Certainly Allah’s Deen is Islam…(3:19) What is Islam? (Translation of Islam Kiya Hai?) What did Allah say? The Quranic Perspective Ghulam Ahmed Parwez 1964 Which was bestowed by Allah on mankind as a system of life and through which the caravan of humanity was to reach its intended destination. Tolu-e-Islam Trust (Regd.) 25 B, Gulberg-II, LAHORE Islamicdawn.com What is Islam? ___________________________________________________________________________ 2 What is Islam? ___________________________________________________________________________ ALL RIGHTS RESERVED No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher and/or editor, except in case of reviewers who may quote brief passages in a review. Title of the book: What is Islam? Author: Ghulam Ahmad Parwez Translated and Edited: Ejaz Rasool (Glasgow, UK) Technical Assistance: Sheraz Akhter (Norway) Published By: Tolu-e-Islam Trust ISBN: 978-1974206940 Contact: Tolu-e-Islam Trust 25 B Gulberg-II Lahore-54660 Pakistan www.islamicdawn.com Copyright © 2017 3 What is Islam? ___________________________________________________________________________ List of Other Works by the Author 1. Exposition of the Quran 2. Islam: A Challenge to Religion 3. The Book of Destiny 4. The Quranic Laws 5. Reasons for the Decline of Muslims 6. Letters to Tahira 7. Iblees and Adam (Devil and Man) 8. Lughat ul Quran (Dictionary of the Quranic Words) – Volume I and II (Available from Amazon) 9. The Quranic System of Sustenance (Available from Amazon) 10. The Life in the Hereafter: What Does the Quran Say (Available from Amazon) 11. The Status of Hadeeth in Islam (Available from Amazon) These books are available free for download at: http://www.islamicdawn.com/ These books are also available from: Tolu-e-Islam Trust 25 – B Gulberg 2 Lahore – 54660, Pakistan Email: [email protected] Phone: 00 92 42 35753666 4 What is Islam? ___________________________________________________________________________ ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ghulam Ahmed Parwez Ghulam Ahmad Parwez was born in Batala, Punjab, in British India on 9th July 1903 into a profoundly religious family. His grandfather, who was deeply religious and belonged to the Hanafi school of thought, was a renowned religious scholar who intended to make the author inherit his knowledge and religious understanding. As a consequence, his education and training was carried out under the direction of his grandfather. While he studied the traditional religious teachings, he also had the desire and inkling to question its content using his intellect and reasoning. This led to his inner conflict with the external religious environment and he continued to question the prevalent religious concepts and practices. He noticed that whatever was being taught as part of the religion was being referred to some Imam or religious scholar for authority. It was also noted in the religious literature that whatever the forefathers had followed should be obeyed without any question, and this was considered to be a requirement of Islam. For Parwez this did not satisfy his desire to seek reason and logic in every claim and statement made within the religious literature. However, he could not express these doubts and reservations initially due to his respect for his grandfather, and the constraints of the religious environment which prevailed at the time in his town. Later, due to his employment, he moved to Lahore (now part of Pakistan), and found a degree of freedom to question some of these religious concepts and beliefs. After the death of his grandfather, he found complete freedom to pursue his line of enquiry and research into the prevalent Islamic beliefs, doctrines, ideologies and religious practices. This led to his discovering that most of these have been acquired from others. He tried to study the Quran using the traditional religious approach but was unable to find the answers to all his doubts, which required satisfaction from a logical point of view. He also studied the life of the last messenger and the establishment of the Islamic State in the seventh century in his quest to determine the cause which contributed to this greatest revolution based on the Quran. He especially paid attention to the statement from the last messenger, ‘The Quran is not a product of my thinking or that of any other human being’ and that this is the message from Allah. He soon learnt the procedure to understand the Quran. 5 What is Islam? ___________________________________________________________________________ Through his contact with the famous philosopher and poet, Allama Iqbal, who had a deep interest in the Quran, Parwez concluded that to understand the Quran one has to understand three fundamentally important points: (1) The Quran calls itself Light (Nur) and a light does not need any external source or aid to make itself visible. It makes itself evident and also exposes the reality of those things which are within its domain. (2) The Quran is revealed in the Arabic language and, to understand it correctly, one needs to understand the Arabic context which was prevalent at the time of its revelation. (3) The Quran has guided us by saying that through Tasreef-ul-Ayat (through cross reference within the verses of the Quran) it makes its guidance clear e.g. see (6:106). In order to meet the second requirement regarding the precise meaning of the Arabic words in the Quran, he researched and compiled a Lughat-ul-Quran (now translated into English), which is a dictionary of all the words and terms used in the Quran and which includes the meanings which were prevalent among the Arabs at the time of the Quranic Revelation. For the third requirement of Tasreef- ul-Ayat, the Quran is different from books written by human beings, where the latter are usually divided based on various subjects - the Quran is based on mentioning a reality in one verse or verses and then its further explanation is noted in another place or places. For example in Surah Al An’am the Quran states: And thus do We explain the signs by various verses, so that they acknowledge ‘You have explained them’, and We make the Quran clear for a people who know. (6:106) In order to meet this requirement, Parwez felt the need to compile all the verses under one subject as referred in various verses of the Quran and he compiled a book in Urdu titled Tabweeb-ul-Quran i.e. Classification of the Quran. This made it easy to refer to various subjects and look at all the verses mentioned in the Quran relating to a subject. Along with writing and producing literature on the Quran, Parwez also held a regular weekly meeting in Lahore to deliver a Dars (lecture explaining the Quran) in Urdu, and these are also available as audio and video recordings. He dedicated most of his life to researching the Quran and its significance in relation to presenting an alternative solution to human problems, and answering questions relating to human creation, its purpose and the question of death and the next life. He also participated in the struggle for Independence during the period 1938-1947 and the creation of Pakistan, which was based on the ideology of the Quran, with 6 What is Islam? ___________________________________________________________________________ a view to establishing an Islamic State for the Muslims of the sub-continent. He worked very closely with the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah (Quaid- e-Azam or Great Leader) and had regular discussions with him on various aspects of the message of the Quran. In order to support the movement for a separate State for the Muslims of India and to counter the arguments put forward by some of the religious lobby who opposed the creation of Pakistan, he published a monthly journal called Tolu-e-Islam (Dawn of Islam), commencing in 1938. Parwez joined the Indian Civil Service in the Home Department in 1927, and after the creation of Pakistan he migrated to Karachi, and continued to serve in the same department till 1955, when he took early retirement and devoted the rest of his life fully to his work on the Quran. He moved to Lahore from Karachi and settled there. He left this life on 24th February 1985 in Lahore and his body was laid to rest in Lahore. 7 What is Islam? ___________________________________________________________________________ FOREWORD It was a while ago that I considered a written structure in order to present Islam in its true colours. And it was this - to first of all explain in a completely unbiased way what human intellect alone has achieved to date in finding solutions for the important problems of life (without the help of Divine Revelation), and whether it has been successful in its aim? If it has found satisfactory solutions to these problems of life then the need for another source of knowledge does not even arise (beyond human intellect). But if it has not been successful in its aim then we need to look at the source of knowledge which is beyond the reach of human intellect, (i.e. Divine Revelation) and which is now preserved in its true form within the Quran, and what solutions it presents to these problems. Accordingly, under this scheme, the first book in this connection titled ‘What Did Man Think’1 was published in 1955, in which, starting from the time of the Greek philosophers to the modern times, research was presented from philosophers, historians and scientists and it was shown, how despite all this exertion and struggle they accept the fact that it is not possible for the human intellect alone to find the solutions to the important problems of life.