The religion of God is the true, natural religion to adopt. The truth of this suddenly becomes plain in moments of crisis. Whatever the religion a man adopts, when the whirlpool of events sends him spiraling downwards to his doom, he forgets all else and turns to God. It is experiences of this nature which prove that the only true religion is the religion of God, the one on which a man should base his entire life. If he adopts any other religion, a time will come, sooner or later when it will prove to be without substance. When disaster looms large, all its supports will be shown to be false. Which is the natural religion? To find out we have to understand that after the creation of the universe, when man first inhabited the earth, God decreed that in every age and in every nation, there would be certain individuals who would be raised as prophets or his messengers to guide mankind to the path of God. God, who has absolute knowledge, sent his guidance to man. He did this by means of revelations, which he bade the angels convey to the prophets in the form of divine books. These are the sacred books on which the religions of the world are based. These religious books have guided man in all ages. In every era a large number of people have found in them light for their minds and solace for their hearts.

The Role of Religion and Prophets

The goal of religions has always been to give man a proper knowledge of his Creator, so that he may properly understand the universe and the purpose of human life in it. So all religions revealed by God to his messengers brought true guidance from him and, therefore, were one and the same. That is to say that originally there was no basic difference between one religion and the other.

The Prophet’s role is to put this divine message into words that we can understand. He demonstrates the kind of life that God expects man and the whole of creation to lead. But it happened that none of the concerned peoples were able to preserve the teachings of their prophets. Either these religions survived in a distorted form, or they vanished without leaving any trace. Moreover, contemporary historians failed to attach any importance to these prophets or their teachings. For this reason few of these prophets found their place in the annals of history.

This blackout of history was so complete that even the prophets of later periods of history received scant mention in contemporary records. This is the case of even Jesus Christ who came to the world two thousand years ago. So little is known about his life that a western scholar was once constrained to remark: “historically, it is quite doubtful whether Christ ever existed at all.”

Historical Credibility of Prophet Muhammad

The only exception is that of Prophet Muhammad – the final prophet, whose history is completely documented. This difference is due to the fact that circumstances were such that he became involved in all kinds of political events, and he and his companions were able to usher in a revolution bringing about sweeping changes in the political and the social order of the time. Naturally the events of his life came to be recorded in the contemporary history and thus he became an essential part of history. In this way, by historical standards, the Prophet Muhammad became a historical personality, in the full sense of the word.

Due to the paucity of reliable documentation, all the previous religious scriptures, except that of Islam – the Quran, have lost their historical credibility. By rational standards all other religions have assumed the status of a set of dogmas rather than that of a chronicled event. One can believe in them only as a matter of faith and not as a fact of history. However, the position of Islam in this regard is totally different. Muhammad, the messenger of Islam, as acknowledged by all well-known historians of the world, was born in the full light of history, and whatever he said or did in his lifetime has been recorded in considerable detail.

So we can say that God had sent all the previously revealed books so that man might be informed of the nature of his life. The Quran, the last of the revealed books, endorses all the revealed books, which preceded it. But this endorsement applies to them only in their original, pristine versions. The religious scriptures preceding the Quran were — as is claimed by their followers — divine in origin. But from the point of view of academic authenticity they have lost their original credibility. This is due to alteration, deletion and interpolation in them.

Islam: The Preserved Natural Religion

Islam is the preserved natural religion sent by God through His Prophet Muhammad, the last Prophet. The Qur’an—the word of God in Arabic—is the foundation of this inspired path. The sunnah—the life and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, (on whom be peace and God’s blessings), collected in several volumes—provides clarification of the Quran. Whoever seriously wishes to understand Islam should study these books, for they are the authentic source of God’s religion. The following compilation has been prepared with a general and fundamental understanding of the divine way in mind. It attempts to present before the reader the ‘true face of Islam’, which, has remained elusive to the world. If it imbues the reader with a desire to study religion in more detail and delve deeper into reality, then it will have been worthwhile.

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