THE ISLAMIC WAY OF LIFE — Worshipping God and Doing Good to Man

THE ISLAMIC WAY OF LIFE Worshipping God and Doing Good to Man T HE Islamic way of life is, to put it briefly, a God-oriented life. The greatest concern of a Muslim is God Almighty. The focus of his whole life is Akhirah (the Hereafter), which is the ideal world of God. He obeys divine injunctions in every aspect of his life. His life becomes a practical expression of this Quranic verse: We take on God’s own dye. Who has a better dye than God’s? We worship Him alone. THE QURAN 2: 138 Taking on ‘God's dye’ means being of a 'godly character' in all aspects of one’s life, personal as well as social, exemplified in one’s thoughts, words and deeds. This 'godly' character is personified in a Muslim individual whose words and deeds in family matters, or dealings with other members of society or with regard to earning a livelihood, always seem to be distinguishably 'dyed' in the divine hue. A believer sees all of humanity as his family and the entire universe as his abode. IMAN (Faith) By accepting iman, one enters the fold of Islam. But iman is not simply the verbal recitation of the Kalima, the creed of Islam. According to the Quran, it is ma‘arifah (THE QURAN 5: 83), that is realization. Realization of truth is the door to Islam. When one discovers that Islam is truly God's religion and that it is the same truth that one has been seeking all along, one undergoes a unique experience of realization which is known in Islamic terminology as ma‘arifah. Making any kind of discovery revolutionizes a person's life, but when this discovery is of the realities of our existence leading to an intellectual transformation, it becomes synonymous with the emergence of a new life for the individual. This kind of intellectual revolution is no simple event. It turns a man into a superman, and gives him the greatest mission of his life. It regulates his life in such a way that no part of it remains unaffected. He