WHAT IS ISLAM? Many people say that Islam means peace and it is a religion of peace.

It is true that if we follow Islam then there will be peace in our lives (in this world and the life to come in the hereafter). But it is not sufficient to have such a simplistic idea of Islam. Let us see how Allah defined Islam in the Quran. And whoever seeks a deen other than Islam, it will never be accepted of him, and in the Hereafter he will be one of the losers. {The Holy Quran; Surah Ali-'Imran 3:85} ....This day, I (Allah) have perfected your deen for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your deen.... {The Holy Quran; Surah Al-Ma'idah 5:3} Allah calls Islam a deen. What is a deen? Deen is actually a complete course of life. It is a way of how we should lead our life. It is a comprehensive system guided by the Quran and Sunnah (of Prophet Muhammad .) People like to live within a system. Allah has put it in our nature, that we like living within a system. Nobody likes to live a chaotic and unsystematic life. Everywhere we go, we notice that there is a system. Different things have different Systems. The way of life that is chosen by Allah is Islam. Truly, the deen (way of life) with Allah is Islam. {The Holy Quran; Surah Ali-'Imran 3:19} There are, and there can be many systems of ways of doing a particular task. But for doing that particular task there is always a way prescribed by Allah. For example, in USA and most wester countries people marry by going to the church. In India, the Hindus marry by going around the fire. But what is the system of marriage given by our Creator? In Allah's system, i.e. in Islam people marry by the bridegroom proposing to the guardian of the bride, by having two witnesses and by the bridegroom giving mahr (dowry) to the bride. Then if the bride gives her consent, the marriage is done. This is marriage in Islam. As simple as that! All the other systems of marriage, such as marrying in church, by going around the fire, marrying in court serves the purpose of marriage, but they are not marriage according to the system given by Allah. Thus we see that there are many systems of ways of doing the various things that we do in our lives. But what we need to realize is that among all these ways, Allah has given us one way of doing it and the rest of the ways are all made up by humans according to their needs and desires. Allah has perfected Islam as mentioned above {5:3}. He has left nothing out of it. Islam is the perfect system of life and contains answers to everything. ....We have neglected nothing in the Book.... {The Holy Quran; Surah Al-An'am 6:38} And We have sent down to you the book(the Quran) as an exposition of everything, a guidance, a mercy, and glad tidings for those who have submitted themselves (to Allah as Muslims). {The Holy Quran; Surah An-Nah 16:89} Therefore at every given step of life when we face a choice, we can either follow the system of Allah or we can follow our desires and follow other systems. But if we follow systems, which are contradictory to Allah's given system then we should not claim that we are following Islam. Because Islam is not only a title or just a religion of rituals, it is a complete way of life! When we are faced with a choice or a decision to make, the ones who submit to the will of Allah are actually following Islam. Therefore Islam is the total submission to the will of Allah and the ones who submit to Allah are known as Muslims. Allah mentions in the Quran: ....Then do you believe in a part of the Scripture and reject the rest? Then what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment.... {The Holy Quran; Surah Al-Baqarah 2:85} O you who believe! Enter perfectly in Islam (by obeying all the rules and regulations of the Islamic religion) and follow not the footsteps of Shaitan. Verily! He is to you a plain enemy. {The Holy Quran: Surah Al-Baqarah 2:208}

We see from the above mentioned verses that we cannot pick and choose what to obey and what not to. Allah is asking us to enter into Islam perfectly. Islam is the complete code of life that has been sent to us by Allah, which teaches us the small things such as how to eat sleep, go to toilet, etc as well as bigger things like how to run a country, what laws to follow, the economic system, judicial system, social system, foreign policy, etc. It is hoped that now Insha Allah, one would not say that Islam simply means peace. We do not greet a fellow Muslim by saying Islam'Alaikum, rather we say Salam'Alaikum, meaning peace be upon you. Salam means peace, Islam does not mean peace. Islam means submission. It is the complete absolute submission to the will of Allah by following His given way of life.