Q: Is Allah the same as the Christian God?
 

A: Yes, for there is only one God. Muslims use the Arabic word Allah to describe God because it literally means "The God". The word Allah should really be used in English, and other languages, because it is the word used in the Quran and because it is unique to Islam and therefore the correct term to use. Other religions, such as Christianity, wrongly ascribe attributes to God - only Islam accurately describes God as God is - One, indivisible, Eternal, Infinite, Who neither begets nor Who was begotten.
 

Q: What does Islam say is the purpose of our life?
 

A: The purpose is to do the will of Allah, be obedient to His will, revealed to us by the Prophet (Muhammad Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa Ali Muhammad) so that: (1) we can create a just and noble Way of Life - an Islamic society - and (2) we, as individuals, can enter Paradise.
 

Q: How do we know the will of Allah?
 

A: The will of Allah is contained in the Quran, and in the Hadith - the teachings and practices of Muhammad (Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa Ali Muhammad) as recorded by his chosen successor, Imam Ali (Alayhis salaam), and handed down through generations of the Prophets family, the Ahl ul-Bayt. These are our guides to how we must live our own lives, for they contain the commands of Allah. Thus, we pray at certain times of the day because Allah has commanded it. Thus we fast in the month of Ramadan because Allah has commanded it. Thus we strive to be modest in public.

Muslims believe that Muhammad (Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa Ali Muhammad) was the Messenger of Allah and that what he revealed in the Quran was the final and complete revelation of the will of God, which is for us, as human beings, forever unalterable. That is, Muhammad (Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa Ali Muhammad) was the last Prophet and the Quran must be preserved and studied in its original Arabic as the authentic, unchanging command of Allah.

The life of Muhammad (Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa Ali Muhammad) is also a guide for us, for we regard him as the ideal human being whom we should strive to emulate.
 

Q: Is there any evidence, other than belief, which shows that Muhammad was the Prophet of Allah?
 

A: Yes.
 

1) There is the evidence of the life of the Prophet (Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa Ali Muhammad) himself. Here was someone truly remarkable - the ideal human being. Someone wise, noble, caring, honest, spiritual and yet a real leader who led his followers into battle. The more one knows about him, the more inspiring he becomes. There is something very special about this man which defies mundane explanation.

2) There is the evidence of the Quran itself. If you actually read it in an unbiased and reasoned way, I am sure you will be struck by how civilized it is - by its insight into human nature; by its code of conduct; by its reasonable approach to life. The logic of it is astounding. It is quite simply the best guide ever written to how we can become civilized human beings. One of the important messages of the Quran is how we can let decency, purity, kindness, justice and honour prevail and triumph in ourselves and so together create a good society.

Furthermore, the Quran explains God as God really is - as we truly experience God. That is, it describes God as the seekers of God have always found Him to be if they empty their hearts and minds of human concerns and human ideas.

One of the many wonderful things about the Quran (and also mentioned many times in the Hadith literature) is that it tells us to seek knowledge, to learn, to use the reason we have been given. For the more we learn, the more we reason, the more we know how little we know about the Cosmos, and thus the more we understand about Allah - the closer we come to Allah. Anyone who has ever studied a subject in a scholarly way soon becomes humbled, and begins to appreciate the wonder of this world, and thus begins to appreciate God. This is particularly true of scientific subjects - for we have only skimmed the surface of the Cosmos and have learnt how much there is still to learn and know. That there is an Order, a purpose, to Life, to the Cosmos becomes clear the more we learn and discover about Life and the Cosmos.

3) Equally illuminating, and complimentary to the Quran in terms of expressing a code of living and the civilized virtues, are the collections of Hadith which contain a profound understanding, and a profound wisdom far surpassing that of any other person.

Q: I can admire the reasoning, the Code of behaviour you mention, but surely it is not necessary to believe in Allah, and Muhammad, and obey the will of Allah as Muslims do, to be civilized and create a good society?
 

A: A civilized way of life, and a civilized society, here on this Earth, are only the beginning. It is important to understand that our lives have a purpose beyond this physical world we live in. This purpose is to attain Paradise, to live in another world, in another type of 'time'. We attain this life after death, if and only if we have lived in a certain way here on Earth. Sins are simply those acts which take us away from the path to Paradise and along the many paths to Hell.
 

We who are Muslims are Muslims because we have accepted that we can, as individuals, and collectively in a community, act and live in a civilized way, and that there is another life which awaits for us after our mortal death. This eternal life which awaits can be either in Paradise, or in Hell, depending on what we do, or do not do, in our own lives. In a simple sense, we exist to find and walk along the path to Paradise.

We who are Muslims accept that this path to Paradise was revealed to us by Muhammad (Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammadin wa Ali Muhammad) who was the Prophet of Allah, the One and true God, Who gave us life and the chance to enter Paradise. The Quran, and the collections of Hadith, are our guides - they tell us how to stay on this path and what we must do in order not to give in to the many temptations which will befall us on our journey. In a profound way, the noble Quran is also our key to the Gates of Paradise - without it, we cannot enter Paradise.

It is all very simple, logical, and quite wonderful.
 

Q: But is it not difficult being a Muslim in the modern technological world, and in particular in the West with its materialism, opulence and profane view of life?
 

A: Yes, sometimes it can be difficult. But we have to live as Muslims, submitting to the will of Allah - that is, observing our unchanged and unchanging customs and obeying the unchanged and unchanging laws of Islam, however difficult it is and however 'strange' we may appear to others. We must do this because that is what being Muslim means - submitting ourselves to the will of Allah. We discipline ourselves, and reject the decadence, the evil of the materialism of the West, because that is what we must do to live a decent, civilized, spiritual life. Anything else is wrong because it is a denial of what makes us human. If we live in any other way we are really just being animals, not human beings, and will have forsaken our chance to enter Paradise. For what really makes us human - and thus civilized - is using our reason and our will. We possess, thanks to Allah, both the faculty to know, to understand the world and the cosmos, and the faculty of will to restrain our lower animal passions and our animal behaviour. Being civilized is about having manners, about being fair, tolerant and perhaps most importantly, being honourable. Islam is a Way of Life - the Way of the honourable human being who revers and respects their Creator, Allah.

The great strength of Islam is that it has remained unchanged. The beliefs are the same; the customs and practices are the same. The language of Prayer remains Arabic and to fully understand and appreciate the Quran it must be studied in Arabic. Other religions have changed their beliefs and practices to "suit the times" in an attempt to attract more converts, or to simply try and retain the people they have. Islam alone remains pure, and this often attracts people to it - for they know or sense in their hearts that if a religion is true it must always remain the same. Allah is Allah. The revelation of Allah is the revelation of Allah - once and for all time, unchanging. Truth is Truth - it cannot be changed to accommodate some 'fad' or some 'fashionable' idea which becomes outdated in a few years, a few decades or centuries. As it says in the noble Quran - Good and Evil are not alike. What is Good will always remain good, just as what is evil, what is wrong, will always remain evil and wrong.
 

In a sense, Allah is testing us. He gave us the gift of life, the gift of speech, of reason, of free will. He has shown us the Way, revealed the Truth. He has revealed what is permitted - what is honourable - and what is wrong. It is up to us to choose. We can either accept the one true faith, the Way of Islam, and so live as human beings, as civilized individuals, as Allah commands, or we can reject the Way of Islam and so have the Gates of Paradise closed to us.
 

Q: Is this why Islam seeks to convert others?
 

A: Islam seeks to convert others for basically two reasons. First, because it wants them to have the choice - it wants to give others the chance to enter Paradise. This is why we Muslims have a duty, given by Allah, to try to reveal to others what is right, and what is wrong, and how following the Right Path can lead to Paradise. Without us showing them these truths they will have no opportunity to consider the path, the Way of Life which is Al-Islam. They are free, once they know, to accept it or reject it. One of the living truths of Islam is that people keep on converting to this noble religion even when, as in the West today, there are myriads of temptations to draw them away.

Second, all Muslims have an Allah-given duty to strive to create a civilized Way of Life - to do what is right and avoid what is wrong - for themselves and others. This striving creates - or can create - an Islamic society where people can live in an honourable way, according to the will of Allah. The true Islamic society should be a guide to the whole world, a practical example of the civilized and numinous nature of Islam.

Once people learn the truth about Islam - once they see it as it really is - they are struck by its simple, timeless Wisdom.