ISLAM is a spiritual technology, which modifies a way of life and dictates relationships between God, the environment and other human beings. Religion is the culture of spirituality, the container that gives spirituality structure. The code of Islam serves to create cohesion among its members by propagating certain core principles. The highest ideal governing all forms of Islam is Tawheed, the oneness of Allah (the absolute divinity). Communal activities form ibadats that facilitate a relationship with God: (iman), prayer (salaat), pilgrimage (hajj) and fasting (sawm) and alms givin(zakaat). Zakat serves as a socio economic wealth distribution system which has deep parallels in ancient African practices. The ultimate aim of the Islamic faith is to guide humanity to a successful balanced, and structured society, with morality as the apex principle by showing obedience to the laws of the Creator, Allah. The final destination is for the deeds of the individual to be weighed to allow entry into paradise (al-Jannat), A concept found in Ancient African Egypt thousands of years earlier. Unlike Western Christianity, Islam does not dichotomize religion and state, Sharia is therefore just another political system with Islamic ethics. Sharia is no more or less valid as a system of governance compared to democracy, and communism. And Sharia, just like democracy (an ideology forced all over the world by war or threat of war) or communism, extreme practices can have elements of oppression. The Hajj was not only for religious worship, it was a centralized place for networking, exchange and a kind of global market. This was where people went not only to worship but to acquire new information. Out of these networks came new business relationships, political relationships, and development. While most religions bear the following format, Islam is different: Christianity - Christian, Hinduism - Hindu, Judaism - Jewish, Rastafarian - Rasta, Buddhism - Buddhist. But the followers of Islam are called Muslims. This is because the name of the religion is not after its founder but after its theological root-- Submission to God in peace (Islam) Muslim is one who submits. It is a unique paradigm as far as religions go. Some unique under-discussed aspects of social Islam is it was in response to social-economic-racial inequality in Arabia (Hijaz). Islam was born into a multicultural racialized world similar to today (i.e. Black and White (Arab)). It was the first religion to be preach emancipation as a core doctrine.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 08:26:26 +0000
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