The Children's Book of Islam : Part Two

Muhammad Manazir Ahsan

• Publisher: The Islamic Foundation
• Year: 2014
• eBook ISBN: 9780860375944
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

This book is a clear and lucid book that will provide children with a firm grounding in the Five Pillars of Islam: the Shahadah, Prayer, Charity, Fasting and the Hajj.
A workbook setting out questions on elements of each chapter is also included.

1

WHO IS A MUSLIM?

I am a Muslim. You are a Muslim. Your parents are Muslims. All of us belong to the community of Islam.

A Muslim is an individual who accepts Islam as a way of life. Islam is the faith and the path to follow. A Muslim believes in what Islam tells him or her to believe. A Muslim acts as Islam tells him or her to act.

The way of Islam is the way a Muslim should live his or her life in this world.

When we Muslims accept Islam, we accept that Allah is the Only and True God. We accept that to Him alone we must submit ourselves completely. Allah is the Creator of everything. All that we have He and He alone has given us. Allah is with us everywhere. He knows everything. He rules over us. There is none like Him. No one shares His powers, nor does He need any helper.

Therefore, we worship only Allah and only upon Him do we call for help. More than anyone, we love and fear Him. We seek His pleasure and we obey His commands.

Muslims follow the guidance and the commands given by Allah. He has told us what is right and what is wrong. He has sent His guidance and His commands to His people through men like us. These men are called Prophets.

Allah has given guidance to these Prophets through Books brought to them by His Angels.

The Prophets have conveyed this guidance to Muslims in words and also through their own example and the virtuous lives they have led. The Prophets recited the words they received from Allah and taught the people. What they taught, the Prophets also practised. The Prophets are the true leaders of man. They are the perfect models for everybody to follow.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was the last of these Prophets.

Muhammad received Allah’s guidance in the form of the Qur’an. The Qur’an and the Prophet teach us how to behave properly in our lives.

This means we learn to live peacefully here on earth. We also learn how to succeed in the Life after Death. Together the Qur’an and the Prophet show us how to worship and obey Allah.

They tell us about our duties to Allah and our duties to our fellow human beings.

They tell us also how to fulfil these duties.

From the Qur’an and the Prophet, we learn that after death we shall have another life. In that Life after Death we will be called upon to give Allah a full account of how we lived our life on earth. Allah shall judge us by what we believed and what we did, and how we acted towards our fellow human beings.

The teachings of Islam instruct us in all things that occur during our entire life. Islam is, therefore, a complete way of life.

It consists of both belief (Iman) and action (‘Amal). A Muslim declares his or her beliefs in the following words: (This is known as Iman-i-Mufassal (Faith in detail)).

“Amantu billahi wa Mala’ ikatihi wa Kutubihi wa
Rusulihi wal Yawmil Akhiri wal-Qadri Khayrihi wa
Sharrihi minal Lahi Ta‘ala. wal-Ba‘thi Ba‘d al-Mawt.”

which means:

“I believe in Allah, in His Angels, in His revealed Books,
in all of His Prophets, in the Day of Judgement, in that
everything, good and bad, comes from Him, and in Life
after Death.”

These beliefs give us a new life and a new outlook on life. We look upon everything with the eyes of a believer.

Everything that we have, everything we see around us has been created by Allah. All of it belongs to Him. All of it must be used as He wants it to be used.

We therefore regard ourselves as being responsible to Allah: Allah is our Creator and Lord.

We accept Allah’s guidance. We follow His commands by our own choice. We do this because we know they are of great benefit to us.

This belief guides us in our actions. We try to live our whole life in a way that shows our obedience to Allah and our desire to please Him.

If every action of a Muslim is done to please Allah, and performed in obedience to Him, then it is an act of worship or ˋIbadah.

Every human being is the servant, or ‘Abd, of Allah on earth. Every man, woman or child is an agent or representative (Khalifah) of Allah in this world.

Everything we have is entrusted to us by Him. A representative does not work according to his own wishes. He must follow the instructions of his Master, because he represents that Master.

Therefore, as Muslims, we must live as true representatives of Allah in this world.

We have to follow Allah’s instructions and only Allah’s instructions. As representatives of Allah, we cannot follow the instructions of others. Nor can we have guidance from sources other than from Allah. By our own choice we must obey Allah. By our own choice we must live by His guidance. Only then will we be Allah’s true representatives and servants.

Of course, we might be tempted to disobey Allah. We might decide that we want to do whatever we like.

But we have to remember that if we disobey Him, we will suffer great loss.

Our life is a test for us.

As Muslims, we shall not disobey Allah in any way.

We must do our utmost to be successful in the test. Then we can get our reward from Allah in this life, and in the Life after Death.

We want to live our whole life in ‘Ibadah. We want to be true servants of Allah.

Say: “My prayer and my sacrifices,

my living and my dying,

(all) belong to Allah, Lord of the Universe.”

(The Qur’an 6:163)

2

PILLARS OF ISLAM

We could compare Islam to a building or a house. A house provides us with a place in which to live. There we can sleep and rest and draw strength for the work we have to do in life.

There are many parts in a building or a house. Buildings stand on foundations which keep them upright and secure. Buildings and houses have roofs and doors, windows, walls and floors. They also have pillars that support them. No building will stand if it does not have pillars.

Islam, too, consists of many different parts. There is the faith of Islam, upon which the whole way of Islam is founded. There are the codes of conduct which tell us what to do and how to act in all spheres of our lives. These are the roof, door, windows, walls and floors of Islam. Inside this ‘house’ of Islam, we can draw strength for the things we have to do in life. Islam is our shelter. So we see that Islam is very...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• 1. Who is a Muslim?
• 2. Pillars of Islam
• 3. Shahadah (Declaration of Faith)
• 4. Salat (Prayer)
• 5. Zakat (The Welfare Due)
• 6. Sawm (Fasting)
• 7. Hajj (Pilgrimage)
• 8. ‘Ibadah: A Comprehensive View
• Work Book