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The True Religion
ByAbu Ameenah – Bilal Philips.
The Religion of Islam
The first thing that one should know and clearly understand aboutIslam is what the word “Islam” itself means. The religion of Islam is notnamed after a person as in the case of Christianity which was named after Jesus Christ, Buddhism after Gotama Buddha, Confucianism after Confucius, and Marxism after Karl Marx. Nor was it named after a tribelike Judaism after the tribe of Judah and Hinduism after the Hindus. Islamis the true religion of “
Allah
” and as such, its name represents the central principle of 
Allah
’s “
God
’s” religion; the total submission to the will of 
Allah
“
God
”. The Arabic word “Islam” means the submission or surrender of one’s will to the only true
God
worthy of worship “
Allah
”and anyone who does so is termed a “Muslim”. The word also implies“peace” which is the natural consequence of total submission to the willof 
Allah
. Hence, it was not a new not a new religion brought by ProphetMuhammad (peace be upon him) in Arabia in the seventh century, butonly the true religion of 
Allah
re-expressed in its final form.Islam is the religion which was given to Adam, the first man andthe first prophet of 
Allah
, and it was the religion of all the prophets sent by
Allah
to mankind. The name of 
God
’s religion “Islam” was notdecided upon by later generations of man. It was chosen by
AllahHimself 
and clearly mentioned in
His
final revelation, the Qur’aan,
Allah
states the following:“
This day haveIperfected your religion for you, completedMy favor upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion
”(Soorah Al-Maa’idah 5:3)
 
“
If anyone desires a religion other than Islam submission toAllah(God) never will it be accepted of Him
”(Soorah Aal’imraan 3:85)“
Abraham was not a Jew nor yet a Christian; But an uprightMuslim.
”(Soorah Aal’imraan 3:67) Nowhere in the Bible will you find
Allah
saying to Prophet Moses’ people or their descendants that their religion is Judaism, nor to thefollowers of Christ that their religion is Christianity. In fact, Christ wasnot even his name, nor was it Jesus! The name “Christ” comes from theGreek word Christos which means the anointed. That is, Christ is a Greek translation of the Hebrew title “
Messiah
”. The name “Jesus” on the other hand, is a Latinized version of the Hebrew name
 Esau
.For simplicity’s sake, I will however continue to refer to ProphetEsau (peace be upon him) as Jesus. As for his religion, it was what hecalled his followers to. Like the prophets before him, he called the peopleto surrender their will to the will of 
Allah
; (which is Islam) and hewarned them to stay away from the false gods of human imagination.According to the New Testament, he taught his followers to pray asfollows: ”Yours will be done on earth as it is in Heaven”.
The Message of Islam
Since the total submission of one’s will to Allah represents theessence of worship, the basic message of 
Allah
’s divine religion, Islam isthe worship of 
Allah
alone and the avoidance of worship directed to any person, place or thing other than
Allah
. Since everything other than
 
Allah
, the Creator of all things, is
Allah
’s creation; it may be said thatIslam, in essence calls man away from the worship of creation and inviteshim to worship only its Creator.
He
is the only one deserving man’sworship as it is only by
His
will that prayers are answered. If man praysto a tree and his prayers are answered, it was not the tree which answeredhis prayers but Allah who allowed the circumstances prayed for to take place. One might say, “that is obvious,” however, to tree-worshippers itmight not be. Similarly, prayers to Jesus, Buddha, or Krishna, to SaintChristopher, or Saint Jude or even to Muhammed, are not answered bythem but are answered by
Allah
. Jesus did not tell his followers toworship him but to worship Allah. As the Qur’aan states:”
And behold!Allahwill say:” O Jesus the son of Mary! Did yousay to men, Worship me and my mother as gods besidesAllah?”He will say: ”Glory to you I could never say what I had no right(to say(
”(Soorah Al-Maa’idah 5:116) Nor did he worship himself when he worshipped but rather heworshipped Allah. This basic principle is enshrined in the openingchapter of the Qur’aan, known as Soorah Al-Faatihah, verse 5:“
Youalone do we worship and fromYoualone do we seek help
”.Elsewhere, in the final book of revelation, the Qur’aan,
Allah
also said:“
And yourLordsays: ”Call on me and I will answer your
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