By: Naim Muhammad
What is a Muslim? There are many misconceptions about what a Muslim is. To truly understand what a Muslim is we have to go to the essence of the teachings of the Qur'an and example of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH). Let's get into it.
Muslim can be defined in two ways.
Number 1: The original nature in which you were created.
Number 2: One who submits his entire will to Allah's Will.
Let's begin with definition number one. In the Qur'an we have a concept called "Deen" which has several meanings but one is religion. Al-Islam is "Deen al-fitrah" the "Religion of nature". This means that Al-Islam is the religion that is brought out of and perfectly compliments the nature in which Allah created you in.
Allah says in the Qur'an "So establish your whole self, being sincerely upright, towards the religion: the nature upon which G-d originated human society..." (30:30)
This begs the next question, what is your original nature? Any baby that is born on this earth is born pure and innocent. This is why the Prophet says, "There is no child born except upon the fitrah..., Every child is born Muslim...". Even if the baby makes a mistake it does it out of pure innocence and he or she learns to not do that thing again. We must also look at how a baby is always seeking to improve. The child starts off babbling but it progresses into saying words. They start off crawling and then eventually begin standing up so that they can walk. Allah (SWT) deposited into every baby the nature to want to progress. This logic extends into the life of man as a whole. Adam, our first father, was created as a natural man and he was seeking to progress the life for mankind on earth. As long as he was working for that cause he was fine, when he listened to shaytan's suggestion then he fell from that original excellence. The satan wants for man to come out of his state of innocence. The Qur'an says of him, "Let not satan seduce you, in the same manner as He got your parents out of the Garden, stripping them of their raiment, to expose their shame..." (7:27). This is saying that what caused Adam to get taken out of the Garden was him not having regard for the original pure and innocent nature Allah (SWT) created him in. The satan seduces them by "exposing their shame" meaning, the things that used to be seen as shameful are no longer considered shameful, in other words we promote immoral/degenerate behavior. When man's life slips in this direction the Qur'an as Ar-Rahmaan (The Merciful Redeemer) comes to redeem man and bring him back to the path of purity and innocence, furthering his progress in the world. To sum this up, as long as man is living in the original form or creation that Allah (SWT) created him/her in then he/she is living the basic life of a Muslim, but man can only go so far in this manner.
This brings me to the second understanding of what a Muslim is. To submit your own will to the Will of Allah is a conscious act and it is a progression from the original nature Allah created you in. This is why I said in the previous paragraph that the Qur'an comes to redeem man back to the original natural life and to further his progress in the world. Al-Islam is what will bring man's life to its excellence. We see this in the life of Prophet Mohammed. Before receiving revelation he was known as a man of high moral character (living in his natural excellence)
In Surah 10 verse 16 it says of the Prophet, "A whole life-time before this have I dwelt amongst you: will you not then understand?"
This indicates that the first life is the natural life, the morally excellent life. But even that wasn't enough, he still felt in his soul that there was a void that needed to be filled. Therefore Allah responded to Mohammed and revealed to him the Qur'an. So this means that the second life is the excellence of your perception and knowing Allah's plan for your life. When you know Allah's plan for your life you become more serious and equipped to serve Allah. You don't succumb to your fleshly appetites because you've aligned your life to a higher purpose and that purpose is seeing Allah's Will present in man's society. When a person comes to this realization then he makes the shahada. He/she becomes a witness to the truth and then performs the obligatory disciplines (Salat, Zakat, Fasting, Hajj,) to purify the soul but also because these disciplines serve as a sign of us living our lives completely for Allah, and it being reflected in the total life of mankind.
So how can we progress as a community? First, we have to return back to having moral values. This doesn't mean that we must be perfect beings but we must accept responsibility for our life and actions. When we do this Allah will be with us because we are putting in the effort to be upright.
"Man gets nothing but what he strives for..." Qur'an 53:39
Yes we will make mistakes but Allah forgives His sincere servant, He is Al-Ghafoor (The Pardoner, Forgiver). What we cannot accept is being okay with disgraceful behavior and even going as far as promoting that behavior. When this happens we are signing our own death warrant. The second thing we must do is become educated in our religion. If we do not become educated in the Qur'an then we cannot be considered true Muslims.
The Prophet (PBUH) says, "Seeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslim".
Doing this gives us the ability to serve Allah more excellently, which is a Muslim's primary purpose in life.
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