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I heard Allah’s Apostle (PBUH) saying,
“If there was a river at the door of anyone of you and he took a bath in it five times a day would you notice any dirt on him?” They said, “Not a trace of dirt would be left.”
The Prophet added, “That is the example of the five prayers with which Allah blots out (annuls) evil deeds.”
Source: Sahi Bukhari Volume 1, Book 10, Number 506
Our life on this earth has a specific purpose;
it is not the result of nature’s accident,
nor it is a punishment for eating the fruit of the forbidden tree.
We are here according to God’s plan: the worldly life is a test; it is a chance to prove ourselves as deserving of the eternal blissful life in the hereafter.
God did not create us just for a few years of this life.
To be created just for this world’s life would amount to a joke played by the Creator with the human species.
Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, said, “You have not been created to perish; on the contrary, you have been created for eternal life”.
According to Islam, the final destination of mankind is the life hereafter.
At the end of time, all human beings will be resurrected and will be held accountable for their worldly life.
The life in the hereafter will be an eternal life.
However, whether it will be blissful or full of sorrow depends on how we spend our present life.
It was to help mankind in achieving this objective that God sent various prophets and messengers to guide them.
Muhammad is the last prophet, and Islam is the final and complete version of God’s message.
Status of Human Beings in Islam
Prime Creation - Humans are the prime creation of God. He says, “We have indeed honored the children of Adam; spread them in the land and the sea; provided them with good things; and preferred them in esteem over many things that We have created.” (Quran: 17:70)
Born Sinless - Islam teaches that every human being is born sinless; no child carries the burden of his or her ancestors’ sins. Allah says, “No carrier shall carry the burden of others.” (Quran 35:18).
Each person is born with a pure conscience which can absorb and accept the true message of God.
It is only the social and familiar influences which take a person away from God’s message.
Accountability - Islam also emphasizes on the issue of responsibility and accountability of human beings: each person is responsible for his or her own actions.
Although Islam teaches that God has predetermined the span of our lives and the time of our death, but this does not mean that even our actions are predetermined by him.
We surely are free in our actions and are, therefore, accountable for them.
He only provides guidance for us to know what is good and what is not.
He says, “We created man of a water-drop…
Surely We guided him to the right way-now whether he follows it and be grateful or (goes astray and) be ungrateful is up to him” (Quran 76:3).
Race - Islam very categorically rejects racial discrimination.
It promotes the feeling of brotherhood and equality among its followers.
God clearly says, “O Mankind! We have created you from one male and one female, and then We made you into different races and tribes so that you may know (and easily recognize) each other”.
Therefore, no one can claim any superiority over others based on racial or tribal differences.
A person is to be judged by his character, not by his color or race.
“Surely the most honorable of you in God’s sight is the person who is most upright in character among you” (Quran 49:13).
Gender - Even gender does not count as a criterion of superiority.
In Islam, women are as human as men.
They are not evaluated on basis of their gender, but on basis of their faith and character.
Fourteen hundred years ago, the Quran recorded God’s clear statements on this issue.
“Whoever, be it a male or a female, does good deeds and he or she is a believer, then they will enter Paradise” (Quran 4:124).
So there is no difference in the degree or level of woman’s humanity or honor in Islam.
The only difference there exists is concerning the role which Islam has envisioned for man and woman. This has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority.
In Islam, men and women are equal in rights; but equality is not synonymous to similarity.
Islam believes that men and women are equal but dissimilar.
Islam looks at their different roles in society as complementary to each other
Allah SWT has 99 names/attributes.
The emotions in our life allow us to turn to Allah and Allah can look at us with those 99 attributes.
The Merciful, The Forgiving
In the creation of humankind, the divine attributes of forgiveness, mercy and kindness are also manifested.
Human beings were created good and pure with a natural awareness of good and evil.
The Almighty also created in humans desires, and gave them an ability to control those desires according to divine law or to turn them loose and follow them blindly.
God created mankind knowing that they would disobey Him.
Consequently, He taught human beings, beginning with Adam, how to repent and thereby purify themselves of their sins.
Adam and Eve represent a pattern for all mankind to follow.
They forgot the commandment of God, and Satan played on their desires.
After they had disobeyed God, they turned back to Him in repentance, and He forgave them.
In humankind’s disobedience and turning back to God in repentance, the divine attributes of total forgiveness and infinite mercy become manifest.
The final Prophet (peace be upon him) informed his followers of this reality, saying, “If you did not commit sins and turn to Allah, seeking His forgiveness, He would have replaced you with another people who would sin, ask Allah’s forgiveness and He would forgive them.”
Every one of the 114 Chapters of the final revelation, except one, begins with the prayer, “In the name of Allah, the Beneficent the Most Merciful.” Allah’s attributes of mercy and forgiveness are stressed to encourage humans not to fall into despair. No matter how great the sins of human beings may be, God can forgive them if man turns back to Him in sincere repentance.
The Messenger (peace be upon him) was quoted as saying, “When Allah created the universe, He made an obligation on Himself [recorded] in a document kept by Him: My mercy supersedes my wrath.”
He was also reported to have said, “[Allah created] mercy with one hundred parts, one of which was sent down upon the jinn, human beings and other living beings. It is out of this one part that they love each other, show kindness to each other and even the animals treat their offspring with affection.
Allah has reserved the remaining ninety-nine parts for His true worshippers on the Day of Resurrection.”
Had Allah wished, He could have created mankind like angels, incapable of committing sin.
However, that was not His wish, as He had already created angels.
Human beings were created capable of making mistakes and when they realize their errors and seek God’s forgiveness, the divine attributes of mercy and forgiveness become manifest.
And Allah knows best. “
