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Let us take it to another step, what is the aim of humanity? \u00a0What is the purpose for which human beings exist on earth, to what ends do they strive? \u00a0What will occur to them if they strive to those ends and what will occur to them if they did not strive to those ends?<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Since Islam is a religion which sees itself as revelation from God and the truth, Muslims would feel that human beings have a set purpose here on earth; that in everything of God\u2019s creation there is wisdom.\u00a0 There is nothing of God\u2019s creation that does not have any wisdom.\u00a0 There is nothing for sport or play and so therefore human beings have a purpose, and that purpose has been elucidated for them in the teaching of Islam.\u00a0 They were created to worship God.\u00a0 A verse from the Quran says that God says that He has not created human beings except to worship Him.\u00a0 So therefore, the essence of humanity is the same between male and female, and they also share the same aim and that is to worship God.\u00a0 And that is the most important issue in the Islamic culture and civilization.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n You know that the Islamic culture and civilization is rooted in religious belief.\u00a0 American civilization is rooted in what? \u00a0In the writings of the founding fathers of the United States of America.\u00a0 It is rooted in the Declaration of Independence, the ideals which were placed therein.\u00a0 It is rooted in the Constitution of the United States.\u00a0 It is rooted in some of the arguments between monarchy or democracy which were written by some of the early writers or founding fathers.\u00a0 So it is rooted in a political thought.\u00a0 Yes, it might have some traditions which go back further and extend to certain ideas like in parts of Christianity and so forth, but in its essence it is a political thought, unlike Islam which is a religion in its essence.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n The civilization of Islam – a civilization which is 1400 years old – is one which is rooted in religion.\u00a0 For a Muslim the greatest aim is to serve God, to worship God alone, and that is what the word Muslim means.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Muslim is not a racial description, it is not an ethnic category, Muslim means one who submits.\u00a0 Islam means submitting to the will of God – the voluntary submission to God – so Islam is a religion of submission.\u00a0 Therefore, in the most important aspect of the Islamic religion, we find that men and women share in the same aim and are expected to have the same responsibilities, in that men and women are both required or obligated to testify that there is none worthy of worship but Allah alone – God alone – and that Muhammad is His Messenger.\u00a0 Men and women are both obligated to pray five times a day, which is the second pillar of Islam.\u00a0 They are obligated to fast the month of Ramadan.\u00a0 They are obligated to make pilgrimage to Makkah.\u00a0 They are obligated to give charity.\u00a0 They are obligated to have the same beliefs.\u00a0 They are obligated to have the same type of morality and the same type of code of conduct and behavior.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Men and women share these essential ingredients of Islamic behavior, which define a Muslim from a non-Muslim.\u00a0 And this is of extreme importance because it breaks from the tradition of religions.\u00a0 For instance fifty years before the birth of the prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, who was born around 560 CE, we find that there was a gathering of bishops in France to discuss whether women possessed souls or not,<\/span><\/strong> and that, if they do possess souls, what would be their purpose on earth? \u00a0Was it to worship God? \u00a0And if they worshipped God, would they go to paradise? \u00a0In the end it was decided that, yes, women do possess souls – which was a break from previous tradition – but that their purpose was not just to worship God, but also to serve men.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In Islam, however, the basis of submission is not that women are submitting to men, but that men and women together submit to God.\u00a0 So therefore, when you read the passages of the Quran, it becomes very clear that the obedient from among both the believing men and women receive paradise, which is the greatest aim and objective in a Muslim\u2019s life, and the basis of that civilization.\u00a0 Likewise, those who are disobedient and who are renegades, and who do not want to worship God also receive the same punishment whether they are male or female.\u00a0 This is why throughout the Quran you find the wording addressed to both males and females.\u00a0 The Arabic language like French has two types of verbs, one representing the feminine and one the masculine.\u00a0 So in the Quran you\u2019ll find both categories of the human race, both sexes, being addressed.\u00a0 This you find over and over and over.\u00a0 There is no need to now recite all these passages, but they are there if anyone wants to know.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n In summary we found three bases: that they share the same humanity, that they have the same aim on this earth, and also, they expect the same reward, which is the goal which they are working for collectively as human beings.\u00a0 And this is a break as I said from the previous religious traditions and also political and social understanding prevalent among the philosophers before the coming of Islam.\u00a0 And as a result of that, we find that Islam accorded women rights which perhaps we take for granted now, but were given by God to men and women some 1400 years ago.\u00a0 These rights like the right to own property, the right to dispose of property according to their own wishes as long as they follow the laws of the religion of Islam, which apply the same for men or women and the right to certain what we would call now political rights, like the right to enter into a treaty with combatant, are something very recent relatively speaking in the West.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n One of the rights given by Islam in the time of the prophet Muhammad was that if a woman gives a treaty to a combatant from a non-Muslim attacking force – her treaty would be considered as was the case with a female companion of the prophet Muhammad.\u00a0 In the Christian church these companions would be called disciples for instance, the disciples of the Prophet Muhammad are the companions as they are called.\u00a0 They were in the hundreds and thousands not just twelve as with Jesus Christ, and there are both men and women amongst them.\u00a0 When the prophet Muhammad came to Mecca, one of the women companions by the name of Umm Hani, who was an inhabitant of Mecca and a believer in the Prophet Muhammad, accorded certain relatives of hers protection that they would not be harmed.\u00a0 Her brother who was one of the main companions of the Prophet Muhammad and married his daughter, Ali b. Abi Talib, wanted to execute two of these men who were known for harming the Muslims and fighting against them.\u00a0 So Umm Hani went to the Prophet Muhammad and complained that she had accorded them protection and the Prophet recognized her giving protection to those two individuals.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n This is what we might call, in the classification and terminology that we now use, a political right.\u00a0 In the sense of according protection for another person during the state of war is something which is relatively new in the West and was a known tradition in the Islamic world 1400 years ago.\u00a0 Likeis<\/span><\/span>w<\/span><\/span>e, in terms of what we might call public participation, there are certain acts of worship which are public acts of worship in Islam, and there are certain acts of worship which are private.\u00a0 One of the public acts is the pilgrimage, when men and women all make pilgrimage, and this is one of the pillars of Islam.\u00a0 Likewise another public act of worship is the two `Eid prayers which occur twice a year, once after the pilgrimage and once after the pass of Ramadan.\u00a0 Men and women both participate in that publicly.\u00a0 Likewise, we have a verse which shows that the social contract between men and women is the same in Islam.\u00a0 This verse might be translated as the following:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd the believing men and women are,\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n what we might translate as,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cawliyaa\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n – the word in Arabic for friends or allies or supporters of one another,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cthey\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n – meaning men and women –<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cbid to that which is correct\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n i.e. they commend that which is correct,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cand they forbid that which is evil\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n And this is a corrective process in society, removing evil and commending that which is good.\u00a0 And then<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cthey perform the prayer\u201d,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n both men and women,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cthey pay the alms\u201d,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n or the charity to the poor,<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cand they obey God and His Messenger.\u201d <\/span><\/strong>(Quran: 9:71)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n And then God shows them the reward and that they are those upon whom God will have mercy and God is Almighty and All-Wise.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Ref. ww.islamreligion.com \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Let us take it to another step, what is the aim of humanity? \u00a0What is the purpose for which human beings exist on earth, to what… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-truth-of-islam"],"yoast_head":"\n
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