Islam Religion Encourages Learning, Observation and Science

The glory of Muslim civilization among the other communities was only because of the Islam’s focus on learning and education. This thing becomes clearer when you study the Quran and life of the Prophet Mohammad, where you can find numerous references to education, need for learning and use of logic.

For more than a thousand years Islamic empire was honored as the most developed and advanced civilization across the world. This is again because of the fact that Islam never halted anyone from learning and even Islam shows great importance to it. This desire of knowledge inculcated in Muslims tolerance, discipline and respect for authority. The Islamic beliefs and teachings persuade many Muslims to achieve their destination in the fields of science, astronomy and medicine.

It was their passion and enthusiasm for learning which resulted in the conversion of all Greek material available on Medicine, Astronomy and Science to the Arabic language. Baghdad was the hub for all this written material. Damascus, Cairo shared the same status. It was Muslims who first invented the present day cheque system. Soon, Arabic became the international language for trade and transfer of thoughts. The center of activity and knowledge shifted to east and Baghdad became the light house for the dark and ignorant Europe. The Muslim community emerged as the inventors of many scientific notions, with novelty and efficiency being their core values.

Particularly in the field of medicine Muslims accomplished many milestone and invented cure for several diseases and increase the common life expectancy. Hence, Muslims became the one and only great torchbearers of research in the fields of medicine and science. Some of the early master pieces in these fields came from the pens’ of Muslim scientists who always loved their work. It was their great motivation that ultimately led to the foundation of first university Al-Azhar(800AD) in the world. Today the western medical system is not only originated from Arab wisdom but also is based on same theories. The Muslims Arabs were the forefathers of current day medicine and scientific fields.

THE RELIGION OF ISLAM

The first thing that one should know and clearly understand about Islam is what the word "Islam" itself means. The religion of Islam is not named after a person as in the case of Christianity which was named after Jesus Christ, Buddhism after Gotama Buddha, Confucianism after Confucius, and Marxism after Karl Marx. Nor was it named after a tribe like Judaism after the tribe of Judah and Hinduism after the Hindus. Islam is the true religion of "Allah" and as such, its name represents the central principle of Allah's "God's" religion; the total submission to the will of Allah "God". 

The Arabic word "Islam" means the submission or surrender of one's will to the only true god worthy of worship "Allah" and anyone who does so is termed a "Muslim", The word also implies "peace" which is the natural consequence of total submission to the will of Allah. Hence, it was not a new religion brought by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) I in Arabia in the seventh century, but only the true religion of Allah re-expressed in its final form.

Islam is the religion which was given to Adam, the first man and the first prophet of Allah, and it was the religion of all the prophets sent by Allah to mankind. The name of God's religion lslam was not decided upon by later generations of man. It was chosen by Allah Himself and clearly mentioned in His final revelation to man. In the final book of divine revelation, the Qur'aan, Allah states the following:

"This day have I perfected your religion for you, completed My favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion". (Soorah Al-Maa'idah 5:3)

"If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah (God) never will It be accepted of Him" (Soorah Aal'imraan 3:85)

"Abraham was not a Jew nor Christian; but an upright Muslim." (Soorah Aal'imraan 3:67)

Nowhere in the Bible will you find Allah saying to Prophet Moses' people or their descendants that their religion is Judaism, nor to the followers of Christ that their religion is Christianity. In fact, Christ was not even his name, nor was it Jesus! The name "Christ" comes from the Greek word Christos which means the annointed. That is, Christ is a Greek translation of the Hebrew title "Messiah". The name "Jesus" on the other hand, is a latinized version of the Hebrew name Esau.

For simplicity's sake, I will however continue to refer to Prophet Esau (PBUH) as Jesus. As for his religion, it was what he called his followers to. Like the prophets before him, he called the people to surrender their will to the will of Allah; (which is Islam) and he warned them to stay away from the false gods of human imagination.

According to the New Testament, he taught his followers to pray as follows: "Yours will be done on earth as it is in Heaven".

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Islam: The fastest growing religion

Islam is claimed to be the fastest growing religion by the new prophet of Islam Dr Zakir Naik and his followers. Large section of people inspired by the new messenger can be seen indulged in debating others over the issue of fastest rate of growth of Islam. 

Interestingly, on one hand, Mullahs in countries like India are assuring the people of other faiths about trueness of Islam through their own census, on the other hand, in Muslim countries like Pakistan, Afganistan, Iraq, etc, holy warriors are killing their fellow Muslims for not being true Muslims! But, one thing, which makes Islam different from others, is the spectrum of its preachers starting from Mullahs proving Islam through peaceful speeches to Osamas and Kasabs, who implement the peaceful teachings of Islam through their peaceful actions! That’s apart, today, we shall analyze the claims of muslims about Islam to be the fastest growing religion.

We will pick one by one the claims of Muslims on why Islam is from God, which we have come across quite often, and will scrutinize those in two ways. Comment “a” below every claim will examine it by assuming the claim to be true. Comment “b” will contain the reality of the claim, whether it is right or wrong.

Islam is best and the only religion from God because

Claim 1: it has the following of over 1.5 billion and in few years, Islam will become no. 1 surpassing Christianity.

(a).(i) Still the majority is with Christians! If number is the criterion of being best, Christianity is better than Islam. Moreover, we can generalize this logic and say that, since non muslims are 5.5 billions (almost 4 times the muslims), non muslims are better and hence Islam is not from God!