❞ كتاب What is Islam ❝ ⏤ جمال زارابوزو

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful.
All praises are due to Allah; we praise Him; we seek His help; we
seek His forgiveness; and we seek His guidance. We seek refuge in
Allah from the evil in our souls and the badness of our deeds. For
whomever Allah guides, there is none to lead him astray. And for
whomever He allows to go astray, there is none to guide him. I bear
witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, for whom
there is no partner. And I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant
and Messenger.

I would like to take this opportunity to express praise
and to thank Allah for giving me the opportunity to write an
important work of this nature. May Allah forgive me for my
shortcomings in presenting His religion.

I would also like to express my heartfelt thanks to the
noble Shaikh Muhammad al-Turki of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs,
Endowments, Da’wah and Guidance for his support. I would also like
to express my thanks to Ahmad Ba-Rasheed for his continual efforts
as well.
There are many people that I would like to thank for their help
in this particular work. First, I must express my thanks to my beloved
wife who is always a source of assistance and help. Special thanks
must also go to Dr. Abdulkarim al-Saeed, Br. Nahar al-Rashid, Dr.
Mohammad al-Osimi, Dr. Ahmad al-Teraiqi and Br. Jalaal Abdullah.
I can only pray that Allah rewards them and blesses them in both this
life and the Hereafter.
I pray that Allah accepts this work from me as being solely for
His sake. As with all such work, the responsibility for any mistakes
lies with the author. I ask Allah to forgive me for my shortcomings
and to guide me to the Straight Path.

This is a very important time for the publishing of clear and
concise material about Islam. Today, Islam is often pictured in a very
unflattering manner in many parts of the world—not much different
than it was in the not-so-distant past. A Western author writing about
the life of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
wrote,
When the war blazed up between Islam and
Christianity, lasting for ages, animosity grew severe
between the two sides; and each side misunderstood
the other one. It should be admitted, however, that
the basic misunderstanding was more on the part of
the westerners than the easterners. In fact,
immediately after such violent intellectual disputes
— in which argumentative debaters overloaded
Islam with vices, degradation and abasement
without taking the trouble to study it — mercenary
writers and paid-poets set out to attack the Arabs,
but their attack was a merely false, contradictory
accusation.1
1 Quoted from Afif A. Tabbarah, The Spirit of Islam: Doctrine & Teachings Hasan T.
Shoucair, trans. (2

nd Edition revised by Rohi Baalbaki, 1988, no other publication
information given), p. 9. For an in-depth study by a non-Muslim of how Islam has been
portrayed in the Western literature, see Norman Daniel, Islam and the West: The Making
of an Image (Oxford, England: Oneworld Publications, 1993), passim. Another important

work is Minou Reeves, Muhammad in Europe: A Thousand Years of Western Myth-
Making (Washington Square, New York: New York University Press, 2000), passim. It is

interesting to note her explanation of why Westerners attempted to attack the person of the
Prophet per se. She writes on p. x, “The trouble started with early medieval Christian
polemicists. They chose not to attack Islamic theology, which was too seductive in its
simplicity and clarity, and which raised too many awkward questions about Christian
dogma. Nor could they cast doubt on the pious practice of ordinary Muslims. Instead,
anticipating the worst excesses of tabloid journalism, they personalized the issue and
attacked the Prophet of Islam, dispensing with all but the barest knowledge of any facts and

There is no need to go into details but today such misunderstandings
concerning Islam have continued from all sorts, including some
public and church leaders in the West.
Unfortunately, since many of the masses are unfamiliar with
Islam beyond what they see in the mass media—which of course
recently has been filled with a terrorist taint—it is not surprising that
such misrepresentations of Islam resonate with the public as a
whole.1 The easiest and probably the most productive cure for this
situation is by reaching out to those people and allowing them to hear
what Islam is truly all about. One must go beyond the hype and get to
the true authentic teachings of the religion. (Unfortunately, it is also a
sad state of affairs that today one must also go beyond the picture that
the Muslims themselves give non-Muslims of Islam. Although, in
general, Christianity or Judaism is not blamed for the misdeeds of
Christians or Jews, today Islam is still often blamed for the misdeeds
of Muslims, even when the practices of such Muslims clearly violate
the tenets of Islam.2
)

Unfortunately, today the negative views and
misrepresentations of Islam are not simply an issue of one's personal
religious beliefs. The ramifications have gone far beyond that and
touch upon the security and politics of the world as a whole. Most
harmful though is that as Islam is misunderstood and continually
painted as the “other” and a source of evil, many are closed off to its
beauty and its priceless truths that it has to offer to humankind. In
reality, in these troubled times, there is a great need to turn to the
guidance from God, which is exactly what Islam is all about.

inventing falsehoods. Muslims could not reply in kind, since they are told by the Qur’an to
revere Jesus as a holy prophet.”
1 An interesting discussion of how Islam is dealt with in one Western country’s media is
John E. Richardson, (Mis)Representing Islam: The racism and rhetoric of British
broadcast newspapers (Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2004),
passim.
2
For a Muslim to set a bad example of Islam is grave indeed. Allah has even taught the
Muslims to make the following supplication: “Our Lord! Make us not a trial for the

disbelievers, and forgive us, Our Lord! Verily, You, only You are the All-Mighty, the All-
Wise” (60:5).

The goal here is not to deal with the misinformation that is
being spread about Islam. The goal here is simply to present what
Islam truly is, based on the original and universally recognized
sources of Islam:The Quran—or, in other words, the book revealed
from Allah (God) to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of
Allah be upon him)—as well as the words and guidance of the
Prophet himself.
1
The Intended Audience for This Work
The person targeted by this work is anyone who is interested
in a basic introduction to the fundamental beliefs and practices of the
Islamic faith. An attempt has been made to be as concise as
possible—but with the hope that the reader will be encouraged to
study Islam in more depth. For the purpose of more in-depth study,
many other important books will be recommended or referred to in
the footnotes.
It should also be noted that this book is written by a “Western”
convert to Islam and it is assumed, since it is written in English, that
a good number of its readers will be either of the West or familiar
with the West. Thus, many of the references will be related to issues
with which the people of the West would be most familiar and with
which the author is also most familiar.2
The Place of this work among the other introductory works

There is a plethora of books introducing Islam to non-
Muslims. Especially since 9/11, one can enter virtually any major

bookstore in the United States, for example, and find numerous
1 The example and actions of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) are
known as his sunnah while his statements are termed hadith. Upon reading further about
Islam, one will come across these terms quite often. For the sake of familiarity, “example”
and “statements” of the Prophet will be used throughout this work. Also note that these
reports about the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) are usually
referenced by stating the source work in which they are found. This traditional manner of
referencing is followed in this work.
2 Hence, there will be very little, if any, reference to Eastern religions or philosophies. This
author has, however, studied those subjects and some of his findings may be found in
Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo, Purification of the Soul: Concept, Process and Means (Denver,
CO: Al-Basheer Publications and Translations, 2002), pp. 11-20.

introductory texts. Obviously, some of them are quite decent.1 Many
of these are written by non-Muslims, some no doubt sincere in their
wish to faithfully present the religion of the Muslims. As a Muslim,
this author can state that, for the most part, these authors have a
tendency to miss the true spirit of Islam and what Islam is all about.
These works have a tendency to concentrate on secondary issues,
historical developments among the Muslims themselves or deviations
from the original Islam, leaving the reader ignorant of the essential
spirit and teachings of Islam.2

 ً?: This book explains basic introduction to the fundamental beliefs and practices of the Islamic faith. An attempt has been made to be as concise as possible, but with the hope that the reader will be encouraged to study Islam in more depth.