What’s In A Name?

Islam is a religion unlike any other and this we can see just by it’s’ name. A name that Allah T’aala gave and Islam is not named after an individual or tribe of people, like Judaism is named after the tribe of Judah, Christianity after Christ and Buddhism after Buddha. The word Islam is derived from the Arabic word ‘Aslammal’ and encompasses the qualities of our religion. These five qualities are: surrender, submission, sincerity, obedience and salaam which means peace. If these are the beautiful qualities of Islam then who is a Muslim? ‘Mu’ in the Arabic language means ‘one who does’ and hence a Muslim is one who practices these 5 qualities and follows the guidance granted to us in the Quraan and the Sunnah of out Prophet Muhammad (SAW). May Allah grant us the ability to follow the teachings of the Quraan and the Sunnah and not to be just Muslims by name.

Reference: Sheikh Yusuf Estes Talk on 13/5/08