Ramadan in UAE: How to become a true Muslim

Dubai - Once a person says the Shahada with conviction and understands its meaning, he/she becomes a Muslim.

Becoming a Muslim is a simple and easy process. All one has to do is recite the Testimony of Faith (Shahada): I testify “La ilaha illa Allah, Muhammad Rasool Allah.”

These Arabic words mean: “There is no true God, but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger (Prophet) of God.”

Once a person says the Shahada with conviction and understands its meaning, he/she becomes a Muslim. This confession is the gateway to Islam, the corner-stone of the faith.

The condition, however, is that one should have accepted conscientiously and with full understanding the declaration of the oneness of God and the apostleship of Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) contained in it.

Anyone who repeats the confession mechanically, without under-standing it and without knowing what the concept of divine unity and apostleship and prophecy mean, will not gain recognition in the sight of Allah as a Muslim.

The first part of confession — there is no God but Allah — contains the affirmation of the oneness of God. It means that no one except Allah Almighty is worthy of worship and obedience.

Worship and obedience should be offered to Him alone, because He and no one else is our Lord and Creator, Nourisher and Sustainer and the Dispenser of life and death. Apart from Him, whatever living things exist on the earth or in heaven — be they men or angels — are all His creatures and slaves. He is partnered by no one, no one has a share in His divinity nor can anyone amend or alter His will, or interfere with His affairs.

It is, therefore, necessary that all His commands and injunctions are strictly obeyed and faithfully carried out. Once we have realised and confessed the truth that God alone, and no one besides Him, is worthy of worship and obedience, our conduct should also be in conformity with it, so much so that anyone who sees us, should know by our behaviour that we are the devoted servants of the Lord who carry out His commands dutifully and live and die for His sake alone.

The second part of the confession — Muhammad is His prophet — is the affirmation of the divine apostleship of Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him).

That Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) is the Apostle of God means that he was raised up by the Almighty for the guidance of the world, and whatever he taught, preached or revealed, like the divinity of the origin of the Holy Quran, the existence of the angels, the certainty of the Last Day, the Resurrection, the Judgment, the ward of Heaven and Hell according to one’s deeds on Earth was 100 per cent true and authentic.

Indeed the apostleship of the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) denotes nothing more and nothing less than this that all the things he taught to the world, all the truths he revealed to mankind, were based on divine inspiration, that they were based on special and authoritative knowledge vouchsafed to him by God, and so they were absolutely correct and beyond dispute.

This affirmation implies that each and every precept and command of his should be wholeheartedly believed in and obeyed, for God raised up His apostles in the world solely to convey through them to mankind the commands and precepts He wants it to follow.

The confession embodies the pledge and the vow that we believe in Allah as the one and only Lord sovereign, Master and Creator and that we accept Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) as the true apostle of God. The word “Muslim” means one who submits to the will of God, regardless of their race, nationality or ethnic background.

Upon entering the fold of Islam purely for the Pleasure of God, all of one’s previous sins are forgiven, and one starts a new life.

When one accepts Islam, one in essence repents from the ways and beliefs of one’s previous life. One need not be overburdened by sins committed before their acceptance. The person’s record is clean, and it is as if he was just born from his mother’s womb. One should try as much as possible to keep his records clean and strive to do as many good deeds as possible.

K.M.Z. (Source: islamicinsights.com) (The writer is former Khaleej Times Staffer)