| The
Believer's Attitude In order to be a Muslim, i.e., to surrender oneself to God, it is necessary to believe in the Oneness of God, in the sense of His being the only Creator. Preserver, Nourisher, etc. But this belief is not enough. Many of the idolaters knew and believed that only the Supreme God could do all this. However, that was not enough to make them Muslims. One must also acknowledge the fact that it is God alone Who deserves to be worshipped, and thus abstain from worshipping any other thing or being.  |
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| Having
achieved this knowledge of the
one true God, man should constantly have faith in Him, and
should allow nothing to induce him to deny truth.
When faith enters a person's heart, it causes certain mental states,
which result in certain action. Taken
together, these mental
states and actions are the proof
for the true faith.
The Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said, "Faith
is that which resides firmly in
the heart and which is proved by deeds." Foremost among those
mental states is the feeling, of gratitude towards God, which could be
said to be the essence of worship.
This feeling of gratitude is so important that a person who denies
the
truth of Islam
is called
a "Kafir" which means one who is grossly
ungrateful to God.
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| A
believer loves and is grateful to God for the bounties He bestowed upon
him, but being aware of the fact that his good deeds, whether mental or
physical, are far from being commensurate with Divine favors, he is always
anxious lest God should punish him, here or in the Hereafter. Therefore, he fears Him, surrenders himself to Him and serves Him with great humility. One cannot be in such a mental state without being almost all the time mindful of God. Remembering God is thus the life force of faith, without which it' fades and withers away. |
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| The
Qur-an
tries to promote this feeling of gratitude by repeating the attributes
of God very frequently. We find most of these attributes mentioned together
in the following verses of the Noble Qur-an: "Allah is He, than Whom there is no other god - Who knows (all things) both secret and open; He is Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Allah is He, than whom there is no other god - the Sovereign, the Holy One, the Source of Peace (and Perfection), The Guardian of Faith, the Preserver of Safety, the Exalted in Might, the Irresistible, the Supreme: Glory to Allah! (High is He) above the partners they attribute to Him. He is Allah the Creator, the Evolver, the Bestower of Forms (or colors). To Him belong the Most Beautiful Names: Whatever is in the heavens and on earth doth declare His Praises and Glory: and He is the exalted in Might, the Wise." (Qur-an, 59:22-24) |
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