General Introduction to Islam Written in Arabic by - Way to Allah

331 Pages·2002·0.64 MB·English

General Introduction to
Islam
Written in Arabic
by
Shaikh Ali Al-Tantawi
AL-MANARA Publishing &
Distributing House
2st EDITION
1417H-1997G
All rights reserved. No part of this publication
may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form
or by any means, without permission from THE
PUBLISHER;
AL-MANARA Publishing & Distributing House
Jeddah Tel. [phone]- FAX. [phone]
P.O.Box: 1250, Jeddah 21431 Makkah Tel.
5566375 P.O.Box: 2653 Makkah K.S.A.
CONTENTS
Page
Chapter I……………..……… Introduction 15
Chapter II .…………………….. What is Islam? 33
Chapter III............................Definition of Faith 43
Chapter lV....................................Codes of Belief 49
Chapter V……………….. Iman (Faith) in God 67
Chapter VI..............…..….. The Oneness of God 79
Chapter VII.................... Manifestation of Faith 103
Chapter VIII...... Belief in the Day of Judgment 127
Chapter IX................……….... Belief in Destiny 167
Chapter X........................... Belief in the Unseen 185
Chapter XI............………..................The Angels 195
Chapter XII....................... Faith in the Prophets 211
Chapter XIII......................... Faith in the Books 243
Chapter XIV...............................…... Conclusion 251
FOREWORD
My first taste of Islam was through meeting
two Muslim women. They completely defied my
stereotyped ideas of Muslim women. They were
neither repressed nor narrow minded. And the
way they spoke of Islam and the Prophet touched
my heart.
Convinced that Islam was the right path, I
started to explore further, but I was disappointed.
Lots of the books I read had nothing to do with
my own inner experience of Islam, nor with my
two Muslim friends' living example of Islam.
Most books were over-academic, culturally
biased, badly written or proselytising in a way
that did not appeal to my Western way of
thinking, or convince me that the Islamic
teachings were universal and inspiring. In fact,
they were a veil to Islam and reconfirmed some of
my previous prejudices about Muslims.
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However, during this time, one of my two
Muslim women friends, Nabila Kawaf, gave me
Shaikh All AI-Tantawi's book. In spite of the
sometimes literal translation from Arabic into
English, Shaikh Tantawi's humour and personality
shone through. The book had a quality of
transmission that most of the other books I had
read lacked. I found it inspiring. The anecdotal
examples that Shaikh Tantawi gave clarified
complicated concepts about Islam, particularly
about the psychology of human beings, our
weaknesses, our relationship with the cosmos and
the need to follow the Sharia in order to develop
our inner faith and dependence on God, and
therefore evolve in the best possible way during
our short time on earth.
I read the book again and again. I could see
that it had been translated with the very best of
intentions - but that in its present state, the book
might not have the broad appeal it deserved. Then
Nabila suggested I edit the book, with the help
and support, if necessary, of her cousin,
BassamSaab. And, with the author's kind
permission, we set to work.
But rather like Shaikh Tantawi's first edition
of the book, when the original manuscript was
mislaid and he had to start writing the book again,
my own original editing of the book was devoured
by the computer, and I had to begin the work once
more. The second manuscript was also mislaid, so
I had to work on the book a third time! These two
false starts and a demanding working life have
meant that the book has taken much time to edit.
But throughout the various hold ups and delays,
both Bassam and Nabila have been extremely
patient. I would like to thank them both for their
patience and support, and for introducing me to
Shaikh Tantawi's work.
It has been challenging to work on a book
that had already been translated from Arabic into
English, and to remain true to
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what the author originally wrote. I have tried to
make the book fluent reading for the English
speaker, in a way that will appeal to Muslims and
non-Muslims alike, without losing Shaikh
Tantawi's lucid and anecdotal style.
When you work close to a book, you begin
to'live'what that book transmits. I thank Shaikh
Tantawi for being one of the stepping stones on
my own journey. His book was one of the
inspirations that called me to finally submit to the
way of Islam. I trust. God willing, that it will
serve others in the same way, and to help them
realise the true universal message of Islam,
applicable to any culture at any time.
SUELAKE
EDITOR
9
Acknowledgements
Dar Al-Manara Publishers, Jeddah, would
like to thank all those who had a hand in
translating, editing, proofreeding and publishing
this book.
Special gratitude is due to the Pesidency of
Sharia Courts & Islamic Affairs in the State of
Qatar, publishers of an earlier translation of the
book (undr the title: General Introduction to
Islam: The Faith), and the translator. Dr. S.M.M.
Nainar. We regret having failed (by mistake) to
mention the above translation in the first edition
of our translation. However, we stress now that
the credit for the poineering translation goes to the
above parties, and pray to God that He reward
them all bountifully. He never misses to reward
good deeds.
We would like also to thank Dr. Abdul-
LatiefAl-Khaiat for his strenuous efforts in editing
this second edition of the translation, his
correction of the numerous errors of the first
edition, and his careful proofreeding. May he be
rewaeded in the Hereafter.
Our greatest indetedness goes to the author,
his eminenece Shaikh Ali Al-Tantawi. May.this
book be added to his register of good deeds, that
he may rejoice to find in the Hereafter.
All praise is to God, Lord of the worlds
. Dar Al-Manara, Publishers
10
BACKGROUND TO THE
BOOK
This book was first published in the sixties,
since when it has been reprinted several times. In
every edition, there has been an initial chapter
outlining the background to the book, wherein
Shaikh Tantawi ha? explained the reasons for his
writing the book, and the circumstances under
which it was first published. In this, the tenth
edition, we give a more detailed summary than in
earlier editions.
Shaikh Tantawi grew up in Syria at the
beginning of this century. He always expresses
great admiration and gratitude to his father.
Shaikh Mustafa Tantawi, who was a leading
Faqih (jurist) in his country. According to Shaikh
Tantawi, people in those days were either Shaikhs
(scholars of Islam) or Effendis (Arabs who had
"received a secular education). The Shaikhs were
uninformed about the modem sciences of the
Effendis, whereas the Effendis were ignorant of
religion. Fortunately for Shaikh Tantawi, he was
among the few to receive both types of
11
education.
Some years ago Shaikh Tantawi wrote a book
entitled : (Religious Reform), wherein he discussed the
need for religion | and referred to the mooted question
of whether man can live without religion. According to
Shaikh Tantawi, such questions can only be answered
by counter-questions, such as whether it is possible for
man to lead a material life, casting off all his inner
emotions of love, and admiration of nature and her
beauty.
In this context the author also discussed the
values of western philosophers and thinkers such as
Kant, Newton, Pascal and Goethe. To disprove the
statement made by some of them that the universe was
created by accident, the author gave the following
example. If we were to place five balls, four white and
one red in a bag, the probability of taking out the red
ball the first time would be one in five. Similarly, if
there were nine white balls, the ratio would be one in
ten. But if one were to place an unlimited number of
balls in the bag, the probability of picking out the red
ball would be one to an unlimited number. Therefore
we cannot say that the red ball could be picked at the
first or even the hundredth attempt. So how could the
planets that orbit on a set course without colliding with
one another have come into existence by accident?
Therefore, there must be a Divine Power behind them.
In 1936 Shaikh Tantawi went to work as a
secondary school teacher in Iraq, and he was assigned
to the teaching of Arabic literature and religion. It was
during this time that he felt the need for a simple and
comprehensive book on Islam. He decided to
campaign for this idea, and wrote many articles urging
the Ulema to compile such a book. But no one
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responded.
Many years passed. Meanwhile, other scholars who,
like the
Author, were also well read in religious and secular
studies had decided to write books on Islam. While
many of these were excellent, a simple and
comprehensive book on Islam had still not been
published.
In 1966 the author wrote an article called "A
General Introduction to Islam". It was published in the
journal of the Muslim World League at Mecca, and
caught the attention of a minister in the Saudi Arabian
government, Mr. Muhammad Umar Tawfiq. He
immediately advised the Muslim World League to
commission the services of Shaikh Tantawi to write
this book.
So finally Shaikh Tantawi took up this longawaited
task. He worked on the book during one
full summer vacation and an academic year.
Having finished writing all the chapters of the
book, complete with footnotes and quotations, it
only needed to be given the final touches. The
author placed the manuscript in three large
envelopes and went off to Jordan to spend his
summer vacation. He carried the envelopes
around with him carefully until his arrival, but
once he was there, and was busy meeting friends