What is Islam or Submission?

There is so much confusion especially after 9/11 about the religion of Islam or Submission. This confusion has been exasperated by comments from the so-called scholars or experts who quote the Quran in the least and advocate hadeeth and sunnah and old traditions dressed up as being Islam.

The religion of Islam or Submission to God is the only religion acceptable by God. It is not be forced upon any one. Everyone has the freedom to choose his or her own way of life. The Quran is very clear about this point.

2:256. There shall be no compulsion in religion. The guidance has been distinguished from straying. Therefore whoever disbelieves in the rebellion and believes in God₂₃₆, has taken hold of the strongest bond that never severs. And God₂₃₇ is All Hearing, All Knowing.

Therefore, those who force people to convert into a specific religion are disobeying God’s will as stated above.

Dress Code

Submission is not a dress code. There is nowhere in the Quran that God is commanding women to cover their head, either fully or partially. The word “head” or “heads” has been mentioned 18 times in the Quran and never refers to a woman’s head. To attribute covering the head of a woman to God and as a religious requirement is adding an extra word “head” to the Quran making the frequency 19 times which is a huge undertaking against the word of God. The warning is embedded in the 19-based mathematical code of the Quran. God is very clear about the dress code of women as He explains it in the Quran.

24:31. Tell the believing women to subdue their eyes and maintain their chastity. They shall not display their beauty except what is self-evident thereof; and they shall move their scarf to their chests. They shall not reveal their beauty except for their husbands or their fathers, or their father-in-laws, or their brothers, or the sons of their brothers or the sons of their sisters or other women or those who are rightfully theirs, or men who have no sexual drive or boys who have not reached puberty. Furthermore, they shall not provocatively move in order to reveal their beauty. Moreover, you shall repent to God₁₇₃₇, all of you believers that you may succeed.

33:59. O you prophet, tell your wives, your daughters and the believing women to lengthen their garments. Therefore, they will be recognized as righteous women and avoid being harassed. And God₂₀₃₉ is All Forgiving, All Merciful.

Acting and dressing according to these two verses are the trait of believing women. The believing women are already inspired by God how to dress according to these two verses. Although 24:31 commands women to move their scarf to their chest, male dominated societies who did not trust their women forced them to cover their heads or their bodies to various extents. These traditions predated Prophet Muhammad by thousands of years as one sees their remnants in Eastern European women and the Catholic nuns all over the world. Today’s false impression of the world of a Muslim woman is the one who at least covers her head to various extents. It is necessary to emphasize that any deviation from 24:31 and 33:59 is disobedience to God’s commandment and violates Submission to Him.

Self Defense

God has established the rules of war. The Quran only advocates fighting in the cause of God and it is only in self-defense and God forbids aggression. In self-defense, God requires everyone to mobilize, not only poor people. Sending other people’s young boys to war while the rich and influential sit in secure places boasting about victories achieved at the expense of other people’s sacrifice is a transgression of God’s law.

2 : 197. 4803. 2404. 90. 190. And fight in the cause of God₁₂₇ against those who fight you and do not transgress. Surely, God₁₂₈ does not love the transgressors.

It is interesting to note that the word “sword”, an instrument of aggression, is not mentioned in the Quran. The word “iron” is mentioned 6 times in the Quran and in one instance refers to the when God softened the iron for David, and God commands David to make “shield”, an instrument of defense.

34 : 10. We endowed David with blessings from Us; O mountains submit with him and you too O birds. We softened the iron for him.

34 : 11. You shall make shields that perfectly fit and work righteousness. I am the Seer of whatever you do.

Unfortunately, sword of Islam has been advocated by many today’s Muslims as an instrument of aggressive posture of Islam. National flags, such as Saudi Arabian flag, displaying a sword has nothing to do with the Quran

Haj Pilgrimage

God decreed to Abraham to call upon the people to come to His House. I want to emphasize the fact that God tells Abraham to call upon “the people” and not the “Muslims” or the “believers”. This is clear proof that Kaaba is open to all sincere seekers of God. God has made it a sanctuary for the “people”. Those who approach the Kaaba with malicious and aggressive intent will be dealt with by God. God will defend Kaaba, just as He did against the people of the Elephant (Sura 105).

22 : 26. We appointed Abraham to establish the House. You shall not set up anything as a partner for Me and cleanse My House for those who visit it, those who live around it and those who bow and prostrate.

22 : 27. And call upon people to observe Haj. They will come to you walking and with all other means. They will come to you from the farthest places.

Barring sincere people from Haj is a gross offense in the sight of God. God sifts out those who set up partners for Him in His own way. Remember that God has made the Sacred Mosque a “secure” place and humans do not need to provide security for Kaaba. The so-called “black stone” is not mentioned in the Quran and it is not part of the Kaaba. Rushing to touch this stone is believing in the power of a rock made out of silicon oxide, and it is setting up a partner for God; it is in clear violation of 22:26 and a gross offense.

Circumcision

Another shocker is the fact that God does not command the believers to be circumcised. This is not a Quranic commandment. The Quran actually tells that God created a “balanced” or a “perfect” man. Any distortion of God’s creation, specially when it is being attributed to God is gross offense in the sight of God.

15 : 26. And when God said to the angels, that indeed I am creating a human being from dry mud from black aged mud.

15 : 27. Thereafter, once I perfected him and blew into him from My Spirit, you shall fall prostrate to him.

God clearly tells that His creation is perfect and/or balanced and “mohels” are not required to fix things up. Recent death of a 5-week old baby in Canada due to complication and bleeding stemming from circumcision has flared up debates in Canada to ban this unnecessary mutilation of male infants, young boys, and men. http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/content/full/167/7/789-a. Remember that if circumcision was necessary and had all those wonderful medical benefits as we were lead to believe, would not God had created all males circumcised?

These are a few physical facts about the Quran as a message from God that is being ignored by billions of people due to lack of knowledge, prejudice or absence of reverence for God. These actions only backfires on those who perpetrate them and will be to their own detriment in this world as well as the hereafter, where the punishment is everlasting.