Islam for Humanity is as important as the water for a thirsty plant.
By Muhammad Idris Kandhelevi
Among the features and merits of Islamic rulings that is most important is that they are Divine and Godly; the source of these rulings is Allah Almighty, Who is the Creator and Wise, no error or forgetfulness can creep into them. The system of Islamic rulings is all-inclusive that includes all provisions on religion, worship, dealings, war and peace, governance, policy, system of morals and behavior, system of divinity and spirituality. It is different from many of the religions of the world that may include the system of morals and spirituality but devoid of politics, governance and political system, like Christianity.
Some religions belong to a particular community and lineage, like Judaism, but Islam is the universal and general for mankind. Some religions were distorted and altered and did not remain safe from the hands of humans, as happened with Judaism, Christianity and Hinduism. However, Islam is the only religion that was saved with its provisions and laws represented in the Glorious Qur’an and Sunnah. There are millions of Muslims who memorize the whole Glorious Qur’an, word by word by heart. Such features could not be found in any religion of the world. That is why Islam is more entitled to be followed in all subjects of life.
Principles and rules of Islam are most reasonable, realistic and proved. Muslim scholars have written special books on the principles and beliefs of the Islamic Shari`ah and provided rational proofs highlighting the causes, secrets, expediencies of its provisions and rules. In these books, the principles and rules of Islam have been shown to be according to sound reason, right understanding and true nature. If any person raised any objection on any religious question, Muslim scholars would give a very reasonable, logical and complete answer to it.
We present here some characteristics of Islamic Shari`ah or merits of Islamic rulings:
The First Merit: Islam has introduced to such wonderful ways of devotion and worship of Allah that could not be found in any revealed book or in any religion of the world. The system of worship in Islam is well defined, systematic, pure, monotheistic and coinciding with the nature and need of human being.
The Second Merit: Islam has given thorough details of the obligations towards Allah, towards self and towards fellow beings; even a hundredth part of which is not to be found in any other religion.
The Third Merit: No constitution and no law can compete with the perfect political system and rules of justice, administration and international security that are presented by Islam. For instance, take the constitution and Law of America, or any other country; you will find by going through them that they are based on the expediencies of a particular territory, and whichever law is enacted, it will be found to contain particularly the element of domination and preference of a particular nation and a particular territory. On the contrary, the law promulgated by Islam, enunciates the rights of mankind without distinction of race and color. No branch of Islamic law is based on the interests and objects of any particular territory and particular race. The proof of this is that whenever any problem emerges in the world, whether it is about the agreement and treaty with any nation or about war, whether it is about the internal administration or foreign policy’ of the country, a commandment relating to it will certainly be found in Shari`ah.
In Akbarabad (Agra), India, an Englishman demanded proof of the truth of Islam from a Muslim scholar. The scholar gave some proof about the truth of Islam and related the miracles of the Prophet (peace be upon him) which proved him to be a true Prophet of Allah. The Englishman admitted the truth of these proofs but said that there was one more convincing proof about the truth of Islam. He said that their English constitutional and administrative law was framed with the deliberations and consultations of hundreds of wise men and politicians of the country and was completed in hundreds of years, in spite of all this, some law or the other needs amendments and alterations every four or five years. On the other hand, the law of Shari`ah was formed in a period of 23 years by the tongue of a person not knowing reading and writing, without the consultation of anybody, and no amendment and alteration was needed in it until now, nor did it show any sign of weakness in its stability and accuracy. Such a complete and extensive constitution and code cannot be made without revelation from Allah. The scholar then inquired of that Englishman as to why he did not embrace Islam. He replied that if he did so, his service and salary would come to an end. On hearing this, the scholar was silent. Afterwards, the Englishman embraced Islam. (`Ubaydullah, Tuhfatul Hind, p 240).
The Fourth Merit: No other religion contains even a shadow of the science of ethics and manners as contained in Islam. This will be proved by a perusal of the books “Ihya-ul-`Ulum” and “Kimya’e-Sa`adat” by Imam Gazali (may Allah have mercy on him). All these precious rules and principles were taken and extracted from the Glorious Qur’an and Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
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Source: Taken from www.sunniforum.com with modifications.
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