Islam for Idiots Chapter 4

ALL ABOUT ALLAH

• Muslim ideas of God are not affected by changes in social values or mores
• God is not personified into forms or shapes crated by the imagination of men and women.
• What we lack in artwork about God, we make up for in a compelling intellectual and spiritual ideology

GOD AND HOLLYWOOD

• Islam has a very definite conception of God and how to understand Him
• When Christians were defending the honor of their God, Muslims were more intersted in upholding the honor of a man who is considered to be one of the greatest prophets.
• Movies about prophets are considered blaspehmous by Muslims, who see any attempt to represent a prophet as wrong

THERE IS ONLY ONE GOD

• some popular western culture promotes the idea that we are all gods inside our hearts or that god lives in us, and we can tap into his power like some sort of personal energy reservoir
• the Qur'an warned us long ago that the desire of Shaytan is to seperate us from God and what better way for him to succeed than to get all of us to call ourselves gods and godesses or to make up gods of our own

DOES GOD SHOW HIMSELF TO US

• Islam records only one incident in which a person came close to seeing God
• Moses wanted God to prove himself to him, so he appeared in physical form on a mountain and it was too powerful for Moses to see and he pased out

ISLAM IN GOD

• Allah is only one being without division, children or partners
• God is strong enough and capable enough to not need anyones help of to divide himself into parts to do different jobs
• "There is no God other than God"
• He is not the God of any chosen people nor can any racial or ethnic community lay claim to his exclusive attention
• the idea that God makes any kind of racial preferences is reprehensible in Islam

PAGAN ARAB BELIEFS BEFORE THE COMING OF ISLAM

• The prophet Muhammad was born in arabia in 570 c.e.
• the pagans venerated idols thinking they were convenient gods who would bring luck, safety, good business deals, and other bounties on a daily basis
• Muhammads first preachings in 610 c.e.
• declared that God is not remote and is not contained in a wood or stone carving

THE QUR'AN SPEAKS

• "Tell people that he is one God; Allah, the eternal absolute. He neither gives birth nor was He ever begotten, and there is nothing equal to Him."
• in the pagan world, magic, spirits, shamans, luck, totems, and idols were the defining characteristics of religion.

MAN AND GOD

• islam teaches that every god has to face god alone
• no one can look to another god or person to save himself or herself in this life or in the next
• the Qur'an is very clear about blame being lade squarely upon our own shoulders
• Shirk means to hold something else as equal to god...biggest sin

DO MUSLIMS BELIEVE IN ORIGINAL SIN?

• Islam considers jesus to be a prophet of God, born of the Virgin Mary as a special miracle from God
• Muslims do not take Jesus' birth as a sign of God hood or as a sing that jesus was the son of god.
• the Qur'an even denies that jesus was killed on a cross
• the Qur'an states only that God saved Jesus and took him to himself
• the Qur'an says Adam and Eve sinned but God forgave them when they asked for his mercy
• it is our cumulative faith and actions that determine our salvation
• it is no sign of love for a muslim that God would die for him or her

HOW CLOSE IS CLOSE

• We can build a personal relationship with Allah because He can hear all our thoughts and because he knows our feelings
• "Accept Allah into your hearts and be saved
• The word taqwa means consciousness or awareness of God in your life

ALLAH HAS MANY NAMES

• The Qur'an declares emphatically that God has no form we can comprehend and that He resembles nothing at all in creation
• Islam completely forbids making representations of God
• Instead of focusing on God's physical form, we look to his qualities
• these are called Allahs names and attributes
• we use adjectives to describe the nature of God, and through studying them and emmulating them we come to a closer understanding of who God is
• *Actively particpate in knowing the divine
• we can get a feel for the essence of Allah through the Ninety-Nine names of Allah
• then we dont have to worry about what he looks like
• Muhammad once said that whoever knows and lives by the 99 names of Allah will go to heaven

• he has no beginning or end
• he does not reveal himself
• no human eye is strong enough to behold his power
• he can do all that he wishes with no need of a helper
• he is not male or female
• Allah is not a remote God but rather He is active in human affairs and is testing us in this life and giving us the chance to choose to surrender to him

Islam For Idiots Chapter 3

Looking at life the Islamic Way

• Islam holds that we are all born basically good but have a natural weakness due to our physical nature
• Islam also has the concept of an evil enemy, a Devil that preys upon our hearts and minds. But it only has limited power over us and God has given us the tools to combat him.

The Three-Fold Journey

• The Animal Self
• The Accusing Self
• The Restful Self
• ^Three Levels of Development ^
• these are the stages we obtain as we come to the final realization that god is, in fact, real and that we ought to move closer to him
• No child is born evil, but if their every urge is fulfilled they'll never learn self-control

The Animal in All of Us (Animal Self)

• During this stage our basic desires for food, sex, creature comforts and wealth guide our life choices
• The struggle out of animal self is made even harder by an evil jinn named shaytan
• He seeks to corrupt and ruin us

Stepping up the Plate (Accusing Self)

• After the second stage has been entered and we realize we need God in heart and mind, we can now try to mold our life according to his universal way
• We become less attached to the life of this world, more introspective, less irritable, and stressed
• through daily routine of prayer, reflection, fasting, and study, and a counscious morality, our heart becomes more at ease

The Supreme Acheivement (restful self)

• Nothing in the world has a hold of us any longer
• We lead lives of quiet contemplation and are not phased by anything
• We no longer live to satisfy ourselves but to realize the higher purpose of life

Sin and Redemption

• surrendering to God means to believe in him, to promote harmony on earth, to follow a personal code of morality
• charity, honesty, thrift, compassion, self-control, and integrity, are the goals of a Muslim
• Sins: dishonesty, violent behavior, greed, jealousy, gossip, and sexual promiscuity

How Does God Forgive?

• When you commit a bad deed or sin, it will be held against you on judgement day
• The only way to remove the stain of that sin is to follow a four-step process of repentence called making tawba
• Four steps: feel remorseful, repent by saying "God forgive me", make restitution for the sin if possible, resolve never to do the sin again.

Law and Order

• There are only a few crimes that incur physical punishment
• personal moral sins require only the four-step process
• islamic law mixes personal morality and civil and criminal law into one overall code in keeping with the religious view that there is no difference between the secular and spiritual realms

Everything Counts when is Counts

• you save or damn yourself everyday through your belief, or lack of it, your actions, good or bad, and your overall record
• our sins, if we dont repent of them, will be held against us
• everytime we do a good or bad deed it is recorded with god
• salvation in islam is founded on believing in a surrendering your will to god and nothing more

The Last Payday

• God will reward good even as He will punish evil

Our Report Card

• We will either be sent to heaven or hell on the day of judgement based on our list of good and bad deeds
• Islam does not teach that people are born sinful like in christianity
• we are all born spotless and can choose between good and bad

There'll Be Hell to Pay

• The consequence of rejecting god and staying in the animal stage is that our soul becomes corrupted or warped
• so we go to hell to have our soul cleansed by fire
• when the deserved punishment is finished the newly cleansed soul may again rejoin gods presence and recieve its reward in heaven
• some souls are so warped that they will never get out of hell

Notes on prayer for IA from Idiots Guide

Islam for Idiots

· Salat is the 2^nd pillar-ritual having the most direct impact on a Muslim’ daily life.

· Prayer is a way for the individual to elevate his or her mind to seek God.

· Benefit of curbing the desire to hearken immoral inclinations.

Supplication vs. Prayer

· David says in Psalm 34: “I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; Let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name together.” David was an excellent model to follow

· Supplication=quick fix to get wants or needs answered.

· Muslims are encouraged to call on God for their needs and desires, as long as they are for virtuous goals

· This is called Du’a

· Salat is the ritual which a Muslim must perform five times every day to show obedience and attentiveness to God’s call

· It consists of a physical routine and reciting short phrases in which we praise God and remind ourselves of our mission here

· Salat: literally means red-hot connection, so when someone makes salat they are establishing a hot-link to God.

· The Muslim method of performing prayer is one of the more demanding forms of worship but also one of the most rewarding

· First benefit: provides a constant reminder throughout the day that we are God’s servants

· Second benefit: God forgives some of our sins each time we perform salat

· Each of the prayers is said at a different strategic time so that no matter what we are doing or how busy we get, we are always aware that we either prayed a few hours ago or will pray again soon.

· Keeps the mind fresh and aware of our duty to God, become less likely to want to break one of his laws

· If you truly understand that God is real you wont hesitate to take every opportunity to pray to him

The Seven Preconditions

· Before praying everyone must do seven things

· It must be prayer time

· We must wash our hands face, and feet with water to be ritually pure

· We must wear clean clothes

· A clean place to pray must be available. Prayers can be done in a Mosque or anyplace else.

· We must be wearing pants, a shirt, and/or a robe to cover up our body. Women add a scarf or veil over their hair to remind them that God does not judge us by our looks or beauty but by our sincerity.

Cleanliness is Next To…

· Before Muslims may pray, we must be in a ritually pure condition, we must make every effort to look presentable

The Muslim Call to Prayer

· Muslim men over the age of puberty are required to attend a special service on Friday afternoon in which they hear a sermon. This is called salat ul-Jumu’ah

· Muslims had to come up with a way to alert people five times a day

· Allahu Akbar means “God is greater than…”meaning he is greater than anything you could put after that

Humble Pie

· The purpose of salat is to present ourselves before God as humble servants

· Final goal of salat: producing a meditative state that no distractions are able to take our focus off of God

· Islam says that all three of our components must be unified for prayer to be truly meaningful

· First we humble our hearts our of love for God, then we recite prayers and concentrate on their meanings so we can learn how to remember God throughout our lives, then we bring it all together by bowing down low so we feel with our physical senses what true humbleness means.

· Islamic prayers seek to make us really know our proper place before the greatest sovereign of all.

· First chapter of the Qur’an is recited during prayer: “In the name of God, the Compassionate Source of All Mercy. All Praise be to God, the Lord of all the worlds, the Compassionate Source of All Mercy and Master of the Day of Judgment. You alone do we serve and it is to You alone that we look for help. Guide us on the Straight Path; the path of those who have earned Your anger, nor of those who have gone astray.” (Qur’an 1:1-7)

· When a person or group of people begin to pray, angels join in the prayer and then report back to God on what His servants are doing, though he already knows.

Remembrance of God

· Third type of prayer is dhikr or remembrance

· Whatever you fill your mind with you will remember

· The Islamic way of performing prayers is both unique and comprehensive. By humbling ourselves before God five times each day, supplicating to God in private moments, and remembering God through the repeated phrases of dhikr, we seek to mold our minds and thoughts into a way pleasing to God. Salat builds discipline as well and makes a person learn punctuality even as it keeps the mind focused on the true reality of our time here in this world.

· Goal of Islamic prayers: to learn piety and self-discipline in wholesome activities