by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Islam is the religion of nature – a religion of peace. If it were to be presented in its original form, people would turn to it quite naturally. For example, when a recently converted American by the name of Gary Miller was asked why he had converted to Islam, he replied: “I didn’t convert to Islam I have rather reverted to my original religion.” Unfortunately, a section of Muslims is engaged in violent and aggressive activities, wrongfully indeed, in the name of Islam. It is such news that has a great impact upon the general public and creates serious misconceptions. People have, thus, come to take Islam as a militant religion.

Since modern man is in search of peace, he finds no appeal in a religion which is one of hatred and violence. Islam, therefore, needs to be presented to the people of the world in its true form, as a religion of peace that it actually is so that they can discover it for themselves.

If one wants to discover Islam, he has to take a scientific attitude and see Islam in the light of the Islamic scriptures and not judge it by Muslim conduct. For surely, if you want to know what democracy is, you will examine the ideology of democracy as established by its champions. You will not form an opinion about the democratic system merely on the basis of observing some self-styled democratic nation. Everyone who wants to discover Islam for themselves should follow this scientific method while trying to form his opinion on Islam and see Islam in the light of its authentic sources.

The authentic source of information about Islam is the Qur’an. The Qur’an, according to Muslim belief, was revealed by God to the Arabian Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him. The second source of knowledge about Islam is the sunnah, i.e., the words, deeds and sanctions of the Prophet Muhammad ‘may peace be upon him’. The lives of the companions of the Prophet provide another later source. Then, there is a full stop in this matter. No other person or historical record enjoys the status of source of Islam. These are, therefore, the authentic sources, based on which one should discover Islam.

To discover Islam for yourself, therefore, please do go through its original sources – the Qur’an and the Sunnah.