tawheed, to guide them back to it. This principle of Tawheed was the same throughout time: to reject all objects of worship, and to direct all worship without exception to God and no one else. But as mentioned before, because each nation differed in regards to their way of life, language, and culture, specific messengers were sent to particular nations for a certain period of time. But this is not the case of Prophet Muhammad. Since he is the last prophet, his message is for all humanity and will last until the end of time. The teachings of the Qur’an comprise a universal scripture addressed to all of mankind and not to any particular people, or for a specific time period. The message that it brings is nothing new but the same message of all prophets: to worship the One God purely, and submit to God's will as taught by the prophets. Therefore, anyone, born in any place, and at any period of time, can become a Muslim because Islam is what the prophets have been teaching ever since the time of Adam. Islam has had existed since Adam’s time.

The call to the Oneness of God lies at the very heart of Islam. It takes the person out from the darknesses of Shirk of idolatry to the light of Tawheed of worshipping One God alone. This is the purest, simplest, most natural faith. Islam teaches that the pure belief in One God is intuitive in human beings. This in-born, natural faith that is innate in all of us is what we call in Arabic as Fitrah, or man’s nature to worship One God. A faith that fulfills the natural inclination of our being, one which is already imprinted in our nature when we were born. It is something ingrained in human nature. Believing in the Tawheed of Oneness of God is natural whereas the Shirk of polytheism and idolatry are learned. Man will deviate from the right path only because of false upbringing and surroundings. Thus, it is man’s duty to follow the way of the prophets since it is the only way which is truly in harmony with his nature. And it really does not matter in what place and period of time a person may born because this pure, simple practice of faith has been in existence since the time of Adam. The message of Islam is a continuation of the clear and profound message of pure monotheism revealed by Allah throughout history to all of His prophets in every place on earth. The universality of God’s message transcends all the barriers of place and time.

The true religion of God must have been commonly understandable and universally attainable in the past and it must continue eternally to be understandable and attainable throughout the end of time. In other words, the true religion of God cannot be confined to any one person, place, or period of time. Since divine message is eternal and unchanging, and mankind is one universal being, God’s revelations to man have always been consistent and universal. Submission to the will of God, and worshipping Him alone without intermediaries, has always been the only religion acceptable to God. Within the central principle of Islam and its definition (the surrender of one’s will to God) lie the roots of Islam’s universality – the religion that man can practise from the time of Adam until the end of time.

With its universality, Islam is attainable by all mankind at all times by rejecting the worship of creation and worshipping One God purely. In every age of human history, and in every place on earth, all people who have believed and followed their prophets had lived this simple practice of faith. They were all Muslims, irrespective of whether they called Islam with a different name in their language. It is not necessary that the name of the religion is Islam. People who followed their prophets from different parts of the world in separate periods of time have variety of ways to express man’s submission to the will of God. People from different places have their own distinct languages, and prophets that were sent to them brought Islam in the language that they understand, and so it is only natural that they call Islam with a different name in their language. Whatever its name was, it signified submission to God’s will and therefore it is Islam and nothing but Islam. Islam’s accessibility to all mankind at all times convincingly support Islam’s claim that from the beginning of time, in whichever place it was taught, and whatever language it was expressed, Islam alone is, and always has been, the universal religion preached by all the prophets of God. Its appeal is for the whole of humanity, and anyone, born at any place, and in any period of time can become a Muslim because Islam was already been in existence since the time of Adam.

All prophets who have appeared from time to time brought the message of Islam. They were born on separate periods of time and came with different forms of commandments sent by God to guide and govern people, but the essence of their teachings were the same – the surrender of one’s will to God. Allah had sent us prophets who all taught the same religion: {“He (Allah) has ordained for you the same religion (Islam) which He ordained for Noah, and that which We revealed to you (Muhammad), and that which We ordained for Abraham, Moses, and Jesus”} (Qur’an 42:13). The pure essence of the beliefs and teachings that were revealed by God to Prophet Muhammad are the same as God taught to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and all the other prophets, all of them told their people about Islam.

God’s messengers had been raised among every people, and that they all conveyed essentially that same religion which Prophet Muhammad brought. Prophet Muhammad was the last in the series of prophets since the time of Adam. All the prophets of God – from Adam to Muhammad – have brought one and the same religion of Islam. Although the Divine Message that Allah revealed to each prophet differed in form to suit the needs of the community to which he was sent, but the identifying nature of religion is the same – the principle of Tawheed. The only thing that distinguishes Prophet Muhammad from all other prophets is that the prophets of the past came with the Divine Message of Islam in its different forms that suits to a particular people in a certain place and for a specific periods of time, while the Last Prophet brought the Divine Message of Islam in its Last Form for the whole of humanity and for all time to come. The ultimate goal of every Divine Message that each prophet brought has always been the same: to guide people to God, to make them aware of Him, and to have them worship Him alone. Each Divine Message that each prophet brought came to strengthen this meaning.

There are only a few number of ways for us to determine if the religion is true or not. Aside from identifying the object of worship, which is the main theme of this work, the other ways to find out is thru its name, where did the religion’s name come from, and its universality, for it to be true, a religion has to be acceptable to mankind at all times and at all circumstances. Islam is not a name of a new religion brought for the first time by Prophet Muhammad who should, on that account, be called the founder of Islam. But rather it is a name given to the religion without incorporating something from the creation as in the case of other religions like Christianity which was named after Jesus Christ, Buddhism after Gautama Buddha, Judaism after Judah, Hinduism after the Hindus, and many other religions which were either named after an individual or to the group of people where it originated. But this is not the case with Islam. Islam is a term coming from the Arabic root word SLM and it carries the meaning of “submission” and “peace” between man and his Creator and not to any human or anything within creation. The religion of Islam was not named after a tribe of people or an individual, nor was it decided by a later generation of man. Islam is not a name chosen by human beings but it was God Himself who informed us in the Qur’an that “Islam” is the true religion: {“Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam”} (Qur’an 3:19). And if anyone who seeks a religion other Islam will be one of the losers in the next life: {“And whoever seeks a religion other than Islam, it will never be accepted by Him (Allah), and in the hereafter he will be one of the losers”} (Qur’an 3:85).

And for its universality aspect, if we were to say that a religion is true, then we need to ask if that religion is accessible to mankind at all times under all circumstances, because if its not, then what will happen to those people who were born and died before the time that these religions exists? What will happen to those who died before the time of Christ and who never knew Christianity? How can a person be a Chrtistian and follow Christianity if he was born and died before Christ’s time? And what about those who died before Judah who never knew Judaism? How can a person be Jewish and follow Judaism if he was born and died before Judah’s time? How can a person be a Buddhist and follow Buddhism if he was born and died before Buddha was even born? How can a person be a Hindu and follow Hinduism if he was born and died before the existence of the Hindu tribe? How can a person follow a true religion if he was born and died before these religions even exists? The test of its universality is the hallmark of a true religion, and these questions applies to all religions except Islam.

These questions are irrelevant to Islam because the name Islam itself has a unique distinction of having no such association with any particular individual, and a person can become a Muslim and follow Islam even before the time of Muhammad because Islam was already been in existence since the time of Adam. Muhammad only brought the same message that was also brought by the prophets that came before him. His message was the same message that was conveyed to mankind by prophets of the past that God had sent to every nation in different periods of time. All of them came with this same message, the message of Islam. And that the message of Islam was universal in character is proven by the fact that Muslims were born on separate periods of time, live in various nations on earth, and with different prophets who conveyed the message of Islam to them. The word Islam is the name of the central principle of the religion, and that is submission of man’s will to the will of God. And anyone who does so is a Muslim, regardless of whether he had or she had lived in the time of Noah, David, Solomon, Jacob, Abraham, Moses, Jesus or Adam. Whoever submits their will to God according to the teachings of the prophets – as they originally taught them – then that person is a Muslim.