other at Badr, an angel of God came to the Prophet. The angel told the Prophet that God had sent him a message of salam or peace. Hearing this, the Prophet replied that God is Peace; Peace is from Him

think in terms of peace and security. At this moment, too, his heart was heaving with hope that, with God’s help, he could establish an atmosphere of peace and security in the world. A true person is he who

reconciliation. God’s Name is Peace The Quran mentions various names (or attributes) of God. One of these is As-Salam, i.e. ‘The Source of Peace’. This means that God is the epitome of peace. God loves peace

When a person has elevated himself from the world, God endows him with wisdom, which emanates from his lips. He is shown the ills of the world, and their remedies. He is brought safely to the abode of

so far beyond the veil of matter that one can see realities exactly as they are. Then one “worships God, as if one were seeing Him.” (Bukhari) A common man can also elevate his soul to this degree. Prophethood

Prophethood, however, is the final stage of this path. The difference is that a prophet is one chosen by God. There is no obscurity in his vision of the divine world; it appears before him in absolute, certain

THE WORD OF GODFrom The Scriptures The Quran is the book of God. It has been preserved in its entirety since its revelation to the Prophet of Islam between AD 610 and 632. It is a book that brings glad

make luxuriant gardens grow—you could never make such trees grow in them—is it another deity besides God? No indeed, but they are a people who equate others with Him. Who is it that made the earth a stable

Who set mountains upon it and placed a barrier between the two seas? Is there another deity besides God? Indeed, most of them have no knowledge. (27: 60-61) Expressed as a chain of cause and effect, the

CALIPHATESuccessors on Earth THE Quran tells us that when God made man, a dialogue took place between God and the angels. In the course of this dialogue, God explained the purpose of creating man, saying: “I am

otherwise. The word khalifa in the above-quoted Quranic verse is used in this second sense. This means God settled man on earth as a creature possessing free-will. The earth was given to man’s charge for a

you their successors in the land, so that We might observe how you would conduct yourselves.”     God has created man as an intelligent being. In terms of his abilities, the first man ever was as complete

three things that are especially pleasing to God: that you should worship Him, ascribing no partners unto Him; that you should all cling to the rope of God and not be divided among yourselves; and that

towards those whom God has put in charge of your affairs. And three things cause Him immense displeasure: idle talk, asking too many questions and wasting money. (Sahih Muslim) Worshipping God means concentrating

on Him. One who truly worships Gods feels empty if there is no place in his life for God. To ascribe partners to God, on the other hand, is to make something besides God the focus of one’s attention. To

infernal or the heavenly. An infernal response is one which is categorically opposed to the will of God, while a heavenly response is one which humbly conforms to His will. Those who make the former response

will be admitted to the Garden of Bliss. Divine characteristics, being deep rooted in the fear of God, cause a man to rise above fleeting emotions and prevent him from being swayed by passionate love or

in the fear of God, cause a man to rise above fleeting emotions and prevent him from being swayed by passionate love or hate in his dealings. Such characteristics deserve the rewards of God. The Quran explains

THE JUNGLE OF FORBIDDEN TREESOn Earth as in Heaven GOD created the first man, Adam, and initially inhabited him in the garden of Paradise. He was told that he could live in Paradise with full freedom

patient, and he ate from the fruit of the forbidden tree (THE QURAN 20: 121). He failed the ‘test’ that God had given him in Paradise. As a result of this action, he was banished from the garden of Paradise

completely. In this world, all such things take the place of a ‘forbidden tree’ that make man forget God and neglect the accountability of the Hereafter. Only the one who examines his life and continuously

it is those who fear God who are learned.’ But he failed to grasp the significance of this, he said. I replied, “Karl Marx is considered a ‘prophet’ in the field of economics, but he did not have one whit

whit of the True Knowledge which, today, by the grace of God, you possess.” Faced by a world in which a small number of feudal lords and industrial magnates had taken possession of a disproportionate share

said: ‘O Prophet of God, teach me something’. “Abuse no one”, replied the Prophet, “and despise not anything good and speak to your fellow-men with open countenance”. (Tirmidhi) God has no mercy for him

the Day of Judgement God will question: ‘O Man, I was sick and you did not visit Me’. 'My Lord', the man will wonder, ‘How could I visit you when You are the Lord of the universe?’ God will remind! ‘My so

(iman) is to restrain oneself against all violence, let no believer commit any violence. (Abu Dawud) God has forbidden you disobedience of parents, miserliness, false claims, and the burying alive of female

NATURE BEARS WITNESSTo the Glory of God I F one were to claim that by mixing crushed pieces of stone with wood, petrol can be produced, people would laugh at the suggestion. No man has in him the power

(Ansh) of God. It is God Himself Who is manifesting in innumerable forms. The Quran, however, rejects such explanations as misleading. According to the Quran, these things are not part of God, but are created

created at His command (hukm). God has created them by His power, rather than manifesting Himself in those forms. For ages, the stars have remained at the centre of the romantic imagination of poets. Since