Islam is not the way
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The Issue of Islam
Islam has seriously deviated from the message that God sent to His messengers. The message that God gave to Muhammad (God bless him) popularly called the Koran by Muslims is indeed God's message. But it has something different to say than what Muslims have to say. The first mistake Muslims made was calling their religion Islam and exclusively Islam. The word Islam has never had anything to do with God, even in Classical Arabic.ProGod.org believes that learning the Classical Arabic of Muhammad's day is the key to understanding the Koran. That means eliminating the practice of reading into the Koran those meanings of Arabic words that originated after the Koran. As well as accepting alternative understandings of Arabic words and phrases - an example of this is the above rendering of the famous testimony or shahada of the Muslims.
Islam as 'submission to God' is one of those meanings that came after the Koran - originating with an Arab religious scholar by the name of
Imam Shafi'ee.The word Islam does indeed mean 'Submission/Submissiveness' but 'Submissiveness/Submission' to what? Yeah, we can all assume God (even Shafi'ee assumed that), but that is all we are doing. Assuming!
If someone anti-islamic assumed that Islam
means 'Submission to Satan' they would be just as much in their rights as anyone who assumes that the word 'Submission' when mentioned alone, but refferring to someone's religion, really means 'Submission to God.' Saying that Islam means submission to God is just as wrong, and as mistaken as saying that it means 'Submission to Satan.'The message of the Koran which is 'Submissiveness/ Submission to God' is not expressed by the word 'Submissiveness/Submission' alone.
The only saving grace for this term Islam is that it can mean 'Salvation.' But to use the Classical Arabic word Islam over any other word that expresses this same concept would be foolish.
Why should a Spanish-speaker prefer the word Islam over his native word 'Salvacion'? Better yet, why should any English speaker prefer the word Islam over the word 'Salvation' ? The message is what matters, not the word. No one langauge is superior to another when it comes to a message that can be translated into every language?
So what is the purpose of this site? First and foremost it is not to spark Islamic reform.
Islamic reform is the last thing that the Muslim world, or the world for that matter, needs. Searching for some new meaning for
Islam is fruitless and futile. Why? Because the word Islam, which Muslims use as their banner, will never mean 'submission to God.'
Mainly, because using it exclusively over any other, equal wording will not accomplish the goal of communicating the message of the Koran to all of the world's peoples, with all of their many languages.The Koran does promote devotion to God through certain rituals such as pilgrimage, dietary guidelines, prayer & fasting. Moreover, it also lays down policies and commands for how humans should regulate and govern themselves individually and societally for the maximum benefit of humanity as a whole. But it can never be forgotten that the Koran's message, its main idea, is that we take a pro-God stance and entirely submit to God and for God.
On this site and ProGod.org's sister site all of the above issues are discussed and expounded upon, independent of the not so credible Islamic historical sources, and utilizing the more credible ones.
ProGod.org exists to represent the sons and daughters of Abraham (God bless him) Both the Koran and the teachings of Jesus (God bless him) found in Luke19 clearly express that those who follow Abraham are his children and will attain salvation. Abraham is the forefather of all those who are pro-God. ProGod.org follows Abraham's religion, and Abraham's religion is submission to God.
ProGod.org believes that through following God's message(s) the full potential of humanity can be fulfilled. Being pro-God is humanity's only road to success. When God is on our side there is no enemy too strong, and no wall too high. The sky is the limit!
Godbless,
ProGod -
Thanks shock
I thought the issue deserved immediate attention.
Godbless,
ProGodwould you like to give some examples on the usage of the word "Islam" and "muslim" with other context ? I think it will shed some light on this topic..)
peace
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peace Anwar,
I agree with you about the unecessary making of nouns/titles. It misses the point of the word.
Shamsul, please see the following thread for common usage of muslim/islam/iman in 'al quran' itself
Taken from this thread.
the primary meaning of islam is compliance etc. the word has nothing inherently to do with God. if it had an inherent implication of god then there would be no need to mention "compliance to... insert object here (e.g. The God)" as it does in many places in al quran.
how about some clear undisputble examples of common usage...
4816, 2731, 2738
dont get me wrong, its secondary meaning can be islam, as in our system/obligation, fine, but dont mke out Islam/Muslim should have a capital or the God is inherently implied whenever this word is used. thats wrong in my opinion. Names mean nothing. Other prophets did not use Arabic, thus they obviously never used "Islam or Muslim", thus if they used the word (I'll make one up) "phareps" you think it would be right to attach a special capital to this word and associate the God with its usage and make out its somehow special. the word by itself is not special, the meaning is what is important.
same with iman, it just means faith/belief/conviction etc., nothing inherently to do with God. see the following common usage 213, 2285, 776, 1051, 1083, 1090
Wakas
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God bless,
I agree with you about the unecessary making of nouns/titles. It misses the point of the word.
Yeah, but my point is not about the titles being unnecessary, its more about them being untrue and not be representative of what someone believes.
dont get me wrong, its secondary meaning can be islam, as in our system/obligation,
Wakas, what do you mean by this? How can isalm mean 'our system/obligation'?
Godbless,
ProGod -
Peace Shamsul Arefin,
Thanks shock
I thought the issue deserved immediate attention.
Godbless,
ProGodwould you like to give some examples on the usage of the word "Islam" and "muslim" with other context ? I think it will shed some light on this topic..)
peace
What do you think of 2128? Here Ibraheem, along with his son, Ismaeel, is calling on their "rabb". Check 2127 to confirm this.
"Rabbana waijAAalna muslimayni laka wamin thurriyyatina ommatan muslimatan laka waarina manasikana watub AAalayna innaka anta alttawwabu alrraheemu"
The literal translation by Mohamed Ahmed and his daughter, Samira is
"Our Lord and make us two Moslems to you, and from our descendants, a nation submitting/surrendering/Moslems to you, and show us our rituals/methods of worship and forgive on us, that you are the forgiver, the most merciful."Deos the definition of the word "Muslim" as "One who submits/surrenders to God" make sense?
Anwar Azim
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Yes,
Yes it is literally, 'Make us two submissive ones to you.' Because we don't speak like that in English it would just be 'Make it so that both of us are submissive to you.'
Godbless,
ProGodWhy this need for submission? Why do we have to be submissive?
Regards,
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Peace Progod,
I wrote "Deos the definition of the word "Muslim" as "One who submits/surrenders to God" make sense?"
Yes,
Yes it is literally, 'Make us two submissive ones to you.' Because we don't speak like that in English it would just be 'Make it so that both of us are submissive to you.'Godbless,
And you say, "Yes"! How so? Why not simply plug it and see? How come you see sense in it?
BTW, please address to whom you are writing.
Anwar Azim
