The essence of the Religion

In the Name of Allah the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Religion offers an interpretation for the universe, life, and human:

Dear brothers, the truth is that man has mind, instincts, enemies, a scientific side, a psychological side, and a material oriented mind. When does the mind submit? Do you accept it if I said: one plus one equals five? None of you would accept it, but if I said: one plus one equals two, all of you would agree.
This is the meaning of religion to which people submit. The mind submits to it, the soul submits to it, and the body submits to it. Its approach is from the Creator, the Expert, the All-Knower. This is the approach. Its ideas and perspectives offer you a deep, accurate, and true explanation of the universe, life, and human being. Man is a thinking creature whether he likes it or not. He needs a perspective for every issue; even the illiterate has a creed. The speech of the public comes from their perspectives. Every human on earth has a perspective for every issue. Heroism is to have a true, actual, scientific, and moderate perspective. Religion is a detailed approach for every movement, in privacy and public, in health and sickness, in wealth and poverty, in strength and weakness, and before and after marriage. It is an approach that moves with man wherever he moves. Thus, seeking knowledge is an obligatory duty for every Muslim. Some people may not comprehend the meaning of obligatory duty. Drinking water is an obligatory duty, what does that mean? If you didn’t drink water, you would die out of thirst, you have no choice to drink or not. You can choose to drink from a glass or something else. You can choose the way of drinking; the vessel, but you must drink water. When you believe that religion is like water and food for you, you must look for its true sources and right approach, and the right way by which the Messenger came and which his companions followed.

Religion is a relation with Allah:

One of the meanings of religion is that it is a relation between two sides. That is, religion is a relation between you and Allah. You have relations with your wife, children, brothers, sisters, customers, neighbors, and relatives. Religion is a relation with Allah; it is a relation between the Creator of the Universe and you, the obedient slave. Allah accepts that we have a relation with Him, which is an honor for us, He accepts that we talk to Him in prayer, to be close to Him, to do something for His sake, to love Him, He accepts to love us. Religion is your relation with Allah, it is a relation between two sides; the Creator of heavens and earth, and you.

Religion is to take care of all aspects of life:

Dear brothers, I have always said that I want to correct the idea that religion is only prayer, fasting, and zakat (alms giving). Religion is all your affairs, money, spending, marriage, having children, raising children up, your relation with the believers and unbelievers around you, your relation with your relatives, the items related to religion are countless. It is a detailed method for life.

Religion is a need:

When you possess an expensive, delicate machine, you unconsciously take care of the manual, because it is from the manufacturer whose instructions must be followed, as he knows best about it. Allah says:

( And none can inform you (O Muhammad) like Him Who is the All-Knower (of each and everything).)

[Fatir:14]

You, based on your selfishness, and because you love yourself, your safety, your existence, you should be religious because it is the manufacturer instructions and the manufacturer is the All-Knower:

( And none can inform you (O Muhammad) like Him Who is the All-Knower (of each and everything).)

Before you love Allah, because you love yourself, you should be religious whether religion is considered a charge or an honor. The changes in the stance of the society towards religion should not affect your effort to stick to this religion. Ibn Omar said:

“Your religion, your religion is your flesh and blood”.

Being far from Religion is the cause of every problem in this life:

All problems on earth since Adam till Doomsday have been caused by diversion Allah’s orders, and that is because of ignorance which is the worst enemy of man. What is the crisis of the dwellers of Hellfire?

( Had we but listened or used our intelligence, we would not have been among the dwellers of the blazing Fire!)

[Al-Mulk:10]

The reason is that every person on earth is so careful to the love, safety, perfection, continuity of his existence? Now we have seven billion human beings on earth each and every one of them is keen on his safety. Who would love to be sick, poor, imprisoned, or to have problems? All of us are keen on our safety, perfection and continuity of existence. You wish to have a wife, children, a house, and a car. All of us wish long life with perfect health, don’t we? All your goals of the safety, perfection and continuity of existence could be achieved by your obedience to Allah:

(And whosoever obeys Allah and His Messenger he has indeed achieved a great achievement (i.e. he will be saved from the Hell-fire and made to enter Paradise)

[Al-Ahzab:71]

If you obey Allah and His messenger you achieve the purpose of your creation. Allah created you for a Paradise which is wider than heavens and earth. The word “aflaha” (achieved success) is mentioned in the Quran four times:

(Successful indeed are the believers)

[Al-Mu’minun]

Religion is Worship:

Dear brothers, one of the Ayahs related to religion is:

(And they were commanded not, but that they should worship Allah, and worship none but Him Alone (abstaining from ascribing partners to Him)

[Al-Baiyyinah:5]

The Creator of the worlds orders you to worship Him Alone. Worship is obedience. There are ritual acts of worship such as prayer, fasting, pilgrimage to Mecca, and zakat (alms giving), and there are transaction worships such as honesty, and keeping the trust. The first problem now is that some people have the delusion that worship is only rituals. They perform the prayers, fast, go for hajj, pay zakat, and that’s it. They don’t earn and spend their money legally. If you don’t understand religion as a full, comprehensive, and detailed method for life, you don’t understand religion correctly.
Dear brothers, the true definition of religion is that it is a set of obligations the creature has towards the Creator; the obligation of man towards Allah, the obligation of man towards his nation, his obligation towards his family, and towards himself. Thus you must attend lectures or at least sermons in order to know who you are. You are the first creature:

(And I (Allah) created not the jinns and humans except they should worship Me (Alone))

[Adh-Dhariyat:56]

What is worship? It is obedience to Allah. It is a voluntary obedience mixed with a heart love, based on certainty knowledge, leading to an everlasting happiness. I hope that religion is not a habit of yours.

The messages of all prophets call to monotheism:

Can you summarize all Divine messages in one Ayah:

(And We did not send any Messenger before you (O Muhammad) but We inspired him (saying): La ilaha illa Ana [none has the right to be worshipped but I (Allah)], so worship Me (Alone and none else))

[Al-Anbiyah':25 ]

And so Allah says:

(He (Allah) has ordained for you the same religion (Islam) which He ordained for Nuh (Noah), and that which We have inspired in you (O Muhammad), and that which We ordained for Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses) and ‘Iesa (Jesus) saying you should establish religion (i.e. to do what it orders you to do practically), and make no divisions in it (religion) (i.e. various sects in religion). Intolerable for the Mushrikun , is that to which you (O Muhammad) call them. Allah chooses for Himself whom He wills, and guides unto Himself who turns to Him in repentance and in obedience)

[Ash-Shurah:13]

The message of all prophets is monotheism; there is no God but Allah, no Giver but Allah, and no Healer but Allah. When you see that all your issues are related to Allah, you leave the creatures and seek the Creator.

Religion is submission to Allah:

Allah says:

(Truly, the religion with Allah is Islam)

[Aal ’Imran:19]

This Ayah has many meanings, but the most accurate one is that the truth of religion is submission to Allah. Are you subject to habits and traditions? Do you follow your principles or your interests? Do you follow the method of heaven or the laws of earth? Religion is submission.

General issues are as important as detailed ones:

Dear brothers, sometimes man needs details, and sometimes he/she needs general truth. Some people live indulged in details, but general truths are away from them. This is a great problem. You need the general truths of this religion every now and then. What is the truth of religion?
I ask Allah to help us understand religion correctly, and to help us understand what is going on in the light of the instructions of religion.